Sage Sankara says: To say the universe is an illusion without first examining it and inquiring into its nature thoroughly is to delude oneself.+

Sage Sankara says:~ 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, you must begin his inquiry with it. It is only after he has inquired into the nature of the objective world, that 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 Maya. 

That is why Sage Sankara said:~ VC-63- Without causing the objective universe to vanish and without knowing the truth of the ‘Self’, how is one to achieve Liberation.

The seeker should not shut his eyes to the nature of the universe because the universe an illusion created out of consciousness.

The universe will not remain a reality when wisdom dawns. The universe is a mere illusion created out of consciousness and there is a conscious awareness of the unity in diversity because there is no second thing exists other than consciousness.

That is why Sage Sankara says: ~ VC~65. As a treasure hidden underground requires (for its extraction) competent instruction, excavation, the removal of stones and other such things lying above it, and (finally) grasping, but never comes out by being (merely) called out by name, so the transparent Truth of the Self, which is hidden by Maya and its effects, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, followed by reflection, meditation and so forth, but not through perverted arguments. 

66. Therefore, the wise should, as in the case of disease and the like, personally strive by all the means in their power to be free from the bondage of repeated births and deaths. 

Thus, one has to know what is real by realizing our body and our experience of the world is a mere illusion created out of the Soul or consciousness. The Soul is the Self. 

The nature of the Soul the   Self is nonduality or Advaita. It is identified by different masters with different names, such as God in truth or Brahman or the Self or the ultimate truth.

Remember:~ 

Sage Sankara: ~ VC~.63-"Without knowing and examining the external world, one can’t know the 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. 

After verifying through deeper inquiry if one finds the world is the reality within the illusion then he cannot again say the world is not an illusion. 

If one is frightened to accept the world as an illusion (waking) then he is unfit to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Those who are stuck with the reality of the world are stuck with the reality of the individual experiences of birth, life, and death, which take place within the unreal world. 

Thus the pursuit of truth is for those who have the courage to accept reality as it is, that is the reality without form, time, and space. 

All is consciousness.  The whole universe is consciousness. From consciousness, the universe comes. When the universe disappears, the consciousness still remains without form, time, and space. 

Sage   Sankara: ~  '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 Maya. 

When you finally realize the Self  ‘is not you but the ‘‘Self’’ is the Soul then you will realize the world in which you exist is merely an illusion created out of the Soul. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. 

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. 

The person who believes the universe is real then: ~

A person, who stamped his foot on the ground to refute to show the world, is real, ignores that in a dream he would do exactly the same--stamp his dream foot on the ground and assert it to be real.  

The world in which we exist is nothing but an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. The whole universe is nothing but the Soul. Therefore, there is no second thing that exists other than the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. 

It is not as if something that was not consciousness suddenly becomes consciousness. Rather, "knowing the truth” means a removal of ignorance about one's own existence as the consciousness. Thus, to "know the truth” is to "be  consciousness." 

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 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 that 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.

A Gnani has realized he is not he but the consciousness; his body is not the body but the consciousness, the world in which he exists is not the world but consciousness. Everything known, seen, believed, and experienced by him is nothing but consciousness so, nothing remains, which is not consciousness. There is nothing else to realize other than to realize that consciousness alone is, everything else is merely an illusion created out of consciousness. :~Santthosh Kumaar