The Self is not within the physical body because the Soul, the Self is whole universe and that includes everything that the universe contains.+

The Soul, the Self because nothing to do with the content of the universe because it is not an entity or identity within the universe.   The Soul is the whole universe itself because the universe is an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.  Limiting the Soul to the physical identity is erroneous.

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

The Self is not within the physical body because the Soul, the Self is the whole universe and that includes everything that the universe contains.

Sage Sankara says: ~ V.63 ~ "Without knowing and examining the external world, one can’t know 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.

Sage Sankara says: ~ “When the whole universe, movable and immovable, is known to be Atman (Spirit or consciousness), and thus the existence of everything else is negated, where is then any room to say that the body is Atman”.

Bhagavad Gita: ~ Brahmano hi pratisthaham ~ Brahman (God) is considered the all-pervading consciousness, which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material. (14.27).

Bhagavad Gita says God is considered the all-pervading consciousness which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material. 

The universe is made of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.  The Soul is the real. The universe hides the Soul.

If the universe is made of the Soul then it means everything and every one of us is made of the Soul, the Self.

 All those whose intelligence has been stolen by ignorance see diversity as a reality.  

The Soul the Self is a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. The Soul cannot be seen directly by anyone. The Soul pervades all beings and all directions. Thus,   the universe has no value because the universe is merely an illusion created out of the Soul the Self. From the standpoint of the Soul, the universe is non-existent as a reality.

Rig Veda: ~ The Atman (Soul or Spirit) is the cause; Atman is the support of all that exists in this universe.

Never turn your attention away from the Soul, the ‘Self’. Never accept the universe as a reality because the universe is merely an illusion created out of the Soul.

Sage Sankara says ~ “What is accepted without a proper inquiry will not lead to the final Goal. (Commentary on Vedanta Sutra)

Nothing has to be accepted as truth without deeper verification.

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.

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 not-Self.

It really depends on his inborn natural capacity to understand and assimilate it. Sage  Sankara’s wisdom is a Self-examiner, to test oneself to discover how near to Gnana he has approached and what progress has already been made on the path, and what still remains to be done. It sets up a criterion for Self-judgement. There are millions in search of truth but one in million will be able to grasp it.

Self-realization is not just as a matter of literal or intellectual understanding, but as something that is to be grasped and realized by the individual in his/her own personal realization.

People are stuck up to the idea the mind is within the body, without knowing what the mind is supposed to be in actuality. Till one thinks the mind is within the body he will never be able to realize Self-, which is hidden by the form, time, and space. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar