The first evolute of human existence is ahamkara, ego. It is the first identity of an individual without awareness. From a handful of seeds if you pick one out, the seed is still a seed, but you have isolated it. That is ahamkara, selection of one,  isolation of one.

The moment you isolate one from the other, it is seen as an independent unit. Ahamkara is that: the first separation from our cosmic, transcendental nature. That state is without awareness, without consciousness. There is no cognition in the state of ahamkara, only one identity of being separate.

Aham means ‘I’, akara means ‘form’: ‘my form’. It is a general statement; you are not saying ‘my body, which has two eyes and one nose, two nostrils and one mouth’. You are only saying, ‘my form’, which is the total self.

From ahamkara comes chitta, and chitta is the most important subject in yoga. From chitta emerges buddhi: logic, rationality, understanding, knowing, intellect. From buddhi emerges manas: reflection, thinking, analyzing, deciding.

Manas is directly linked with buddhi. If logic is there, then the thinking process will be appropriate, proper and sequential. If logic is not there, then thinking will be disjointed; you will want to travel to the moon one second and become the president of the world the next second. There will be no connection.

It is a state of psychosis, where there is no connection between thoughts, events, conditions, actions.

Therefore, manas is the reflective and thinking power of buddhi. Buddhi and manas can be clubbed together, while ahamkara and chitta can be clubbed together.

Ganga Darshan Vishwa Yogapeeth,14 October 2016

From the book “Progressive Yoga Vidya Training Satsangs 2016”, pg.53-54, Sw Niranjanananda Saraswati