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

Meditation is not a mechanical process of forcing your attention upon an idea or object. Meditation is not the means to acquire Advaitic wisdom.+

Meditation is a progressive step and there is no need to condemn them. Religion and yoga were not the ends, for they can never directly lead to Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Until a man is ripe to receive Self-knowledge, it is fatal to ask him to give up meditation. Without knowing 'what is the reality? and what is an illusion? meditating is a useless exercise.

That is why Sage Sankara says ~ “The exercise in discrimination between real and unreal and renunciation of the false is real meditation, then why you are indulging in other types of meditation.

Meditation is not a mechanical process of forcing your attention upon an idea or object. Meditation is not the means to acquire Advaitic wisdom. Meditation is not a means to find the truth hidden by form, time, and space. Without realizing the ‘Self is not you but the Self is the Soul all the effort used in the meditation leads to hallucination thoughtlessness.

Thoughtlessness is not wisdom. by ending the thoughts you may get peace, not Advaitic wisdom.

Ashtavakra says: ~ “This is your bondage, that you practice Samadhi or meditation.”

All other teachings and practices other than Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana are for beginners only. There are stages in comprehending the truth.

Meditation always means the critical analysis of the Self to get rid of ignorance. Ignorance will not vanish by reaming without thoughts or focusing attention on some object.

The novice seekers must understand that yoga is all right in its place and that it is good at the beginning of the pursuit of truth, but when yoga is made ends in itself and not means to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

It is all made so complicated, and books written by different yogis have made it still more complicated. No amount of reading and understanding can lead to Self-realization.

All other teachings and practices other than self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana are for beginners only. There are stages in comprehending the truth.

Advaitic truth is the ultimate truth for the seeker of truth. All religions, Yoga, mysticism, or theology is for the lower and middling intellect.

The seeker's aim is the search for the Ultimate Truth or Brahman. The search to find the non-dualistic or Advaitic truth that in actuality never was lost, only hidden.

Religious truth is not the truth because it always shows a contradiction. A contradiction arises because a different person's interpretation may disagree with others.

Poets are at liberty to imagine whatever they like, but the only thing wrong is that they take their feelings and sentiments for reality, or when they think that whatever seems, must exist.

Remember:~

Meditation is not meditating on the object, but realizing the object is not the Subject.

The Soul is the subject. The world is an object.

The world in which you exist is an object to the Soul, the Self.

Remember, you are part of the objective world.

Chandogya Upanishad:~ One who meditates upon and realizes the Self discovers that everything in the cosmos-- energy and space, fire and water, name and form, birth and death, mind and will, word and deed, mantrams and meditation--all come from the Self.

People dip into meditation, but they do not understand that that is only one half of the truth and that this dipping is also a mental discipline for them to understand the true nature of the external universe, which understanding they must next get if they are to become a Gnani.

For meditation, one needs not sit and chant God's name or concentrate on some object. Anything you do will not be meditation. If there is a doer then it is not meditation. As long as there is doing, there is ignorance. 

As long as the doer is present, the ego is present. If the ego is present the whole world is present. If the world is present the duality is present. If the duality is present then there is an illusion. If the illusion is present birth, life, death, and the world is experienced as reality.

By realizing the world in which you exist is created out of single stuff. That single stuff is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Knowledge of single stuff is Self-knowledge. Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana leads to Self-awareness.

In Self-awareness, the Soul, the innermost self, remains in its own awareness in the midst of form, time, and space.  Self-awareness is real meditation. Mediation is the nature of the Soul, the  Self. :~ Santthosh Kumaar

Know what this mind in actuality. People mistake the ego for the mind. The illusion is not the projection of the mind. The mind itself is an illusion.+

First Mundaka - Chapter 2 (8) ~ Fools, dwelling in darkness, but wise in their own conceit and puffed up with vain scholarship, wander about, being afflicted by many ills, like blind men led by the blind.

Swami Vivekananda:~“The wicked are always looking for defects. Flies come and seek the ulcer, and bees come only for the honey in the flower. Do not follow the way of the fly but that of the bee

Instead of finding fault first realize what the Self is in actuality. Honest introspection will reveal that all fault lies with “you” and “your "own perceptions and attitudes. If there is an error in understanding what 'Self' is in actuality it is in “you". Correcting this and changing to a Soulcentric attitude will change your perception and then the Soul; the 'Self' will reveal its formless, timeless, and spaceless true nature. If you are unable to grasp the truth hidden by the ‘I’ then you will never be able to grasp nonduality or Advaita. 

Know what this mind is in actuality. People mistake the ego for the mind. The illusion is not the projection of the mind. The mind itself is an illusion. 

It is high time to realize the mind is not within the body, but the body and the world are within the mind. The mind itself is an illusion.

