To realize all the three states as the spirit is the means of getting rid of the duality ,which one experiences as reality. There is nothing higher than in identifying the mind with the soul, the innermost Self. One realizes this state by excluding the three states through steadfastness in the eternal Atman.
When there is no mind , then there will be no duality. when mind arises as waking and dream , and subsides as deep sleep .” He who pursues this closely, and mentally discovers the the origin of the mind ” and reaches the source of the mind, and realizes the fact that, the soul alone is real and all else is mirage.
The whole universe and the body is within the mind. Hence the whole universe and its perceiver is contained in the mind. The body and the universe together is Mind.
The universe is nothing but the mind, and the mind is nothing but the Heart. Thus the entire story of the universe culminates in the Heart.
A seeker of truth has to reason about the mind through the process of analyzing the three states, and reaches the source of the mind from where it rises and subsides. He has to reasons in this manner: True self is not physical but it is formless soul/spirit . true Self is neither the universe nor the physical body but is is the formless substance and witness of the three states. The three states are within the mind ,which appears as waking and dream and disappears as deep sleep. As a result of such reasoning he attains the Absolute or ultimate truth. Then he realizes fact that the three states are mere mirage created out of the soul or conciousness, the innermost self.
The summit of spirituality is the realization of the true self is not physical but the formless soul or consciousness or spirit. On the standpoint of the soul as self , the three states are mere mirage . the soul is the Powers the mirage. The soul is the ultimate truth.
The whole Advatic teaching can be summed up into one
sentence, ‘There is nothing else but Brahman. It says that the Absolute
Existence, Absolute Knowledge and Absolute Bliss is Real. The universe is not
real. It says that Brahman and Atman are one. The ultimate and the Absolute
Truth is the Self, which is one though appearing as many in different
individuals. The individual has no reality. Only the Self is real; the rest,
mental and physical are but passing appearances.
In fact Sage Sri, 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. He thinks that the world is
illusory from one perspective and from the second it is nothing but Brahman,
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 Sri, Sankara’s Mayavad has not been accepted by many preachers
and philosophers.
When Sri, Sankara says clearly, the universe is not real.
He says that Brahman and Atman are one. The ultimate and the Absolute Truth is
the Self, which is one though appearing as many in different individuals. The individual
has no reality. Only the 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 ( soul or consciousness or FW) is real. Therefore, only Atman is real because there
is no second thing exist other than Atman, which is in the form of
consciousness.
The ultimate truth has nothing
to do with Scriptures and it is independent of scriptures. The point is:
though it is taught by the Vedas, it does not require any belief in the
infallibility of Vedas; in other words even if an individual or some other
religion were to propose the same thing, a person with an open mind would come
to the same conclusion that there is a fourth state, that it is Brahman - and
that it is the same as the self.
