Illusion and attachment are also created out of consciousness; consciousness itself deludes through the illusion.

What is illusion? Illusion is where one is bound birth, life, death and universe, and one sees everything on the base of waking entity or dream entity. Illusion and attachment are also created out of consciousness; consciousness itself deludes through the illusion.  Waking entity or dream entity is ego.   Egocentric does pious acts, but he does not the consciousness is the ultimate truth and wastes his life away with his inherited beliefs and accumulated knowledge.  

The one, who becomes aware of the fact that the consciousness is ultimate reality, is eternally becomes free from experiencing the illusion as reality. 

The waking or dream, body and the universe are part and parcel of the illusion. When the waking or dream is present the body and the universe is present. If waking or dream is not there the body and the universe cease to exist. The waking or dream, body and the universe are within the mind. If mind is there universe is there.  Thus mind itself is universe. Limiting the mind to the physical entity is cause of the experiencing the illusion as reality.   

Clinging to waking or dream is clinging to illusion. Clinging to illusion is clinging to ignorance. Clinging to ignorance is clinging is clinging to the illusory experience of birth life, death and universe as reality.  By accepting the experience of birth, life, death and universe as reality are accepting the unreality as reality. Therefore, there is a need to know the one which is aware of mind (the experience of birth, life, death and universe) is not the body which is born lives and dies within the universe, but the soul, which is in the form of consciousness.    

One tries to grasp illusion, but it eludes his grasp. “When one abandoned and discards illusion with by accepting the truth that, the consciousness is the true self, then the ignorance disappears and the reality starts revealing itself.   Ignorance gives birth to the mind, which is illusion. The mind rises and subsides from the Soul.  

 Illusion is intoxicating material.  It grips everyone and everything within the duality. Because it pervades and grips everywhere and everything in duality everyone becomes unaware of the reality. No one has known thy bare reality. Only who are discovered the true self and attuned mentally to the soul, which is in the form of consciousness, realize the duality is mere mirage created out of Consciousness.

Illusion has affected the three states, and physical discipline erases not its effect; and men, involved in Strife, are intoxicated with its intoxication are immersed in manipulating the high and low of their physical life.  Only through Self-knowledge one will be able to overcome the intoxication of illusion.

"When a person is sleeping soundly, free from dreams, with a still mind, that is the Self, fearless and deathless. That is Brahman, the supreme." - Chandogya Upanishad

Consciousness is within this universe but it is not of this universe

Consciousness is the true Self. Consciousness is within this universe but it is not of this universe. It is in this universe, but not of this universe means it is the formless substance and witness of the universe, which is in the form of the mind (I). The mind (I) appears as waking or dream and disappears as deep sleep. The self who is in the form of consciousness is the formless knower of the mind, which comes and goes.   Consciousness is above; it is transcendental to all the miseries, which are inevitable in this illusory universe.  Therefore, there is a need to realize the fact that, the mind, which is in the form of universe is mere mirage created out consciousness.   Thus, the birth, life, death and world are mere mirage on the stand point of the consciousness, which is the true self. Only on the base of physical self the universe is reality.  Thus the Self is within the universe but it is without the universe.

Only a Gnani alone can actually create the awareness of the truth. He can enliven and illuminate others to get out of this ignorance by being transcendental to the illusory birth, life, death and the universe. Gnani tries to guide the seekers get rid of the inherited ignorance and, rise above the waking -centric concepts, be in this universe, but not of this universe, be in tune with the consciousness, which is his  true identity and the ultimate truth.

This material existence is mere mirage. It is like a wax in the candle it will burn away.  All attempts for freedom is possible only when one is ready to overcome the ignorance. To overcome the ignorance is possible only when one realizes the birth, life, death and the world are mere illusion created out of consciousness.  The consciousness is ultimate truth. And the one who knows this truth knows the knower (consciousness) is free from the known (mind).  

Through Self-knowledge, all of one’s waking-centric successes and all of his credible accomplishments within the duality are ultimately evaporated and consciousness alone will prevail as non-dual existence.

Deeper understanding is necessary to understand and assimilate the truth about Gods existence, to know what is supposed to be the God.

Moksha is freedom. Freedom is becoming free from experiencing the illusion or duality as reality by realizing the fact that, the self is not the form but self is formless.  It is   not possible to   realize this truth  without realizing the fact that, the individual self or ego is reality within the false experience.  Thus all the knowledge accumulated on the base of false self within the false experience  is false knowledge.  Thus whatever seen,known,believed and experienced as waking entity within the waking experience is falsehood.   

    

People believe in old myths propagated by their religion. Every religion has propagated its own myth. Every religious belief contradicts other beliefs. It is mere blind belief accepted as truth without verification and evidence.  This causes division. Modern science has exposed many Religious dogmas as myth. All these dogma were introduced in primitive era   before people had the benefit of modern science. Science attempts to objectively discover how life works, and religion makes one blindly believe and cast his  burden on the blind belief without verification,  to live in peace and harmony in worldly life.

 Seekers main aim is to investigate both dual and non-dual experiences to find and define the underlying truth in everything, thereby realizing what the ultimate truth is.  Because of so many beliefs propagated by belief system, people think seekers of truth are   atheists because they do not accept the belief blindly. Seekers of truth believe the religionist and atheists both are believers because religionist believe in the belief of god and atheists believe in belief of no god.  

Pursuit of truth is all about accepting uncertainty and open questions and seeking for the things that are certainty. Believers and nonbelievers   will not accept anything other than their inherited belief system or accepted truth.  Atheists feel there is no proof for god’s existence. So atheist chooses to just believe there is no such thing called God. And religionists just believe in the existence of their conceptual god.  A Gnani is one who is fully aware of the fact that, the existence or non-existence of God cannot be proven on the base of physical self.  Therefore Deeper understanding is necessary to understand and assimilate the truth about Gods existence,  to know what is supposed to be the God.

In Vedas the God (Soul/Atman) has been described as:-

The Self or Atman is God and God is Self or Atman.

  Sakshi (Witness)

  Chetan (conscious)

  Nirguna (Without form and properties).

The Soul/God further has been told as

  Nitya (eternal)

  Shuddha (pure)

  Buddha (omniscient)

   Mukta (unattached).

It means the ultimate truth is god.  That is Atman is Brahman.  That is the true self is ultimate truth.

In Advaita Vedanta: - Brahman is without attributes and strictly impersonal. It can be best described as infinite Being, infinite Consciousness and infinite Bliss. It is pure knowledge itself, similar to a source of infinite radiance. Since the Advaitins regard Brahman to be the Ultimate Truth, so in comparison to Brahman, every other thing, including the material world, its distinctness, the individuality of the living creatures and even Ishvara (the Supreme Lord) itself are all untrue. Brahman is the effulgent cause of everything that exists and can possibly exist. Since it is beyond human comprehension, it is without any attributes, for assigning attributes to it would be distorting the true nature of Brahman. Advaitins believe in the existence of both Saguna Brahman and Nirguna Brahman; however they consider Nirguna Brahman to be the absolute supreme truth.

Formless soul or Atman is the innermost  self.   The true self or Atman is in the form of consciousness. Therefore Consciousness  is ultimate truth or Brahman and ultimate truth or Brahman    is God.   

Atman or conciousness is not 'void'.

 Void implies to duality: the universe may not exist but the thought of the second is there. If one knows there is Void (emptiness/nothingness), then there is something there to be known and know. They are or have become consciousness.

Advaitin disagree with Buddhists who say, there is nothing - nonentity. Advaitin believe there is some reality, even though things are not what they appear to be. If one knows the truth, he will know what to do to find inspiration for action. Seeker of truth‘s subject is to know what is it that is Real.

Soul means Atman. Atman is not 'void'. Atman is in the form of Consciousness. Atman is not any void or emptiness. The thought that it is a void or something like a void will lead to doubts and confusion of pursuit of truth. The consciousness is basis of everything that exists. Whatever exists, it exists because of consciousness. Nothing can exist without consciousness. 

The 'Void' of emptiness of Buddhism is only a stage. It cannot be ultimate. It says there is really nothing. The mistake of Hinayana Buddhism is to jump to assumptions where Buddha kept silent.

When one says "Nothing is" what is the meaning of "is"? "Nothingness” is something which exists: one cannot prove that consciousness does not exist.

Has the Void a meaning? If so then it is only your imagination.  Buddha gave up yoga after practicing it for six years. He saw it could not yield truth.

Buddha gave up his austerities of yoga as impossible and useless. [Page.70/71 "Buddhism in Translation” by Warren]

Thus Buddha got enlightenment only after he gave up Yoga. Unless one exercises his reason--there is no chance of getting truth.

Buddhism has not proved the truth of Non-duality.  There is no doubt Buddha pointed out unreality of world. He told people they were foolish to cling to it. But he stopped there. He came nearest to Advaita in speech but not to Advaita fully. 

Sankara was criticized for his views on Maya (illusion) without understanding him. He said that (1) Brahman [the Self] is real (2) the universe is unreal, and (3) Brahman is the universe. He did not stop at the second because the third explains the other two. It signifies that the universe is real if perceived as the ‘Self’ and unreal if perceived as apart from the Self. Hence Maya or illusion and reality are one and the same. 

The realists criticize the concept of illusion without understanding it. He said that

(1) Consciousness [the Self] is real

 (2) The universe or mind is unreal, and 

(3) Consciousness is the mind or universe, because universe or mind is mere illusion created out of consciousness.   

 One need not stop at the second because the third explains the other two. It signifies that the universe is real if perceived as the Self [consciousness] and unreal if perceived as apart from the Self [consciousness]. Hence illusion and reality are one and the same because both are one in essence. Realizing the essence, which is consciousness as the innermost Self, is Self-Realization or Truth- Realization of GOD- Realization. Thus Sri, Sankara‘s declaration is rational truth, scientific truth and also ultimate truth.

  Consciousness is not only the subject but also the substance of the object. The subject and object are one in its essence. The subject and object perception is possible only in ignorance. In reality there is no duality.  When the ignorance vanishes the duality vanishes and only the non-dual existence will prevail as ultimate truth. Thus the truth pursuit is to discover the fact that the subject is formless consciousness  and also the object is made out of the formless consciousness. Thus there is no second thing other than the consciousness in the experience diversity[waking] other than consciousness.  Thus everything in duality is appeared from consciousness and sustained by consciousness and finally disappears as formless consciousness.

 To understand such a simple truth, it becomes difficult task, since we have inherited or   accumulated the physical based dross.  Until we drop mentally all the accumulated dross, our subconscious will not become receptive or accept anything other than accepted truth.  Thus the FP blogs and posts are suggestions, we are injecting to the subconscious, and we go on reflecting on it, then the inner work will start, and the reasoning faculty starts analyzing with the new suggestions, with the old, and when it finds the un-contradicted truth, it will accept that as truth, and drop what is untruth.  When the suggestion suggest the consciousness  as innermost  self ,and consciousness  alone is ultimate  truth in every blogs and postings , when subconscious  is accepts this suggestion  on that base the it  will start analyzing through reasoning, and reject what is not Consciousness, and finally whatever prevails is the non-dual wisdom or Self-knowledge.  

If seeker isn’t able to understand this in the beginning of the truth pursuit, it is o.k.; he has to go on reading and reflecting on the F.P blogs and posting , until he creates a base mentally,   to replace the old base. Until he bases himself on the base of ‘I’, he has a different viewpoint, but eventually, he  will  become aware of the facts, and  he  will understand and remember what F.P blogs  have convey him, and becomes receptive and start assimilating the self -knowledge .

There is no other way to reach the non-dual destination other than rectifying the reasoning base from ‘I’ (form) to ‘I’-less (formless) base. Only when seeking mind is able to view on the base of formless base, all the confusions and doubts will vanish and he will
be able to assimilate the self-knowledge faster and better. 

Time cease to exist without the form and space.

Past, present and future means time. Time cease to exist without the form and space. Form, time and space exist together and disappear together.   Past, present and future are within the waking experience. The past, present and future of the dream gets over when waking takes place. The past, present and future   do not exist in deep sleep. The one which witness these three states is formless and apart. The past is mental and the future is also mental. 

When we constantly observe and be conscious of the formless witness, we become aware of the fact that the physical body and the world are also are consciousness, and realize the fact that everything is consciousness in the midst of the waking experience. Since we exclude the body and the world as a matter, and view and judge the worldview on the base of the matter [body] as self, we remain in ignorance the reality. Thus just think the deep sleep as the true nature of the self [ formless soul of consciousness ], where the  body, ego and the world are totally absent, then try to view and judge the waking or dream on the standpoint of the deep sleep as self, which is formless soul.

 If we think deeply in this line, we can ‘get the perfect understanding what is truth and what is untruth. The biggest obstacle in the truth pursuit is, we are fully immersed in the practical life within the practical world within the waking experience and we consider it as reality.  But we have to make sure our individual experience is part of the waking experience, and waking experience is mirage on the standpoint of our formless eternal identity.  Thus once we know the formless witness as our true self than the birth, life and death are mere mirage. The mirage is created out of consciousness, thus everything is consciousness and nothing exist other than consciousness.

Our body and the world cease to exist without the consciousness because there are created out of consciousness   but consciousness can exist with or without the body and the world.