The world, filled with attachments and avrsions, and the rest, is like a dream: it appears to be real as long as one is ignorant, but becomes unreal when one is awake.

Sage Sri Sankara:-  "The world, filled with attachments and avrsions, and the rest, is like a dream: it appears to be real as long as one is ignorant, but becomes unreal when one is awake.

Sage Sri Sankara:-  "As fire is the direct cause of cooking, so knowledge, and not any other form of discipline, is the direct cause of Liberation; for Liberation cannot be attained without Knowledge." (Self-Knowledge).

The soul, the innermost  self   does not die. On the standpoint of the formless soul, the innermost self , the  duality never exists  The seeker has to learn to view and judge the  three states  on the standpoint of the formless soul, the innermost self. 

When one  knows that all these are the states created out of single formless clay and nothing exist other than that formless clay  then  he will realize the fact that,  the three states are a mere mirage created out of that formless clay.

First of all,  one must realize the fact that , the experience of birth,life,death and the world   are within the  waking experience (duality).  The soul is  the innermost self. The formless soul which is present in the form of consciousness  is  a mere witness of the coming and going of the  three states. the truth will not reveal  unless one learns to view and judge the three states  on the base of the soul, the innermost self.  

What is  it that witnesses  the  waking or  dreams  or visions?  Without realizing  'what is the mind?'  and 'what is the substance of the mind?'  it is difficult to proceed deeper  self-search. 

The seeker of truth should aspire for Self-Knowledge or Bramha Gnana or Atma Gnana above all else. The duality, absolutely without exception, is transient. One is born, one grows old, one has many experiences in the world, and then one dies but he fails to realize the fact that all these happenings are happened within the mirage. Thus, he believes in birth, life and death as reality because he is unaware of the fact that the duality is a  mere mirage. 

The Duality has a beginning and then an inevitable end. All physical and mental abilities and  the powers eventually fade because they are part and parcel of the duality (mirage). Psychic abilities and every kind of experience, supernatural are happening within the mirage.

What remains always present is the soul, the formless witness of the ‘I’ (mind or universe or mirage). The seeker has to inquire, analyze and the reason on the true base it involves a focusing the attention on the three states which appears and disappears in succession.  When the ‘I’ disappears as deep sleep and reappears along with waking  or dream. Thus one becomes aware of the fact that the formless knower of the three states which appear and disappear is apart. It is apart because it is not an entity or identity within the waking or dream. It is the inner essence of the three states which is Ataman(consciousness or spirit or soul). The words cannot fully grasp this approach. It is understood mentally only with constant effort and practice.

It is this practice which is known as the direct path. It leads to understand and assimilate the fact that,  the formless soul is the source and   from this source the  mind rises and subsides. The source of the three states and the substance and witness of the three states are one in essence. That essence is consciousness.  The consciousness  alone is real  all else is illusion.  There are no words to describe the Soul ,which is present in the form of consciousness. It knows nothing else other than It Self, there being nothing else to know.

The soul, the innermost self  is Knowledge, Existence, awareness  as one whole which gives light and life to the mind which is the myth(mind or universe).

When  one  analyzes the three states than he  finds the witness of the three states is apart formless and he mentally  became fully aware of the fact  that, the formless witness of the three states, itself is the substance of the three states, and realized the fact that, the formless witness is the  soul, which is present in the form of consciousness is the innermost  self. All the three states are a mere mirage created out of consciousness. Thus no second thing exists other than consciousness. Thus consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman.