Soul/self is different and apart from the known. Soul/Self is not an object which can be known or experienced by any one because it is prior to all that is known. Man can experience only external objects within the waking or dream and so he cannot know the indwelling soul, which is the formless substance and witness of the three states. The only way to realize the true self is to trace the formless substance and witness of the three states.
The true self never undergoes any change; and physical existence that undergoes change is unreal. Soul alone is real. All the three states, which appear and disappear, are unreal. The experience of diversity [waking/dream] is mere name, created by words alone; the formless substance and witness of the three states alone is real and eternal.
conciousness [soul]is sentient that gives life to the waking and dream. The waking or dream is insentient and dependent on the soul for their existence, whereas the soul can remain with or without the waking/dream.
Soul/Self is free from the limitations of the form, time, space and objects. Actions do not taint the soul; the soul never hankers after the fruits of actions. One, who knows the true self is the soul thus, does not become bound by actions.Soul /true self is not a doer and that he has no desire for the fruits of actions because it is formless. Self-Knowledge knowledge alone makes one free from bondage of experiencing the duality as reality.
The one who knows Soul as self and realizes that he is not a doer and has no craving for the fruits of actions incurs no bondage. His actions cease to be the cause of further ignorance of taking the ego to be the self.
Thus, what is necessary is the realization that, the self is not physical but the spirit is the true self.
He who thus knows truly the formless substance and witness to be the true self becomes free from the experiencing the illusory birth, life and death as reality. He becomes fully aware of the fact that the cycle of birth, life and death are mere passing show.
The one who realizes that the self is the soul and self has neither birth nor any activity, because they pertain only to the waking entity, will become liberated from experiencing the illusion as reality
The ignorant disregard the soul as self, taking themselves to be an individual born in this world and the world is separate from them. They think the world existed prior to them and they are born in this world later on. Until this conviction is there, it is impossible to assimilate the self-knowledge. The body, ego and the world appear together and disappear together. The seeker has to make sure of this fact by constant reflecting on the subject.
The soul /spirit dwell in all the three states as their formless substance and witness. People worship only images, thinking that God is there. People do not recognize soul as the self to be the real God, but that they do not realize that god, as the soul, which pervades in everything and everywhere in all the three states.
The ignorant people are not capable of discriminate and reason to unfold the mystery of the mind. Therefore they will not be able to grasp the nondual truth. It is realization the true self that will free one from bondage of duality. But the belief system makes them to believe the duality is reality therefore, they cannot think beyond physicality.
The formless substance and witness is different from everything that appears in the waking/dream, which is always subject to change, is insentient and limited by form, time, space and the world.
Knowledge means ‘pure consciousness and not the knowledge based on physicality, which has a beginning and an end and is therefore finite. This consciousness is not distinct from soul, but it is its essential nature, like the light of the sun or the heat of fire. This consciousness is eternal and is present even during deep sleep. A specific act of knowing takes place only when there is waking. But this must be distinguished from pure consciousness, which is ever present in all the three states. It is this consciousness which is known as ultimate truth. Soul/Self becomes a ‘knower’ only when the known is superimposed on it.
The Self is looked upon as a knower only because of illusion. No word can express ultimate truth, “Words cannot cross the threshold of duality. The true Self which is the soul is without any attributes.
