If you desire liberation, but you still say "mine," If you feel you are the body, You are not a wise man or a seeker.

  If you desire liberation, but you still say "mine," If you feel you are the body, You are not a wise man or a seeker. You are simply a man who suffers.

- Ashtavakra Gita 16:10

First thing spiritual pursuit is a very personal journey, thus it is not story or biography. It is mental [inner] journey of verification. Nothing has to be accepted as truth without verification.  Only un-contradictable truth has to be accepted as truth. This is possible only through inquiry, which makes one realize the self is not form but self is formless (consciousness).  Once one becomes aware of the fact that the self is not form but self is formless then the reasoning based has to rectify from form [ego] to formless [soul]. Without rectifying the reasoning base from form to formless, it is impossible to understand and assimilate and realize the non-dual truth.  

The inquiry revel the fact that, the self is neither the waking entity nor the dream entity but the self is the formless soul, which witness the coming and going of the three states. Therefore, what is the use of seeking truth on the base of false self? Therefore, it is necessary to make sure of the fact that neither the waking entity nor the dream entity is the self.

All the doubts and confusion prevail because of the egocentricity outlook.  Seeker has to be soul centric to realize the non-dual truth.

Only serious seeker will think deeply because he is not at sure that his physical existence [body +universe] is illusion. Only when he inquires and becomes aware of the fact that the “I” [mind] is not self but the “I-LESS” (formless soul or consciousness). Thus his understanding has to be based on the “I-LESS” not on the “I” (mind or universe),which is false self (ego or waking entity)within the false experience(waking).  When “I” is not self,  but “I-LESS” than whatever seen, known , believed and experienced on the base of ‘I’ as self is bound to be falsehood on the standpoint of “I-LESS” as self.    Thus it is necessary to realize the fact that, the self is not physical but self is formless to realize the mind, which is in the form of universe is myth.