From the ultimate standpoint, the waking experience is the dualistic illusion or Maya.+

Those who assert the universe is a reality are still in the elementary stages of the preliminary analysis. The universe is a reality within the waking experience, but the waking experience is the illusion or Maya. In the same way, the dream world was a reality within the dream experience. 

The dream became unreal when the waking took place. In the same way, the waking becomes unreal when Advaitic wisdom dawns.

The Soul, the Self is nothing to do with the three states, which appear and disappear. The Soul, the Self is the cause of the three states and it itself is uncaused.

The Soul, the 'Self' remains without waking and without the dream in deep sleep. It means the Soul, the Self, remains without you and your experience of the world.

We speak of the deep sleep and dream experience only in the waking experience. The waking experience is a state of ignorance. From the ultimate standpoint, the waking experience is the dualistic illusion or Maya, therefore, whatever we speak of the dream experience is bound to be an illusion. The dream is a parallel waking experience and the waking experience is a parallel dream.

The one that becomes waking and the one that becomes a dream and one that remains without the waking and dream in deep sleep is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is the substance and witness and the source of the three states. In reality, the substance, witness, and source are one in essence. Therefore, there is no second thing exists other than consciousness. Thus, consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

When we analyze the dream experience, we find the dream entity, the dream world with all people in it appeared as a whole, and the dream reality lasted until the waking experience appeared.

When one tries to know the truth of his true existence in the waking through deeper self-search, one becomes aware of the fact that the Self is not the ‘I’ but it is a formless Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Consciousness is the essence of the three states from which the three states are made.  

Thus, the illusions of the three states are made of one single substance, which is consciousness. By realizing the formless substance, which is consciousness as the Self, the ignorance vanishes and one becomes aware of the fact that the three states are merely an illusion from the standpoint of the formless substance, which is also the witness of the three states.

Remember:~

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.

Suppose we are discussing worldly affairs in a dream, the dream becomes unreal when waking takes place. Similarly, the waking experience becomes unreal when you realize the ‘Self’ is not you but the ‘Self is the ‘Soul’, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The dream is a parallel waking experience and the waking experience is a parallel dream. The one that witnesses the dream is not you but the Soul. The same witness witnesses the waking as a whole. 

Thus, whatever individual experience happens within the waking is nothing to do with the Soul, the innermost Self, because the Soul is ever formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

Non-attachment to the three states is liberation. Attachment to the three states is bondage.  The Self alone exists and all three states are false and unreal.

Remember:~

You are not different from the ego because you are the ego. The ego, body, and the world appear together as waking or dream (duality) and disappear together as deep sleep (non-duality). The dream is a parallel waking experience and the waking experience is a parallel dream.

The seeker should not focus his attention on the ego but he has to find the truth of the whole waking experience (universe).

The seeker has to find out: ~

‘What is it that appears as the waking?’

“What is it that appears as a dream?’

‘What is it that disappears as deep sleep?’

Deeper self-search reveals the fact that whatever appears and disappears is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The witness of the appearance and disappearance of the three states also the Soul.

All three states are created out of single clay. And that single clay is consciousness. in reality, the witness (Soul) and the witnessed (three states) are one in essence.

The knowledge of the single stuff is Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Remember:~

Unless one realizes the Soul as the Self as it really is” it is impossible to realize the nondualistic or Advaitic truth. :

The seeker has doubts or confusion in his quest for truth because he is egocentric. The seeker then needs a mental yardstick to know ‘what is the truth’ to know ‘what is untruth’. With that mental yardstick, the seeker will know in which direction to turn and overcome all the pitfalls. 

If the seeker is Soul centric then he will know all the pitfalls and errors and be ever aware of ‘what is the truth’ and ‘what is falsehood’.

Until one thinks body as body and world as the world, it is impossible to grasp the nondualistic or Advaitic truth, because his views and judgments are based on the physical self (ego or the waking entity or you) within the physical existence (waking). 

Individuality is a reality with the waking experience, but the waking experience itself is a falsehood. Thus, holding the view as an individual within the false experience is erroneous from the ultimate point of view. The waking is a parallel dream and the dream is a parallel waking experience.

Perfect understanding removes all sorts of obstacles in the pursuit of truth. Only through constant repetition of words in my posts will make one think differently, but it also creates more doubts and confusion in his subconscious and his inner urge to know the truth even more intense. And it also helps to overcome some of our conditioning, which we have inherited from parental grooming and circumstances. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar