Self-realization is the direct realization of the ultimate truth or Brahman or God.+

All the scriptures indicate that Ataman is Brahman, and Brahman is the ultimate truth. The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God. To realize the ultimate truth is the prime goal of the truth seeker. Deeper self-search will lead one to his nondual destination.

Self-realization is the direct realization of the ultimate truth or Brahman or God, in contrast with traditional paths, which are indirect. And the other paths cannot lead to the ultimate destination because they are based on the False Self, which they hold as the real Self and false experience as a reality.

Until and unless one overcomes physical shackles it is impossible to understand and assimilate the nondual truth, which is beyond the physical existence or the universe. Consciousness itself is Lord of itself,  though not of the universe. And having nothing it has all.

Sage Sankara says: ~ VC ~ 56. Neither by Yoga nor by Sankhya nor by work nor by learning, but by the realization of one's identity with Brahman is Liberation possible, and by no other means.

58. Loud speech consisting of a shower of words, the skill in expounding the Scriptures, and likewise erudition - these merely bring on a little personal enjoyment to the scholar but are no good for Liberation.

59. The study of the Scriptures is useless so long as the highest Truth is unknown, and it is equally useless when the highest Truth has already been known.

60. The Scriptures consisting of many words are a dense forest that merely causes the mind to ramble. Hence, men of wisdom should earnestly set about knowing the true nature of the Self.

61. For one who has been bitten by the serpent of Ignorance, the only remedy is the knowledge of Brahman. Of what avail are the Vedas and (other) Scriptures, Mantras (sacred formulae), and medicines to such a one?

62. A disease does not leave off if one simply utters the name of the medicine, without taking it; (similarly) without direct realization one cannot be liberated by the mere utterance of the word Brahman.

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.

64. Without killing one’s enemies, and possessing oneself of the splendor of the entire surrounding region, one cannot claim to be an emperor by merely saying, ‘I am an emperor’.

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.

66. Therefore the wise should, as in the case of disease and the like, personally strive by all the means in their power to be free from the bondage of repeated births and deaths.

67. The question that thou hast asked today is excellent, approved by those versed in the Scriptures, aphoristic, pregnant with meaning, and fit to be known by the seekers after Liberation.

The seeker of truth has to take the direct path and avoid losing precious time and effort to losing himself in philosophical studies. :~Santthosh Kumaar