kartrtvam karanatvam ca

 karyatvam ceti laksanam

santa-ghora-vimudhatvam

 iti va syad ahankrteh

 

Translation by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada: 

 

This false ego is characterized as the doer, as an instrument and as an effect. It is further characterized as serene, active or dull according to how it is influenced by the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance.

 

Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada: 

 

Ahankara, or false ego, is transformed into the demigods, the controlling directors of material affairs. As an instrument, the false ego is represented as different senses and sense organs, and as the result of the combination of the demigods and the senses, material objects are produced. In the material world we are producing so many things, and this is called advancement of civilization, but factually the advancement of civilization is a manifestation of the false ego. By false ego all material things are produced as objects of enjoyment. One has to cease increasing artificial necessities in the form of material objects. One great acarya, Narottama dasa Thakura, has lamented that when one deviates from pure consciousness of Vasudeva, or Krsna consciousness, he becomes entangled in material activities. The exact words he uses are, sat-sanga chadi’ kainu asate vilasa, te-karane lagila ye karma-bandha-phansa: “I have given up the pure status of consciousness because I wanted to enjoy in the temporary, material manifestation; therefore I have been entangled in the network of actions and reactions.”