In the dream world, the dream people appeared together and disappeared together and disappear together. Similarly, the waking world and waking people appeared together and disappeared together.+

In a dream, the man and the world are dream objects and all actions and thinking are happening. If one is the dream entity, there must be a dreamer.

The formless witness witnesses the dream in which man and his experience of the world are present. Thus, the dream is an object to the formless witness. Similarly, man and his experience of the world, his actions, and his thinking are happening within the waking experience. Therefore, there is no difference between waking and dream.

The witness of the three states is within and it is formless and apart. It is within as the formless substance of the three states and it is apart as the formless witness of the three states. It has nothing to do with the waking and dream entity because it is the witness of the whole waking or dream entity.

The dream becomes unreal when the waking takes place. When the Advaitic wisdom dawns then the waking experience becomes unreal. Wisdom dawns when the waking entity realizes the fact that, it itself is not the self but the self is the Soul, which witnesses the coming and going of the three states without the physical apparatus.

In the dream world, the dream people appeared together and disappeared together and disappear together. Similarly, the waking world and waking people appeared together and disappeared together. 

Thus, the dream is created out of single stuff and that stuff is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. In the same way, the waking experience also created out single stuff. And that single stuff is consciousness.

The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness is the cause of the three states and it itself is uncaused. The many Souls theories are religious and yogic fable based on the false self(ego) and false experience (waking).

Knowledge of the single stuff is Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Like an ornament made from Gold is Gold, that which is born out of consciousness is consciousness. Like gold is the permanent thing, in ornaments made of gold, similarly, the mind, which is in the form of the universe is born out of consciousness, is consciousness in its essence.

Rig Veda: ~ 'Prajnanam Brahma'- Consciousness is the ultimate reality or Brahman or God in truth.

Do not accept any other God other than the Soul. The Soul is God in truth,  Nothing is real but the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Nothing matters but realizing God in truth. God in truth is everywhere and in everything. Let these words be inscribed in your subconscious.

God in truth is hidden by the illusory universe. God in truth alone is real and eternal and all else is an illusion.

Brahman is merely a word to indicate the ultimate truth or God in truth.  The ultimate truth itself is God in truth. 

The Soul is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth. God in truth neither comes nor goes, but God in truth exists always. The form, time, and space, which appear as disappears are mere an illusion. Thus, all the form-based Gods are merely an illusion. God in truth is the cause of the form, time, and space, and God in truth is causeless.

Why worship God based on the illusory form, time, and space, Self-realization is God-realization and God- realization is the real worship. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar 

Clinging to 'I' is clinging to ignorance. 'I' itself is ignorance. 'I' itself is an illusion.+

The ‘I’  is the intoxication of illusion. Until and unless one comes out of this intoxication Self-realization is impossible. 

The Self is not 'I'. 'I'  is merely an illusion. The Self is not 'I' ' but the Self is the Soul, the cause of the 'I'. 

Clinging to 'I' is clinging to ignorance. 'I' itself is ignorance. 'I' itself is an illusion. 

People are not ready to investigate and verify deeply to know the facts. They are sentimentally involved with their Guru or Gurus' teaching and get stuck. They think they are Self-realized because they know 'I AM THAT'.

The 'I' is present in the form of the mind. The mind is present in the form of the universe.  The universe is merely an illusion created out of consciousness.

  

Bhagavad Gita: ~ “You must first see the ‘I’ as illusory before you see others as illusory. ~ CH.2 v.16

First, is to know the true ‘Self’ is not ‘I’ but the Soul, the witness of the ‘I’.

Without realizing ‘what is this ‘I’ supposed to be in actuality it is not possible to realize the truth, which is hidden by the ‘I’.

I am highlighting all the obstacles in the inner journey and how to overcome these obstacles. All your accumulated knowledge is of no use in the Atmic path.

A deeper self-search reveals the fact that the ‘I’ is present in the form of the mind. The mind is present in the form of the universe.

The universe appears as the waking or the dream (duality) and disappears as deep sleep (nonduality).

Realize, ‘what is this ‘I’ supposed to be in actuality and what is hidden by the ‘I’ will be revealed.

If you realize the ‘Self ‘is not the ‘I’ but the Soul then whatever is hidden by the ‘I’ will be revealed.

Realizing the Soul is not the ‘I’ but the Soul is the Self, is Self–realization

  Vedas indicate that the Self is consciousness:-

v Tat tvam asi: -Thou art That (Sam Veda). “Self is that”

v Prajnanam Brahma: - Consciousness is the ultimate reality (Rig Veda).

v Ayam Aatma Brahma: -The Self is the ultimate truth (Atharva Veda).

v Aham Brahma Asmi: -Self is ultimate reality (Yajur Veda).

People have the notion that the more and more they gratify their senses for attaining worldly pleasures, the happier they will be is not true at all, because they think the physical Self is the real Self, therefore, they are unaware of the fact that the Self not physical but consciousness. Consciousness can stay with or without the mind or ’I’.

Remember:~

One knows of no changes in consciousness; he knows only the changes in what is perceived by consciousness.

When one realizes the nature of consciousness he knows the Real can never change, hence never die.

Birth, life, death, and the world are a reality only in the realm of the "duality."

The duality(universe) is an object to the formless subject(Soul).

That of which one is aware and which is nearer to him is the formless witness, which is the Self. Yet no statement can be made about it.

All words will concern ideas about it, i.e. witnessed(world) --never the formless witness(Soul).

Remember:~

The truth will reveal itself when the seeker realizes the cause of the universe. Only the seeker's dullness of intelligence can prevent him from attaining Advaitic wisdom.

The most advanced seeker is the one who exercises his rational thinking and discrimination between the real and unreal, whereas the least advanced is unable or unwilling to distinguish between the real and unreal.

One must give some time to reflect upon this inquiry, and if he cannot find the time, if he is too distracted by activities or worries then he must go to yoga or meditation and get peace alone.

Seekers of truth should not be disheartened, try over and over again. When he sees that authoritarianism does not give him the truth, he goes further. He must have the determination to get at it. Every time he attempts, he progresses. :~Santthosh Kumaar

The Soul, the Self cannot be subjected to creation and dissolution because the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness is ever nondual.+

The world is subjected to creation and dissolution only from the standpoint of the ego. The Soul, the Self cannot be subjected to creation and dissolution because the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness is a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. The Soul is as it is.

Let you be clear on one thing. The world in which you exist is mere a dualistic illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. but in the reality the world in which you exist neither exists in the past nor exists now, nor going to exist in the future.

Whatever existed in the past and whatever exists now and whatever is going to exist in the future is merely an illusion created out of consciousness.

All our experience of birth, life, and death is merely an illusion created out of consciousness. The only real thing in the world in which we exist is consciousness, which is the cause of this world and it itself is uncaused.

All your doubts and confusions are based on an unsupported assumption because your views and judgments are based on the dualistic perspective.

You presume that the cause-effect relationship is valid and real. But causal relationships have no reality. they lack reality because, from the non-dualistic perspective, there is neither the cause nor the effect there is no second thing that exists other than the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Whatever is perceived, the one who perceives and the perception within the dualistic illusion is not different from the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, because the dualistic illusion is created out of single stuff and that single stuff is consciousness. :~Santthosh Kumaar

It is not the God-created creation but man-created God and creator and creation theory.+

When one finds disappointment in religion, yoga, or mysticism then he is in confusion and uncertain, whether he is right or wrong.

There is no certainty that he is proceeding on the right lines?" Thus doubts arise and the inquiring spirit comes and impels us to search elsewhere for truth where it will not be possible even to have doubt.

Some philosophers and theologians strongly believe in the existence of God. They use different names for Him, Her, or it. God can be Christ, Allah, or Brahman. They regard God as the creator of the whole universe.

The doubt naturally arises in every seeker, if God is the creator if that is so, who created Him. The truth is that from the ultimate standpoint there is neither creator nor creation.

The universe was not created by any person by whatever name you call Him or Her.

There is no creator because there is no creation. Because the creation is merely an illusion created out of consciousness.

Consciousness is the only reality and all else is merely an illusion. It is not the God-created creation but man-created God and creator and creation theory.

Remember:~

People of small intelligence follow religion and believe that the world was created by God. But how do they know that He did so? When a pot is created, one can see both pot and its maker, but not in the case of the world.

Then there is the question which nobody has answered till now, viz. Why did God create all these evils, these sufferings? Even a father would never do that. If He did so, assuming that God did create, then what sort of an evil God is He! All religions which begin with "God created the world," are fit only for children. It is a lie; it is inconsistent and fit only for ignorant people.

