The universe in which you exist itself is an illusion.+

The universe in which you exist itself is an illusion.  You are not the Self. You are part and parcel of the illusion.  The Soul is the Self. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. 

The Soul is the witness of the illusion (the universe in which you exist).  The universe appears as the waking or the dream (duality) and disappears as deep sleep (nonduality).  From the standpoint of the Soul, the three states are one in essence.  

The man is blind because he is part of the dualistic illusion. None can see the Soul, the  Self in the dualistic illusion. Very few will be able to grasp the truth beyond the form, time, and space, the rest are immersed in the illusory experience of the birth, life, death and the world.

From the standpoint of the Soul, the Self, the individual experience of birth, life, death, and the world, is an illusion because the Soul is not an individual.    The birth, life, death and the world exist only in the domain of the form, time, and space.

The form, time and space are an illusion created out of single clay. That single clay is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Thus, it is very much necessary to realize the Self is not the ‘I’ but the Soul, which witnesses the coming and going of the ‘I’. 

The Soul is permanent and eternal truth or Brahman or God in truth.  The birth, life, death and the world are a reality within the waking experience but the waking experience is itself is the dualistic illusion. The dualistic illusion appears as ‘I’ and disappears as the Soul, the Self.

The Soul is unborn and deathless because it is the ever formless, timeless and spaceless existence.

Those who think the birth, life, and death as a reality are unaware of the fact that their existence is a reality within the dualistic illusion. 

A person, who stamped his foot on the ground to refute to show the world, is real, ignores that in the dream he would do exactly the same ~ stamp his dream foot on the ground and assert it to be real. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar