People who argue there is nothing beyond the universe; there is nothing other than the matter and death was the end of all.+

People who argue there is nothing beyond the universe; there is nothing other than matter; that the body was man, and death was the end of all.  According to them, there is no truth other than the practical life within the practical world, which they hold as reality. Their only agenda is as long as they live in the world and live happily with all the pleasant things of life, who can demonstrate that there is something left after physical death.  Beg, borrow, or steal – but live happily is their mantra.     

Some people believe strongly there was a spirit that defied the ravages of time, which cannot be confined in space; that spirit transcends the limits of this universe in which the body exists. 

How one can decide what is the truth when he is bound by birth, life, and death or form, time, and space?  

Consciousness is the Self.  The nature of consciousness is formless and non-dual.  One should realize consciousness as the whole universe without parts.  

To describe non-duality as a system is erroneous because the dual and non-dual is the nature of the Self. 

Duality is the illusory nature of the Soul, the Self, and non-duality is the real nature of the Soul, the Self. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness.  The ultimate truth cannot be confined to a narrow set of ideas.  

Chandogya Upanishads:~This universe comes forth from Brahman and will return to Brahman. Verily, all is Brahman. A person is what his deep desire is. It is our deepest desire in this life that shapes the life to come. So let us direct our deepest desires to realize the Self. 

If one is seeking the truth,  then it is necessary to bifurcate and drop the traditional Advaitic path which is not the means to Self-knowledge, and move ahead without the traditional baggage to get direct realization on his own as suggested by the great sages. 

Thus,  the seeker of truth has to know what this universe is? What is this ultimate truth or Brahman? , to realize the non-dualistic or Advaitic truth?  

No one can escape the waking experience,  which is the very basis of physical existence. What was the waking experience before it appeared? Was their existence before the appearance of the waking experience?  When the waking perishes, does the soul or consciousness survive alone?  Is there a self or soul?  The seeker has to find answers for all these doubts to realize ‘what is the truth’ and ‘what is untruth’.  

As one goes deeper in self-search one becomes aware that the Self is neither the waking entity nor the Self is the dream entity, but the Self is the formless substance and the witness of the three states. And the formless substance and witness of the three states are one in essence.  That essence is consciousness.  

If the formless substance and witness are one in essence, then there is a second thing that can exist, other than consciousness. Thus, consciousness alone is real and all else is merely an illusion created out of consciousness.

In Self-awareness, the Soul will as objectless –awareness in the midst of the duality, and then the duality will cease to exist as a reality.

The mind is nothing but objective existence.   The seeker has to eliminate all the objective knowledge through wisdom and then objectless knowledge will alone remain. This is the nature of the Soul, the  Self.

As for the well-known example of the hallucination of a snake in a coil of rope, the rope is real and the snake is unreal. There is neither the snake nor the rope in self-awareness.  

Even after the truth about the snake is realized and the hallucination of a snake dismissed, there is still the reality of the rope persists.  

Until the rope is recognized to be the Self, the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is an impossibility. 

The universe is like the snake, because, it is merely an illusion.  Deeper self-search reveals the fact that the universe is neither the snake nor the rope but is the soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. The true nature of the soul is objectless awareness. 

Self is not ‘I’. The ‘I’ is present in the form of the mind. Limiting the mind (’I’) to the waking entity (you) is the main hurdle in the pursuit of truth. The seeker of truth must investigate ‘what is the mind?’ to realize the mind ('I')  is not limited to the ego or the waking entity but ‘I’ is the mind. The mind is present in the form of the universe. And the universe appears as a waking or dream.  

When the Self is neither the waking entity (ego) nor 'I' then 'WHO AM 'I'? -inquiry will not yield the full truth because it yields only the fallacy of the form, not time and space. ~Santthosh Kumaar