It takes time for the seeker to gain the perfect understanding of ‘what is the truth’ and ‘’what is untruth’. It takes time for the Soul, the Self to wake up from the sleep of ignorance, and it takes time for one realizes the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Consciousness is the cause of the illusory universe, which was discovered and declared by Sage Sankara 1200 years back.+

Sage Sankara is the only one who proved the existence of God from the Vedic perspective and also proved the existence of God rationally.

Sage Sankara himself had often said that his philosophy was based on Shruti, or revealed scripture. This may be because, Sage Sankara addressed the ordinary man, who finds security in the idea of causality and thus, in the idea of God—and Revelation is indispensable to prove the latter. He believed that those of superior intelligence, have no need of this idea of divine causality, and can, therefore, dispense with Shruti and arrive at the truth of Non-Dualism by pure reason.

When Sage Sankara says Brahman or God is impersonal and attributeless then why worship God with form, names, and attributes.

God and Goddess are religious concepts. Whatever is seen, known, believed, and experienced as a person within the dualistic illusion (world) is a falsehood.

Remember:~

When the ‘Self' is not you but the ‘Self ‘is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, then the body (brain) and the world are merely an illusion. That is why truth-realization is impossible without a perfect understanding of ‘what is what’.

When the ‘Self’ is not the physical body then it is erroneous to judge and reason and conclude the truth on the base of ego, which is the false self (you) within the false experience (waking) because it leads to an imaginary version of the hallucinated truth.

Even science:~

-

Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness

By: Alva Noë. Hill and Wang, 2009

Alva No, a University of California, Berkeley, philosopher, and cognitive scientist, argues that after decades of concerted effort on the part of neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers "only one proposition about how the brain makes us conscious ... has emerged unchallenged: we don't have a clue." The reason we have been unable to explain the neural basis of consciousness, he says, is that it does not take place in the brain. Consciousness is not something that happens inside us but something we achieve it is more like dancing than it is like the digestive process. To understand consciousness the fact that we think and feel and that the world shows up for us we need to look at a larger system in which the brain is only one element. Consciousness requires the joint operation of the brain, body, and world. "You are not your brain. The brain, rather, is part of what you are."

Consciousness is the cause of the universe and it itself is uncaused. The universe is nothing but consciousness. Modern science has yet to discover that consciousness is the cause of the universe.

Consciousness is the cause of the illusory universe, which was discovered and declared by Sage Sankara 1200 years back.

Until and unless scientists become aware of the fact that, the Self is not physical their experiments will not yield any fruit. The experiment on the physical body and trying to find the truth is like trying to drain the ocean drop by drop.

Until scientists realize the fact that, the gross world is merged into the mental experience in the sense that when it is analyzed, it is found to exist inseparably in and as the consciousness alone.

All "spiritual" planes are really mental: those who regard them as different or higher are taking the physical body and the world as reality.

Scientists take birth, life, and death as a reality, their scientific inventions are based on physical awareness, and they will not be able to go deeper into this subject because they cannot cross the threshold of physicality.

Modern equipment can investigate objects within the physical existence, but it is impossible to investigate the physical existence as a whole i.e. man and the world together. The whole cannot be investigated with laboratory conditions. Only through deeper thinking through inquiry, analysis, and reasoning, the whole has to be investigated.

One has to reach beyond the physical existence, mentally, and discovers, and grasp the fact that the physical existence is merely an illusion created out of single stuff; otherwise, he will remain the conviction believing the duality is a reality. : ~Santthosh Kumaar

Atmic path is not the path of discussion, but the path of realization of the truth, which is hidden by ignorance.+

Atmic path is not the path of discussion, but the path of realization of the truth, which is hidden by the 'I'. The is present in the form of illusory form, time, and space.

There is only one Reality to be known, the same for all seekers, but the ways to it, are hidden by the religion. Self-discovery is the only way, toward non-dual Absolute without any religious doctrines, which will help the seekers to unfold the mystery of the illusion in which we all are searching for the truth of our true existence.

That is why Sage Sankara declare: ~ VC 56. Neither by Yoga, nor by Sankhya, nor by good 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 that merely causes the mind to ramble. Hence men of wisdom should earnestly set about knowing the true nature of the Self.

61. For one who has been bitten by the serpent of Ignorance, the only remedy is the knowledge of Brahman. Of what avail are the Vedas and (other) Scriptures, Mantras (sacred formulae), and medicines to such a one?

62. A disease does not leave off if one simply utters the name of the medicine, without taking it; (similarly) without direct realization one cannot be liberated by the mere utterance of the word Brahman.

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.

64. Without killing one’s enemies, and possessing oneself of the splendor of the entire surrounding region, one cannot claim to be an emperor by merely saying, ‘I am an emperor’.

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.

Then there is no need for the scriptures, religion, and idea of God. One has to be more rational to realize the Advaitic truth, which is the ultimate truth or scientific truth.

Self-knowledge will not arise from the exchange of views and opinions and arguments. The accumulated knowledge is not a yardstick, to realize the truth beyond the form, time, and space.

In the path of wisdom discussion of unimportant subject matter and creates a hindrance. The path of truth is the path of verification. Nothing has to be accepted as truth without verification. :~Santthosh Kumaar

The Atmic path of the path of wisdom is not meant for those who are strongly attached to Advaitic orthodoxy. Atmic path is not suited for the orthodox people. +

Sage Sankara’s Advaita as the fairest flower of wisdom that the world in any age has produced.

Learn yourself, make everyone aware of the truth of their true existence, call upon the sleeping Soul and see how it awakes.

Power will come on its own, glory will come on its own, grace will come, purity will come on its own, and the truth hidden by the ‘I; will be revealed when the Soul, the Self wakes up from its sleep of ignorance. this sleeping Soul is roused only through Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom is universal. The whole of humanity owns it because it is the knowledge of their true existence.

The Atmic path of the path of wisdom is not meant for those who are strongly attached to Advaitic orthodoxy. Atmic path is not suited for the orthodox people.

The orthodox people must continue with their inherited path because they are sentimentally and emotionally involved with their orthodox there is no hope that they will adopt anything new. The orthodoxy is the self-imposed prison. It is very difficult for the orthodox people to come out of their religious outfits.

For those who want to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman, there is no need for this orthodox baggage they have to discard it as useless because they block the realization of the ultimate truth or Brahman.

Theistic Advaita has to be bifurcated in order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman.

Theistic Advaita is based on the ego whereas the Advaitic wisdom is based on the Atman.

Theistic Advaita is based on the experience of birth, life, death, and the world as reality whereas Sage Sankara declared the world in which we exist is an illusion. The Atman the cause of the world, which exist is real and eternal.

Sage Sankara said:~ Talk as much philosophy as you like, worship as many Gods as you please, observe ceremonies, and sing devotional hymns, but liberation will never come, even after a hundred aeons, without realizing the Oneness.

According to Advaita Vedanta, the Veda addresses itself to two kinds of audiences - the ignorant people who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices, thus, the Purva mimam. sa, with its emphasis on the karma kanda of the Vedas, is meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. Thus, the All the theistic Advaita is meant for the ignorant populace.

The serious seeker who is seeking the truth is nothing but the truth or Brahman or God the Vedanta, with its emphasis on the jnana kanda, is meant for those who wish to go beyond the form, time, and space to realize their true existence is formless, timeless and spaceless existence.

All the theistic Advaita belongs to religion it is nothing to do with Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom

Sage Sankara Advaitic wisdom is purely based on soulcentric reason and independent without the support of any scriptures.

Sage Sankara:~ “This (the unreality of duality) is borne out by the Srutis ... But it is possible also to show the unreality of the objective world even from pure reasoning. (Commentary on the Manduka Upanishad, II, 1)

Sage Sankara himself had often said that his philosophy was based on Sruti or revealed scripture. This may be because Sage Sankara addressed the ordinary man, who finds security in the idea of causality and thus in the idea of God—and Revelation is indispensable to prove the latter. He believed that those of superior intelligence, have no need of this idea of divine causality, and can, therefore, dispense with Sruti and arrive at the truth of Non-Dualism by pure reason.

Sage Sankara gave out what was of most use to the greatest number of people. Therefore, in the commentaries on the Upanishads, such as the famous Manduka, he gave the Advaitic message of the identity of Atman and Brahman, revitalizing the philosophy and practice of Advaita, while in the commentaries on the Brahmasutra he gave lesser teaching, positing both higher and lower Maya and higher and lower Brahman (Ishvara) to explain creation for those of lesser intellects until they were ready for the highest truth.

Sage Sankara says: - Whatever thing remains eternal is true, and whatever is non-eternal is untrue. Since the world is created and destroyed, it is not true.

The truth is the thing that is unchanging. Since the world is changing, it is not true.

Whatever is independent of space and time is true, and whatever has space and time in itself is untrue.

