Yoga Sūtra Chapter Two verse 6

दृग्दर्शनशक्त्योरेकात्मतैवास्मिता ॥६॥

dṛg-darśana-śaktyoḥ-eka-ātmatā-iva-asmitā ||6||

The sense of ‘I’ am-ness is when
the powers of seer and seeing
are as if one nature.

dṛś - to see, behold, look at, regard, considerdarśana - view, doctrine, philosophical system; seeing, observing, looking, noticing, observation, perception; exhibiting, teaching; inspection, examinationśakti - power, energy; ability, capability; strength; might, efforteka - one; alone, solitary, single, happening only once, that one onlyātmatā - nature; essenceiva - as it were, as ifasmitā - egoity; the sense of 'I' am-ness
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Commentaries and Reflections

Commentary by T Krishnamacharya:

“Citta and Puruṣa are distinct.
They are in association like heat and water.
Water which is cold becomes
warm in association with heat.
Then we use the term hot water.”

“Similarly, because of the proximity of Citta and Puruṣa,
what is the quality of one is taken to be of the other.
In our convention they are often taken as one
and not two distinct entities with different natures.
This state is Asmitā.”

Commentary by TKV Desikachar:

“Asmitā – To confuse memory and wisdom.”

“I know something and I am presented with something different.
How I react or choose not to react is Asmitā.
The wrong response brings Duḥkha.
The right response Viveka.
One is a hasty assessment and one is wanting to find out more.
One is ‘assuming I know I proceed’,
the other is ‘wishing to know I proceed’.”

“Knowledge from the past prevails and
influences me to either judge or inquire.
Assuming my knowledge and my
memory and I proceed is Asmitā Kleśa.
Assuming that I may be wrong and
wishing to find out more is Asmitā Jñāna.
However to hesitate completely or
question everything is Asmitā Kleśa.”

Commentary by Paul Harvey:

“Egoity is when the
power of the Seer
and power of Seeing
are as if one essence.”

“That’s our starting point…
This curious conjunction
of being Human and
yet human Being.”

“Within the sense of “I” Am-ness,
the I-ness is Prakṛti and
the Am-ness is Puruṣa.
The illusion is the sense of as if One–ness.”

“Where there is the sense of “I am“,
so there is the power of awareness,
or where there is the power of seeing,
so there is the power of the seer.
Such is the essence of our nature.”

“Deeper layers of meditative reflection,
as in Dhyānam, can reveal a source for the
symptoms, which we might compare to the
trunk from which these three branches grow.
Revealed is a confused sense of “I” Am-ness
in terms of what we believe to be as if one
inner essence which empowers us to perceive.”