The formless witness which is aware of the three states, is within the three states, but it is without the three states.

Deeper inquiry reveals the fact that, the self is not the body. If body is not the self then what is it that witnesses these three states without the body?

The dream is witnessed as a whole without the physical apparatus. Same way the waking experience also is witnessed by the same witness, which witnessed the dream as a whole. 

The dream body and the dream world were within the dream. Same way the waking body and the waking world are within the waking experience. The formless witness which is aware of the three states, is within the three states, but it is without the three states.

It is within the three states, as their formless substance. It is without three states as their formless witness. The witness is apart from the three states, because it is formless, therefore it is not an entity or identity within the waking and dream.

The formless witness has to be grasped mentally to realize the fact that, the formless witness alone is real and eternal, and all the three states, which come and go, are mere mirage created out of the formless witness, which is in the form of consciousness.

Deeper analysis is very much necessary to understand and assimilate the Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Yoga is not the means of liberation

People dip into meditation but they do not understand that that is only one half of the truth and that this dipping is also a mental discipline to for them to understand the true nature of the external universe, which understanding they must next get if they are to become Gnanis.

Thus in the Gita, Chap.XII Krishna tells Arjuna that knowledge of both matter and spirit is the True knowledge. One is living in the body, which is the world, and he has to eat and move and work in the external environment. One cannot get away from it. It is his life.

Therefore he ought to know, understand and grasp its meaning. A person who refuses to do so is refusing to face the whole of reality.

Sankara definitely says that Yoga is not the means of liberation [page 132-133 of his commentary on Brihadaranyakopanishad].

The truth has to be proved without the scriptures.

There is no need for scriptures in pursuit of truth. The truth has to be proved without the scriptures. Until we get rid of all accumulated knowledge based on the body as self, the ignorance bound to persist. Thus for the seekers of truth, it is necessary to drop all the accumulated baggage to understand,assimilate and realize the non-dual truth. 

The religious truth and yogic truth are individual truth not universal. Non-dual truth is universal truth. 

The Bhakti and yoga are meant for the worldly mass ,who believes the body as self. Because they are based on the false self, within the false experience. Whatever is based on the body as self is bound to be falsehood. 

The one who has progressed in his pursuit of truth does not require religion,concept of god or scriptures or guru. He is fully aware of the fact that the self is not physical and he has learnt to view and judge the three states on the base of the true self ,which is consciousness.

On the base of consciousness[soul] as self the three states are impermanent and mere mirage. Thus the man and his experience of the world which is present only in waking is unreal, same way as the dream. The dream becomes unreal when waking takes place. The waking becomes unreal when wisdom dawns.