Just as one sees dreams in sleep, he sees a kind of super-dream when he is waking. The world is compared to this conscious dream.

The world is believed to be a superimposition of the Brahman. Superimposition cannot be true.

On the other hand, Sage Sankara claims that the world is not absolutely false. It appears false only when compared to Brahman. In the pragmatic state, the world is completely true—which occurs as long as we are under the influence of Maya. The world cannot be both true and false at the same time; hence Sage Sankara has classified the world as indescribable. The following points suggest that according to Sage Sankara, the world is not false (Sage Sankara himself gave most of the arguments).

Maya or illusion is the most important contribution of Sage Sankara. Maya or illusion is that complex illusionary power of the Atman (Soul), which is present in the form of consciousness.

This Māyāvāda of Sage Sankara was highly criticized and misunderstood. Bhaskaracharya described Sage Sankara to be indebted to the Buddhists for his concept of Maya. The term Maya however, appears in the Bhagavad Gita 7.14 and also in many Upanishads.

The concept of Māyā seems to be a hypothesis. Since according to the Upanishads only Brahman is real, but we see the material world be real, Sage Sankara explained the anomaly by the concept of this illusionary power Māyā.

Sage Sankara:~ “The world, filled with attachments and aversions, 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 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 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.

Sage Sankara's commentary to Brahma Sutras (Chap.3.4.50) shows that the Gnani "should pass through life", not run away from life, and should take a middle course between seeking worldly honor and worldly abasement.

Sage 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 Sankara was extremely precise and careful in his choice of words.

Sage Sankara gave religious, rituals and dogmatic instruction to the mass but pure philosophy only to the few who could rise to it. Hence, the interpretation of his writings by commentators is often confusing because they mix up the two viewpoints. Thus, they may assert that ritual is a means of realizing Brahman, which is absurd.

Sage 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.

Sage Sankara believed that those of superior intelligence, have no need of this idea of divine causality, and can, therefore, dispense with Shruti and arrive at the truth of Non-Dualism by pure reason.

Sage Sankara’s supreme Brahman is Nirguna (without the Gunas), Nirakara (formless), Nirvisesha (without attributes), and Akarta (non-agent). He is above all needs and desires.

Sage Sankara says, "This Atman is Self-evident. This Atman or Self is not established by proofs of the existence of the Self. It is not possible to deny this Atman, for it is the very essence of he who denies it. The Atman is the basis of all kinds of knowledge. The Self is within, the Self is without, the Self is before and the Self is behind. The Self is on the right hand, the Self is on the left, the Self is above and the Self is below".

Satyam-Jnanam-Anantam-Anandam is not a separate attribute. They form the very essence of Brahman. Brahman cannot be described because description implies distinction. Brahman cannot be distinguished from any other than He.

The objective world-the world of names and forms has no independent existence. The Atman alone has real existence. The world is only phenomenal.

Sage Sankara was the exponent of the Advaitic wisdom. His wisdom can be summed up in the following words:

Brahma Satyam Jagat Mithya,

Jeevo Brahmaiva Na Aparah

Brahman alone is real, this world is unreal; the Jiva is identical to Brahman.

Sage Sankara said: ~ Just as the snake is superimposed on the rope, this world and this body are superimposed on Brahman or the Soul, the Self. If one gets knowledge of the rope, the illusion of the snake will vanish. Even so, if he gets knowledge of Brahman, the illusion of the body and the world will vanish.

The snake is only an idea: it disappears on inquiry, but deeper Self-search reveals the fact that the rope is also an idea and its reality will be exposed when wisdom dawns. There is neither a snake nor the rope in reality because from the ultimate standpoint the duality is an illusion created out of consciousness.

Sage Sankara’s Supreme Brahman is impersonal, Nirguna (without Gunas or attributes), Nirakara (formless), Nirvisesha (without special characteristics), immutable, eternal, and Akarta (non-agent). It is above all needs and desires. It is always the Witnessing Subject. It can never become an object as It is beyond the reach of the senses. Brahman is non-dual, one without a second. It has no other besides it. It is destitute of difference, either external or internal. Brahman cannot be described because description implies a distinction. Brahman cannot be distinguished from any other than It. In Brahman, there is not distinction between substance and attribute. Sat-Chit-Ananda constitutes the very essence or Svarupa of Brahman and not just Its attributes. The Nirguna Brahman of Sage Sankara is impersonal. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar