One cannot speak of the known without the knower.

One cannot speak of the known without the knower. However, when the known has vanished, there is nothing to be said about the knower. The act of conceiving in thought demands two factors. One cannot conceive the Formless Witness, the seer or knower, because nothing can be said  about it, without making it an object. It cannot be pulled down to the level of the seen/known.

The duality between the  Formless Witness and Three states is not the same as the duality of two things in the objective world , for here both are known and seen, whereas there one is known; the Formless Witness remaining unknown and one  cannot make any statement about it. It is incomprehensible."

 If Formless Witness disappears, as does, the three states then it must posit another seer to replace it; but in fact, no one has ever seen its disappearance. Thus, it is erroneous to  use the word Formless Witness without the three states. It has no meaning apart from it.

Self is not a thing unknown to anyone at any time. The seeker has to think . As soon as a he becomes aware of himself and the world  he is in waking experience. Where was he and his world when he was in a dream or in deep sleep. When he was  not present in the dream, then what is that witnessed  the dream without his physical apparatus  and what is it that knows that he slept well,   therefore , there must be a knower there before in order to know the experiences within the three states.

The Formless Witness exists before the waking  appears; otherwise, neither knowledge nor sensation could happen. The Formless Witness is always there. Even if one  say it can be reached only at the end of a long path, it is impossible for it to be ever absent even while he  say this. The knower alone makes it possible for it to know anything at all.

Gnani says: “Though, thus quite self-evident, easily known, quite near, forming the self, the consciousness (soul or Atman) appears, to the unenlightened mind as unknown, very remote, as though he were a separate thing.

 Those who do not look at the  formless witness, and perceive it is the only thing that neither comes nor goes, are deluded, and turn outward towards the objective world which comes and goes. So long as the mind only runs from one object to another, from one idea to another within the waking , which is  impermanent and unreal, they ignore the  soul(Atman) and are ignorant. There is no patience for them to think about the formless  Witness. They are immersed in the worldly life believing it as reality.    

The formless  soul  when it  is immersed in illusion(waking nor dream) is  called mind! When it ceases to be immersed illusion  that is sinks back to its formless non dual true nature  it is then the soul. The formless  soul can be called as the formless  essence, the substance or material of the three states. The formless soul   is also called as the self, and the Seer, knower, formless witness. the formless soul is present in the form of consciousness. 

The formless substance  itself is the Formless Witness: it can never be seen. The form and name has nothing to do with the formless soul because everything is created out of one substance. Since one is habituated to view and judge and bifurcate  on the base of name and form , without being aware of the fact that every form and name bifurcates consciousness (soul) which is the whole.

  As a person one  knows nothing of the soul(Atman) directly.  Only when he starts verifying the fact about his own existence, he becomes aware of the fact that ,all the three states, which comes and goes; they  do not really exist. Nothing external  to the soul, the innermost self exists.  The one, which witnesses  the three states ,which  comes and goes,  is  the Formless Witness(soul); the three states are mere illusion on the standpoint of formless witness. To perceive this requires a special sharpness of mind.

The religion propagates that there is a separate soul or mind in each person ignores that Self is  only the seer of  the three states; take only the knowing aspect, and how does anyone differ therein from another person? It may see separate bodies but that does not prove that they contain separate seers.

The essence/substance of the mind is consciousness(soul). Consciousness(soul) is the true self.  The Self-means  the Soul. The three states originate from the soul. Hence, mind  is a created out of the soul.  Mind is mere illusion, because nothing exist in the mind other then the soul ,which is the consciousness or   spirit  Thus, the whole experience of diversity, which is of form and name has mere mirage, because it created out a  single substance which is soul(Atman).