Everyone is not in same level of understanding, some are in elementary level and some are in advanced stages

The Soul is the innermost self. The soul is present in the form of consciousness. The innermost self is completely unattached” from the three states, because the innermost  self is not an entity or identity within the three states . How can this body be the self, when the body exists only within the mind(I)? Mind is present in the form of universe. And  universe which appears as  waking or dream.

We are discussing about the formless truth in the realm of untruth (duality or illusion).  If we rectify reasoning base form to formless then the words and concepts will become meaningless. To travel from ignorance to wisdom,  one has to use the words and concepts and as his understanding matures he has to drop them. 

Everyone is not in same level of understanding, some are in elementary level and some are in advanced stages. In elementary stages we have to use more words and concepts to make them understand and also to overcome the inherited conditioning, for advanced seekers are sharp enough to understand assimilate the truth with lesser words.  

    

Question arises only in ignorance if seekers judgement is based on the waking entity or ego. From ultimate standpoint the universe including our body, ego is mere illusion. From the physical point of view the universe including us is reality.  It takes umpteen times, to understand this because we are conditioned to view, judge and reason on physical base thus our reasoning is based on the waking entity or  ego. Therefore, there is a need to rectify the reasoning base from form to formless base in order to know ‘what truth’ is and ‘what is illusion’. 

Without knowing what reality is it is impossible to accept anything as illusion. Therefore it is necessary to first decide whether the self is form or self is formless. If self is form then the universe will prevail as reality. If the self is formless then the universe has to be accepted as illusion.  It takes a very long time to mentally rectify the reasoning base from to formless thus it takes time to understand and assimilate and realize the Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.  

The wisdom consists in knowing the truth, that everything (universe or mind or physical existence) is consciousness. Freedom (truth) is always there yet one does not know it.  But to those whose reason is turned away from physicality and who have attained the serenity of the soul or consciousness, the innermost self are quite near to the ultimate truth. 

To think once own body and his experience of the world is an illusion is difficult matter, unless one realizes the self is not physical but it is formless soul it is difficult to have glimpse of truth.

When one realizes the fact that, the self is not physical but the formless soul, naturally the body and universe becomes illusion.

The mind or universe is emanating from soul or consciousness, means the mind is being effect from consciousness is not different from it. Deeper analysis shows it. Analysis needs deeper thinking and reasoning. Mind is whole universe thus it has a form. But where is the form in consciousness (soul) because consciousness is like an ocean and mind is like wave.  The universe is same consciousness, as the ocean produces the wave, so the consciousness produces the mind (universe).

The moment one knows the mind (universe) is consciousness, and then there is no ignorance. If one knows consciousness as self then everything is consciousness, the consciousness is second to none.  The mind is consciousness but due to ignorance one mistakes it for something else. One thinks the self is within the body; but the self is without the body and the world.

The spirit and the matter seem to be opposed to each other in duality, but in reality there is no duality because the matter is mere mirage created out of the spirit.

Consciousness is the ultimate cause of the duality. The spirit and the matter seem to be opposed to each other in duality, but in reality there is no duality because the matter is mere mirage created out of the spirit.

 All the forms and names are   nothing but spirit. The sense of form, time and space are within the duality. All dualistic experiences are reality within the duality. The duality is mere mirage from the ultimate standpoint.  Thus nothing is born, nothing lives and nothing dies in non dual reality.  Thus the universe, where the birth, life and death takes place is mere mirage created out of consciousness. The consciousness alone is real without the mirage. 

The thought of the witness [soul] comes only when one inquires in to witnessed [mind or universe]. A person sees the world within the waking or dream. The witness is not the person who sees the objects and things within the waking or dream.  The witness is that which witnesses the coming and going of the three states, without the physical apparatus.   This has to be grasped mentally. 

Religions place God as the unknown reality. Everyone has a different idea of God. Every man has a different idea of truth. Hence there is need of definition before study. 

The fallacy of religionist’s appeal to scripture lies in the varying and conflicting interpretations of the same scripture which different men feel entitled to give or hold. 

