Holding yourself (ego) as the Self makes you remain permanently in the domain of ignorance.+

It is erroneous to consider the Soul, the Self to be an individual. ‘Yourself’ is not the real Self. ‘

Yourself’ is the ego. Yourself is an individual whereas the Soul, the real Self is universal because it pervades everything and everywhere in the whole universe. 

Holding yourself (ego) as the Self makes you remain permanently in the domain of ignorance.

Those gurus who hold yourself as real Self and declare I AM that= are unaware of the difference between yourself and the real Self.

Some Gurus say do not be anything not even I AM, the ignorance will not vanish.   The ‘Self is neither you nor your body nor the world in which you exist. The Self is the Soul the cause of the universe. 

The Soul, the Self is hidden by the universe. It is hidden by the universe because the universe is a dualistic illusion or Maya created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Those who base the Soul as ‘I’ or ‘IAM’ will never be able to cross the threshold of ignorance. 

Yourself is the ego and you are the ego.  The real Self is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. The Soul the Self is hidden by the dualistic illusion or Maya (I).

Remember:~

Only the Soul or consciousness is Real and all else is an illusion. Only your constant remembrance will allow you, one day, to realize what truth really is, and, in so doing realize the ‘Self.

The exercise in discrimination between real and unreal and renunciation of the false is real meditation.

Remember:~

“One thinks the Self is imprisoned within his body; whereas the body and his experience of the world are within the Soul”. Consciousness is hidden by the three states, but it is without the three states. The one, which has the awareness of the three states, is not the body but the Soul, which is in the form of consciousness.

Consciousness is not limited to waking experience alone, because it pervades all three states. 

Till one view and judges the three states on the base of the ego (form), he is in the grip of individuality or intellectuality. The Self is not an individual because it is universal. And it pervades everything and everywhere in all three states. Thus, individualized judgment will not lead one to a non-dual destination.

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 come out by being (merely) called out by name, so the transparent Truth of the Self, which is hidden by Maya and its effects are to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, followed by reflection, meditation, and so forth, but not through perverted arguments.

Therefore, the seeker should personally strive by discriminating between real and unreal, and renunciation of the false leads to Self-awareness.

Remember

You are not you but consciousness; your body is not the body but consciousness, the world in which you exist is not the world but consciousness. Everything that is known, seen, believed, and experienced by you is nothing but consciousness then what else 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 the consciousness.

By realizing everything is consciousness is the Advaitic wisdom dawns. A perfect understanding and assimilation of ‘what is what’ leads to Advaitic awareness.

Without the world, in which you exist God alone exists. When God disappears the world, in which you exist appears. The world, in which you exist disappears God appears.  Thus, realize the God to be the Soul.

The Soul is the Self. Thus, the Soul which is present in the form of consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

If you stick to the ultimate truth then the world in which you exist is merely an illusion created out of consciousness.  If you realize this truth you will live in this world but not of this world.  Thus, consciousness alone is real and eternal. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar