A person, seeing a rope
in dim light, mistakes it for a snake. He is as much frightened as he would
have been if there had been a real snake there.
The snake is said to have ‘illusory reality’. The illusory snake is described as a
superimposition on the rope. The snake is not real, because, it is found on
examination with a light that it never existed there. At the same time, it was
experienced as reality till ignorance prevailed. Similarly, this waking
experience experienced as reality till
wisdom dawns. On the dawn of Self-knowledge
or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana it is known to have no existence apart from
consciousness. Consciousness is ultimate truth or Brahman. The waking
experience is therefore said to be superimposed on consciousness same way as
the dream is superimposed on the consciousness.
The waking experience is practical reality,
because it is
real until the
attainment of Self-realisation. Consciousness alone has absolute reality;
because it is absolutely changeless because it is formless.
All
appearance(three states) has not appeared to the physical entity(waking entity or ego) , but to the formless soul, the innermost self. Man and
the world are mere appearance. That is,
the illusion is mere appearance. Thus man cannot be considered as 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 consciousness. The soul or consciousness is the true self. Realizing
the soul as self is Self -Realization.
Therefore, the soul or consciousness alone is real and all else is mere illusion. By learning to view and judge the three states on the base of soul, which is the
innermost self, leads to non-dual self-awareness.
It is necessary to learn to view and judge the three
states on the base of soul, to understand and assimilate the
self-knowledge. It is the through the
soul one knows himself as a person and perceives the world. It is the soul, which is the author or knower of
the three states, not the person who is limited to waking or dream.
A
well-directed self-search search will lead one to find his non-dual Self-Awareness.
Trying to discover the truth on the false self (waking entity or ego) is going round and round
not reaching anywhere.
One is ignorant and he asserts the
blissful, ever-existent consciousness, which exits in all the three states as
its formless substance and witness. And
it is also apart from the three states.
The witness is formless and it is not an entity and identity within the
waking or dream.
Once the seeker accepts the fact that, the
self is neither the ‘waking entity, nor the dream entity but the self is the formless soul or
consciousness .which witnesses the coming and going of the three states. once he gets the firm
conviction the soul is the innermost self than the three states are absolutely non-existent as
reality.
