What is ‘I’? The ‘I’ disappears in deep sleep, so what is the use of being attached to it? It is illusory.

A true seeker is not content with the spiritual knowledge based on hearsay…. He insists s on direct realization of ultimate truth or Brahman.  

In beginning stages of pursuit of truth a fundamental difficulty which is faced by the seeker of truth is to make sure whether belief in God and all religious propagated idea of heaven, hell, sin, karma, rebirth and reincarnation are true or false.   It is very difficult to accept belief in God and all religious propagated idea of heaven, hell, sin, karma, rebirth and reincarnation are falsehood because of the inherited conditioning of parental grooming and societal restrictions.   Religious believers are more interested in God and God’s working in the universe but for the atheist refuse to accept such idea of existence of God and all the religious dogmatic ideas. 

Seeker of truth is more interested in knowing the truth of his true existence because individualized GOD’s existence is dependent on his existence.  Without his existence the universe ceases to exist. Therefore he is more interested in realizing the truth of his true existence in order to unfold the mystery of the universe in which he exists.     

  

Brahman means ultimate truth. Oneness is nature of Brahman.  The soul is the innermost self. The soul is present in the form of consciousness.  Nature of the consciousness is one ness. 

In scriptures one will find many way to realize Brahman but after getting all the information about all the path one has to begin to investigate, in order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman cannot be realized through scriptures, religion or god or guru glorification because the ultimate truth or Brahman is beyond form, time and space whereas man and his experience of the world his religion, his belief of God are within the scope of form, time and space.  From ultimate standpoint form, time and space are illusion because they are one in essence. 

Seeker has to indulge in deeper self-search.  It is very difficult to accept the scriptures reveal the truth. How does one know that the scriptures reveal the truth? How does one know that the sage, who may be a perfectly truthful man, speaks the Ultimate Truth? How does one know that he is not mistaken?

One must indulge in deeper self-search and then he will be able to judge 'what is what' .

Whoever begins with the question "Who Am I” inquiry falls into the physical trap?  The point is, how does this question arise at all.  

Seeker must start with the universe first and then only after the question "What is the world" is answered should one deal with the question "what is this body ".

 This is the natural order of inquiry because unprejudiced minds always begin with asking about the world confronting him first.

What is ‘I’? The ‘I’ disappears in deep sleep, so what is the use of being attached to it? It is illusory. 

 

There is really no ‘I’. It dies in deep sleep. But the notion of its unreality will gradually grasped by the serious and receptive seekers. Individuality is illusory. 

One is ignorant of the fact that the ‘I’  or mind comes and goes as waking or dream and has no permanent existence, is only a mirage after all.

Scriptures prescribe many way to find Brahman but they are mere information. After verifying all the information one will not find Brahman in of these.  One will never succeeds in realizing the ultimate truth unless his soul, the innermost self becomes restless for acquiring the ultimate truth of Brahman.  One must begin to do his own home work without the scriptures, only then it is possible to acquire Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

If one becomes aware of the soul or consciousness, the innermost self, then the universe in which we exist is mere illusion.

Consciousness is the one behind the many (universe).   If one becomes aware of the soul or consciousness, the innermost self, then the universe in which we exist is mere illusion. Thus our existence as an individual separate from the world is mere illusion created out of single stuff, which consciousness.   

When viewed as waking entity or ego, the waking world seems to be real.   Deeper self-search reveals the fact that, the waking entity is false self within the false experience and the self is neither the waking entity nor the self is the dream entity but the self is the formless soul or consciousness, which witnesses the coming and going of the three states. 

Without knowing the nature of the mind or universe, it is impossible to know truth. It is of no use of trying to find the truth before one understands the nature of the universe. The world which confronts one is also consciousness itself therefore the world in which man exists is mere mirage created out of consciousness, which is the innermost self. 

If one does not make his induction from facts from the world before him, the world of the five senses, he is only drawing on his imaginations. Then he says “The ‘Self’   is like this, or like that." but it will be only his imagination within the waking experience, which is mere illusion from ultimate standpoint.

What are these three states? Consciousness never experienced in the plural, only singular of which plural is unknown; that there is only thing and what seems to be plurality is merely diverse aspect this one thing, produced by a deception, which Advaitin sages called it as Maya.   

First seeker must inquire into the nature of the physical body i.e. matter. Second he must inquire into the nature of the mind to realize, the mind is in the form of universe and universe appears as waking or dream and disappears as deep sleep. That is, mind (waking or dream) becomes the soul (consciousness) and soul (consciousness) becomes mind (waking or dream).  Or form( waking or dream)  becomes formless(consciousness)  or formless(consciousness)  becomes form(waking or dream) .  

 

The consciousness, the innermost self-pervades in everything and everywhere in all the three states therefore the consciousness is not limited to waking entity and waking world. Thus all the three states   have to be taken into account.  WHO AM ‘I’? Inquiry which exposes the false nature   of the waking entity or ego  reveals only half truth.  Therefore one has to indulge in deeper self-search to realize ‘I’ itself is not the self in order to unfold the mystery of the mind or universe. 

Know that which has form to be unreal and the formless to be permanent.  One has to look at everything in world because in everything there is Consciousness because world is created out of consciousness.  One should not avoid the world   and shut   himself away from the world that confronts him like yogi and meditator because the world which is as much consciousness, as his body.  It is very much necessary to realize the body and the world are one in essence.

Belief of God, heaven, hell, paradise, sin, karma, rebirth, reincarnation based on the waking entity are myth.

The “Self” is the non-dual Source of the mind or universe from where it rises and subsides. Formless  soul is the substance,witness and also the source of the mind or universe.  The source is also known as - Primal Energy, Consciousness, Awareness, Plenitude, God - is Unicity, Oneness, and Non-duality. 

The soul is the  innermost  self and it is in the form of consciousness. Consciousnesses  without waking or dream, whole and oneness. In the cloud there is nothing other than water, so too consciousness is nothing other than itself. It is the absolute without a second.

The moon reflecting on water and appearing as many, the self is just like the reflection of the moon on water which increases with the volume of water and decreases with its reduction, which moves when the water moves, and which differs as the water differs. The moon seems to conform to the characteristics of water, but in reality the moon never has these increasing or decreasing qualities. So also, from the highest point of view, consciousness always retains its sameness; it seems to conform to such characteristics as increase and decrease of the limiting adjunct, owing to its entry into such an adjunct as a universe. 

Thread is drawn from cotton and is woven into cloth. But the reality of cotton is in both of these forms, viz., thread and cloth. Similarly, the projections of names and forms of this material universe on consciousness do not alter the nature of consciousness. It remains as it is without any change.

One can also illustrate the uniqueness of consciousness by analyzing the phenomenon of dreams. Dream is parallel waking experience. And waking experience is parallel. The three states are an object to the subject, which is formless consciousness. The consciousness is the formless substance and witness of the three states one is unaware of the subject because he considers the waking entity as self and views and judges the three states, which is erroneous. 

The waking entity is limited to the waking experience, and the dream entity is limited to the dream experience. In deep sleep the waking or dream experiences are absent, thus the witness remains in its formless non-dual true nature, but due to ignorance of the true self, which is the substance and witness of the three states, one experiences the three states as reality. When one becomes aware of the formless witness of the three states then one becomes aware of the fact that, the three states are mere mirage on the standpoint of the true self, which is consciousness.  

Whatever seen, known, believed and experienced within the waking experience is falsehood.  Thus the experience of universe and birth, life and death which are part and parcel of the waking experience  are myth. Thus the Belief of God, heaven, hell, paradise, sin, karma, rebirth, reincarnation  based on the waking entity  are myth.  

Thus by worshiping individualized God and following religion studying scriptures are for those who are incapable of realizing the truth of their true existence.   

Simply intellectually speculating saying ‘I AM THIS’ or ‘I AM THAT’ is not Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

The scriptures have been passed down by hearing from one generation to the next. They were written down only relatively late. So, no one would know whether to rely on the times they give. Also, a lot depends on the translation. Each 'Shloka' (sanskrit verse) is open to many layers of interpretation.

Non-duality has no place for an individualized God or anything supernatural.   The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is the innermost self, which pervades in everything and everywhere in all the three states.  When wisdom dawns one becomes aware of the fact that the soul is the innermost self and the soul or consciousness witnesses all the three states. The witness and witnessed are one is essence.  

All the name and form has no value from ultimate standpoint, because all the names and forms are mere mirage created out of consciousness.  Consciousness alone is real and eternal. Thus formless soul or consciousness, the innermost self, is ultimate truth or Brahman. Nothing higher than that can be, when there is unity in diversity.

 That universal unity is what Buddha, Sri, Sankara and Sri, Goudpada discovered by investigating the depth of dimension of the mind, which is present in the form of universe. They realized this ultimate truth and enlightened. They achieved Gnana or Bodhi, the Self-Knowledge of Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. 

 The consciousness is not limited to the waking entity and the waking world because it pervades all the three states.

By inquiring “WHO AM ‘I’?”  , which is limited the waking entity will yield only half truth,   because it exposed only the unreal nature of the form and fails to expose the unreality of the time and space.   Thus ‘WHO AM I? Inquiry will not yield full truth.   Without taking all the three states into account,    it is impossible to realize the ultimate truth of Brahman.

Many People who are stuck with” WHO AM ‘I’? and ‘I AM THAT are unaware of the fact that,  their journey in incomplete. ‘WHO AM ‘I’ and “I AM THAT’ are only stages, they have to go much beyond WHO AM ‘I’? and ‘I AM THAT’ .

When self is not   waking entity and waking experience is false experience than what is the use of assuming of the ‘Self ‘without the form without realizing what ‘self ‘is in actuality.   One has to realize the self is within the form, time and space but self is without the form, time and space.  The form, time and space are one in essence. That essence is consciousness. Consciousness is the innermost self.   On the standpoint of the innermost self, the form, time and space are mere illusion. Therefore, perfect understanding is needed to realize ‘what is what’ to know ‘what is truth ‘and ‘what is illusion’. Simply intellectually speculating saying ‘I AM THIS’ or ‘I AM THAT’ is not Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. 

That is why Buddha said:-  

Do not believe a spiritual teaching just because:-

1. it is repeatedly recited,
2. it is written in a scripture,
3. it was handed from guru to disciple,
4. everyone around you believes it,
5. it has supernatural qualities,
6. it fits my beliefs anyway,
7. it sounds rational to me,
8. it is taught by a respectable person,
9. it was said to be the truth by the teacher,
10. one must defend it or fight for it.

However, only when it agrees with your experience and reason, and when it is conducive to the good and gain of oneself and all others, then one should accept the teachings, and live up to them."
....Buddha.

 

The seeker of truth is one who is ready verify and has courage to accept and reject the truth when he finds out what is truth and what is untruth. The meek will stick to their inherited conditioning remain experiencing duality as reality.