The yogi or mystic who sees or experiences something in his meditation which he takes as the highest, but he is fully unaware of the fact that , the waking  experience itself is falsehood from the ultimate standpoint.   Thus all his experiences are part and parcel of that falsehood.  Thus how his visions and experiences and Samadhi based on the false entity within the false experience can be ultimate truth.  When the self is not the form but the self is formless consciousness then all the theories and experiences and visions based on form as self is bound to be falsehood.  Thus whatever based on the form as self has to be negated mentally. Whatever prevails without the form, name and experiences is ultimate truth or Brahman.   

Only in duality one imagines the existence of god. When the duality is not reality then whatever one imagines and experiences within the duality is falsehood because the duality is reality only when one considers the self as form but deeper inquiry revels the fact that the self is not the form but the self is formless.  Thus imagining and accepting the theories based on the form as self is cause of ignorance. And ignorance is cause of experiencing the duality as reality. Duality is cause of accepting the birth, life, death and the world as reality.   Thus getting rid of the ignorance with deeper introspection and realizing the fact that, the self is not form but self is formless consciousness, is the only way to overcome the illusory experience of duality, in the midst of duality. 

The three states are verily the Atman( soul or consciousness), because their formless substance and witness is Atman.

Formless soul or consciousness is the innermost self. Consciousness is without any attribute or activity, Consciousness is eternal, ever free, and imperishable.

Consciousness is free from all impurity; Consciousness is immovable, unlimited, holy, un-decaying, and immortal.

Ignorant is unaware of the blissful, ever-existent Consciousness, which resides in the three states and is (evidently) different from it, because he thinks ‘I’ as self thus limits the mind to the physical entity. 

Ignorant should try to know, through inquiry, analysis and reasoning, the fact that the true self is not the ‘I’ but the soul. The true Self is, which is different from the body, (not a void but) the very form of existence, and very difficult for ignorants to realize.

The soul/self is one, whereas the gross bodies are many. So this body cannot be the Self.  “waking entity or ego ” is well established as the subject of perception whereas the body/world is the object. This is learnt from the fact that when one speaks of the body/world he says, “This is mine.” So this body cannot be the self.  

It is a fact of direct experience that the Consciousness is without any change, whereas the three states are always undergoing changes. Thus, this ‘I’ cannot be the soul, the innermost self  because ‘I’ exists only in waking or dream.

Gnani have ascertained the real nature of Consciousness through deeper self-search and realizes  that  “There is nothing higher than Atman,” thus the ‘I’ cannot be Atman.  The three states are verily the Atman( soul or consciousness), because their formless substance and witness is Atman.  

The soul or consciousness, the innermost self is self-illumined”. So how can the three states which is inert (insentient) and illumined by an external agent be the soul or consciousness, the innermost self?

The Karma-theory declares that the Consciousness is different from the body and permanent, as it endures even after the fall of the body and reaps the fruits of actions done in this life. When the body is not the self how it can reap the fruits of action of last life, when it is not self in the next life. When the formless soul or consciousness, the innermost  self is unborn then how can it be reborn? Thus karma theory is based on the false entity(waking entity), and has accepted the false entity as the self.  

The three states consist of diversity and are impermanent. It is also an object of perception, is changeable, limited and non-existent by nature. Thus it cannot be the self or soul, because the soul or self is the formless substance and witness of the three states and it is apart from the three states.

The immutable Consciousness, the substratum of the three states, is thus different from these three states, and is the soul, the Self of all; it is present in everything and everywhere in these three states and yet transcends them all.

Consciousness or soul is verily one and without parts, whereas the body consists of many parts; and yet the people see (confound) these two as one!

Formless soul consciousness is the innermost self.  Consciousness or soul is neither the body, nor the matter, nor is Consciousness an aggregate of the senses; Consciousness is something different from these.

Three states are produced by ignorance, and dissolves in the wake of self-Knowledge. Consciousness is the substance and witness and the true self.

The cause of these three states is the One without a second, subtle and unchanging, just as the earth is the material (cause) of the pot and the like.

As Consciousness is also the One, the formless, the Subtle, the Knower, the Witness, the Ever-Existent, and the Unchanging, so there is no doubt that Consciousness is the true self.

Consciousness or soul is verily one and without parts, whereas the body consists of many parts; and yet the people see (confound) these two as one! What else can be called ignorance but this?

Consciousness or soul is the ruler of the three states and is internal; the three states are the ruled and is external.  Consciousness  or soul is all consciousness and pure, the body and the world are diversity is impure.

Consciousness is the supreme Illuminator which gives sentient; the three states is said to be of the nature of insentient. Consciousness is eternal, since it is Existence itself; the three states are transient, as it is nonexistence in essence.

The luminosity of Consciousness consists in the manifestation of all the three states. Its luminosity is not like that of fire or any such thing, for in spite of the presence of such lights darkness prevails at night (at some place or other).  

How strange is it that a person ignorantly rests contented with the idea that he is the body, while he knows it as something belonging to him and therefore apart from him even as a person who sees a universe  knows it as apart from him !  

Consciousness is verily ultimate reality, being equanimous, quiescent, and by nature absolute Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss. Consciousness is not the body which is non-existence itself. This is called true Knowledge by the Gnanis.  

Consciousness is without any change, without any form, free from all blemish and decay.  Consciousness is not subjected to any disease; Consciousness is beyond all comprehension, free from all alternatives and all-pervading.

Due to ignorance of the true self, the waking is experienced as reality.

When one has a dream, what is it? This analysis requires self-elimination, purging of preconceptions.

The dream becomes unreal when waking takes place.

Similarly the waking becomes unreal when wisdom dawns. Hence man and his experience of the world within the waking experience is bound to be unreal. Due to ignorance of the true self, the waking  is experienced as reality.

 The aim of yogic Samadhi is to empty the mind of its contents, but this is successfully achieved by millions of men during the deep sleep state. Yet they never find Truth. That is why something more is needed to acquire non dual wisdom.

Deep sleep is not liberation. It is not Reality. Reality is existence in waking/dream experience, as much as in deep sleep, but only the Gnani can perceive this.

The novices have been told that deep sleep is nearer the Soul or Atman,the innermost self, merely to induce them to begin and carry on the quest which shall pass into and through and out of yoga, until they reach perfect understanding. 

Sleep is gift to people to enable them to contact their divine self nightly.  Deep sleep is simply having no experience. 

The dream- has been given to seeker as an illustration for the purpose of pointing out to him that the waking experience is likewise is mere mirage. One sees a thing in dream as different from him, but yet it as of the same substance – mental - it is not for nothing that dreams exist.

v  How did the sense of reality during the dream arise?

It arises from the Atman, not mind. There is no other illustration but dream which can prove this truth.

If a man in dream knows the waking to be mere mirage, this is a good test that he has reached the higher stage. 

Seeker must think constantly that the waking is an experience till it gets so firm conviction that the proper test of his grasp occurs--when in his dreams he will say to himself too that even his dreams are but mirage.  

He who has realized the ultimate truth or Brahman transcends the duality or mind where he sees no second thing other than consciousness.   Yogi who sees the universe as reality may try to deny it because he thinks thoughtlessness is Brahman.  The yogi sees the universe as a second thing and he wants to banish the universe in Samadhi, because he does not know that in non-duality there is no need to deny the universe. But he has to realize the fact that, universe is not something different from the self, which consciousness. Those who cannot grasp and realize this position, misunderstand it, and wrongly hold it be yogic Samadhi where there is only blankness.  

The presence of the universe is no obstacle to Gnani‘s realization; he does not need yogic Samadhi.  But yogi has imagined Brahman as blankness or thoughtlessness thus he is still in the grip of duality.  Thus Yogis Brahman is but a thought.  Brahman is not a thought but Brahman is prior to any mind or universe.  Thus one has to know what is prior to waking experience.  

The yogi who wrongly thinks there is Brahman to be got ,may attempt to do so, and may think he sees it, but all the time he under the delusion of duality because he bases his- self  on physical body, thinking Brahman to be something different from the soul, which is the true self.

When one becomes aware of the fact all the experiences of the three states and all the thoughts and words are Mind and mind in turn is consciousness then he has transcended thinking faculty.