To acquire Advaitic Gnana or Self-knowledge of Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana there is a need to realize what is this ‘I’ is in actuality.+

Whatever appears as dualistic illusion is the consciousness and whatever is the cause of the dualistic illusion is also consciousness. There is no second thing that exists other than the Soul which is present in the form of consciousness. 

It is foolish to limit consciousness to the individual and think consciousness is limited to physicality. Consciousness appears as ‘I’ in waking or dream and ‘I’ disappears as consciousness in deep sleep. That is the Soul appears as the universe in waking or dream and the universe disappears as the Soul is in deep sleep. That is the dualistic illusion appears as waking or dream and disappears as the non-dualistic reality in deep sleep.

 The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is Seer and also Seen (I). The Seen is merely an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. 

From the ultimate standpoint, the illusion has no value because the Seer and the Seen are one in essence. The ‘I’ appears on its own it perishes on its own. The ‘I’ is not the cause of the appearance and disappearance because the ‘I’ itself is the appearance. 

The ‘Self’ is not ‘I’, but the ‘Self’ is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. The one which witnesses the appearance and disappearance is not ‘I’ because the ‘I’ appears and disappears. 

The one which is aware of the appearance and disappearance of ‘I’ is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Realize, ‘what is this ‘I’ supposed to be in actuality and what is hidden by the ‘I’ will be revealed. 

If you realize the ‘Self ‘is not the ‘I’ but the Soul then whatever is hidden by the ‘I’ will be revealed. Realizing the Soul is not the ‘I’ but the Soul is the Self, is Self-realization. 

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

The ‘I’ hides the Soul, the Self, which is the cause of the universe. 

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. 

People are stuck with the reality of the ‘I’, which they take as real because some Gurus have propagated the Self is the ‘I’. There is no need to convince such a mindset. The seeker of truth accepts only the truth nothing but the truth. Perfect understanding and assimilation of ‘what is what’ lead to Advaitic Self-awareness.

Remember: 

The Self is not the ‘I’. The ‘I’ is product ignorance. The ignorance will disappear neither by ‘WHO AM ‘I’?' nor by the ‘I AM THAT- teachings. Ignorance will vanish only through Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. To acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana there is a need to realize what is this ‘I’ is in actuality.

Remember this:~ The ‘I’ is present in the form of the mind. The mind is present in the form of the universe. The universe is form, time, and space together. The universe appears as the waking or dream. 

The waking is parallel (duality). The waking is a parallel dream (duality). The waking or dream disappears as deep sleep (nonduality). The one which appears as duality and disappears as nonduality is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. ‘I’ is the dualistic illusion. 

The dualistic illusion is present in the form of: ~ The Mind The Universe The form, time and space The Waking The Dream The dualistic illusion is the whole universe. The universe appears as ‘I’ and disappears as ‘I-LESS. The experience of birth, life, death, and the world is happening within the dualistic illusion.

The ‘I’ is the whole universe, which is the dualistic illusion. The ‘I’ appears as waking and becomes ‘I’-LESS and deep sleep.

Remember:~

The one that appears as the ‘I’ and disappears as ‘I –LESS is the Soul. The Soul is a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. The one that becomes dual and one that becomes non-dual is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Thus, whatever that exists as dual and nondual is nothing but the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. 

Bhagavad Gita says: ~ Among thousands of men, scarcely one strives for perfection; and of those who strive and succeed, scarcely one knows the ‘Self’ in truth. 

The path of wisdom attracts only those who are in search of truth and they appreciate it greatly. The ignorant are not spiritually matured they receive Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. 

The ignorant indulge in argument and provocation and personal attack, which hinders their own realization of the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth. 

That is why  Jesus said: ~ Do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. (Matthew -7:6) ~ 

Jesus meant knowledge of the Spirit (God) or Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Bhagavad Gita says ~ “Don't unsettle the minds of ignorant by revealing the esoteric truth." : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

If you are seeking truth nothing but truth then you must tread the path independently without the physical Guru.+

The Guru-disciple concept belongs to religion. Gurudom is nothing to do with Spirituality. The Guru is already there. the Soul, the Self is the real Guru hidden by ignorance.

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.” Yogis and Gurus are not Gods. This idea of worshiping Guru as God is not a Vedic idea but adopted from Jainism and Buddhism.

Advaitic Gnana cannot be transmitted neither from outside nor from another person. Guru of everyone is only the Soul, the Self that is always revealing on its own.

The grace of the Guru is only that Self-awareness that is the nature of the Soul. It is the Soul, the Self is unceasingly revealing its existence. This revelation is always going on naturally in every serious seeker. 

Advaitic Gnana is given neither from outside nor from another person. It can be realized by the seeker on his own. The Gnana Guru of everyone is only the Soul the innermost ‘Self’ that is always revealing its own is the seeker is receptive and serious in quest of truth.

The Guru is useless so long as the ultimate truth is unknown, and Guru is equally useless when the ultimate truth or Brahman has already been known.

A Guru is needed in the religious and the yogic path. There is no need for a Guru to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Sage Sankara: ~ "Though I wear these robes of a Sanyasin, it is only for the sake of bread."

So he wore a Guru's robe only for the sake of the ignorant. So he was identified as Guru with parampara by religious people. For the truth seekers, Sage Sri, Sankara is a Brahma Gnani.

Sage Sankara himself said: ~ A Gnani "bears no outward mark of a holy man" (Stanza 539).

Sage Sankara says the transparent Truth of the Self, which is hidden by the illusion, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, (Gnani)

~ Then why you are sticking a Guru who is not a Gnani.

Thus, it proves that the religious gurus and yogis are not Gnanis because they identified themselves as holy people.

Yoga Vasistha says: ~ Self-knowledge or knowledge of truth is not had by resorting to a Guru (preceptor) nor by the study of scripture, nor by good works: it is attained only by means of inquiry inspired by the company of wise (Gnani). One’s inner light alone is the means, naught else. When this inner light is kept alive, it is not affected by the darkness of inertia.

Sticking to physical Guru is sticking to ignorance.

If you are seeking truth nothing but the truth then you must tread the path independently without the physical Guru.

Getting sentimentally and emotionally involved with the Guru blocks realization of the truth which is hidden by the form, time, and space. The physical Guru belongs to form, time, and space the truth is beyond the form, time, and space. If you stick up to physical Guru it is impossible to transcend form, time, and space. Soul, the Self will remain a prisoner in the cage of ignorance.

Tripura Rahasya: ~ Second-hand knowledge of the Self-gathered from books or Gurus can never emancipate a man until its truth is rightly investigated and applied; only direct realization will do that. Realize yourself, turning the mind inward. (18: 89)

The Gurus, yogis, Swamis are not Gnanis. The Gurus, yogis, Swamis are nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman. In the path of wisdom, the Guru is not necessary. Advaitic truth is very simple, but it becomes very difficult if one wants to realize it through some Guru or some teaching. 

To realize this simple truth one need not go to any Guru, one need not lose himself in the labyrinth of philosophy; one need not spend his lifetime and indulge in glorifying Gurus or religious Gods, one need not search truth in the books, one need not renounce his family life. One has to be in the world but not of the world.

It is because of our inherited samskara or conditioning we are carrying the baggage of the mental junk. We have to burn all the junk, which is blocking our realization of the ultimate truth or Brahman.

If one is seeking truth nothing but truth one has to drop worshiping the physical Gurus, sticking to the Gurus emotionally. Glorifying the Guru and God is for those who are not seeking the truth.

Vedas bar human worship: ~

Translation 3

"They are enveloped in darkness, in other words, are steeped in ignorance and sunk in the greatest depths of misery who worship the uncreated, eternal Prakriti -- the material cause of the world -- in place of the All-pervading God, But those who worship visible things born of the Prakriti, such as the earth, trees, bodies (human and the like) in place of God are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time. "- (Yajurveda 40:9.)

Then why worship and glorify the Gurus and Yogis (human form) in place of God when Veda bars such activities and it also warns people who indulge in such activities are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time.

By worshiping the Gurus as Gods, the wisdom will not dawn. The person who indulges in such activities will not be able to cross the threshold of dualistic illusion. One has to grasp, assimilate and realize the truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Those Gurus who propagate the ‘Self’ as ‘you’, are propagating ignorance.+

Bhagavad Gita says: ~  ‘Among thousands of men, scarcely one strives for perfection; and of those who strive and succeed, scarcely one knows the ‘Self’ in truth.

The path of wisdom attracts only those who are in search of truth and they appreciate it greatly. The ignorant are not spiritually matured they receive Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. The ignorant indulge in argument and provocation and personal attack, which hinders their own realization of the ultimate truth or Brahman.

That is why Jesus said: ~ - Do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. (Matthew -7:6)

~ Jesus meant knowledge of the Spirit or Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Bhagavad Gita says: ~ “Don't unsettle the minds of ignorant by revealing the esoteric truth."

As the conviction of the Soul, the 'Self' becomes firm all the inherited religious conditioning false on its own.

First realize the ‘Self’ is not you but the ‘Self’ is the Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness. Mentally hold on to the Soul and mentally reduce the world in which you exist as consciousness by realizing the world in which you exist is nothing but an illusion created out of consciousness.

Swami Vivekananda: ~Jñāna Yoga is divided into three parts. First: hearing the truth--that the Atman is the only reality and that everything else is Maya. Second: reasoning upon this philosophy from all points of view. Third: giving up all further argumentation and realizing the truth. This realization comes from being certain that Brahman is real and everything else is unreal.

Katha Upanishad says: ~ This Atman is attained by him alone whom It chooses. ( II -23-P-20)

Thus, those who have taken the path of wisdom are chosen ones. The chosen one will get the grace of the Soul, the inner Guru. The path of wisdom is the Soulcentric path, whereas all other paths are egocentric. All egocentric paths are leads to hallucination.

The Soul, the 'Self' reveals ‘what is real’ and ‘what is unreal” when the seeker is receptive and ready.

Until you hold the Self as you, you will remain as ignorant. Those Gurus who propagate the ‘Self’ as ‘you’, are propagating ignorance. Following such Gurus, is following the path of ignorance.

You are nothing to do with the Soul, the ‘Self’ because your existence is a reality within the form, time, and space. Without form, time, and space, you cease to exist.

You are the birth entity bound by death whereas the Soul is birthless and deathless because the Soul is ever formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

That is why Sage Sankara says: ~ V C: ~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.

There is only one Reality to be known, the same for all seekers, but the ways to it, are hidden by the religion. 

Self-discovery is the only way, towards the non-dualistic absolute without any religious doctrines, which will help the seekers to unfold the mystery of the illusion in which we all are searching for the truth of our true existence.

There is no higher or lower Self. There is only one Self that is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. 

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

Thus, the Soul alone is real and all else an illusion. Mentally hold on to the Soul and drop the illusion. And rest in the Soul or consciousness. Realizing the Self is not you but the ‘Self is the Soul is Self-realization. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

The world in which you exist is not Brahman but the cause of the world in which you exist is consciousness is Brahman or God in truth.+

The world in which you exist is not Brahman but the cause of the world in which you exist is consciousness is Braham or God in truth. 

The main purpose of analyzing the external world is to discover that to realize the world in which we exist is merely an illusion created out of the Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of consciousness.  The Soul, the Self is hidden by the illusory world in which we exist.

From the standpoint of the Soul, the Self, the world in which we exist is an illusion. From the standpoint of the ego, the world in which we exist is a reality.

Sage Sri, 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 the 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 stuck with the reality of the world are stuck with the reality of the individual experiences of birth, life, and death, which takes 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.

Thus, you, your experience birth, life, death, and the world merely an illusion created out of the consciousness, the consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God or God in truth.

The world is both real and unreal. It is real because it is a manifestation of consciousness, but is unreal, in the sense, that it is not absolute and eternal like consciousness itself.

