The universe itself is the Maya or dualistic illusion.+

People who argue that Soul does not exist are not aware of the fact that their own existence is dependent on the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

One should not conclude because some great thinkers said so or some philosophy says so. Without consciousness, the mind, which is present in the form of the universe ceases to exist. Man ceases to exist without the universe. 

The universe ceases to exist without the Soul, the innermost ‘Self’. The Soul can exist with or without the universe. The universe itself is the Maya or dualistic illusion.  

The Soul is the ‘Self’.  The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is the substance and the witness of the dualistic illusion.  

The dualistic illusion is present in the form of the mind.  The mind is present in the form of the universe. The universe appears as the waking or the dream (duality) and disappears as deep sleep (non-duality).

The one which is aware of the coming and going of the three states is neither the waking entity nor the dream entity, but the formless, timeless and spaceless Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

When the Soul wakes up from the sleep of ignorance and the midst of dualistic illusion and remains in its own awareness then it is called Self–awareness.

It is foolish to limit the consciousness only to the physical body because the consciousness pervades in everything and everywhere in all the three states. Thus, the Soul, the ‘Self’ has nothing to do with the three states because the three states are an illusion created out of consciousness.

If the three states are an illusion created out of consciousness,  then the experience of the birth, life, death, and world which experienced as a reality within the waking experience is an illusion created out of consciousness. Without the illusion, only the fullness of consciousness prevails as the ultimate reality.

 On the standpoint of the formless Soul, the ‘Self’:- 

There is nothing to accept, 

Nothing to reject, 

Nothing to hold on to, 

Nothing to let go of, 

Nothing to grasp, 

Nothing to spurn, 

Nothing to embrace

Nothing to relinquish,

Nothing to dissolve

The world in which we exist is a dualistic illusion. The dualistic illusion is created out of single stuff. That single stuff is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.  Thus, consciousness alone is real because there is no second thing exists other than consciousness.   This is the truth. 

Remember:~ 

Sage Sankara: ~ “VC~ All this universe which through ignorance appears as of diverse forms, is nothing else but Brahman (Consciousness) which is absolutely free from all the limitations of human thought.

The universe is the product of ignorance. The ignorance is present in the form of the ‘I’.

Sage Sankara says:~ VC-47 All the effects of ignorance, root, and branch, are burnt down by the fire of knowledge, which arises from discrimination between these two—the Self and the non-Self.

Until you think you are an individual separate from the world and the world existed prior to you and you are born in it afterward the ignorance will prevail as a reality. Till ignorance is there the universe prevails as reality.

Sage Sankara says ~ “The exercise in discrimination between real and unreal and renunciation of the false is real meditation, then why you are indulging in other types of meditation.

Perfect understanding and realization of ‘what is what’ leads Self-awareness. By holding onto theories one remains in the realm of duality. You have to mentally go on dropping what is not the truth through deeper Self-search. Finally when you become aware of the fact that, your ego, your body, and the world are one in essence then there is Self-awareness in the midst of duality. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar