cultural centers in America. Several institutes and
museums were established, including the Agni
Yoga Society.
The society has published a set of books
called the Agni Yoga Series, which encapsulates
their philosophy, a teaching that integrates East-
ern beliefs with Western spiritual and scientific
thought. Although the society does not offer
courses, it provides information on Agni Yoga and
welcomes correspondence.
Further reading: Agni Yoga Series (New York: Agni
Yoga Society, 1977); Ruth Drayer, Nicholas and Helena
Roerich: The Spiritual Journeys of Two Great Artists and
Peacemakers (Wheaton, Ill.: Theosophical Pub. House,
2005); Helena Roerich, Letters of Helena Roerich (New
York: Agni Yoga Society, 1954–67); Nicholas Roerich,
Altai-Himalaya: A Travel Diary (New York: Frederick A.
Stokes, 1929).
Ahalya
The wife of the RISHI Gautama, Ahalya was seduced
by INDRA while her husband was taking his morn-
ing bath. Indra took the form of her husband,
and though Ahalya knew that Indra was not her
husband, she consented to his advances. When
the rishi was returning to the hut Indra took the
form of a cat and escaped. The rishi, however,
knew through his supranormal powers what had
occurred. He cursed his wife, turning her to stone,
and put a curse on Indra as well.
In some versions of the Ahalya story Indra is
cursed with the testicles of a ram; in other ver-
sions he is cursed with 1,000 vaginas. In the later
tale, Indra beseeched the gods to relieve the curse
and the vaginas were transformed into 1,000 eyes.
This colorful story explains how Indra acquired
the epithet “thousand-eyed one.”
In the RAMAYANA, RAMA comes upon the stone
form of a woman, who, with the touch of his
foot, becomes alive again. She is Ahalya. This
well-known myth has generated many books and
novels in contemporary Indian languages.
Further reading: Wendy Doniger, Splitting the Differ-
ence: Gender and Myth in Ancient Greece and India (Chi-
cago: University of Chicago Press, 1999); Stephanie W.
Jamison, Sacrificed Wife/Sacrificer’s Wife: Women, Ritual,
and Hospitality in Ancient India (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1996); C. Rajagopalachari, Ramayana
(Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1962).aham brahmasmi See MAHAVAKYAS.
ahamkara
Ahamkara means “ego” (literally, I-doing, or con-
ceiving of everything in terms of I.) In nearly
every tradition of Hinduism ahamkara is consid-
ered the great spiritual enemy. In YOGA one tran-
scends the ego through the calming of the mind
and eventually learns to ignore the pernicious pull
of ahamkara. In non-dual Vedantic practice, ego is
seen as false self, which must be rejected in favor
of the transcendent Self that is Ultimate Reality.
In the practice of BHAKTI, or devotional YOGA,
through chants and MANTRAS one connects to the
inner godhead and uproots the ego with service to
the Divine. Only in the tantric (see TANTRISM) tra-
ditions is Ahamkara seen as a positive word, but
there, also, it is understood that one’s ego must be
transformed into divine “I-ness,” where the mun-
dane ego is totally supplanted in identification
with God. In Jain and SIKH traditions ahamkara
is seen also as a supreme negative; ego must be
controlled and finally eliminated.Further reading: Usharbudh Arya, Philosophy of Hatha
Yoga (Glenview, Ill.: Himalayan Institute of Yoga Sci-
ence and Philosophy of the U.S.A., 1977); Gasper M.
Koelman, Patanjala Yoga: From Related Ego to Abso-
lute Self (Poona: Papal Athenaeum, 1970); Swami
Muktananda, So’ham Japa: A Meditation Technique for
Everyone (Ganeshpuri: Shree Gurudev Ashram, 1972);
Frank R. Podgorski, Ego-Revealer, Concealer: A Key
to Yoga (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America,
1984).ahamkara 17 J