The individual has no reality. Only the Soul, the Self is Real.+

             

                           The individual has no reality. Only the Soul, the Self is Real.

The Soul is not an individual because it pervades everything and everywhere in the universe because the universe is nothing but an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The universe is verily consciousness. Without realizing ‘what is the Mind?- it impossible to get Self-realization.  The universe is not different from the Mind because the universe is the mind itself.  The mind is not different from the Soul because the mind is the dualistic illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Thus, the universe is nothing but consciousness. The universe is unreal because it is not absolute and eternal like consciousness.

It is impossible for any human being to challenge successfully the Advaitic position, as Sage  Sankara says.

Sage Sankara asks his opponents "How do you know there are separate individual Souls? Have you seen the Soul of a man? You can only say that you have seen different bodies. To say more is to misuse language. Therefore I call you liars unless you give proof, which is impossible.

A man who describes Sage Sankara’s wisdom as negative (because of his Neti, Neti) does not know that this is applied only to the world of the Seen; the critic ignorantly believes that it is also applied to the Seer.  A Gnani never negates the Seer, only the Seen. When Sage Sankara says clearly, the universe is not real. He says that Brahman and Atman are one. The ultimate and the Absolute Truth is the Self, which is one though appearing as many in different individuals. The individual has no reality. Only the Self is Real; the rest, mental and physical are but passing appearances, then it indicates the form (waking/duality/mind) is unreal the formless is real (Soul/Spirit/Witness). Therefore, only Atman is real because there is no second thing exists other than the Atman, the ‘Self.   

The universe is both real and unreal. It is real because it is a manifestation of consciousness, but is unreal, in the sense, that it is not absolute and eternal like consciousness itself.

Remember:~

People's approach is more practical, and they stuck with the reality of the universe, they take it as real. That is why all the confusion.

The look of an object will depend upon the medium through which the observer views it. In fact, our mental and intellectual conditions determine the world, observed and experienced. The commoner viewing the world will see differently from a Gnani viewing the same world. Each one interprets the world that they see in terms of their existing knowledge. The commoner sees everything based on the ego and, therefore, experiences the birth, life, death and the world as a reality, whereas a Gnani sees everything as consciousness and he is fully aware of the fact that, there is no second thing exists other than the Soul or consciousness. 

Thus, all the egocentric knowledge has to be bifurcated to realize the ultimate truth, which is beyond form, time and space.  

Sage Sankara says ~ V.63 ~ "Without knowing and examining the external world, one can’t know Truth, as the idea that the external world exists, won't go. It can go only by an inquiry into the nature of the external world.

To say the universe is an illusion without first examining it and inquiring into its nature thoroughly is to delude oneself. This world is common to every one of us; therefore the seeker of truth must begin his inquiry with it. 

It is only after he has inquired into the nature of the objective world, he realizes the universe which through ignorance appears as of diverse forms, is nothing else but the Soul which is present in the form of consciousness  is absolutely free from all the limitations of human thought.:~Santthosh Kumaar