The Soul, the Self is not ‘I’. The Soul is the cause of the 'i'. I’ is merely an illusion.+

The experience of Birth, life, and death, and the world are a reality within the waking experience, but the waking experience is a falsehood.  Thus,  whatever is experienced as a child, youth, and old age is false. 

Whatever appears as the form is false. Whatever has a name is false.  Whatever appears and disappears is a falsehood. The people who live in the appeared universe are bound to be false because the universe appears as waking or dream and disappears as deep sleep. 

All three states are a falsehood.  Whatever is permanent is reality whatever impermanent falsehood is.  Thus, the three states which appear and disappear are a falsehood.

All the contents of the universe are false.  Thus, whatever is born, lives, and dies within the universe is a falsehood. The individual experiences are a reality within the falsehood.

Gold, silver, and diamonds have their value within the falsehood.  All the attachment burdens and bondage are experienced as reality within the falsehood.  Religion and its idea of God are based on the false entity within the falsehood.  Love and hate are a reality within the falsehood.  The universe and all its contents are an illusory reality.

The  Soul, the Self is not ‘I’. The Soul is the cause of the 'I'. 'I’ is merely an illusion.  The illusion is present in the form universe. The universe appears as a waking or dream (duality) and disappears as deep sleep (non-duality). 

You are the ego (waking entity). You are the false entity within the false experience (waking). There is a need to know “What is ‘I’?” before proceeding in pursuit of the truth. 

Deeper self-search reveals the fact that ‘I’ is not limited to the physical entity, but to the whole universe. Therefore, limiting the ‘I’ to the physical entity and viewing and judging the truth on the base of a false physical entity (ego) within the false experience (waking) is erroneous.

If the Soul, the  Self is formless then the question of inward and outward does not arise, because in self –awareness the body, ego, and the world are nothing but consciousness because they are merely an illusion created out of consciousness.  All these yogic theories hold no water on the standpoint of the formless soul or consciousness, the innermost self. 

The Brahman alone is real and eternal.  Thus whatever is real and eternal has to be identified as God. To identify the real and eternal, one has to overcome the ignorance caused by the illusion. To overcome ignorance,  one has to acquire Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. 

The individual experience within the dream is a reality within the dream. the waking reality is also a reality within the waking experience. This waking experience is a parallel dream, and the dream is a parallel waking experience. 

Only when the Soul, the Self wakes up in waking the dream becomes unreal. When the Self-consciously wakes up in its formless nondual true nature in the midst of waking experience then all the three states are merely an illusion created out of its formless nondual true nature.

Self is not this waking entity. Therefore, identifying with the waking entity as the Self is the gravest mistake.  Identification of the Self with the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness leads one to Nondualistic self-awareness.

If one misses this point, that is, if we blunder in recognizing the soul as his innermost self, then we will be lost in the pitch darkness of physical existence (duality).

The ignorant have to recognize the source of the mind. These three states are merely an illusion created out of consciousness.  Thinking this universe is made of five elements is a great mistake, because the five elements cease to exist in reality. the duality is not a reality from the ultimate standpoint.

The form, time, and space within the dream become unreal when waking takes place. Similarly,  the form, time, and space of the waking also become unreal when Advaitic wisdom dawns. 

The wisdom dawns only when one realizes,  the self is neither the waking entity nor the self is the dream entity. It is erroneous to judge and reason and conclude the ultimate truth on the base of the waking entity and the waking world because the waking experience itself is an illusion.

This universe is common to all of us, therefore one must include the universe in his investigation in order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.   

It is only after one has inquired into the nature of the objective universe, that he should inquire into who is the knower (witness). If one,  inquiries into the knower before the inquiry into the universe, then it is mere mysticism.  One must have a perfect understanding of 'what is what'.

v  “What is the universe?

v  What is this ‘I’?

That is why Sage Sankara:~ VC~ 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.

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.

The universe exists because of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. The moment the ignorance vanishes the universe with all its contents becomes unreal. Thus realizing the unreal nature of the universe or waking experience,  in the midst of the waking experience,  leads to nondualistic or Advaitic Self-awareness. Self-awareness frees one from experiencing the waking experience as a reality.:~Santthosh Kumaar