This whole universe which through ignorance appears in diverse forms is nothing else but consciousness.+

Sage Sankara: ~VC- All this universe which through ignorance appears as of diverse forms, is nothing else but Brahman (Consciousness) which is absolutely free from all the limitations of Maya.

Sage Sankara: ~ VC-63- Without knowing and examining the universe, one can’t know the Truth, as the idea that the external world exists, won't go. It can go only by an inquiry into the nature of the external world.

Sage Sankara says: ~ What is accepted without a proper inquiry will not lead a person to the final goal. On the contrary, such acceptance will result only in evil, something which is detrimental to our spiritual progress.

Sage Sankara says: - VC-47- All the effects of ignorance, root, and branch, are burnt down by the fire of knowledge, which arises from discrimination between these two—the Self and the non-Self.

Until you think you are an individual separate from the world and the world existed prior to you and you are born in it afterward ignorance will prevail as a reality. Till ignorance is there the universe prevails as reality.

Sage Sankara says: ~ “The exercise in discrimination between real and unreal and renunciation of the false is real meditation, then why you are indulging in other types of meditation.

Sage Sankara says: ~ “The exercise in discrimination between real and unreal and renunciation of the false is real meditation, then why you are indulging in other types of meditation. not the truth through deeper Self-search. Finally, when you become aware of the fact that, your ego, your body, and the world are one in essence then there is Self-awareness in the midst of duality

The universe in which we exist is a dualistic illusion. The dualistic illusion is present in the form of the ‘I’. The ‘I’ hides the Soul, the God. God is present in the form of consciousness.

Only consciousness counts. For a Gnani, everything is consciousness the whole universe is nothing but an illusion created out of consciousness.

Snake and the rope:~

This whole universe which through ignorance appears in diverse forms is nothing else but the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Consciousness is absolutely free from all the limitations of Maya.

Consciousness alone is real and eternal since there is no second thing that exists other than consciousness.

In Self-awareness, there remains no other independent entity.

A permanent view of the world as unreal can come only after Soul-centric reasoning; such knowledge cannot change. If the seeker is sufficiently sharp then he could grasp the unreal nature of the world by Soul-centric reasoning alone. 

To know the whole truth, one must know the whole universe, otherwise, he gets only a half-truth.

The world in which we exist (waking) is a mere superimposition like seeing a snake superimposed on a rope on a dark night.

The snake has no independent existence, apart from the rope, 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 the Soul remains in its own awareness, the mind (I) merges into it. The mind and Soul are one in essence. 

To attain this knowledge is the goal of the truth seeker. The three states then cannot taint the Soul, the Self.

Why does the snake appear to be existing, you cannot say a snake does not exist unless you see it as only a rope.

Similarly, the universe in which you exist appears to be existing you cannot say the universe in which you exist does not exist unless you realize the cause of the universe is the Soul.

The ‘I’ is the snake the Soul is the rope. Until you become aware of the Soul the ‘I’ remains as a snake.

The universe is the snake the Soul is the rope. Until you become aware of the Soul the universe remains as a snake.

The waking is the snake the Soul is the rope.

Until you become aware of the Soul the waking remains as a snake.

The form, time, and space are the snake and the Soul is the rope.

Until you become aware of the Soul the form, time and space remain as a snake.

The duality is the snake the Soul is the rope. 

Until you become aware of the Soul the duality remains as a snake.

When you become aware of the rope there is no more snake.

Similarly, the Soul wakes up from its sleep of ignorance there is no ‘I’.

If there is no ‘I’ there is no ignorance.

If there is no ‘I’ there is no mind.

If there is no ‘I’ there is no universe.

If there is no ‘I’ there is no waking.

If there is no ‘I’ there is no form, time, and space.

If there is no ‘I’ there is no duality.

If there is no duality there is only the Advaitic reality.

The Soul is the innermost Self. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. Consciousness is Self-evident. It is not established by extraneous proof. It is not possible to deny consciousness because it is the very essence of the one who denies it.

Consciousness is the basis of all kinds of knowledge, presuppositions, and proofs. Until one thinks of his body as the body, the ego as the ego the universe as the universe he remains in ignorance because he is still in ignorance and he is unaware of the fact that they too are consciousness. The seeker has to grow from the inside out. None can teach him, and none can make him spiritual. There is no other Guru but his own Soul.”

Consciousness is not an object, but it is the subject. Within the dualistic illusion, it is the subject and object together. It is not another. It is all-full, infinite, changeless, Self-existent, Self-delight, Self-knowledge, or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. It is the essence of the knower. It is the formless substance and the Witness of the dualistic illusion (universe). : ~Santthosh Kumaar