To free one self from cycle of birth, life and death, means freeing the soul/self from the mind, which appears as waking/dream, and disappears as deep sleep.

The Self is indeed Brahman, but through ignorance people identify it with intellect, mind, senses, passions, and the elements of earth, water, air, space, and fire. This is why the Self is said to consist of this and that, and appears to be everything. - Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

To free  one self from cycle of  illusory birth, life and death, means freeing the soul, the innermost self from the mind, which is present in the form of universe. the universe  appears as waking or dream(duality)and disappears as deep sleep(non-duality).

 When the mind is there, then the man and his experience of world are present.  Absent of mind is absent of man and his experience of the world. Thus, only when the mind is there one is aware of birth, life, death and the world.  Since we limit our mind to the physical entity, we are in ignorance of the true self, which is the soul ,which is present in the form of consciousness.

 Virtues, values, love are reality only on standpoint of the physical self (waking entity or ego)  the physical self or ego is the false self  within the false experience. 

 The three states are unreal on the standpoint of  the soul, the innermost self.  Man does not withdraw himself from the waking  experience(mind) but it is the soul, which withdraws itself from the mind (waking) .   When the soul , the innermost self withdraws itself from the mind(duality) , it is in its own awareness of its formless non-dual true nature. In ignorance  man  identifies   the formless non-dual  true nature of the soul as  deep sleep.

It is the Self that is in illusion and it is the self that gets free from the bondage of the illusion. The illusion is present in the form of mind. Mind is in the form of universe. Universe appears as waking or dream and disappears as deep sleep.  The individual experiences of birth, life, death and the world are within the waking experience.  The dream is parallel waking experience and waking is parallel dream.

Deeper self-search reveals the fact that the, self is neither the waking entity nor the self is the dream entity but the self is formless soul, which witnesses the coming and going of the three states in succession without the physical apparatus.  This has to be mentally grasped and assimilated to realize the formless soul, the innermost   self is nothing to do with the three states. On the standpoint of the three states, the three states are mere illusion.

The practical life within the practical world, which is present as waking experience, is mere illusion. If waking experience is mere illusion than the individual experience of birth, life, death and world are mere illusion.   If the experience birth, life death and the world are mere illusion, it means the form; time and space are mere illusion.  If form, time and space are mere illusion, it means the past, present and future is mere illusion. Thus it is necessary for the seeker to realize the fact that,   form, time and space are one in essence, in order to realize the three states are one in essence. That essence is consciousness. Thus all the diversity is created out of   formless consciousness. Thus no second thing exist other than consciousness, the innermost self. Seeker of truth has to constantly reflect on the subject in order to get firm conviction of the truth.  Seeker has to reflect on the same truth again and again until it becomes reality. One needs to constant reflect on the subject until he gets firm conviction of what is what.

The words betray the hollowness. The real cannot be described; it must be discovered and realized. Whatever the words try to convey is only helpful to grasp the truth. The nondual truth has to be grasped and realized.  Man knows only the world, and his individual experiences within the world.   He is not aware of the fact that, he and his experience of the world are part of the illusion. He views and judges the truth on the base of his birth entity, which is false entity, thus he is stuck in the muck of illusion or duality. The nondual truth lies beyond the physical based understanding.  Thus, it is necessary to verify the fact through deeper inquiry, analysis and reasoning about his own inherited beliefs and accumulated knowledge, in order to realize, how they become obstacle in realizing the truth