Till one thinks he is an individual separate from this world, he remains in the realm of duality.+

When one realizes mind (matter) and Soul (spirit), the innermost Self are one, in essence, then there is no place for the duality.

Without duality, the universe ceases to exist. Without the universe, your existence within the universe is merely an illusion. There is scope for two because everything is created out of single stuff. That single stuff is consciousness or spirit. The Spirit of consciousness

Till one thinks he is an individual separate from this world,  he remains in the realm of duality. Duality is the product of ignorance. When the wisdom dawns, then ignorance vanishes. When the ignorance vanishes, then the duality never remains as reality. 

The seeker has to get rid of his doubts, but that did not mean, simply going and believing everything he is told. The doubt is to be got rid of "by the sword of wisdom.  

There is a controversy as to the meaning of Maya.

One Advaitic School says it is a Shakti of Brahman whereby both illusion and creation are brought about. But doubt arises-

v  How does one know that it is the truth?

 Ione bases it on the sayings of ancient sages,  even granting that they honestly believed in their experiences, there is still the query how do they know that these experiences were the truth?

Even mentally challenged believe in what they see and feel and yet their experiences are often quite untrue.

v  What is it that ascertains the truth of these experiences within us?

If one says it is a mystical experience, then everyone’s experience differs from others.  Such disagreement does not settle the matter.

Objective knowledge arises from the experience of an object by a subject; that all knowledge of objects will only lead to more thinking,  but never give one ultimate truth or Brahman. Intellectuals think by thinking more and getting more and still more objective experience and then when we have enough we may get the reality.

The reality can never change. The nature of reality is, it can never be changed under any circumstances. It may be misrepresented. It must apply to the whole of existence, to the whole of the universe. As deeper analysis reveals,  it is in the object (three states) alone that one has all changes.

The subject (Soul or Spirit) remains unchanged. The subject (formless witness), as such remains immortal. It can never die for it changes. The body and the world are an object and go, but the subject or the witness of the body and the universe can never go.

The seeker has to take this principle as his guiding thread and non-dual truth becomes easy to grasp. The formless witness can never be subject to the changes of the object; it is unchanged. The mistake usually made is that the subject becomes the object, or that object is the subject.

If one wants to have an absence of contradictions, absence of duality, there must be one entity, one being. If one has experience which is an object (mind), there is a contradiction between subject and object, for "mind” is an object. It means the universe in which we exist is an object to the soul, which is the subject.

The duality is a reality from the standpoint of the false self (ego or you).  The duality is a mere illusion on the base of the Soul, the  Self.   The Soul is present in the form of consciousness.

Perfect understanding of ‘what is what’ leads to Advaitic self-awareness. The seeker must have an intense urge to know and realize the ultimate truth. The ultimate truth is beyond all the teachings, theories, and teachers.

There is no need to rely on any teaching, or a teacher in pursuit of truth. The pursuit of truth is not a pursuit of the argument, but it is the pursuit of verification.  : ~ Santthosh Kumaar