Everything in the cosmos-- energy and space, fire and water, name and form,time and space --all come from the Soul, the Self.+*****

The seeker has to find out:~ What is this universe in which we exist? What stuff the universe in which we exist ultimately made of?

Realizing that the final stuff of which this universe in which you exist is made is Truth realization or self-realization or God realization. 

Chandogya Upanishad -One who meditates upon and realizes the 'Self' discovers that everything in the cosmos-- energy and space, fire and water, name and form, birth and death, mind and will, word and deed, mantram and meditation--all come from the Self.

Krishna tells Arjuna ~   that knowledge of both matter and Spirit is the True knowledge. (Gita, Chap.XII)

Everything (universe) is the consciousness, which Sage scientist Sankara declared 1200 years back –everything is Atman because Atman is in the form of consciousness or Spirit. 

The Soul is the Self. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. Consciousness is ever-present. Without consciousness, the world, in which you exist ceases to exist. Consciousness is Self-evident. It is not established by extraneous proofs. 

It is not possible to deny consciousness because it is the very essence of the one who denies it. Consciousness is the basis of all kinds of knowledge, presuppositions, and proofs. Consciousness is everything. Thus, consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman.

 

The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is real and eternal. The world in which we exist is an illusion created out of consciousness.  

Remember:

All is consciousness. The whole universe is consciousness. From consciousness, the universe comes. When the universe disappears, the consciousness remains without form, time, and space.

Sage Sankara: ~ “VC~ All this universe which through ignorance appears as of diverse forms, is nothing else but Brahman (Consciousness) which is free from all the limitations of  Maya.

Sage Sankara:~ VC~.63- "Without knowing and examining the external world, one can’t know the Truth, as the idea that the external world exists, won't go. It can go only by an inquiry into the nature of the external world.

After verifying through deeper inquiry if one finds the world is a reality within the illusion then he cannot again say the world is not an illusion.

If one is frightened to accept the world is an illusion (waking) then he is unfit to acquire ‘Self’-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. Those who are stuck with the reality of the world are stuck with the reality of the individual experiences of birth, life, and death, which take place within the unreal world. Thus the pursuit of truth is for those who have the courage to accept reality as it is, that is the reality without form, time, and space.

When you finally realize the ‘‘Self’ ‘is not you but the ‘‘Self’’ is the Soul then you will realize the world in which you exist is merely an illusion created out of the Soul. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness.

Sage Sankara says:~ VC-47- All the effects of ignorance, root, and branch, are burnt down by the fire of knowledge, which arises from discrimination between these two—the Self and the non-Self.

Until you think you are an individual separate from the world and the world that existed before you and you are born in it afterward the ignorance will prevail as a reality. Till ignorance is there the universe prevails as reality.

Sage Sankara says ~ “The exercise in discrimination between real and unreal and renunciation of the false is real meditation, then why you are indulging in other types of meditation.

Perfect understanding and realization of ‘what is what’ leads to Self-awareness. By holding onto theories one remains in the realm of duality. You have to mentally go on dropping what is not the truth through deeper Self-search. Finally when you become aware of the fact that, your ego, your body, and the world are one in essence then there is Self-awareness in the midst of duality. 

 Remember 

Ignorance is the cause of the duality. The duality is the cause of the illusion. The illusion is the cause of experiencing birth, life, death, and the world as a reality.

Self-knowledge leads to Self-awareness. The quest for truth is not the quest for acquiring the dualistic truth within the world. The seeker must have an intense urge to realize the truth which is beyond the form, time, and space.

 The dualistic knowledge hides the truth beyond form, time, and space. The practical life within the practical world is nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman.  

The dualistic knowledge within the dualistic illusion is not Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Remember:~

This vast cosmos with all its contents (atom, molecule, sun, moon, planet, and star) all are created out of single stuff. That single stuff is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Knowledge of the single stuff is Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.  

Consciousness is ever-present. Without consciousness, the world, in which you exist ceases to exist. Consciousness is Self-evident. It is not established by extraneous proofs.  It is not possible to deny consciousness because it is the very essence of the one who denies it. Consciousness is the basis of all kinds of knowledge, presuppositions, and proofs. Consciousness is everything. Thus, consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is the ultimate truth or Brahman (God). The universe is not real. There is no difference between Brahman and the universe because the universe is a mere illusion created out of the consciousness which is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

First, the seeker has to know ‘what is the mind” What is the substance of the mind? And ‘what is the source of the mind? , to realize ‘what is what’? The ego is the physical mind, whereas the mind is present in the form of the universe. 

The universe appears as waking or dream (duality) and disappears as deep sleep). Thus, a perfect understanding of ‘what is what' is necessary to realize that form, time, and space are merely an illusion created out of single stuff. 

The Atman or the Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness, is the Self. Consciousness is the witness that experiences the action, the actor, and the world of separate things. It is like a light that illuminates everything in a theatre, revealing the master of ceremonies, the guests, and the dancers with complete impartiality. Even when they all depart, the light shines to reveal their absence.

What is not the consciousness (formless) in waking, dream, or deep sleep? The waking and the dream cease to exist without consciousness. 

 The Soul (witness and the three states (witnessed) are one in essence. That essence is consciousness. Thus, The seeker, seeking and his destination all are one in essence.

There is only a need to realize the whole universe in which we exist is created out of consciousness (Soul), the Self.  

From the standpoint, the Soul, the Self, the universe is merely an illusion created out of consciousness. From the ultimate standpoint, no second thing exists other than consciousness. Thus, consciousness is the ultimate reality or Brahman or  God in truth. :~Santthosh Kumaar