Question:
Why does Advaita Vedanta say that there is no “I” or separate-self? Isn’t the psychological self with its desires, fears, and ambitions actually we refer to as ‘I’?
Sri Prabhuji:
There are two “I” s. The real “I” is unchanging silent witness consciousness. The other “I” is constantly changing ego. Ego identifies with the thoughts, feelings, body, memories and creates a sense of “psychological” self.
If you look into the content of psychological self – thoughts, feelings,…emotions, body sensations – everything is constantly changing and hence there is no permanent psychological self. Psychological self is moment to moment changing but appears to be permanent entity associating itself with unchanging witness in the background. This is a false association. It is like movie character on screen claiming I am permanent solid entity borrowing its identity from the unchanging screen.