Without knowing what is mind it is impossible to realize the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

The ‘I’ is present only when the mind is present. The mind is present in the form of the universe. The universe appears as the waking or the dream (duality) and disappears as deep sleep (non-duality). The one that becomes dual and nondual is consciousness. 

Thus, all three states are nothing but consciousness. Consciousness alone is real and all three states are merely an illusion. When the conviction about the consciousness becomes firm, then it leads to Advaitic awareness in the midst of the duality.

Thus, it is necessary to have a perfect understanding of ‘what is ‘what’ to realize the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

Illusion’s "concealing power" merely means that when one looks at an ice block he thinks only of the ice block. But a Gnani will think of the substance of the ice block too. That is a wise man has the knowledge of the substance plus of the ice block. 

Similarly, a Gnani has knowledge of the universe and its formless substance also. The consciousness is concealed because of ignorance. As a man, one is not aware of the fact that his body, ego, and his experience of the world are merely an illusion created out of consciousness. 

When one becomes aware of the fact that, the universe is an illusion then there is the no-physical body no ego, and no world there is only the formless, timeless, and spaceless Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of consciousness.

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

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 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 ignorance will prevail as a reality. Till ignorance is there the universe prevails as reality.   Till you realize the whole universe is an illusion you will not be able to realize the ‘Self’ hidden by the universe.

In fact, Sage Sankara states a paradox- the world is and is not. It is neither real nor unreal. It leads us to recognize the existence of Maya (illusion). He thinks that the world is illusory from one perspective and from the second it is nothing but Brahman(God), Itself in manifestation. This apparent world is Maya and has its basis in Brahman, the Eternal. It looks as real. It has names and forms and actually, it is not real In the light of true knowledge, it disappears and Self-alone shines as real. However, Sage  Sankara's Mayavada has not been accepted by many preachers and philosophers.

When Sage Sankara says clearly, the universe is not real. He says that Brahman and Atman are one. The ultimate and Absolute Truth is the Self, which is one though appearing as many in different individuals. The individual has no reality. Only the Soul, the innermost  Self is Real; the rest, mental and physical are but passing appearances, then it indicates the form (waking or duality or mind) is unreal and the formless soul (consciousness or soul) is real.  Therefore, only Atman is real because there is no second thing that exists other than Atman, which is in the form of consciousness.

Remember: ~

Ashtavakra Gita: ~ “The universe rises from the Soul, the innermost Self like bubbles from the sea. Thus know the ‘Self’ to be One and in this way enter into the state of dissolution."

Sage Sankara said: ~A.A~ 88- When the whole universe, movable and immovable, is known to be Atman (consciousness), and thus the existence of everything else is negated, where is then any room to say that the body is Atman?

That is why Sage  Sankara Says: ~ VC-63. Without causing the objective universe to vanish and without knowing the truth of the ‘Self’ how is one to achieve Liberation by the mere utterance of the word Brahman? — It would result merely in an effort of speech.

What is the use of saying ‘I AM THAT’- without knowing what the ‘Self’ is in actuality? Without knowing the truth of the Self, without realizing the truth of the world in which you exist it is impossible to realize the truth beyond form, time, and space. By a mere utterance of the word ‘I AM THAT', the truth will not be revealed.

Sage Sankara: ~VC~ If the universe be true, let it then be perceived in the state of deep sleep also. As it is not at all perceived, it must be unreal and false like dreams.

That is why Sage Sankara says: ~ “Brahman is the truth. The world is unreal everything is Truly Brahman and nothing else has any value.

Sage Sankara says: ~ ‘What is accepted without a proper inquiry will not lead to the final Goal. (Commentary on Vedanta Sutra)

Sage Sankara says: ~ “The exercise in discrimination between real and unreal and renunciation of the false is real meditation, then why you are indulging in other types of meditation.

Those who tell you that Brahman is unity, that you can get it only by intuition, that you should not reason, you should not question or inquire, are deluding you. Verification must come by thought. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

God is not He/she because God is the Spirit. God cannot be seen directly by anyone. God pervades all beings and all directions.+

God in truth is not He/she because God in truth is the Spirit. God in truth has no material shape. God in truth cannot be seen directly by anyone. God in truth pervades all beings and all directions.

God in truth is Athma the Spirit, which is ever formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. Vedas say May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman

By worshipping Gods and Goddesses, you will remain in the domain of the dualistic illusion. Worshipping Gods and Goddesses will not help you to realize the real God. The real God is the Soul, the Self.

God in truth is self-evident. God in truth is not established by extraneous proof. It is not possible to deny God in truth because God in truth is the very essence of the one who denies it. God in truth is the basis of all kinds of knowledge, presuppositions, and proofs. God in truth is hidden by the universe in which you exist, God in truth is without the universe in which you exist.

God in truth is the Supreme Being the One eternal homogeneous essence, indivisible consciousness, and intelligence, which is beyond form, time, and space. To which the Sages describe in a variety of ways through diverse words.

Bhagavad Gita: ~ ‘All those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires, they worship many Gods. (7- Verse -20)

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: "He who worships the deities as entities entirely separate from him does not know the truth. For the Gods, he is like a pasu (beast)". (1. 4. 10)

The time you spend worshipping Gods and Goddesses is wasted because you could have spent that time acquiring Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is your goal. By worshiping Gods and Goddesses, you cannot you will remain in ignorance of the ultimate truth or Brahman or real God.

Upanishads clearly indicate that the human goal is to acquire Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Mundaka Upanishad condemns rituals:~ The Para or Higher knowledge is the knowledge of the Supreme Being while the Apara or Lower Knowledge is that of following sacrificial rites and ceremonies. (1/2/ 1 – 6)

First, you must know what God is supposed to be. There is a clear-cut idea in the scriptures, about what is supposed to be God. And what not to worship in place of God then why worship the belief of God, which is not God.

That is why Lord Krishna says Ch ~V: ~ “Those who know the 'Self' in truth." The last two words (tattvataha) are usually ignored by pundits, but they make all the difference between the ordinary concept of God and the truth about God.

Bhagavad Gita: ~ Brahmano hi pratisthaham ~ Brahman (God in truth) is considered the all-pervading consciousness, which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material. (14.27)

Rig Veda: ~ The Atman is the cause; Atman is the support of all that exists in this universe. May ye never turn away from the Atman, the Self. May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?" (10:48, 5)

Yajurveda – chapter- 32:~  God is Supreme Spirit has no ‘Pratima’ (idol) or material shape. God cannot be seen directly by anyone. God pervades all beings and all directions. Thus, Idolatry does not find any support from the Vedas.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~ Brahman (God in truth) is in the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself.

People, who worship the belief of God, are hallucinating that they become one with such God.

Vedas itself says:~ May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman? Thus, to know the real God Self-realization is necessary. Self-realization is God-realization. Self-realization itself is real worship.

Yajurveda says if you worship what is not God: ~

Yajurveda: ~

Translation 1.

They enter darkness, those who worship natural things (for example air, water, sun, moon, animals, fire, stone, etc).

They sink deeper in darkness those who worship sambhuti. (Sambhuti means created things, for example, table, chair, idol, etc.) (Yajurveda 40:9)

Translation 2.

"Deep into the shade of blinding gloom fall asambhuti's worshippers. They sink to darkness deeper yet who on sambhuti is intent." (Yajurveda Samhita by Ralph T. H. Giffith pg 538)

Translation 3.

"They are enveloped in darkness, in other words, are steeped in ignorance and sunk in the greatest depths of misery who worship the uncreated, eternal prakrti -- the material cause of the world -- in place of the All-pervading God, But those who worship visible things born of the prakrti, such as the earth, trees, bodies (human and the like) in place of God are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time." (Yajur Veda 40:9.)

So, Yajur Veda indicates that: ~

They sink deeper in darkness those who worship sambhuti. (Sambhuti means created things, for example, table, chair, idol, etc (Yajurved 40:9)

Those who worship visible things born of the prakrti, such as the earth, trees, and bodies (human and the like) in place of God are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time." (Yajur Veda 40:9.)

If the religious Gods and goddesses are not real Gods then why one has to indulge in rituals and glorify the conceptual Gods, Goddesses, and Gurus to go into deeper darkness. Instead, spend that time moving forward towards Self-knowledge, which is one’s prime goal.

The Soul, the God is impersonal. The only way to approach God is by Acquiring the Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara.

Sage Sankara’s Supreme Brahman (God in truth) is impersonal, Nirguna (without Gunas or attributes), Nirakara (formless), Nirvisesha (without special characteristics), immutable, eternal, and Akarta (non-agent). It is above all needs and desires. It is always the Witnessing Subject. It can never become an object as it is beyond the reach of the senses. Brahman is non-dual, one without a second. It has no other besides it. It is destitute of difference, either external or internal. Brahman cannot be described because the description implies a distinction. Brahman cannot be distinguished from any other than It. In Brahman, there is not a distinction between substance and attribute. Sat-Chit-Ananda constituted the very essence or Svarupa of Brahman, and not just Its attributes. The Nirguna Brahman of Sage Sankara is impersonal.

