When the self is not the waking entity than all his claims of seeing God or talking to God as waking entity is bound to be falsehood, because the waking experience itself is falsehood.

Religion is individualized truth”; Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is universal truth.  This means believers  takes the belief as truth whereas the Gnani takes his reasoned judgment, which will be the same under test everywhere in the universe. 

No one has seen God. They do not know God’s capacities, what He can do, and what he cannot do. Therefore any statement one might make about God would only be a lie. God is only a settled fact for believers, but for others His existence is problematic. It is impossible to prove the existence of God by any reasoning without belief system. Every belief- system has its own idea of god and idea of creation. Without belief the God ceases to exist. One must take rational position in order to unfold the mystery of his true existence. Thus the seeker of truth does not know whether God exists or not. He starts his quest without belief and belief system. 

Unless one gives up the religious ideas of individual God, karma, sin heaven and hell, self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is impossible. Truth must be proved here and now, on this very life. If that cannot be done, one cannot consider any such idea, as existence of individual god, karma, sin heaven and hell, as true.

People see visions of Gods and Goddesses and adepts according to their own inherited samskara or conditioning. How does one know that God who tells about himself in meditation or vision is truthful! He may tell you a lie! His statements must therefore be tested. Supposing a mystic has a vision, which experience is true, but he must prove that it is really what it purports to be, and that he is not deluded. 

When the self is not the waking entity than all his claims of seeing God or talking to God as waking entity is bound to be falsehood, because the waking experience itself is falsehood. If the three states are illusion created out of the formless soul or consciousness, the innermost self, than all the visions are also mere mirage created out of consciousness. 

 Only in yogic paths such visions of God and saints are taken as reality because yogis’ approach is more practical, and they are stuck with the reality of the waking experience, and they take it as real.

That is why Buddha said:-   

Believe nothing because a wise man said it,
Believe nothing because it is generally held.
Believe nothing because it is written.
Believe nothing because it is said to be divine.
Believe nothing because someone else said it.
But believe only what you yourself judge to be true.

-Buddha

Authoritarianism merely assumes as true what another says, but what has yet to be proved.  One may believe in a position, but he is required to prove the truth of his belief. A belief is a feeling, truth is knowledge. 

Looking to all these diverse idea of every belief system Create the doubts and confusion. "Which belief system is the right and which belief system is wrong?" .There is the certainty that he is proceeding on right lines if takes path of belief?" Thus doubts arise and the inquiring spirit comes and impels to search elsewhere for truth where it will not be possible even to have doubt. The test is therefore in reasoning. Only through soul-centric reasoning one can reach the ultimate end of understanding. If one is soul-centric than there is no scope for argument about views or to have difference of opinion and one is in the realm of doubtlessness. 

If one seeking truth nothing but truth than he should not accept anything as truth without verification.

When wisdom dawns than one realizes there is no object at all because object is mere illusion created out of formless subject.

Once one understands the self is not the waking entity or ego,  than  he has understood and assimilated the real essence of Advaitic or non-dualistic truth. One must learn that in the realm of duality,   the mind  is different from soul (consciousness)   but in reality  mind and soul are one in essence.

Homogeneity is the natural condition of the soul. Through ignorance one creates dissociation within it. The first dissociation is the sense of ‘I’.  The sense of ‘I’ is the inborn samskara or conditioning. Soul or consciousness, the innermost “self" is not different from mind, which is in the form of universe. Limiting the soul or consciousness to the waking entity within the waking experience is cause of the ignorance.

It is the waking entity that thinks of the “self.” 

What is Self? 

That which is always aware of the coming and going of the three states is the soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.  The Self is within the three states but is ever apart from the three states. It is within the three states as their formless substance and it is apart from the three states as their formless witness.

The Witness is the subject.  The three states are an object to the formless subject. In reality the subject and object are one in essence, but in ignorance the subject is hidden within the object.  When wisdom dawns than one realizes there is no object at all because object is mere illusion created out of formless subject. Thus there is no second thing exist other than the formless subject, which is consciousness. Thus consciousness alone is real and all the three states are mere illusion created out of consciousness.

In spiritual sense the self means, the source of the whole existence.

People think the self is ego.  When one considers the mind to the physical entity then  it becomes ego.  In spiritual sense the self means,  the source of the whole existence. By limiting the self to the physical entity is cause of all sorts of doubts and confusion.

Science and modern thinkers limit the self to the ego.  The ego, body world, intellect are division created out of consciousness.  They all appear together and disappear together. All the energy, thought, world, ego body whatever accumulated dross and conditioning can be summed up and called with single word as mind, because they all exist when the mind exist, without the mind all these ceases to exist. Therefore, there is only a need to discriminate between mind and no mind experiences.  All the intellectual analysis is not required because it is beyond intellectuality. 

We have to use less word to get the truth.  That which one knows best in the waking, that which is nearest to him, that of which he can never be free, whose existence is supremely certain, is his consciousness which is the self. One may doubt anything else but he directly perceives his-self, which is consciousness. 

Hence one has to begin the pursuit of truth with the study of consciousness, not, as is mistakenly done by theologians, metaphysicians, with the supposed Absolute. 

All gold ornaments with different shapes are made of this same single material, so to explain the nature of the unknown self,one has start with something known and familiar, viz. consciousness, which one has in the three states, and proceed step by step from that onwards. One knows his -self as physical but it is mistake.  If one considers the self is physical then it becomes ego. The self is not the ego but the knower of the ego. This soul/self   is not physical but it is consciousness, which holds the whole physical existence. After knowing the fact that this consciousness is the self, one becomes aware the consciousness is ultimate truth. 

All the three states product of the consciousness which should enable anyone to understand everything [all the three states] is consciousness. Moreover everyone has and knows this consciousness; therefore it is a universal datum. It is something which everybody can grasp, not merely some occultist or mystic; therefore there is no mystery-mongering in the study of truth.