Brahman is the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself.

 Gaudapada’s rational exposition of Advaita: - that whatever is seen, whether external or internal, whether by the ordinary persons or yogis, is unreal.

Deeper self-search revels the fact that, The soul(consciousness) ,body and world are one in essence therefore no second thing exists other than soul , which is in the form of consciousness.  Thus realizing all the three states as consciousness leads to self-awareness.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, which is a part of Vedas, Declares that:-Brahman is the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself. 

DVI" means two. DVI" connotes dual existence and the non-dual. Which of these two is non-existence? People think that there is God and that the jivas--souls-- like them form the second, other than them. There is no such duality at all.

"Soul”, which is present in the form of consciousness,   is the only reality and there is nothing other than this soul or consciousness, which is the innermost self. On the stand point the formless soul or consciousness, innermost self, there is no second thing exists other than consciousness.  Because the whole universe in, which we all exist is created out of consciousness.  There is no second thing exist other than consciousness. Hence it is non-dual (non-duality)   

Why distinction should imply contradiction. What does the distinction mean? It implies that two things are not the same, hence duality exists there.

What is the soul as different from mind? The soul is only a mental picture within the duality. Even if one says that he is immortal and exist eternally, only in duality he can say it i.e. the duality itself is mere illusion.

The illusion never reaches the self, which is consciousness. The false self never knows it. He who says he has a vision of the highest or describes it as super consciousness etc. does not understand consciousness, because it is free from all  imaginations, because it exists prior to all experience and imagination.

Ordinarily knowledge arises from experience of object by a subject; that all knowledge of objects will only lead to more thinking but never gives one the ultimate reality.

Most thinkers think that   by trying and getting more and still more objective experience and then when they have enough they may get reality. But they can never get at the ultimate truth that way because it leads to endless thoughts and because it ignores the formless witness, one must make the inquiry into  the  formless witness to find reality. One need not give up its investigations into objects; they are useful empirically; but only that one should not delude him-self that it is the correct path to final Reality.

No one has ever seen the awakening of consciousness, because consciousness is prior to anything that exists.  No one has seen god creating the universe with all its contents, because he did not exist prior to Gods creation. Such talks are mere speculated hypothesis.

Yogi thinks of his body that is chakras. He imagines there are chakras within his body, when he sits down to meditate, he is thinking his body; next he is trying to get rid of thoughts i.e. he is already thinking of those thoughts. Thus he never becomes aware of the witness because he is only aware of the witnessed. Thus, any physical practice becomes bondage.   The ultimate truth lies beyond the body and experience of the world.

One can get only a thought with thinking. Meditation is only an effort to divert the attention; it is mere imagination. Remaining with or without the thoughts is not wisdom.   When one’s attention is riveted to an object within the waking or dream, he is unaware of the subject, which is consciousness. Waking or a dream are mere an object to the subject, which is consciousness.

When one is absorbed in thinking of anything, he forgets the subject is consciousness, the self, that which sees all the three states. One may think for many years but it is all thoughts arises within the waking experience, hence not  the consciousness because the waking experience is a mere mirage created out of consciousness. But when one knows the formless substance and witness of the three states, he does get consciousness, the true self, the knower, the seer of the coming and going of the three states. The consciousness without the illusion is the eternal.