Mamakāra — The False Sense of 'Mine'
Mamakāra (Sanskrit: mama = mine, belonging to me + kāra = the mental act of asserting) is the habitual assertion 'this is mine' — the appropriation of body, family, possessions, reputation, spiritual merit, and even the jīva's own consciousness as one's property. In Śrī Vaiṣṇava theology, mamakāra is not simply greed or attachment in the colloquial sense; it is the fundamental metaphysical error of treating as 'mine' what in reality belongs entirely to Bhagavān.
The Ahaṅkāra-Mamakāra Pair: Mamakāra is always discussed alongside ahaṅkāra (the false assertion 'I am independent, I am the agent, I am self-sufficient'). If ahaṅkāra is the distortion about the subject ('who I am'), mamakāra is the distortion about the object ('what is mine'). Together they form a closed circle of self-enclosure: ahaṅkāra establishes an illusory self-sufficient 'I,' and mamakāra populates the world of this 'I' with things it claims as its own. Both distort the true relationship: the jīva is Bhagavān's śeṣa (servant/owned), and all that the jīva imagines as 'mine' actually belongs to Bhagavān.
Root Distortions in Saṃsāra: Piḷḷai Lōkācāryar's Tattva Traya and Śrī Vacana Bhūṣaṇam analyze how ahaṅkāra and mamakāra are the twin engines of karma. Every karmic action arises from one or both: action driven by 'I will do this' (ahaṅkāra) and 'for my benefit, for what is mine' (mamakāra). The chain of karma → rebirth → further karma is perpetuated as long as these two remain operative. Mokṣa is the complete dissolution of both.
The Resolution Through Prapatti: The act of prapatti is specifically the surrender of ahaṅkāra and mamakāra. In surrendering, the jīva recognizes: 'I am not an independent agent — I am Bhagavān's owned servant; nothing is mine — everything, including my very self, belongs to Bhagavān.' The Dvaya mantra's declaration 'śrīman nārāyaṇa caraṇau śaraṇaṃ prapadye' is the formal dissolution of both: the 'I' that surrenders has no ahaṅkāra, and 'the feet of Nārāyaṇa' — not any object of 'mine' — are declared as the sole reality.