Instead of inquiring WHO AM “I’”? One has to find out : - ‘What is it that becomes waking’ ? ‘What is it that becomes dream?’’ What is it that becomes deep sleep?’ To realize all the three states are one in essence.***

Most of the seekers are in uncertainty because they do not know which path leads to the ultimate end.  People go after one guru to another, one scholar to another, going one place to another, reading book after books without knowing what they are searching for. And they unable to grasp what the truth is because they still think body as body, ego as ego and world as world.

 Only when they realize the fact that, their body, ego and their experience of the world are one in essence and that essence is the formless consciousness, which is the innermost self   than only  the non-dual wisdom dawns. When non-dual wisdom dawns the body is not the body,  the ego is not the ego and  the experience of the world is not world but they are a mere mirage cratered out of consciousness.  Thus no second thing exists other than consciousness. Thus consciousness is ultimate truth or Brahman.  

When one becomes aware of the fact that, the self is not physical but it is consciousness, then there are no physical eyes [form], no world because the witness [soul] and witnessed [universe or waking] are one in essence. 

Thus whatever one sees, knows, and believes experiences as a person of the world as a reality within the waking experience, which is mere illusion.   Thus what value is there if one enjoys himself as an emperor    and one suffers like beggar within the waking experience, which itself is an illusion?  

All individual experiences whether good or bad, positive or negative is part of the illusion. The self is nothing to do with the individual experiences, which is part and parcel of the illusion, because self is the formless substance and the witness of the illusion.  The purpose of the self-realization is to realize the waking also is as unreal as a dream to get freedom from experiencing the waking or the illusion as reality.  One finds the freedom from dream reality when waking takes place, similarly the when wisdom dawns the formless self becomes free from experiencing the waking experience as reality.  

Instead of inquiring WHO AM “I’”? One has to find out : - ‘What is it that becomes waking’ ? ‘What is it that becomes dream?’’ What is it that becomes deep sleep?’ To realize all the three states are one in essence. And that essence is formless consciousness.  Thus consciousness alone is real and all else is illusion. Therefore, hold the formless consciousness as innermost self and drop the three states mentally, to realize the innermost self is without the body and without the experience of the world.  

Who dreamt? Who wakes up? Who slept, when the self is not physical but formless?   The diversity is reality only when one considers the self as a form. Therefore, there is a need to understand the fact that, all the three states are created out of consciousness, and they cease to exist without the consciousness, hence they are consciousness. The diversity is mere illusion created out of consciousness.  Thus, there is no second thing exists other than consciousness. Consciousness [soul] is ultimate truth.    

The individual experiences of the pleasure and pain of the dream are reality within the dream.  No one ventured to repay the loan taken in the dream in waking experience because he has firm conviction the dream is illusory in waking experience. The waking experience becomes illusory only when the waking entity gets the firm conviction that, it itself is not the self but the self is the formless witness of the three states. The intellectual understanding is one thing, assimilating the truth is another thing and realization of truth is yet another thing.   It is a gradual process. As conviction about the formless witness of the three states grows the understanding matures and subconsciously    reasoning and judgment base will be rectified from form to formless.

Whether the knowledge accumulated from scriptures or something from more recently published books are mere pointers to truth but not wisdom.***

One sees the water when there is a reflection of the light on the sand, mirage. In dream everything is within the consciousness because the universe of the dream [mind] is in consciousness, yet different, likewise in the waking experience, the whole universe appears in consciousness [self] only.  One has to use his common sense in the waking experience. Because one is attached to the body and the world; he thinks his body and the world are not conscious.

 One cannot be aware of his body and the world; and all his individual experience [including something of the past in the form of knowledge based on purely memory also] without the consciousness.   Thus, for anything to exist consciousness is the main ingredient, therefore, everything is dependent on consciousness because everything is consciousness.   The diversity is reality because; one doesn’t consider his body, world and his individual experiences as consciousness.        

The ignorance is ever present in waking experience makes one experience the illusion as reality. The waking experience is only an appearance in which the individual perceives the world as a person and it changes every moment, at no time it is unchanging; then where has it disappeared in deep sleep or when the dream experience was on. Deeper Inquiry, analysis reasoning reveals the fact that, the self is not physical but it is consciousness.    Then who is the knower of these three states, which comes and goes in succession. 

One has to analyze the mind in waking experience then he will be able to understand this. One mistakes the body to be the matter and everything else as mind.  One thinks his body is matter and he cannot understand the fact that, the body including the world [waking] is mere illusion created out of consciousness.   Until he thinks the illusion as reality he remains believing the birth, life, death and world as reality.   Therefore, it is necessary to know and realize the self is not physical but self is consciousness [soul] to cross the threshold of duality. 

Dissolution of the mind [universe], daily in deep sleep, in consciousness [soul], as it has emanated from and in consciousness.  The waking experience is converted into the dream and the dream is converted into deep sleep.  One does not know this because he does not know the three states are mere illusion and again he is afraid his body and individuality and the world will go. He cannot tolerate to lose his physical existence. Constantly thinking of the birth entity has concertizes the idea of birth, life and death,   thus, the physical existence has become an actuality. The same way one has to think constantly about the fact that, the self is not physical but formless consciousness to dismantle the physical structure built on the baseless [formless] foundation.  

It is difficult to say body and the world as illusion within the illusion without inquiry, analysis and reasoning.  Only after a deeper inquiry, analysis and reasoning, one becomes aware of the existence of the witness, which is in the form consciousness and become aware of the fact that the physical existence is a mere mirage created out of consciousness. Therefore, whatever one knows as person of the world is part of the mirage created out of consciousness. When the mirage is created out of consciousness then how the appearance in which man perceives the world can be true.       

