Compared to all other forms discipline Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is the only direct means for freedom from experiencing the illusion as reality.

Sage Sri, Sankara says:- The world is illusion, it includes birth, life and death, which happens within the world.  Thus the seekers main aim is to mentally trace the formless substance of the illusion, which is also the witness of the illusion. The formless substance and witness of the illusion (world) is the Atman, and this Atman itself is Brahman. This Brahman cannot be attained by indulging in egocentric religious orthodoxy. --FORMLESS PATH 

Sage Sri, Sankara believed that those of superior intelligence, have no need of this idea of divine causality, and can therefore dispense with Sruti and arrive at the truth of Non-Dualism by pure reason. 

Duelist Sages have written big volumes about the soul. Yet they are quite ignorant of the fact that,  the ‘I’ about which they write itself comes and goes and has no permanent existence, is only an idea after all.

The soul, the innermost self has to be free from experiencing the duality as reality.  To overcome the duality, the waking entity has to know it itself is not the self but the self is the soul, which witnesses coming and going of the three states.  Thus self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is necessary to realize ‘what is truth’ and ‘what is untruth’ to reject the untruth by accepting the truth. –FORMLESS PATH   

As the waking entity or ego becomes more and more inward turned, it becomes gradually free from experiencing the duality as reality.  When the soul, the innermost self becomes freed from all the obstruction by fully eliminating the ignorance it remains in its own awareness.  When the soul, remains in its own awareness in the midst of duality then the duality is mere illusion created out of the soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

So long the soul, the innermost self identifies itself with the waking entity it remains in ignorance of its formless nondual true nature. Therefore it is necessary to realize the fact that, the ‘self’ is neither the waking entity nor the ‘self’ is dream entity but the self is the formless soul, which witnesses the coming and going of the three states.

Just as the sun is the direct cause of the daylight, so without the self-knowledge no emancipation can be had. Compared to all other forms discipline Self-knowledge or Brahma  Gnana or Atma Gnana is the only direct means for freedom from experiencing the illusion as reality.

Only when the wisdom dawns the soul, the innermost self can remain in its own awareness in the midst of duality.  

The soul,  is present in the form of consciousness is the  ultimate truth or Brahman.  The ‘Mind’ is present in the form of the universe. From the ultimate standpoint the universe is mere illusion. The purpose of the pursuit of truth is the destruction of primal ignorance, which leads to the attainment of the ultimate truth or Brahman.  

Man and his experience of the world exit within the waking or dream. Waking experience has waking entity and the  waking world. Similarly the dream has dream entity and dream world. And deep in sleep has neither the waking entity nor waking world nor dream entity nor dream world. 

One experiences innumerable objects in this world through the physical apparatus within the waking or dream. One is not aware of the fact that,  he and his experience of the world exist within the waking or dream. Thus, the one which witnesses the three states is neither the waking entity nor the dream entity.  

When One thinks he is an individual separate from the world within the waking or dream, he is ignorant of the fact that he is world appeared along with him.  He has the strong conviction that the world existed prior to him and he is born in it afterwards. He thinks that all the objects are different from one another. He is ignorant of the fact that, this separation is only limited to the mind which appears as waking or dream. 

The seeker  has to realize the fact that,  the self is neither the waking entity nor the dream entity but the self is  the formless  soul. The soul is the innermost self. The soul is is present in the form of  consciousness.  The consciousness  is the formless substance and  the witness of the whole waking or dream experience, which is different from the objects experienced, is only one. The consciousness of waking is not different from that of the dream or deep sleep. Since consciousness by itself has no distinguishing features, it cannot vary from person to person.    The same is the case with the dream state.

 The objects experienced in a  dream are transient and disappear when waking takes place, but the objects experienced in the waking experience seem permanent. But only when one becomes aware of the fact that, the self is not physical but self is the formless soul,which is present in the form of consciousness. 

The consciousness in all the three state  is the same. the duality is mere illusion. thus the the three states are a state of ignorence.  When waking takes place a person remembers that he had a good sleep. 

