By tracing the source of the mind or universe one will be able to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman

Trying to discover truth on the base of ‘I’ as self   cannot produce more than a partial and partisan truth. By holding the ‘I’ as self, the seeker will not be able to unfold the truth of the wholeness. The ‘I’ itself is an illusion.  Thus the ‘I’ is temporary.  Identifying self with something that is temporal is erroneous. So intellectuals wrongly identify the self with something temporal and view and judge the truth on the false self (ego or waking entity) and false experience (waking).

People believe that teacher or mystic or priest has got so many followers and therefore there must be some truth in their teaching, is a common fallacy accepted by the mass due to their inherited samskara or conditioning. It proves only an ignorant can find a number of greater ignorant to follow him.

By tracing the source of the mind or universe one will be able to realize the ultimate truth or  Brahman. Thus, self-knowledge is meant only for those who have intense urge, and courage to accept the truth with humility and reject the untruth. Since people start comparing with their scriptural knowledge, it becomes impossible to assimilate and realize the non-dualistc or Advaitic  truth.   Therefore, there is no need to convince anyone other than our own-selves to get the firm conviction. 

The soul (Atman) is the innermost self. The soul is beyond time and individuality. It is also not to be identified with any of our functions, such as thought or emotion. The Self should not be confused with the individual ego or waking entity-. Our ego includes not only our body but also the world because the ego, body and the world appear together and disappear together.

The soul or consciousness is the subject and  the ultimate truth or Brahman. The soul or consciousness is a radical unity, beyond time and individuality.

Therefore, it is necessary to rectify the reasoning base, if one wants to grasp the true self which is beyond form, time and space.

One has to realize the fact that, it is not the waking entity (you) which witnesses the three states.  The formless soul is the witness of the coming and going of the three states. The soul is immutable. The soul is unaffected by the happening within the three states because the three states are mere mirage created out of the formless soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. The soul or consciousness is the innermost self.

The self is neither the waking entity nor the self is dream entity but the self is the formless soul. The on the standpoint of the soul, the innermost self the three states are non-existent as reality.    

The soul is the innermost self. The soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is one without a second. It never moves, within the illusion the moment takes place. The consciousness pervades in form, time and space.  Thus it pervades in everything and everywhere in the cosmos.  Consciousness is the formless substance and the witness of the whole cosmos.  

The formless soul, the innermost self, is one without a second, complete in itself. It never moves. It is always still, always the same because it is formless, timeless and spaceless existence.   It is the power that moves everything, and it makes the whole illusory universe.

There is no way of describing consciousness. It is beyond thought and speech. It is everywhere and in everything. It is formless, yet every form is its form; it is nameless, yet every name is its name. It is in fact unique.

The attributes are illusory. Because the form, time and space are illusory. If the form, time and space are illusory than the birth, life, death and the world are illusory.

All the qualities, good and bad, small and big are part of the illusion.  It should be all attributes are part of the illusion.  They cannot affect the soul, the innermost self.

Consciousness pervades in everything and everywhere in the form, time  and space.  All the five elements are part of the illusion.

Nothing can happen independent of consciousness, yet nothing affects it. The whole phenomenal world, including everything in it, is derived from consciousness, is sustained by it, and in the end dissolves in it.

The ignorance is cause of the inborn samskara or conditioning which present as ‘I’ or ‘I AM’.

A permanent view of world as unreal can come only after soul centric reasoning; such knowledge cannot change. Were the seeker who is sufficiently sharpness he could grasp the unreal nature of the world by soul-centric reasoning alone.  To know whole truth, one must know the whole universe, otherwise he gets only half-truth. 

Renouncing the worldly life and accepting sanyasa or monk-hood means incapacity to think deeper, an impotency to inquire and reason. 

People speak of getting rid of conditioning or samskara but they themselves are unaware of the fact that, the universe in which they exist is product of the inborn samskara or conditioning.  The ignorance is cause of the inborn samskara or conditioning which present as ‘I’ or ‘I AM’. 

The real Moksha or freedom is   to realize the fact that ‘I’ consciousness is mere physical awareness. Physical awareness is not self-awareness. The self –awareness is when the formless soul or consciousness remains aware of its own non-dual   true nature.

The soul, is the innermost self. The soul is present in the form of consciousness. The soul the innermost  self is formless and non-dual in its nature. The soul, the innermost  self is not and entity or identity within the waking or dream (mind) because it pervades everything and everywhere in all the three states.

The self is the subject and the formless substance and witness of the illusion. The illusion is present in the form of the mind(I). The Mind is present in the form the universe. The universe appears as waking or dream(duality)  and disappears as deep sleep (non-duality).   The illusion is an object to the formless subject The subject and object together are the soul, the innermost self. Thus identifying the self as form within the waking or dream is erroneous.

The self is the formless substance and the witness of the objective awareness (mind or the universe or waking). The self is uncreated and ever independent and permanent, whereas the objective awareness which appears and disappears as the mind (waking or universe)  is dependent and impermanent.

The  mind arises from the soul subsides back into the soul. . “It is not the ‘I’ which creates the waking or dream, because the ‘I’   appear along with the waking or dream and disappears along with waking or dream.  Thus ‘I’ is the mind or the universe or waking or dream. Holding the ‘I’ as self is erroneous.

Realizing the soul as the  self is  the seeker's goal. The soul is the source of the mind or universe from where the  rise and subsides. The goal of truth seeker is to make a connection between mind(illusion)  and the soul(reality).

The soul, the innermost self  is  the timeless, formless and space-less existence; that is why it can direct one  in dreams, by the compensation of opposites, and in synchronistic events.

It is necessary for the seeker to go beyond the form,time and space  to realize the existence of the  formless witness which is the soul, the innermost self.

The term 'self' is to designate the totality of objective awareness (mind or universe or  ‘I’), and the sum total of the conscious and unconscious contents.

Intellectuals   tend to identify their thinking as their real selfhood. The self is not to be identified with waking or dream. Objective awareness is fragmentary.

The path of wisdom is the only means to acquire Self-knowledge or Bramha Gnana or Atma Gnana.

People say Aham Brahmasmi -- I am God, I am Brahman. But when Brahman is, how can "I" remain? Only Brahman remains, not I. But there is no other way to express it.

We all mistake the self to be the ‘I’ and only the physical body is not the self. However, in reality ‘I’ is not the self. Therefore, whatever is seen, known, believed and experienced and accumulated on the base of ‘I’ is falsehood. Therefore, it is time to realize the fact that ‘I’ is not the Self but the formless soul, which witnesses the coming and going of the ‘I’ is the  real self.  Till we think ‘I’ is the self  we are playing hide and seek game with the truth.

The Ataman or  soul is the innermost  self.

The formless soul or consciousness is the innermost self, is birth- less, deathless and world -less eternal identity. The ‘Self’ is totally dual (waking or dream) and non-dual (deep sleep) experiences that is both conscious and unconscious, and something that is always aware of coming and going of these dual and nondual experiences (three states).

 The ego (waking entity) is not the self.  Limiting the Self to the ego (waking entity) and practicing meditation or any other path on the base of ego (waking entity)    is like trying to drain the ocean drop by drop. The soul, which is in the form of consciousness, is the innermost self. Consciousness transcends our ego and the mind which is in the form of the universe. The universe appears as waking and dream. Thus limiting the self to’ ego or waking entity’ is the cause of the ignorance.

Ignorance is the cause of experiencing the duality (universe or waking) as reality. Waking is cause of experiencing the birth, life, death and the world as reality.  If experience of birth, life, death and the world (waking) is accepted as reality, than ignorance will prevail and if ignorance prevails wisdom will not dawn.  

"It is this Supreme Oneness which alone is real, since there is nothing else but the Self. Verily, there remains no other independent entity in the state of realization of the highest Truth."

People believe that a teacher or mystic or priest has got so many followers and therefore there must be some truth in their teaching, is a common fallacy accepted by the mass due to their inherited samskara or conditioning. It proves only an ignorant can find a number of greater ignorant to follow him.

When religion has become merely a matter of external rituals and ceremonies, it has become a prison  for the soul. 

Sage Sri, Sankara varied his practical advice and doctrinal teaching according to the people he was amongst. He never advised them to give up their particular religion or beliefs or metaphysics completely; he only told them to give up the worst features of abuse: at the same time he showed just one step forward towards the truth. Sage  Sri, Sankara was extremely precise and careful in his choice of words. 

Scriptures are being added to from time to time. This process will go on. There is the final authority among them? One contradicts the other: duality reigns supreme.

The Upanishads are self-contradictory. Every pundit even gives conflicting interpretations of them. The final authority therefore is using one’s own own reason. One should apply his reason to them.

The scriptures are for the ignorant masses, who wholly accept the material world as it presents itself. Gnana is for those who have begun to realize that things are not what they seem.

The Scriptures are of value only when dealing with persons who are incapable of understanding truth. They have no value as authority for those who use reason.

It is impossible to find and realize the truth via religion and scriptural study. Even Upanishads conform this.  

That is why Sage  Sri, Sankara indicates in (VC):- 56. Neither by Yoga, nor by Sankhya, nor by work, nor by learning, but by the realization of one's identity with Brahman is Liberation possible, and by no other means.

58. Loud speech consisting of a shower of words, the skill in expounding the Scriptures, and likewise erudition - these merely bring on a little personal enjoyment to the scholar, but are no good for Liberation.

59. The study of the Scriptures is useless so long as the highest Truth is unknown, and it is equally useless when the highest Truth has already been known.

60. The Scriptures consisting of many words are a dense forest which merely causes the mind to ramble. Hence men of wisdom should earnestly set about knowing the true nature of the Self.

63. Without causing the objective universe to vanish and without knowing the truth of the Self, how is one to achieve Liberation by the mere utterance of the word Brahman? — It would result merely in an effort of speech.

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.

Thus Sage Sri Sankara clearly indicated that - yoga, intellectualism, scriptural mastery is not the means to self-knowledge or Bramha Gnana or Atma Gnana.  But by the realization of one's identity with the formless soul , which is present in the form of  consciousness is ultimate truth or Brahman, freedom from experiencing the illusion as reality is possible, and by no other means. 

When the Upanishad says:  the human goal is to acquire Self-Knowledge and they indicate the personal gods, scriptures, worship and rituals are not the means to Self –Knowledge, then why anyone should indulge in it. The religion, concept of individualized god and scriptures are greatest obstacle to realize non-dual truth or self-realization, because they are based on false self.  The seeker of truth has to search the ultimate truth without losing himself in the labyrinths of philosophy, through deeper, inquiry, analysis and reasoning and assimilate and realize it.

That is why Sage Sri Sankara, indicated  in Bhaja Govindam says: - [Jnana Viheena Sarva Mathena Bajathi na Muktim janma Shatena] - one without knowledge does not obtain liberation even in a hundred births, no matter which religious faith he follows.

Then it is no use going roundabout way, trace the Brahman which is the formless substance and witness of the universe, which is in the form of mind.  By tracing the source of the mind or universe one will be able to realize the Brahman.

Thus, Self-knowledge or Bramha Gnana or Atma Gnana  is meant only for those who have intense urge, and courage to accept the truth with humility and reject the untruth. Since people start comparing with their scriptural knowledge, it becomes impossible to assimilate and realize the non-dual truth.   Therefore, there is no need to convince anyone other than our own-selves to get the firm conviction. 

So they clearly indicate that the  rituals and theories are not meant for those who are searching for the higher knowledge or wisdom.   The path of wisdom is the only means to acquire Self-knowledge or Bramha Gnana or Atma Gnana.   

Sage Sri Sankara:- "The world, filled with attachments and avrsions, and the rest, is like a dream: it appears to be real as long as one is ignorant, but becomes unreal when one is awake.

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is the aim of every human being. Since everyone thinks the physical body is the self, their aim is misdirected and they focus their attention on materiality which makes one feel the duality (waking) as reality.

In path of wisdom  the ultimate truth has to be proved, not assumed.  The individual experience bliss is not Brahmic bliss or nondual Self-awareness.

Individual truth is not a universal truth.  An individual cannot claim that he has experienced the whole.  There is no proof he has seen it, because the Whole is not an individual experience. The man and the world are within the whole.  Thus such claims of experiencing the self or Ataman is mere hallucination. 

Sage Sri Sankara:-  "The world, filled with attachments and avrsions, and the rest, is like a dream: it appears to be real as long as one is ignorant, but becomes unreal when one is awake.

Sage Sri Sankara:-  "As fire is the direct cause of cooking, so knowledge, and not any other form of discipline, is the direct cause of Liberation; for Liberation cannot be attained without Knowledge." (Self-Knowledge).

Sage Sri Sankara:-  As the moon appears to be moving when the clouds move in the sky, so also to the non-discriminating. Atman appears to be active when in reality the senses are active.

The snake has no independent existence. It exists because of the rope, and it ceases to exist as soon as a light is brought. The snake then dissolves into the rope. In the same way, when one knows the ultimate truth, the mind, which is present in the form of the universe, merges into it and he  realizes that mind  and the soul  are one and the same because they are one in essence. To attain this knowledge is the goal of life. The mind then cannot taint one. One’s contact with it is merely like that of a piece of sandalwood, which has long been under water and has thereby come to acquire a bad odour.

For a while the fragrance of the sandalwood is suppressed and the bad odour prevails. But if the sandalwood is rubbed a little, the bad odour disappears and the natural fragrance of the sandalwood becomes predominant. Similarly, one’s attachment to the physical existence (universe) is temporary. It cannot be permanent.

One has to think the soul as his self, which is in the form of Pure Consciousness. The seeker has to think intensely and constantly in this way. The attachment one now have to  the experience of birth, life, death and the world will then go.

One can attain the self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana by keep reminding himself that the world, with all its allurements, is not real that is, it is not real in the sense that it is transitory. Only the consciousness is real because it is imperishable.

One must mentally reject the three states and concentrate on the formless witness of the three states. Waking experience may be alluring, but it is transitory. One should never run after things within the waking experience because the waking experience is mere mirage. One should never covet someone else's wealth within the waking, and never becomes attached to his own wealth because waking experience is parallel dream and dream is a parallel waking experience. .

To one who knows that the three states are transitory, wealth is not wealth and any form of sense pleasure is repugnant. One must be concerned only with consciousness become steeped in consciousness and consciousness alone is real and the self is that consciousness. Nurture this consciousness and become oblivious to everything else.

By performing his duties as prescribed by the scriptures are not qualifications to acquire self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. The duties perfumed within the illusory world bound to illusory. Therefore one has to realize ‘what is the truth?’ and ‘what is the  illusion?’ is in order to realize ultimate truth or Brahman.

There is no point in running after the pleasures the world has to offer. These pleasures are momentary. If one runs after them he will experience the pleasure and pain as reality.  Not everyone is in a position to acquire self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. Most people want to enjoy life. The self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is not for them.

By indulging in deeper self-search the hankering for sense pleasures will go, the spirit of discrimination will grow strong, and love for Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana will develop. When this happens they will no longer be attached to the happening within the experience of the birth, life, death and the world.  One need not feel lost. He can take time the path of wisdom is the only means to get rid of ignorance.

The ignorant is enveloped in darkness, such as what the blind experience i.e., those devoid of Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Ish Upanishads :- Those people who have neglected the attainment of Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana and have thus committed suicide.  This is a condemnation of people who do not try to attain Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. They are, in a real sense, committing suicide, for what can be worse than being a slave to sense enjoyment, completely oblivious of the real purpose of life, which is to be your own master? In order to be your own master, you have to realize that you are identical with Brahman, the Cosmic Self, that you are Pure Consciousness, ever free, without name and form, and unconditioned.

The soul the innermost self is not subject to any modification, without beginning and end, beyond thought and speech. The soul, the innermost self is existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute. When one realizes this he is free from experiencing the illusory duality as reality. He no longer swings between the experience of birth, life death and the world.

 If one does not try to realize what the truth really is, he is indeed committing suicide. He experiences the illusory pain and pleasure of life as a reality of experiencing the birth, life, death and the world as reality.