ahamkara (Sanskrit, ‘I-maker’, ‘I-crier’), in Hindu thought, the ego or faculty that gives the sense of ‘I’ or individual personality; by extension, egotism, pride, conceit. In the Sankhya and Yoga systems, it is the third element of everchanging Nature evolving in creation. From it evolves the remainder of the phenomenal world. Other than Nature, which includes the individual intellect (buddhi), the faculty of perception (manas), the organs, and the senses, is the unchanging individual self (puruca, Atman). The human predicament results from the ignorant identification of oneself with Nature rather than the true self. In earlier texts the cosmic sense of ahamkara dominates as the means by which the Creator formulates Himself to create the world. R.N.Mi.