Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana alone is the direct means to realize the truth, which is beyond the form, time and space. Without the Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, the ignorance will not vanish.
People think the Soul is within the body therefore, they are God. People study Vedanta and they under the delusion and concludes that they declare:~ "I-Am-Brahman", but they fail to realize the fact that Brahman is everywhere and in everything! The existence of Brahman is not limited to his physical identity because it the very essence of the form, time, and space.
What is the use of saying ‘I AM’ God without knowing what God is in actuality. You are not the Self, so you are not God. The ‘Self' is the Soul, which is present in the form the Spirit. The Sprit is God.
RIG VEDA: ~ May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman
In Vedas the God (soul/ataman) has been described as: ~
v Sakshi (witness)
v Chetan (conscious)
v Nirguna (without form and properties)
v Nitya (eternal)
v Shuddha (pure)
v Buddha (omniscient)
v Mukta (unattached).
All the above-mentioned description is the nature of the Soul (Atman).
RIG VEDA: ~ The Atman (Soul) is the cause; Atman is the support of all that exists in this universe. May ye never turn away from the Atman the innermost self. May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?" (10:48, 5)
Bhagavad Gita: ~ Brahmano hi pratisthaham Brahman (God) is considered the all-pervading consciousness which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material (Gita 14.27)
The Upanishads say in effect that: ~ if you believe that the Soul is one and God (Brahman) is another you cannot understand Truth.
Brihad Upanishad: ~ “If you think there is another entity, whether man or God there is no truth."
Rig-Veda 1-164-46 and Y.V 32-1 clearly mention that God is “One”. And never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman
It means the ultimate truth is God. That is Atman is Brahman. That is the Soul, the innermost Self, is the ultimate truth. Thus, the ‘Soul’ is ‘God’.
The Soul, the innermost Self, is in the form of the Spirit (consciousness) is the ultimate truth and it is God.
The Soul is hidden within the mind. And the mind is within the Soul. The mind is present in the form of the universe and the Soul is present in the form of the consciousness. The universe appears as waking or dream (duality) and disappears as deep sleep (nonduality). The one that witnesses the coming and going, of the three states is the Soul. on the standpoint of the Soul, the three states which come and goes are mere an illusion.
The mind is within the Soul and Soul is within the mind.
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 (Spirit or Soul) is our immediate, neighbour- love thy neighbour. Therefore, one has to love the Spirit or Soul or God, in order to become one with the formless Spirit or Soul or God. The Spirit is the creator, sustainer and dissolver of the dualistic illusion.
