2.0 As some maintain there is no Ego, its reality is now being proved.

2.1 The Ego is not an empty object, a vacuous thing (sunya); it is not also the body.

2.2 It is not the bodily sense competencies as dream consciousness where these are not functioning is known.

2.3 It is not the internal cognitive utensils(antakaranas) or the life breath as there are states of consciousness such as cuzutti, turiyam and turiyatitam where neither the life breath nor the antakaranas are functioning.

2.4 It is not the kanikan (a chain of momentary particulars) as when a person wakes up he tends to continue and finish what was left behind as unfinished.

2.5 As there is grasping of object outside the body i.e. externality, the Ego is not atomic or somewhat intermediate;

2.6 It is also not autonomous as it does not learn anything on its own;

2.7 As the pleasures and pains are many and different the psyches are many and distinct;

2.8 It is not the Supreme Being as there is experiencing of pleasures and pains;

2.9 Know that the Ego is indestructible, non-autonomous, extended, distinct from Pati; there are an innumerable number of them too and capable of consciousness however delimited by many constraints.

Even though the Ego is distinct from the internal cognitive utensils (antakaranas), like the King functioning with the ministers, the Ego functions with the cognitive utensils for the purposes of perceiving and enjoying (vitaya pokam) the objects of the world. It also suffers all the five states of consciousness as its consciousness is constrained by DARKNESS (malas) i.e. absence of consciousness.

2.10 Premises for the reality of the Ego: The bodies that are seen to do various kinds of actions (tolil) are non-intelligent (catam) and therefore, like the pots and so forth will not initiate an action. That which initiates actions, that is the Ego.

2.11 Now the Ego endures three different states of consciousness (avattai) of kevalam, cakalam and cuttam because of anavam, mayai and civacakti.

2.12 Among these the kevalavattai is: being without any body and so forth, without any gunas, without any enjoyments, without capacity for any agency, being like a crystal in complete darkness, enveloped completely by anavam and hence being without any consciousness and existence (viyapi).

2.13 The cakalavattai is: being an entity in view of the five different envelopes (panca kosas), being an entity of limited consciousness or finite understanding (kinciknan), acquiring numerous births as a result of the beginningless karma (anati kanmam) with which it is associated and perceiving/enjoying objects of the world.

2.14 The cuttavattai is: the state of being amoral (iruvinai oppu), without the delimiting constraints (malapari pakam), with the innermost being flooded with Grace-Energy (Caktinipatam), transcending the three deep limiting constraints through knowing the right cariyai, kriyai, yokam, and jnanam by the Grace of Guru and being an Ego like Civa that is intrinsically cat-cit-ananta.

2.15 Now these Egos are also three in kind. The lowest are cakalar, the middle the pralayakalar and the highest the Vinjnanakalar.

2.16 Among these the cakalar are: those Egos that are inflicted with anavam that delimits cognitive processes (nanak kriyai), who have material bodies and so forth in view of a gradual weakening of anavam, and also karma for the purpose of various kinds of enjoyment. Thus the cakalar have all three deep limiting constraints.

2.17 The pralayakalar are: the Egos that have only the anavam that delimits the cognitive processes and karma that is weakened and hence with a capacity to regulate the tattvas of the objective world (kalati) and have acquired karma that affords regulatory power (isurattuva).

2.18 The Vinjnanakalar are the Egos that function cognitively as if they are not afflicted much with anavam.

2.19 All these three different types of Ego ground themselves in the twenty four anma tattvas that are the forms of mayai, and in the centre and the limit of the seven vittya tattvas. After acquiring the state of vinjnana kevalam i.e. transcendental states where only the Supreme Being remains the Unknown, they ground themselves in the highest Civa tattvas.

2.2 By indriya is not meant here the bodily sense organs instrumental for perception and cognition but rather the competencies underlying the seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling activities.

2.3 The antakaranas are the manam, buddhi, ahankaram and cittam. Manam is that function of the psyche which in conjunction with the sense organs it perceives the sensory particulars. When the psyche further reflects on these and establishes the identity and so forth of the things perceived we have the cognitional activity of buddhi. When self reactions are noted in the wake of object identifications, we have the function of ahankaram ___ the emergence of I-ness in cognitional experience. When the psyche brings in the higher rational functions to bear upon self experience we have the functions of cittam as such. (See also sec. 7.0, 8.0 and

2.10)The states of consciousness or existential states are five in number__ cakkiram, coppanam, cuzutti, turiam and turiatitam. Cakkiram is the state of vigilance and attention, and coppanam the state of dream consciousness. Cuzutti which is experiencing through the CUZI munai nadi i.e. that channel that affords transductive perceptions, can be taken to be the experiencing of the deeper and hidden archetypes. Turiam means literally 'distant' and here denotes it the transcendent noumenal experience. Turiatitam is the state of consciousness beyond even turiam and hence the absolutely transcendent.

2.11 The states of consciouness cakkiram and so forth are different from what can be rendered as existential states related to PURITY of the soul. These are enumerated as kevalam, sakalam and cuttam. Both are called, unfortunately, avattal in literature. The existential states are global modes of Being and are related to the personal growth of a person. In each existential state of kevalam and so forth, the five fold cognitional states of cakkiram and so forth can arise with characteristic qualitative differences of their own. (See also sec. 12.0)

2.14 The cariyai, knyai, yokam and jnanam are standard terms in the Agamas and they describe the different religious practices. The cariyai are practices in terms of bodily actions. T he knyai are the more ritualistic kind of practices. The yokam pertains to the deeply contemplative and reflective activities requiring bodily controls of various sorts. The jnanam are the philosophical inquiries particularly the hermeneutic efforts that bring about the gaining illuminations of a deep kind. (See also sec.16)