The ‘I’ is not the witness. The Soul is the witness.+

How you are able to see various objects, scenes, and persons during dreams? If the dream is experienced without the physical apparatus then what is it that witnesses the dream?  Therefore, there must be an invisible witness of the dream. This witness is the same witness that is witnesses the waking experience as a whole without the physical apparatus. Therefore, the waking experience and dream, both are witnessed by the same witness without the physical apparatus.

 You are unaware of this existence of the formless witness, which is apart from the three states. The world in which you exist is the product of ignorance.  The witness of the coming and going,  of the three states, is not you but the Soul, the Self. the Soul is present in the form of consciousness.

 The world in which you exist appears in the form of the waking experience (duality) and disappears as deep sleep (nonduality).   

Thus, you are not a witness because you exist within the waking experience. the witness is the Soul, which witnesses the waking experience as the whole, same way as it witnesses the dream as a whole.

The Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness, is hidden within the three states and it is apart from the three states. It is within the three states as their formless substance and it is apart from the three states as their formless witness.  

Only in ignorance, the three states are a reality. In reality, the substance and witness of the three states are one in essence.  That essence is consciousness. Consciousness alone is real and eternal the three states are merely an illusion created out of the consciousness.

Since you consider ‘I’ as the ‘Self’ you are caught up in the web of ignorance.    The ‘I’ is not the witness. The Soul is the witness. The Soul witnesses the coming and going,  of the ‘I’. 

The ‘I’ appears as the waking or the dream (duality) and disappears as deep sleep (nonduality). The ‘I’ is the dualistic illusion which appears and disappears.  The illusion is not permanent but the substance and witness of the illusion, which is the Soul is permanent and eternal.

Bhagavad Gita: ~ The permanent is always there, only the transient ‘I’ comes and goes. (2.18)

The ‘I’ hides the Soul, the Self.

People think the ‘I’ without the body is the Self. The seeker has to understand the fact that ‘I’ is not the Self, but the witness of the ‘I’ is the true Self, which is eternal. 

That is why Ashtavakra Gita 16:10:~ If you desire liberation, but you still say "I," If you feel the ‘Self’ is the ‘I’, You are not a wise man or a seeker. You are simply a man who suffers.

You are dwelling in darkness, but thinking yourself as wise and erudite, go round and round, by various tortuous paths, like the blind led by the blind.

Swami Vivekananda: This bending the knee to superstitions, this selling yourself to your own mind does not befit you, the Soul. Self is infinite, deathless, and birthless. Because the Self is infinite Spirit, it does not befit you to be a slave. ... Arise! Awake! Stand up and fight! Die if you must. There is none to help you. Self is the entire world. Who can help you? 

People are caught up with the Gurus and their teachings they refuse to verify. They sit glorifying their Gurus thinking their Gurus grace will lead them to the final destination. If you are seeking truth nothing but the truth then you should not stick up to any guru or their teaching.

That is why Swami Vivekananda said: - “You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher, but your own Soul.”

A perfect understanding of ‘what is what’ is needed. Only an intense urge to know the truth, humility sincerity, and patience are the only qualifications to realize God in this very life and in this very world.

Drop your entire accumulated knowledge drop all the physical Gurus, the Soul the inner Guru, is waiting for you to take the first step for you to realize there are no more steps.

You will realize your body and your experience of the world are nothing but consciousness thus you will realize the God (Soul) is the fullness of consciousness. 

Everything is God nothing but God. Do not waste time attending sermons and Satsang. Real Satsanga is reflecting on Soul, which is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.  You should not stop seeking until you realize the ultimate truth.

It takes time for the seeker to gain the perfect understanding of ‘what is the truth’ and ‘’what is untruth’.

As you raft upon which you cross the swift river to get to the other side; once you are on the other side of the shore; there is no longer any need to carry the raft. The far shore is the reality when you reach, you can see quite clearly that there was never any river at all.

The inner Guru is guiding you to get rid of ignorance.:~Santthosh Kummar