The ‘I’ is neither real nor unreal. The ‘I’ is the dualistic illusion or Maya.+

The ‘I’ is neither real nor unreal.  The ‘I’ is the dualistic illusion or Maya.  A Gnani thinks that the world is illusory from one perspective and from the second it is nothing but Brahman or God, itself in manifestation.

This apparent ‘I’ is the dualistic illusion or Maya and has its basis in Brahman, the Eternal. It looks real. It consists of form, time, and space, it is not real.  In the light of Advaitic wisdom, its falsity is exposed and the Soul, the ‘Self’ alone shines as real in the midst of the dualistic illusion or Maya.

Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara reveals both the real and the unreal nature of existence.

The ‘I’  is both real and unreal. It is real because it is a manifestation of consciousness, but is unreal, in the sense, that it is not absolute and eternal like consciousness itself.

People's approach is more practical, and they stuck with the reality of the ‘I’, they take it as real. That is why all the confusion.

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 ‘I’, observed and experienced. The commoner viewing the ‘I’ will see differently from a Gnani viewing the same ‘I’. Each one interprets the ‘I’  that they see in terms of their existing knowledge. The commoner sees everything based on the ego, therefore, experiences the birth, life, death, and the world as a reality, whereas a Gnani sees everything as the consciousness and he is fully aware of the fact that, there is no second thing that exists other than the Soul or the consciousness.

Thus, all the egocentric knowledge has to be bifurcated to realize the ultimate truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

Remember:~

The consciousness is Brahman. 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 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: ~ VC~.63- "Without knowing and examining the universe, 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.

Sage Sankara says: ~ “What is accepted without a proper inquiry will not lead a person to the final goal. On the contrary, such acceptance will result only in evil, in something which is detrimental to our spiritual progress.

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 that 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.

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

When Sage Sankara says clearly, the universe is not real. He says that Brahman and Atman are one. The ultimate and the Absolute Truth is the Self, which is one though appearing as the universe. The individual within the universe has no reality because the ‘I’ itself has appeared as the universe.  When the ‘I’ itself is an illusion the universe is bound to be an illusion.

Only the Soul, the  Self is Real; the rest, an illusion. Atman is  Brahman because there is no second thing that exists other than Atman.

A Gnani sees the Self hidden by the dualistic illusion or Maya (I)  as it is in the midst of the dualistic illusion or Maya.:~Santthosh Kumaar