This is the exercise   that examines waking, dream and sleep – as dual (waking or dream) and nondual (deep sleep) experiences which everyone commonly experience. These experiences are here examined naturally and simply, as everyday experiences that show a self, which is conscious of these coming and going of dual and nondual experiences from which they are known.

In the waking experience, the waking entity is identified as an individual separate from the waking world and in the dream experience; the dream entity is identified as an individual separate from the dream world.    The self is neither the waking self nor it is the dream self, because it is always apart, formless and it is only conscious of all the three states which comes and goes in succession.

In the dream experience, all bodies and all objects seen are mere mirage. The one which witnesses the dream as a whole without the physical apparatus is not the form but formless consciousness. This shows that the one which is aware of the three states is within the three states but it is   apart from these three states. It is within the three states as their formless substance and it is without the three states as their formless witness.

The three states are reality on the base of waking entity and they become unreal on the standpoint of the soul, which is in the form of consciousness.  Therefore there is a need to know and realize the fact that the self is not physical but it is consciousness in order to realize the three states are mere mirage.

Thoughts and feelings are present only in waking or dream. The waking or dream is present only when the mind is present. Absent of mind is absent of waking or dream. Absent of waking or dream (duality) is deep sleep.  In the experience of deep sleep, there is neither the waking nor the dream experience.  The one which witnesses the three states which come and go in succession is neither the waking entity not the dream but is without the physical apparatus ,which is consciousness and which conscious of all the three states ,which comes and goes in succession.  

The ignorance exists only in waking or dream.  Deep sleep is an experience of blank emptiness, where there is no second thing to know anything. When waking disappears deep sleep appears, when deep sleep disappears and the dream appears this cycle goes on and on.

If our experience of deep sleep is thus taken seriously, it raises a profound question. How deep sleep is experienced, when there is neither waking entity nor the dream entity to experience it.  Then what is it that is aware of the three states which comes and goes in succession.   Then the self has to be without the physical apparatus with thinking or feeling.

The one which is aware of the three states, which comes and goes is always apart.  All changing actions of perception, thoughts and feelings are within the waking or dream. The waking is parallel dream and dream is a parallel waking experience. The formless soul (consciousness),  is the true Self. The soul, the innermost self is apart from the three states, it is even aware when they disappear because it pervades all the three states as their formless substance.

One seeks truth in the Realm of duality. Non-duality is the  seekers destination when all contradictions are dissolved the truth will start revealing on its own.  Consciousness is always present in all the three states. In deep sleep, it is conscious of itself, when it is not conscious of itself it witnesses the waking or dream. Until one thinks on the base of birth entity he will not be able to understand and assimilate Self- knowledge because he has accepted the birth entity as self. On the base of birth entity the universe is a  reality. When the universe is accepted as reality one has accepted the illusion as reality. Once one accepts the universe as reality then he has accepted the birth, life and death as a reality.

The only factor found present in deep sleep is consciousness in its formless non dual true nature. Consciousness is objectless and can never be objectified because it is the formless subject. Consciousness alone is the subject. These three states are an   object to the subject.  In waking or dream is the state of ignorance. Due to ignorance the object is identified as subject thus the illusion is experienced as reality.

Analysis based on the soul (consciousness) as subject reveals the fact that,  the three states are mere mirage created out of consciousness.  The true state of the consciousness is like deep sleep. Thus mentally holding the deep sleep as real self, and learn to view and judge the waking and dream on the standpoint of the real self , one becomes aware of the fact that,  the waking or dream are mere mirage, which comes and goes and the real self is a mere witness of the mirage.  Only due to ignorance   one calls the real self as deep sleep. When consciousness becomes aware of itself then there is neither waking nor dream nor deep sleep. There is only oneness.  That is unity in diversity.  Therefore, it is necessary to become conscious of consciousness in the midst waking experience to realize the mind is a mere mirage created out of consciousness, then only the ignorance dissolves and reality appears.