"The ahankara world is a very big world! It is not only ego; to say only 'ego' is not sufficient, but it is an expanding world. If we can detach ourselves from that egoistic world then immediately we can establish ourselves in the faithful plane, and after that we will have no problem." - Srila Govinda Maharaj
The Vedic process gradually lifts the conditioned entity out of the darkness of ahankara, or false identification with the gross material body, and brings him to the platform of self-realization, or aham brahmasmi, “I am spirit soul. I am eternal.” One has to make further progress to discover that although one is eternal, there is a superior eternal entity, who is the Lord Himself within one’s own heart and within every atom in the material universe. Beyond this second phase of self-realization there is the third and final stage of perfection, which is realization of Bhagavan, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead(Sri Krsna), in His own abode. - ACBSP
