Learn Sanskrit In Selangor Malaysia.

The story of अहं (ahaM)

The word अहं (ahaM) in Sanskrit means "I".
It is used as a pronoun for eg when we say अहं बालकः अस्मि।(ahaM bAlakaH asmi)(I am a boy).

Now, we have heard the famous Mahavakya अहं ब्रह्मास्मि |(ahaM brahmAsmi) which means
"I am Brahman".
It is also often mistranslated as "I am God" and you would find many people proclaiming अहं ब्रह्मास्मि |(ahaM brahmAsmi) after attending a few meditation sessions.This leads to the misunderstanding that Hindus proclaim to be God.

What does the अहं (ahaM) actually represent ?
We would need to reflect on the tattva of each sound of the word.

अ (a) represents The Supreme Consciousness
ह (ha) represents The Projected Energy(The Projected Energy originates from The Supreme Consciousness. The Projected Energy brings about manifest myriads of worlds within itself a.k.a Creation)
The Dot in the word अहं    known as Bindu or Anusvara is symbolic for the Undifferentiated/Undivided Supreme Consciousness despite the manifestations brought out by The Projected Energy)

अहं can be summarized as "The Undifferentiated Supreme Consciousness-Projected Energy Principle"

So the अहं(ahaM) in अहं ब्रह्मास्मि |(ahaM brahmAsmi) even though it used as a pronoun but in reality 
 अहं(ahaM) represents the "The Undifferentiated Supreme Consciousness-Projected Energy Principle"

Now comes another interesting fact.
The Dot in the word अहं has another meaning too.
The Dot is called Bindu.
Bindu arises from the word Vindu (विन्दु) which stems from the root word विद् which means "To know"

Therefore अहं ब्रह्मास्मि |(ahaM brahmAsmi) would translate as "The Knower of  The Undifferentiated Supreme Consciousness-Projected Energy Principle is Brahman.

And as the saying goes in the Taittiriya Upanishad "The knower of Brahman attains the Highest"

Summary : अहं ब्रह्मास्मि |(ahaM brahmAsmi) isn't really a state one can proclaim.It's a state of realization.