The Soul is the ‘Self’. The ‘I’ is not the Soul. Holding the Self as 'I' is holding the illusory universe as a reality. There is a need to know what is ‘I’ before indulging in the pursuit of truth.
The dualist object: - If everything else is false then the statement I am Brahman is itself false, but when one says non-duality is false, there must be awareness, and consciousness, behind the very statement.
You will also go, and die. One has to rely upon that which is permanent. The formless witness of the ‘I’ alone is permanent. Anything that one says is a witnessed (waking), but there is the formless witness (consciousness) there before any statement can be made.
They mean the body by “I", but it is the invisible witness which is the real “‘Self’ ". Theist dualists did not, or could not analyze further than ‘I’ on this point because they thought the ‘I’ without the body as the ‘Self’.
WHAT IS ‘I’?
The ‘I’ disappears as deep sleep, so what is the use of being attached to it? It is impermanent and illusory.
There is really no ‘I’. The ‘I’ is present in the form of mind. And the mind is in the form of the universe. The universe appears as a waking or dream. The ‘I’ or mind or universe or waking or dream disappears as deep sleep.
One that appears as ‘I’ or the mind or universe or waking or dream is nothing but the consciousness and it disappears as deep sleep is also consciousness.
In deep sleep, it is in its formless nondual true nature. The one, that witnesses the coming and going of the three states, is also consciousness. Thus, the witness and the witnessed are one, in essence.
Thus, the universe is a reality on the base of the ego. You are the ego. The ego is the false ‘Self’ within the false experience (waking).
The universe is unreal on the base of the Soul, the innermost ‘Self’. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. The seeker gradually will grasp and realize the unreal nature of the universe (‘I’ or mind).
Individuality is illusory because the ‘Self’ is not an individual because the Self is formless and it pervades everything and everywhere in all three states.
Dualist sages have written big volumes about the soul. Yet they are quite ignorant that the ‘I’ about which they write itself’ comes and goes and has no permanent existence, is only an idea after all.
What is it that appears as the ‘I’ and disappears as the ‘I-less? It is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.
Do not make the mistake of holding the ‘I’ as the Self because it is not permanent. ‘I’ disappears and becomes ‘I’-less.
‘I’ is an illusion and the ‘I-LESS’ is real and eternal. The ‘I-LESS-Soul ‘appears as ‘I’ and ‘I ’‘disappears as I-LESS-Soul.
Bhagavad Gita: ~ The permanent is always there, only the transient ‘I’ comes and goes. (2.18)
The ‘I’ hides the truth of the whole.
The earliest ancient sages used the word ‘I’ to the witness of the three states not to the ego as moderns use it and think the ‘I’ without the body is the Self.
The seeker has to understand that ‘I’ is not the Self, but the witness of the ‘I’ is the true Self, which is eternal.
That is why Ashtavakra Gita 16:10:~ If you desire liberation, but you still say "I," If you feel the ‘Self’ is the ‘I’, You are not a wise man or a seeker. You are simply a man who suffers. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar
