The Ego Doesn’t Exist

The Ego Doesn’t Exist
by Atman Nityananda

The Ego Doesn’t Exist, according my experience and knowledge is A false concept that circulates among modern Western teachers.

You can watch a video where Alan Wats speaks about the non existence of the ego. GIVING UP THE EGO – Alan Wats

My questions are:

1. If the ego doesn’t exist, how can we give up something that doesn’t exist?
2. What is the need to give up a non-existent element, and why is it difficult to give up something that doesn’t exist?
3. How can we give up the ego through a non-existent ego?

Moreover:

If the ego doesn’t exist, what causes separation, identification, attachments, and conflicts?

What makes us identify with the body and all mental and emotional structures?

What are greed, avarice, anger, hatred, jealousy, lasciviousness, and all other defects if not expressions of the ego itself?

What makes us identify and attach ourselves to our country, religion, objects, and people?
What causes “I-ness” and “my-ness”?

Modern teachers fail to understand the nature of the ego and end up making statements such as “the ego does not exist.”

Of course, the ego is part of the matrix and has a relative or apparent existence, just like everything else (all physical, energetic, and psychological formations) within the matrix or Maya.

The only one that truly exists is Pure Consciousness.

“Truly exists” means self-created, self-conscious, eternal, changeless, deathless, timeless, formless, self-sustained, unmoving, unaffected by anything, and indestructible.

AI’s answer

1. The Ego Doesn’t Exist (in Any Sense)

The Misconception: Teachers claim the ego is entirely unreal and irrelevant.
The Reality: In Advaita Vedanta, the ego (Ahamkara) exists as a functional aspect of the individual (Jiva) in the realm of relative reality (Mithya). It only ceases to exist when the realization of the Self (Atman) takes place. Until then, the ego is the vehicle for ignorance and must be addressed.

Final Thoughts:Traditional teachings of non-duality, especially Advaita Vedanta, are precise and systematic. Oversimplifying or distorting these teachings may attract a wider audience, but it often dilutes the depth and transformative potential of the path. Non-duality is not about bypassing the world or the ego but about understanding their nature and transcendence through direct realization.

The ‘secret’ to a plentiful life, a life of harmony, happiness and contentment is to have a sattvic mind free from desires and ego and to live in every moment in conscious contact with our true Self (Consciousness).

🌺 Peace, Love, Harmony