The soul is one.

 The Soul  is one. The soul is present  in the form of  consciousness. People  think there are many souls and they  remains in ignorance. Ignorance makes one believe the experience of birth, life  death and world  as reality.  The experience of birth, life  death and world is present in the form of waking experience. the whole universe along with its contents are created out of single stuff. And that stuff is formless soul. the soul is present in the form of consciousness. 

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.

Soul or consciousness is our innermost self is the witness that experiences the action, the actor, and the world of separate things. It is like a light that illuminates everything in a theatre, revealing the master of ceremonies, the guests, and the dancers with complete impartiality. Even when they all depart, the light shines to reveal their absence.

What is not consciousness (formless) in the experience of diversity (waking)?  The waking and the dream cease to exist without consciousness.  The seeker, seeking and his destination   all are one in essence.

All agendas are within the illusion, which appears in the form of mind or universe or waking experience. The self is within the illusion as its formless substance and it is without the illusion as its formless witness. The formless witness is the one which witnesses the body and universe together.  Thus the ordinary awareness is physical awareness (waking) is not self-awareness.  In self-awareness the body is not the body but it is the consciousness, the ego is not ego but it is the consciousness, the world is not the world but it is the consciousness even though they exist but their unreal nature is exposed.

Self-Knowledge  or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana  is necessary to know the fact that, the universe, which appears is in the form of mind and disappears as nothingness (formless) is mere mirage created out of  formless soul.

 Soul is present in the form of consciousness. Thus the consciousness is the source and witness of the universe or mind, which comes and goes. Thus it is necessary to know the formless witness of the three states in order to know the fact that, the true self is apart and free from the mirage ,which is in the form of birth, life, death and the universe. Therefore, it is necessary for the seeker to make sure how the three states are mirage.

Sri, Sankara declared: - The world is unreal. He never said body is unreal. He would have said only birth and death is   unreal, he did not say that, he said the world is unreal.   He meant   the world including the body, because the body and world appear together and disappear together [waking/dream].  Then we have to conclude, what remain without the body and the world as reality.

How can the birth, karma, death, rebirth, and reincarnation, which take place in unreal world (waking or dream), can be true.   The one, which is aware of the birth, life death, rebirth and reincarnation (illusion/unreal), is formless soul, the innermost  self.  The formless soul, the innermost  self is  our true identity, which is birthless and deathless but it is the witness of the illusory  experience of  birth, life and death and rebirth (illusion/unreal).

 On the standpoint of true identity the birth, life, death, rebirth and reincarnation theory is part of the illusion(unreal).  The body cannot reincarnate, the body and the world are created out of the same formless stuff. Until one views and judges on the base of flesh, bone and blood (five elements), he will not be able to grasp the non-dual truth.  Thus, one must know on what standpoint, we are not born and we do not die thoroughly, just by hearsay views, it will not lead anyone to the non-dual destination.

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