Only a man in quest searches for the truth, when he searches the truth in all the books, all the teachings, all religion, all the scriptures and yoga and glorifying the gurus and god and fails to find it, finally he realizes the fact that, there is nothing left to investigate other than his Self.

The physical based practices such as religion, yoga, scriptural and theoretical studies are not the means to acquire the Self-knowledge or Brmha Gnana or Atma Gnana.   By indulging in god and guru glorification, rituals the non-dual wisdom will not dawn.   The proper and clear understanding will rise only when the physical based barricade is removed.  For this, one has to make sure the self is the formless  soul . The identification with the waking  entity or ego can be discarded, only when the seeking mind establishes itself   with the firm conviction that, the self is neither the waking entity nor the self is the dream entity but the self the formless soul  . Only the firm conviction helps the  seeker to re-establish in  self -awareness. 

 The truth is not in the world perceived by the person but it is hidden within the three states as their  formless substance. It has to be discovered and realized through clear understanding   by discovering what is not truth.  What is not the truth will be revealed only on the base of the  formless soul, which is the innermost self; therefore, firm conviction of 'what is what'  is necessary in this regard. Only when the seeking mind realizes, what all is not the truth then the diversity will become the part of the untruth, and its clear understanding will lead it to unity in diversity. 

The truth will be revealed when the source of the physical existence is traced. The source is the soul, the innermost self. The soul appears as mind(I) . The mind is in the form of the universe. The universe appears as waking or dream and disappears as deep sleep.  The individual experiences of birth, life, death and the world are within the waking experience.  The dream is a parallel waking experience and waking is parallel dream.

Deeper self-search reveals the fact that the, self is neither the waking entity nor the self is the dream entity but the self is formless soul, which witnesses the coming and going of the three states in succession without the physical apparatus.  This has to be mentally grasped and assimilated to realize the formless soul, the innermost   self is nothing to do with the three states. On the standpoint of the three states, the three states are mere illusion. 

The man becomes enlightened when he is Self-Realized. We cannot find a better word in English other than the Self. Only a man in quest searches for the truth, when he searches the truth in all the books, all the teachings, all religion, all the scriptures and yoga and glorifying the gurus and god and fails to find it, finally he realizes the fact that, there is nothing left to investigate other than his Self. Thus, he starts his Self-inquiry and realizes the fact that, the” Self” is not physical but it is the formless Spirit. Thus, he becomes aware of the fact that, the Self he was identifying with his physical body with the name is not the self, but the formless knower of the body with the name and of the world, is the true Self. When this realization happens then the physical existence (body + world) becomes a mere mirage. When the self is identified with the physical body with the name then it is called ego/physical self. Therefore, one has to realize the fact that, the ego is the false self (waking entity) within the false experience(waking). Whatever, seen, known, believed experienced on the base of  the waking entity or ego is bound to be falsehood.