In the first chapter, Metamorphosis of a Gaze, I provide a concise historical prelude referring to the middle of the first millennium BCE, when people began leaving their homes and villages, abandoning the Vedic societal structures of castes, family life, and religious rituals, embarking on a journey into the forest where which they practiced celibacy, yoga, meditation, and contemplation. Their aim was to leave behind the ordinary phenomenal gaze that is projected onto the world of phenomena by the empirical or phenomenal self (asmitā) as the egoic personality endowed with a sense of identification and possession, while veiling the true Self (puruṣa). From this point onward various types of gaze are discussed; the various philosophical and psychological aspects of the phenomenal gaze and its alteration by means of yogic meditation to an inner mental gaze (pratiprasava), accompanied by uninvolved, desireless, or indifferent gaze (vairagya). This culminates in a discerning and clear gaze (viveka-khyāti) that distinguishes between the world of phenomena (prakṛti) and the true Self (puruṣa), resulting in a transparent expose and recognition of the true Self. The entanglement between the world of phenomena and the true Self is identified is the cause of suffering and undoing it is facilitated by the rise of discerning and clear gaze. This places the viveka-khyāti as a significant advanced and pivotal position on the path of yoga.

In the second chapter, The Sense of I-am-ness Asmitā, I explore one of the two principal entities to which the discerning and clear gaze (viveka-khyāti) is directed, referring to the Yogasūtra and to the seminal text on Sāṁkhya philosophy, the Sāṁkhyakārikā, written by Iśvarakṛṣṇa (450–350 CE). This exploration looks into the “formation” of the sense of I-am-ness (the phenomenal self), how it evolves within the tangled and confusing relationships of the world of phenomena (prakṛti) and the true Self (puruṣa), becoming a solid cause of distress within the psychological framework of yoga. Such a description differs from classical New Age or psychological conceptions, such as Freud’s understanding of the ego, which tend to equate their understanding of the ego with the yogic sense of I-am-ness. Drawing on Trungpa and Levinas, I then explore the meaning and possible implications of giving up or surrendering the sense of I-am-ness. Finally, I present a concise discussion of the ways in which, ironically, Western modern culture influences, shapes and affects the modern yogi’s sense of I-am-ness or ego.

In the third chapter, The True Self Puruṣa, I explore the true Self as the other principal entity to which the discerning and clear gaze (viveka-khyāti) is directed, referring to the Yogasūtra and the Sāṁkhyakārikā. Although explanations of the transcendent true Self are ineffable, they can serve as a bridge to the otherness that is being invoked. Such explanations redirects the inner gaze toward establishing a clear discerning gaze. For that purpose, I draw upon Patañjali’s metaphorical expressions – such as the “seer” and the “owner” – to discuss the concept of the Self as an inactive and aloof witness that is not subject to causality, and is pure consciousness. I will then discuss the concept of purity of awareness and its resemblance to the purity and transparency inherent in buddhi, the intellect, and examine the multiplicity of puruṣas and the tension that exists between the Yogasūtra’s and Sāṁkhyakārikā’s definition of true Self. Finally I discuss another “type” of puruṣa – God or deity (Īśvara), reflecting the theistic component of yoga. Puruṣa is detached from the world, while Īśvara is perceived as being pure awareness, a special puruṣa completely free from karmic obscuration that “bends” and “touches” the pure aspect of the yogi’s mind, becoming its sovereign. However, by acting upon yogis that are on their path to liberation, intervening in the world of phenomena the concept of Īśvara ontologically deviates from puruṣa’s characteristics. How then are we to understand Īśvara in the context of yoga and the notion of the true Self as the other principal entity to which the discerning and clear gaze (viveka-khyāti) is directed?

In the fourth chapter, The Discerning Clear Gaze Viveka-Khyāti, I discuss discerning wisdom. Yoga practitioners pray, perform rituals, engage in physical and mental training, and cultivate virtues. Employing these practices they aim at eroding the causes of affliction (kleśas) and binding dormant mental imprints (saṃskāras) by instilling positive and mind-stilling mental imprints. These practices are, however, insufficient in themselves to release yoga practitioners from being subjected to their dormant mental imprints. This is because the identity of the sense of I-am-ness is always involved in these efforts and in their consequences. The obvious question is what kind of knowledge or insight can reveal the sense of I-am-ness involved in actions and their consequences? Because the sense of I-am-ness is itself entangled within the world of phenomena, it must be dismantled and stripped of its constituting identifications, and be completely discerned from the true Self (puruṣa). How can this knowledge be cultivated, or how can one come to settle or abide in such insight? In response to this question I sketch, map, and interpret yogic meditation, cognitive samādhi, and its categories on the way to that phase where which the discerning clear gaze may arise.

In the fifth chapter, Meditation on the Sense of I-am-ness, I delve into the theory and practice of yoga focused on the sense of self. I propose a meditation model in which the sense of I-am-ness becomes the object of meditation. It is based on the idea drawn from the work of psychologist Richard Schwartz that the sense of I-am-ness assumes various characters and roles to which it attaches and identifies to varying degrees. These characters, each constituted of a bundle of habitual tendencies and causes that can lead to various forms of distress, have the potential to resurface in the mind and dominate it within an instant, whether in daily life or during meditation. The meditation process involves maintaining a converging inner gaze through a continuous process of ever-regressing self-observation. In this process the characters the sense of I-am-ness assumes that may ‘hijack’ the focus of our awareness are continuously identified and acknowledged in an inner dialogue and encouraged to step away from the front of the mind’s stage and take a place behind the scenes, reconciling them. This until the mind exhausts itself by which the meditative process becomes irrelevant, ultimately leading to a clear and contentless mind. This emptiness creates mental space for the arising of discerning insight, understanding that “I am not who I think I am; I am not the source of awareness”.