People's approach is more practical, and they stuck with the reality of the world, they take it as real. That is why all the confusion. 

People fail to make this analysis because they view and judge the worldview from the dualistic perspective

Remember:~

Religious-minded people fail to realize the truth hidden by the world in which they exist because they take the world in which they exist as a reality.  

Without realizing the world is unreal and the Soul alone real and eternal it is impossible to discriminate between real and unreal.

To effect this discrimination, we need intelligence much sharper than the average, whereas too much religion drugs this intelligence.

Those who lack the intelligence to discriminate between the subject (Soul) and the object (world) will not be able to grasp what is real and what is unreal. Both subject and object are consciousness, not subject alone. 

A weaker mindset cannot take a comprehensive view and so decry what they cannot understand.

There is no need for getting an aversion to the world, as do the ascetics and yogis; on the contrary, one should go on living in the world, acting, working, etc. that he should accept the fact that the world is merely an illusion created out of the Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of the consciousness. 

There is no need to renounce worldly life to acquire Advaitic wisdom but to realize the world is merely an illusion created out of the Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of consciousness. 

The seeker has to have humility, patience, sharpness to grasp, ability to discriminate between the Real and the non-Real and an intense desire for liberation. However, it is important to remember that Advaitic wisdom is not a result of mere ritualistic practice. Ritualistic practices will not help to acquire Advaitic wisdom or Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

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.

Those who lack the intelligence to discriminate between the subject and the object will not be able to grasp what is real and what is unreal. Both subject and object are consciousness, not subject alone.

The subject is the Soul, the Spirit and the object is the ‘I’ the matter. The Soul, the Self is the Spirit. The Soul, the Self is the subject. The ‘I’ the universe is the matter. 

Unless you realize ‘what is the subject?’ and ‘what is the object’? -  ‘you will never be able to unfold the mystery hidden by the ‘I’.

You have been misled by the eastern and western Advaitic Gurus and their ‘I-centric teachings you are unable to grasp the ‘Self’ hidden by the ‘I’. The ‘Self' hidden by the ‘I’ means the Spirit hidden by the matter. Remember the eastern and western Advaitic Gurus and their ‘I-centric teachings are not the Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara. 

Sage Sankara says: ~ “What is accepted without a proper inquiry will not lead a person to the final goal. On the contrary, such acceptance will result only in evil, in something which is detrimental to our spiritual progress. 

Unless you drop all eastern and western Advaitic Gurus and their ‘I-centric teachings you will not be able to acquire the Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara who is the expounder der of the Advaitic wisdom. :~ Santthosh Kumaar

Sage Sankara: ~ Actual realization takes you beyond books. At a certain stage, books become a botheration.+

Sage Sankara: ~ 'Like a servant who carries a lamp in front of you to find your way, and you have found it, so becomes the Veda to that person. What is the Veda? ~ utterances of those who have known the Truth. Here is one who has known the Truth; why should he or she depend upon the Veda further? Actual realization takes you beyond books. At a certain stage, books become a botheration. The Upanishad itself says that the 'words are only so much of distraction for such minds'

Upanishad itself says:~ vacho viglapanam hi tat~ words are only so much of distraction for such minds'.

Someone posing as a Gnani is not a Gnani. If someone poses himself as a direct disciple of some Guru is not a Gnani. Those who pose themselves as Gnanis are not Gnanis. A Gnani never poses himself as a Guru, a swami, a sadhu or a yogi, or some Guru’s disciple.

Without bondage to the Guru and the scriptures without blindly believing them but think for yourself. No blind belief can save you, work out your own salvation. 

The Gurus, who mix practical life and the practical world and preach Advaita, have made their own cocktail, which leads to hallucination. The question never occurs to them “Is what I have preached is really the truth?

Sermons consisting of ornamental words, the profusion of words, and possessing skilfulness in expounding scriptures are merely for the enjoyment of the intellectuals. They do not help to get rid of ignorance.

Upanishads:~ Fools dwelling in darkness, but thinking they wise and erudite, go round and round, by various tortuous paths, like the blind led by the blind. (Upanishads Nikilanada - Ch II-5 P-14)

The Scripture's mastery, the force of religious merit--none of these lead to the realization of that Ultimate Truth or Brahman God in truth. 

The ultimate truth is revealed in the clear understanding and realization of ‘what is the truth and ‘what is untruth'. When one realizes the untruth (universe) is created out of single stuff, the ‘Self’-awareness rises in the midst of duality exposing the unreal nature of the form, time, and space.

Realize the ‘Self is not you but the ‘Self’ is the Soul.  The Soul is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

First, realize the ‘Self’ is not you but the ‘Self’ is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. 

Mentally hold on to the Soul and mentally reduce the world in which you exist as consciousness by realizing the world in which you exist is nothing but an illusion created out of consciousness. 

The seeker must:~

First: hearing the truth--that the Atman is the only reality and that everything else is an illusion.

Second: reasoning upon this philosophy from all points of view.

Third: giving up all further argumentation and realizing the truth.

This realization comes from being certain that Brahman is real and everything else is unreal.

The Soul which is present in the form of consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God. Thus everything is God in truth nothing but God in truth. 

 The Soul, the Self is present in the form of consciousness. Consciousness is the root element of the universe. From consciousness, the universe comes into existence. In consciousness, the universe resides. And into consciousness, the universe is dissolved.   Consciousness is the parent of all that is there is.:~Santthosh Kumaar 

The essence of Mundaka Upanishad: Not be satisfied with rituals, yoga but inquire into the world around you, which you can see.+

From the Advaitic perspective, yoga is dualistic. The dualistic experience is nothing but ignorance.  

Yoga helps the yogi by giving him the feeling that the world is not worth bothering about, it detaches him from the world; it makes him treat the world as a dream, i.e. an idea. It does the same to his ego to some extent because he becomes indifferent to what happens to him. But the great secret is that this is only feeling, he feels these things only but does not know that the world is an illusion. Such knowledge can come only after Soulcentric inquiry and in no other way. That is why yogi cannot be Gnani. It is the difference between feeling and knowledge. 

The feeling of the yogi that the world is unreal may change tomorrow because all emotions are liable to change; and the fact is that yogis do change, as when going after women they lose their sense of world unreality though previously they felt it.

A permanent view of the world as unreal can come only after intellectual inquiry; such knowledge cannot change. Were the yogi of sufficiently sharp intellect he could discover the ideality of the world by reasoning alone and then it would not be necessary for him to have gone through yoga practice at all; that is why we say yoga is for dull or middling intellects.

The essence of Mundaka Upanishad: Not be satisfied with rituals, yoga, etc. which are good in their own way, but inquire. Into what? Brahman and Atman are things you can never see. So do not inquire into them. Inquire into the world around you, which you can see. Science tells you it is passing away every second. Everything is dying repeatedly. Where is it going? Thus you follow up your inquiry into what you can lay hands on. How can you inquire into Atma which you cannot see? So first we deal with the known and seen, this inquiry leads up to the unknown in the end.

Yoga cannot remove ignorance. It is only a step. It removes obstructions. It is not possible by mental control alone, by yoga, to achieve Brahman, but at best one falls asleep. It is like eating fire or leading an elephant by a thread or draining an ocean drop by drop, to try the yogic way. When the yogi shuts his eyes and does not see the world he is like the cat in the Indian proverb who shuts its eyes when drinking forbidden milk although other people are there, and it imagines it is unobserved because it cannot see them.  Yogi does not examine the phenomenal world and hence cannot realize Brahman for he takes that world as real but runs away from it.

 Gnana cannot come if anything is left out. The whole universe must be included. Only when all is known can all be known to be but ideation. Hence yogis blotting all out in samadhi cannot lead to Gnana. The ‘I-thought', the ego, belongs to the Seen as does the universe thought. The yogi may get the knowledge that the Seer is separate from Seen, but he will never know Brahman without inquiring into the world, because he is giving up the world, and hence cannot discover his unity with the world. The Gnani regards everything in the world as Brahman; the yogi rejects the world. Thus there is a fundamental difference.

That is why Sage Sankara said: ~ VC-63- “Without causing the objective universe to vanish and without knowing the truth of the ‘Self’ how is one to achieve Liberation.  

The universe in which we exist will not remain as reality when wisdom dawns. The universe is a mere illusion created out of consciousness and there is a conscious awareness of unity in diversity because there is no second thing that exists other than consciousness.

Realization is of the Soul as the ‘Self’ is -Perfection.  The non-dualistic truth cannot be comprehended by the dualistic perspective.

The universe is a reality only from the dualistic perspective. The universe is an illusion from the nondualistic perspective.  From the non-dualistic perspective the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness is the sole reality. There is no second thing that exists other than the Soul in non-dualistic reality.

The Soul is the unknown reality on the dualistic perspective and the universe is the known reality on the dualistic perspective. The universe hides the Soul, which is the cause of the universe and it itself is uncaused.

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana helps to mentally transcend the mind into the Soul, which is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

As the conviction of the Soul, the 'Self' becomes firm then gradually the ‘Self’ is free from experiencing the dualistic illusion (universe) as a reality.

When the Soul, the ‘Self’ becomes freed from all the obstruction by fully eliminating the ignorance it remains in its own awareness.  When the Soul, remains in its own awareness in the midst of the waking experience then the universe is merely an illusion created out of the soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

When the Soul, the innermost 'Self' gives up identification with the waking entity then and recognizes its true nature is as undifferentiated awareness, unaffected by form, time, and space, and enter into its own awareness of its formless, timeless, and spaceless true nature.

The universe is both real and unreal. It is real because it is a manifestation of consciousness, but is unreal, in the sense, that it is not absolute and eternal like consciousness itself.

People's approach is more practical, and they stuck with the reality of the universe, they take it as real. That is why all the confusion.

The look of an object will depend upon the medium through which the observer views it. In fact, our mental and intellectual conditions determine the world, observed and experienced. The commoner viewing the world will see differently from a Gnani viewing the same world. Each one interprets the world that they see in terms of their existing knowledge. The commoner sees everything based on the ego, therefore, experiences the birth, life, death, and the world as a reality, whereas a Gnani sees everything as the consciousness and he is fully aware of the fact that, there is no second thing that exists other than the Soul or the consciousness. Thus, all the egocentric knowledge has to be bifurcated to realize the ultimate truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

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.

To say the universe is an illusion without first examining it and inquiring into its nature thoroughly is to delude oneself. This world is common to every one of us; therefore the seeker of truth must begin his inquiry with it. 

It is only after he has inquired into the nature of the objective world, he realizes the universe which through ignorance appears as of diverse forms, is nothing else but the Soul which is present in the form of consciousness is absolutely free from all the limitations of human thought.

Remember:~

This universe in which you exist is merely an illusion created out of single stuff. That single stuff is the Soul which is present in the form of consciousness.

The experience of birth, life, death, which happens within the universe is merely an illusion.

The form, time, and space are within the universe. Without form, time, and space there is no universe.

The universe is present only when the mind is present. The mind is present when ‘I’ is present.

From the standpoint of the Soul of the  Self, the universe is merely an illusion. 

If the universe is merely an illusion, then the experience of birth, life, and death happens within the universe is merely an illusion. 

If the universe is merely an illusion, then form, time, and space are merely an illusion. 

If form, time, and space are merely an illusion, then the mind is merely an illusion. 

If the mind is merely an illusion, then the ‘I’ is merely an illusion. 

If the ‘I’ is merely an illusion then the substance and the witness of the ‘I’ which is the formless Soul alone is real and eternal.

The mind is one.  The mind is present in the form of the ‘I’. The ‘I’ is present in the form of the universe. The universe appears as waking or dream (duality) and disappears as deep sleep (nonduality). : ~ Santthosh Kumaar