---
type: Concept
bundle: yoga-darshana
bundle_version: "0.2.0"
id: asmita
title: "Asmitā"
iast: "Asmitā"
devanagari: "अस्मिता"
description: "The misidentification of Puruṣa with Buddhi, the I-am-ness kleśa — not ego, not pride."
darshana:
  - Pātañjala Yoga
  - Sāṃkhya
text_source: "YS 2.6"
tags:
  - Yoga
  - Patanjali
  - klesha
  - ego
  - identity
  - purusha
  - buddhi
not:
  - term: "ego"
    why: "in Western psychology, ego is a functional self-construct; asmitā is a specific metaphysical misidentification between Puruṣa and Buddhi"
    instead: "Keep Asmitā untranslated; do not substitute the English term."
  - term: "pride"
    why: "pride is a secondary emotion that may arise from asmitā; asmitā is the structural root"
  - term: "self-concept"
    why: "asmitā is not a belief about oneself but a direct conflation of the witness with the witnessed"
  - term: "selfishness"
    why: "misses the ontological precision; asmitā is pre-moral"
  - term: "individuality"
    why: "individuality is a downstream consequence, not the mechanism itself"
related:
  - /concepts/klesha.md
  - /concepts/avidya-yoga.md
  - /concepts/purusha.md
  - /concepts/viveka-khyati.md
  - /concepts/kaivalya.md
timestamp: "2026-06-20"
okf_version: "0.2"
license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

# Asmitā — अस्मिता

**Not:** ego, pride, self-concept, selfishness, individuality

The second kleśa — the mistaken conflation of the *power of pure seeing* (Puruṣa) with the *instrument of seeing* (Buddhi/intellect). The resultant sense of "I am the seer" when in truth the Puruṣa is the unchanging witness and Buddhi is its closest but still Prakṛtic reflection.

## Etymology

- *asmi* — "I am" (first-person singular of *as*, to be)
- *-tā* — abstract noun suffix
- *asmitā* — "I-am-ness"; the bare sense of being a subject

## Patañjali's Definition (YS 2.6)

*dṛgdarśanaśaktyor ekātmatevāsmitā*

"Asmitā is as-if-the-identity (*iva ekātmatā*) of the power of seeing (*dṛk-śakti* — Puruṣa) and the instrument of seeing (*darśana-śakti* — Buddhi)."

The word *iva* (as-if) is critical: it is not an actual union but an apparent one. The confusion is like mistaking a reflection for the reflected object.

## The Mechanism

Puruṣa is pure, passive, unchanging consciousness — it does not act. Buddhi (intellect, the highest evolute of Prakṛti) is the most refined and luminous aspect of the mind, capable of reflecting Puruṣa's light of consciousness.

In the ordinary state:
1. Puruṣa illumines Buddhi (as light illumines a mirror)
2. Buddhi reflects this illumination and takes it as its own
3. The result is the felt sense of "I am a knowing subject" — asmitā
4. From this apparent subject, rāga (craving) and dveṣa (aversion) arise

Asmitā is thus the immediate result of avidyā and the proximate cause of rāga and dveṣa.

## Levels of Asmitā in Samādhi

Interestingly, Patañjali also uses *asmitā* to denote the most refined level of samprajñāta samādhi — *sāsmitā samādhi* — where only the bare sense of I-am-ness remains as the cognitive object. This is not a kleśa in the ordinary sense but the subtlest level of Prakṛtic identification prior to asamprajñāta.

This dual usage (asmitā as affliction vs. asmitā as refined absorption) reflects the depth of Patañjali's system.

## Liberation from Asmitā

When viveka-khyāti matures into its fullest form, Puruṣa is recognized as permanently, irreversibly distinct from Buddhi and all its modifications. At this point, asmitā — the "as-if" confusion — dissolves. This is kaivalya.

## Cross-References

- [Kleśa](klesha.md) — the five affliction-roots; asmitā is the second
- [Avidyā](avidya-yoga.md) — the root kleśa that makes asmitā possible
- [Puruṣa](purusha.md) — the pure witness mistakenly identified with Buddhi
- [Rāga](raga.md) and [Dveṣa](dvesha.md) — the kleśa-s that arise directly from asmitā
- [Viveka-Khyāti](viveka-khyati.md) — the discriminative wisdom that sees through asmitā
- [Samprajñāta Samādhi](samprajnata-samadhi.md) — where sāsmitā samādhi appears as a refined state

## Audience Metaphor

Asmitā is like a cinema screen that, in the darkness of the theatre, appears to express all the light and colour of the film playing on it. The screen (Puruṣa — pure witness) is actually uninvolved, unchanged, merely present. But in the darkness (avidyā), the screen and the projected images (Buddhi, its modifications) appear to be the same thing. Asmitā is the moment the screen 'thinks' it is the movie.

## Citations

1. [Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali](/references/yoga-sutras.md) 2.6
2. [Yoga Bhāṣya of Vyāsa](/references/yoga-bhasya.md) on YS 2.6
3. [Sāṃkhya Kārikā](/references/samkhya-karika.md) of Īśvarakṛṣṇa