That is why Sage Sankara: ~ VC ~ Let erudite scholars quote all the scripture, let Gods be invoked through sacrifices, let elaborate rituals be performed, let personal Gods be propitiated---yet, without the realization of one‘s identity with the Self, there shall be no liberation for the individual, not even in the lifetimes of a hundred Brahmas put together (verses-6). : ~Santthosh Kumaar

Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara is the buried treasure under the garbage of religion and yoga.+

The Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara is the buried treasure under the garbage of religion and yoga.

The Soul, the 'Self' is the ultimate truth, or Brahman or God cannot be uncovered by religious rituals yogic samadhi, or meditation

The seeker has to mentally dig and remove all the obstacles, which is blocking the 'Self' by a perfect understanding of what is the truth and what is the untruth.

The Atman the Self, which is buried under the dualistic illusion or Maya can be realized by acquiring the Advaitic wisdom.

The Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara arises from discrimination between the Self and the dualistic illusion or Maya.

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 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, something which is detrimental to our spiritual progress.

Remember:~

All search is vain until the seeker begins to perceive that the truth he is seeking is hidden within the world in which he exists. Then he may know the world in which he exists is created out of a single clay. That single clay is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Knowledge of this single clay reveals the truth which is hidden by the illusory world in which we exist.

Only when the seeker drops all the accumulated knowledge then he will be able to realize this truth beyond form, time, and space.

Sage Sankara says:~ VC-162- There is no liberation for a person of mere book-knowledge, howsoever well-read in the philosophy of Vedanta, so long as one does not give up the false identification with the body, sense organs, etc., which are unreal.

Attachment, emotion, aversion, pain, and pleasure are the experience of an individual. You are an individual but the ‘Soul is not an individual because it is a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. The individual exists only in the domain of form, me, and space.

The experience of birth, life, and death belongs, to the individual. The Soul, the innermost ‘Self’ is birthless and deathless.

When the ‘Self’ is not you but the ‘Self is the Soul then you are thinking the Self is within you because the world in which you exist is within the Soul, which is present in the form of the 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 not-Self.

Thinking the Soul is within you because the Gurus of the past have said it or it is written in the scriptures you got stuck and you are misdirected and you got stuck to misdirected believing it as the truth.

Bhagavan Buddha:~ There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth: not going all the way... and not starting

That is why Bhagavan Buddha said: ~ “Believe nothing because a wise man said it, Believe nothing because it is generally held. Believe nothing because it is written. Believe nothing because it is said to be divine. Believe nothing because someone else said it. But believe only what you yourself judge to be true”

The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is the ultimate reality or Brahman.

The Gurus, who mix practical life and the practical world and preach Advaita, have made their own cocktail, which leads to hallucination. The question never occurs to them “Is what I have preached really the truth?

Sermons consisting of ornamental words, the profusion of words, and possessing skilfulness in expounding scriptures are merely for the enjoyment of the intellectuals. They do not help to get rid of ignorance.

Upanishads:~Fools dwelling in darkness, but thinking they wise and erudite, go round and round, by various tortuous paths, like the blind led by the blind. (Upanishads Nikilanada -( Ch II-5 P-14)

The scriptural mastery, the force of religious merit--none of these lead to the realization of that ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

The ultimate truth is revealed in the clear understanding and realization of ‘what is the truth? and ‘what is untruth?'. 

When one realizes the untruth (universe) is created out of single stuff, the ‘Self’-awareness rises in the midst of duality exposing the unreal nature of the form, time, and space. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

The universe is not apart from you. The universe appeared along with you and disappears along with you.+

The universe is not apart from you. The universe appeared along with you and disappears along with you.

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.

Until you think the ‘Soul, the Self’ is within you, you will never be able to realize God. God is not limited to you but it pervades in everything and everywhere in the universe.

Sage Sankara says you must first know what is before you. If you cannot know that, what else can you know or understand? If you give up the universe in your inquiry, you cannot get the whole truth.

Remember: ~

The ‘I’ is the universe. Without the ‘I’ the universe ceases to exist.  The Soul, the ‘Self’ and the universe are one in essence because the universe is nothing but an illusion created out of the Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of the consciousness.

This universe is only the veil of ignorance on the Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of consciousness. The Self is not you but the Soul, which is hidden by the universe (I). The Soul is hidden by the universe because the universe merely a dualistic illusion or Maya created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

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 human thought.

When you finally realize the ‘‘Self’ ‘is not you but the ‘‘Self’’ is the Soul then you will realize the universe 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.

Sage Sankara says: ~ “The exercise in discrimination between real and unreal and renunciation of the false is real meditation, then why you are indulging in other types of meditation.

Perfect understanding and realization of ‘what is what’ leads Self-awareness. By holding onto theories one remains in the realm of duality. 

You have to mentally go on dropping what is not the truth through deeper Self-search. Finally when you become aware of the fact that, your ego, your body, and the world are one in essence then there is Self-awareness in the midst of duality. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar