Find out: ~ ‘What is it that appears as the waking?’ “What is it that appears as a dream?’ ‘What is it that disappears as deep sleep?+

Without Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana there the ignorance will not vanish. Without getting rid of ignorance wisdom will not dawn. 

All other paths do not lead finally to Gnana because they are egocentric.  The path of truth or path of wisdom is the only means to liberation from experiencing the illusion as reality.  

Only through Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, the waking entity realizes through knowledge its identity with the universal soul or consciousness, the innermost Self. 

You cannot think beyond form, time, and space without a perfect understanding of what is what.

Without knowing ‘what is real?’  and ‘what is unreal’ ?it is impossible to realize the truth which is hidden by the ‘I’.

The seeker must realize how this ‘I’ is an illusion and from what standpoint the ‘I’ is an illusion.

The form, time, and space are present only when the world is present. The world is present when you are present. You and the world are present only when the mind is present. 

The mind is present only when ‘I’ is present. ‘I’ is present only when there is ignorance. Thus getting rid of ignorance is necessary to realize that form, time and space are one in essence. That essence is the formless soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Thus the consciousness is the ultimate truth of Brahman

To leave out one of these parts is to prevent attainment of the Advaitic wisdom. "Who am I” is useful no doubt, it has a certain value in its place, and gives some knowledge of self as, the Witness. But what about the witnessed? The three states are merely objects to the witness. It must also be looked at. If the witnessed (three states)  is ignored, then "Who am I” cannot give the full truth.

“Who am ‘I’” is the yogic enquiry; not the spiritualistic; the latter deals with the whole of life,  whereas the former deals with a part only.

"Who am I” inquiry is limited only to the physical entity because there, is no person in truth but only in the illusion of mystics.  ‘It should be "What is  I?"

The question "Who am I” is a religious, not a spiritualistic question. It is the most selfish one. It is on a par with "What shall I be after death?" and "What shall I get in return for my good  karma  in the next life?" It is purely egocentric, and it is based on the false self.

Only the people who are serious about knowing the truth can lift their thoughts above ego and ask "What is the mind?"  All  the three states are put together to make the soul, the innermost self, not merely the ego questioning itself ''What is the   I.”

You are not different from the ego because you are the ego. The ego, body, and the world appear together as waking or dream (duality) and disappear together as deep sleep (nonduality). The dream is a parallel waking experience and the waking experience is a parallel dream.

We need not focus our attention on the ego but we have to find the truth of the whole waking experience (universe).

The seeker has to find out: ~

‘What is it that appears as the waking?’

“What is it that appears as a dream?’

‘What is it that disappears as deep sleep?’

A deeper self-search reveals the fact that whatever appears and disappears is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The witness to the appearance and disappearance of the three states is also the Soul.

All three states are created out of single clay. And that single clay is the consciousness. in reality, the witness (Soul) and the witnessed (three states) are one in essence.

The knowledge of the single stuff is Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

When one is absorbed in thinking of anything, he forgets the subject, which consciousness is the Self, that which witnesses all the coming and going of the three states in succession.

One may think for a hundred hours continuously, but it is all thoughts, hence not consciousness. But when one becomes aware the thinker of the thoughts are one is the essence, one does get consciousness, the knower, the formless witness of the three states. Consciousness is the Self is eternal.

One 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. 

WHO AM ‘I’ and ‘I AM THAT’ teachings  - are only for a lower stage where one gives up externally in order expose the false nature of the ego, which is not the full truth. To get the ultimate truth one has to inquire into the nature of the mind, which is in the form of the universe.  Inquiring into nature the mind or universe is higher.  Thus, ‘WHO AM ‘I’? and ‘I AM THAT’ -  will not reveal the truth of the whole(form, time, and space) thus the journey is incomplete.  

 WHO AM ‘I’ and ‘I AM THAT’- teachings serve only at the starting point. What one has learned from the teaching of the sages be understood through the exercise of reason as far as the reason might go?  And what one has assimilated must be realized. There are stages in the seeker's goal. :~Santthosh Kumaar