Ahaḿkára
The ahaḿkára [pride] that creeps into a person due to the acquisition of jiṋána has very serious repercussions in human life. It can lead to the complete downfall of the individual. Ahaḿkára falls into three basic types, and each of the types brings disastrous results:
Abhimánaḿ surápánaḿ
Gaoravaḿ raoravaḿ dhruvam;
Pratiśt́há shúkariiviśt́há
Trayaḿ- tyaktvá Hariḿ bhajet.
[Abhimána is like surápána, gaorava leads to raorava, and pratiśt́há is like shúkariiviśt́há: an inflated ego is like drinking wine, self-aggrandizement leads one into the deepest hell, and social status is like the excrement of a pig. Give up all three of these and only sing the glories of the Lord.]
The first type of ahaḿkára is called abhimánam, which means that a person thinks that he or she deserves more than what he or she is getting; and consequently develops an overbearing attitude towards everyone. Abhimána has been compared with drinking: anyone who indulges in it loses his or her discriminating judgment, just as a drunkard does. (A human is different from an animal only because he or she possesses viveka [faculty of discrimination] and buddhi [intellect]. And just as a drunkard gradually loses these priceless faculties, an abhimánii also becomes bereft of them.) Since the loss of the rational faculty goes against cardinal human virtues, drinking is a pápa [sin]. Similarly, abhimána is a pápa, and leads to the downfall of the individual.
Gaorava is the second type of ahaḿkára. It means “self-aggrandizement”. Puffed up with vanity, a person will want to project his or her image in an exaggerated manner. Often we hear somebody say, for example, that they have a rose the size of a balloon in their garden – whereas actually the rose may be the size of a ping-pong ball. Constant indulgence in this type of activity converts the mind into matter.
We have seen bulls moving about in the streets with an air of arrogance. Such a bull creates a sound expressing the idea that it is big – Ham baŕá. But when the bull dies and táṋt [vina string] is made out of its intestines and musicians start playing on it, the sound which is then emitted expresses the idea Tuṋ baŕá – meaning thereby that the bull realizes that others are big, and realizes that he has arrived at this condition because of his arrogance.(2)
In fact the inculcation of gaorava leads one to the worst hell. Just as there are six layers, or lokas, of the Cosmic Mind above the crude world, so are there six types of hell, six narakas, below the physical world. The names of these hells are tala, atala, talátala, pátála, atipátála and rasátala. Another term for rasátala is raorava naraka – and a person indulging in gaorava will certainly go to raorava.
(It must, however, be remembered that all these hells or narakas are not actually to be found below this earth. These various narakas denote the mental and physical states of human beings. A person whose mind has been converted into matter like that of a stone is really not worthy to be called a human being, because he or she has lost the mental qualities of a human being. A person of this type is said to be living in naraka. This point has been clarified in Ananda Sútram [by the author, 1962]: Na svargo na rasátalah [“There is no heaven and no hell”].)
The third type of ahaḿkára is [the desire for] pratiśt́há – the desire to make oneself known. A person influenced by [the desire for] pratiśt́há expects respect from everyone, and hankers after name and fame. This mental state can be easily compared with the mental condition of a beggar. The beggar asks money from others, while the person craving for prestige begs others to give him or her respect. [The person desires something that] is really meaningless and possesses no value, something that has been fitly compared to the excrement of a pig.
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