The 'I' (duality) appears when the Soul (nonduality) disappears. When the Soul (nonduality) appears the 'I' disappears.+

There is no need to walk in the mountains in search of the truth. There is no need to meet any Gurus. There is no need to renounce family life. There is no need to study the scriptures. There is no need to glorify the Gurus. There is a need to spend a fortune to please the Gurus. 

Going to the mountains, searching for a Guru, renouncing the family life, studying the scriptures, glorifying the personal Gods and Gurus are a religious fable. And such acts are the greatest obstacle in the path of Self-realization.

The seeker seeking truth should not stop seeking until they find it. When they find it, they will be disturbed.

Know the ‘unreal nature of the ‘I’. The Gurus of the past ignored and got stuck up with ‘I’. They were not aware of the difference between the ‘I’ and the unreality of the ‘I’.

Know what is this ‘I’ supposed to be in actuality? and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you.

Sages of truth restrained themselves parting the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana to the mass and only a selected few. It was hidden from the people who were not qualified and receptive to it.

Self- it was given knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana was not written down but was imparted orally to the chosen few. Religion was given to the masses, and knowledge of the spirit was given to only a selected few. 

Thus, we find traces of the knowledge of the spirit in the religious books in the form of parables.

The ‘I’ (duality) appears when the Soul (nonduality) disappears. When the Soul  (nonduality) appears the ‘I’ disappears (duality).

The ‘I’ disappears as deep sleep, so what is the use of being attached to it? It is impermanent and illusory because ‘I’ is physical awareness. Physical awareness is not Self-awareness. ‘I-less awareness is Self-awareness.

Limiting 'I' to the physical body is the main hurdle in the pursuit of truth. Therefore, the seeker of truth must investigate ‘What is ‘I’?’ 

To realize 'I' is not limited to the physical body but ‘I’ is the mind. The mind is present in the form of the universe. And the universe appears as a waking or dream. Thus ‘I’ is limited to form, time, and space.

When the ‘I’ is not the physical body then the ‘WHO AM 'I'?-inquiry will not yield the full truth because it yields only the fallacy of the form, not time and space.

Deeper Self-search reveals the fact that the Self is not ‘I’, but the Self is the formless Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness. The consciousness is the formless substance and the witness of the ‘I’.

It is erroneous to identify the Soul the innermost Self as the 'I' or 'I AM' because the Soul the Self is not 'I' or I AM’. The Soul the Self, is that witness of the 'I'.

To understand the false nature of the ‘I’, Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is necessary.

 The Self is not ‘I’, but the Self is the Soul which is the witness of the ‘I’. Holding the ‘I as the 'Self' leads to hallucination based on the imagination.

People are stuck emotionally to the physical Guru and their teaching so their journey is incomplete. They start hallucinating that their Gurus’ grace and blessings will help them to get Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana but they are unaware of the fact that their Gurus' teaching itself has become a barricade. Without crossing this barricade, it is difficult to overcome ignorance.

So-called learned are called children because a child takes whatever it thinks as truth. The question never occurs to children “Is what I have seen or thought really the truth?"

It takes time for the seeker to gain the perfect understanding of ‘what is the truth’ and ‘’what is untruth’.

As the seeker raft upon which he crosses the swift river to get to the other side; once he is on the other side of the shore; there is no longer any need to carry the raft. The far shore is the reality, when he reaches, he can see quite clearly that there was never any river at all. 

Remember:~

God is hidden by the illusory form, time, and space. God is beyond form, time, and space means God is beyond the ‘I’.

You cannot imagine. You will not succeed in bringing God because God is prior to the appearance of the form, time, and space (I). The nature of God is formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

God is beyond the bounds of the ‘I’. If you say ‘I’ you will miss God because God is hidden by the ‘I’.

You are stubborn you still hold the ‘Self’ as ‘I’ because your Guru has injected it. Remember, the ‘I’ is blocking you from realizing the ‘Self, which is the Soul, the real God.

You are stuck with the ‘I’ by saying ‘I AM THAT’. The ‘Self’ is not an individual to identify the ‘Self’ as ‘I AM’. How can you identify the ‘Self as ‘I AM’ when the ‘Self’ is a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

People say Aham Brahmasmi -- I am God, I am Brahman. I AM THAT’ But when Brahman is, how can "I" remain? Only Brahman remains, not the I.

People think the ‘I’ without the body is the Self.

The seeker has to understand the fact that ‘I’ is not the Self, but the Soul, which is the witness of the ‘I’ is the true Self, which is eternal.

That is why Ashtavakra Gita 16:10:~ If you desire liberation, but you still say 'I', if you feel the ‘Self’ is the ‘I’, you are not a wise man or a seeker. You are simply a man who suffers.

People are stuck with the reality of the ‘I’, which they take as real because some Gurus have propagated that the Self is the ‘I’. 

There is no need to convince such a mindset who refuses to accept other than their accepted truth. The seeker of truth accepts only the truth nothing but the truth. The truth is hidden by the ‘I’ but it is without the ‘I’.

Some Gurus in the past glorified the ‘I’ without verifying what this ‘I’ is an actuality. And followers of that ‘I’ based teaching Got stuck with the ‘I’.

The ‘I’ is present only when the mind is present.

The mind is present only when the universe is present.

The universe is present only when the waking is present.

If the ‘I’ is absent then the mind, the universe, the waking, is absent.

~ It means the ‘I’, the mind, the universe, and the waking, are one and the same thing.

This is very important for the seeker to know to realize the ‘I’ itself is ignorance to overcome ignorance he has to discard ‘I’.

Then why use the word ‘I’ for the ‘Self’, which is the cause of ignorance.

The Soul, the  Self is God in truth. It is not “I AM GOD, but it’s correct to say ‘the SELF IS GOD because the Self is not the ‘I’ or ’I AM”.

That is why Bhagavan Buddha said:~

Do not believe spiritual teaching just because: ~

1. It is repeatedly recited,

2. It is written in scripture,

3. It was handed from Guru to the disciple,

4. Everyone around you believes it,

5. It has supernatural qualities,

6. It fits my beliefs anyway,

7. It sounds rational to me,

8. It is taught by a respectable person,

9. It was said to be the truth by the teacher,

10. One must defend it or fight for it.

No second thing existed prior to the appearance of the ‘I’ and ‘I’ never exists now and also ‘I’ never exists in the future. Whatever appeared as ‘I’ is merely an illusion.

Let you be clear on one thing. The ‘I’ is merely a dualistic illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. but in reality, ‘I’ neither exists in the past nor exists now, nor going to exist in the future. 

Whatever existed in the past whatever exists now and whatever is going to exist in the future is merely an illusion created out of the consciousness.

Whatever has appeared as ‘I’ is nothing but consciousness. the ‘I’ has no value because it is merely an illusion. 

If you search for the truth then you will find only the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. If you search for the Soul then you will find only the truth, which is hidden by the illusory form, time, and space.  : ~Santthosh Kumaa