Without the self- realization, man remains as ignorant of the ultimate truth or Brahman***

Without the  self realization,  man remains as ignorant of the ultimate truth or Brahman. Without the realization of ultimate truth, the seeker remains as a seeker.    On the physical plane there is a seeker, seeking and destination, but from the ultimate standpoint, there is neither seer, nor seeking nor destination.  : ~ Santthosh Kumaar 

People fail to understand that, the awareness is the nature of the soul, which present in the form of consciousness.  When the soul becomes aware of its own formless non-dual nature then it becomes empty of ignorance or illusion or duality.  Thus, whatever remains empty of duality or ignorance or illusion is non-dual reality. Only in self-awareness the soul is in its own awareness in the midst of duality. 

That is why Sage Sri, Sankara said: - VC Without causing the objective universe to vanish and without knowing the truth of the Self, how is one to achieve Liberation. 

The waking experience  will not remain as reality when wisdom dawns. Waking is a mere mirage created out of consciousness and there is conscious awareness of unity in diversity because there is no second thing exist other than the  consciousness.

One thinks he is imprisoned within this body; whereas the body, ego and his experience of the world are within the mind. The consciousness is hidden within the three states, but it is without the three states.  The one, which has the awareness of the three states, is not the body, but the formless soul, which is in the form of consciousness. Thus, the  consciousness is not limited to waking experience alone because it pervades all the three states. Till one views and judges the world-view on base of ego or the waking entity, he is in the grip of individuality or intellectuality.  The self is not an individual because it is universal. And it pervades in everything and everywhere in all the three states. Thus, individualized judgment will not lead one non-dual destination.   

That is why Sri, Sankara says: ~VC-65. As a treasure hidden underground requires (for its extraction) competent instruction, excavation, the removal of stones and other such things lying above it and (finally) grasping, but never comes out by being (merely) called out by name, so the transparent Truth of the self, which is hidden by Maya and its effects, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, followed by reflection, meditation and so forth, but not through perverted arguments.

66. Therefore the wise should, as in the case of disease and the like, personally strive by all the means in their power to be free from the bondage of repeated births and deaths. 

The seeker  one has to know what is real by realizing our body, ego  and our experience of the world is mere illusion created out of consciousness, which the innermost self.  The nature of the self is emptiness. And it is identified by different masters with a different name, such as Brahman, Buddha’s nature, Christ consciousness, Self, Ultimate Truth.

When the soul, the innermost self becomes aware of its formless non-dual nature it becomes empty of ignorance or illusion or duality or objects.  Thus, whatever remains empty of  the duality or the  ignorance or an illusion,  is  the non-dualistic or Advaitic reality. Only through wisdom,  one becomes aware of the truth in the midst of  the duality.

 That is why Sage Sri, Sankara said:~ VC-63- Without causing the objective universe to vanish and without knowing the truth of the Self, how is one to achieve Liberation.

65. As a treasure hidden underground requires (for its extraction) competent instruction, excavation, the removal of stones and other such things lying above it and (finally) grasping, but never comes out by being (merely) called out by name, so the transparent Truth of the self, which is hidden by Maya and its effects, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, followed by reflection, meditation and so forth, but not through perverted arguments.

 All appearance has not appeared to the physical entity, but to the soul. Man and the world are mere appearance.  That is, the illusion is mere appearance. Thus, man cannot be considered as the witness, since man and his experience of the world are within the illusion.  Thus, the witness of the illusion is within the illusion but it is apart from the illusion.  It is with is within the illusion as its formless substance and it is apart from the illusion as its formless witness.  The formless substance and witness is the soul or the  consciousness. The soul or consciousness is the true self. Realizing the soul as self is the  Self -Realization.  Therefore, the soul alone is real and all else is mere illusion. By Learning to view and judge the three states on the base of the soul, which is the innermost self, leads to nondualistic  self-awareness.

One has to get rid of his doubts, "by the sword of wisdom or Gnana***

The ultimate truth or Brahman dwells within the three states like fragrance in the flower; Musk lies within the Musk-deer yet seeks it afar." Until one trace the truth within the three states the illusion of birth, life, death and the world is experienced as reality.: ~ Santthosh Kumaar 
 
If someone has acquired self-knowledge and shares his acquired knowledge with others, they cannot say that there is nothing for them to do. Everyone has to discover a fresh for himself by verifying all the facts. Each one has to grasp assimilate and realize it until he gets firm conviction of the ultimate truth or Brahman. 

 Mind appears due to ignorance. Without ignorance the mind ceases to exist.  Thus,  the mind is in the form of the universe and appears as waking or dream.  The waking or dream is the state of duality. Thus, the  seeker has to hold wherever there is duality there is ignorance.  If the duality is considered as reality than the experience of birth, life, death and the world is considered as reality.  If experience birth, life, death and the world is considered as reality than the form, time and space  becomes a reality. If form, time and space  becomes a reality as reality then there is diversity in unity.  To bring back the unity in diversity, one has to put the ego into reverse gear until it reaches the ultimate end or source from where mind rises and subsides.      

 The seeker has to grow from the inside out by soulcentric reasoning. None can teach him none can make him to reach the ultimate end. There is no other guru, but the formless consciousness, which the innermost self.

 One has to get rid of his doubts, But that did not mean, simply go and believe everything he is told. The doubt is to be got rid of "by the sword of wisdom or Gnana.  

There is a controversy as to the meaning of Maya.

One Advaitic School says it is a Shakti of Brahman whereby both illusion and creation are brought about. But doubt arises-

v  How does one know that it is the truth?

v  If one bases it on the sayings of ancient sages   , even granting that they honestly believed in their experiences, there is still the query how do they know that these experiences were the truth?

For even mentally challenged believe in what they see and feel and yet their experiences are often quite untrue.

v  What is it that ascertains the truth of these experiences within us? 


 If one says it is a mystical experience, then everyone’s experience differs from others.  Such disagreement does not settle the matter.

 

Objective knowledge arises from experience of an object by a subject; that all knowledge of objects will only lead to more thinking but never give one ultimate truth or Brahman. Intellectuals think by thinking more and get more and still more objective experience and then when we have enough we may get the reality.

The truth can never change. The nature of truth is, it can never be changed under any circumstances. It may be misrepresented. It must apply to the whole of existence, to the whole of the universe. It is in the object (three states) alone that one has all changes, as deeper analysis points out.

The subject (formless witness) remains unchanged. The subject (formless witness), as such remains immortal. It can never die for it never changes. The body and the world are an object, and goes, but the subject or the knower of the body and the universe, can never go. The seeker has to take this principle as his guiding thread and non-dual truth becomes easy to grasp. The formless witness can never be subject to the changes of the object; it is unchanged. The mistake usually made is that the subject becomes  an object, or that, the object is the  subject.

If one wants to have an absence of contradictions, absence of duality, there must be one entity, one being. If one has experience which is an object (mind), there is a contradiction between the  subject and the  object, for the  "mind” is an object.

The duality is reality on the standpoint of the false self (ego or body as Self).  The duality is a mere mirage on the base of the true self, which is the  formless  soul or the consciousness. This understanding comes only to the serious seeker, who has a real urge to know the ultimate truth, which is beyond the all the teachings and teachers. There is neither teaching, nor  a teacher, nor a student in the realm of truth.  

Different paths will not converge to the same Ultimate Reality,  because they are based on the false self. They are not the different stages in the same path. People fight about the differences and the greatness of their chosen paths but only through wisdom one can realize the Ultimate Reality.

One has to have a perfect understanding and march ahead, surely and steadily, towards that Ultimate Reality, which is consciousness or Brahman or Christ or Buddha. One becomes limited to the concepts, names and forms within the waking or dream. Waking or dream originates from the soul.

 The soul is the true self.  The soul is in the form of consciousness. Realizing the consciousness as the true self is truth realization. Consciousness is formless, limitless, permanent and unchanging, and by its nature non-dual and universal. The consciousness is the formless knower of the mirage (universe) which comes and goes as waking or the dream.

Realize Brahman or ultimate truth here and now, in this very life, not in the next life and in the next world,  by realizing the fact that,  this life within this world  itself is an illusion.