Ahaṅkāra

Ego, the sense of “I am.” In Sāṃkhya cosmology, ahaṅkāra emerges from mahat (buddhi) and generates the false identification of puruṣa with the instruments of prakṛti. In the Yoga Sūtras, it is the root of asmitā (the illusion of “I am”). Its dissolution through abhyāsa and vairāgya reveals the authentic nature of the self. See asmita, atman.