Just as ice block dissolves into water or ornament into gold, so the mind [universe] which has emanated from consciousness dissolves as consciousness.  Thus, no second thing exits other than consciousness. 

The time [the past present and future] is part and parcel of illusion. Until one thinks the self is form, he is bound to experience the time and space as reality.  The only way to overcome from the form, time and space [illusion] is to realize the self is not physical but the self is consciousness.  

People consider themselves to be knowledgeable because they have read books and well informed about the subject. But all these accumulated knowledge is not wisdom. One can’t get non-dual wisdom from accumulating knowledge. 

Whether the knowledge accumulated from  scriptures  or something from most recently published books are mere pointers to truth but not wisdom.  First, whether one is aware of it or not, as he reads he is imposing his own cultural conditioning, biases, experiences, and prior knowledge onto what he is reading; this is how his thinking faculty works. He “makes sense" of new things by associating them with things he already knows.

Most of the time, this is useful.  But if the "new thing" is utterly different from anything one has been exposed to before, he is almost certain to distort it to make it fit into pre-existing conceptual boxes. So much of knowledge   is about changing perspective, but that's hard to do when he is twisting the knowledge around to fit the perspectives he is already having.

As one goes on digging mentally and on more things will be revealed to him through inner revelation, which makes him get a firm conviction of what is what. 

One has to grasp the existence of the formless witness [soul or consciousness] of the three states mentally to realize the three states are mere illusion.  And focusing attention on the formless witness constantly one will be able to establish the reasoning base on the base of formless witness. And when the reasoning base is established on the base of formless witness it becomes easy to understand and assimilate the self-knowledge.  

But it takes much time to establish in consciousness because one has to overcome the physical conditioning by realizing the self is not physical but it is formless.  

Every religion has propagated its own myth.***

People believe in old myths propagated by their religion. Every religion has propagated its own myth. Every religious belief contradicts other beliefs. It is a mere blind belief accepted as truth without verification and evidence.  This causes division. Modern science has exposed many Religious dogmas as myth. All these dogmas were introduced in the primitive era   before people had the benefit of modern science. Science attempts to objectively discover how life works, and religion makes one blindly believe and cast his  burden on the blind belief without verification,  to live in peace and harmony in practical life  within the practical world. 

The seekers main aim is to investigate both dual and non-dual experiences to find and define the underlying truth in everything, thereby realizing what the ultimate truth is.  Because of so many beliefs propagated by a belief system, people think seekers of truth are   atheists because they do not accept the belief blindly. Seekers of truth believe the religionists and atheists both are believers because religionists believe in the belief of god and atheists believe in belief in no god.   

Pursuit of truth is all about accepting uncertainty and open questions and seeking for the things that are certainty. Believers and nonbelievers   will not accept anything other than their inherited belief system or accepted truth.  Atheists feel there is no proof for god’s existence. So the atheist chooses to just believe there is no such thing called God. And religionists just believe in the existence of their conceptual god.  A Gnani is one who is fully aware of the fact that, the existence or non-existence of God cannot be proven on the base of the physical self.  Therefore deeper understanding is necessary to understand and assimilate the truth about Gods existence to know what is supposed to be the God.  

In Vedas the God (Soul/Ataman) has been described as:- 

The Self or Atman is God and God is the Self or Atman.

  Sakshi (Witness)

  Chetan (conscious)

  Nirguna (Without form and properties).

The Soul/God further has been told as

  Nitya (eternal)

  Shuddha (pure)

  Buddha (omniscient)

   Mukta (unattached).

It means the ultimate truth is God.  That is Atman is Brahman.  That is the true self is ultimate truth.  

In Advaita Vedanta: - Brahman is without attributes and strictly impersonal. It can be best described as infinite Being, infinite Consciousness and infinite Bliss. It is pure knowledge itself, similar to a source of infinite radiance. Since the Advaitins regard Brahman to be the Ultimate Truth, so in comparison to Brahman, every other thing, including the material world, its distinctness, the individuality of the living creatures and even Ishvara (the Supreme Lord) itself are all untrue. Brahman is the effulgent cause of everything that exists and can possibly exist. Since it is beyond human comprehension, it is without any attributes, for assigning attributes to it would be distorting the true nature of Brahman. Advaitins believe in the existence of both Saguna Brahman and Nirguna Brahman; however they consider Nirguna Brahman to be the absolute supreme truth.  

Atman is the true self.   The true self or Atman is in the form of consciousness is ultimate truth and it is God.    

The Atman is within the mind (universe) and mind (universe) is within the soul. The universe  is within the self and self is within universe. The chicken is in the egg and the egg is in the chicken. The tree is in the seed and the seed is in the tree. The same thing that was told by the Vedas was repeated by the Saint John (10-38)? Father is in me and I am in Father. Thus the father (soul, the innermost self) is our immediate, neighbor- love thy neighbor.  Therefore, one has to love the soul(Christ) in order to become one with the formless spirit or soul or  Christ, which are the creator, sustainer and dissolver of the world(duality).   

Therefore, self-realization is necessary in order to realize the ultimate truth or god.  Self-realization is real God realization.

 People are ignorant and they are unaware of the reality of their true existence. Man and his experience of universe is simply a mirage created out of   the consciousness.   Soul or Consciousness is the real Self. Thus consciousness is the ultimate reality or Brahman.