The Soul becomes the Soul in Self-awareness. Self-awareness itself is enlightenment.+

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.

Sage Sankara: ~VC~ if the universe be true, let it then be perceived in the state of deep sleep also. As it is not at all perceived, it must be unreal and false like dreams.

The universe hides the Soul, the Self. If you realize the nature of the universe then you will know the truth hidden by the universe.

That is why 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.

In deep sleep there is nothing to observe when there is only the observer left, then the observer itself becomes the observed -- because there is nothing else to observe. Deep sleep is still a state of ignorance because we become aware of the deep sleep experience only in waking experience, which is the state of ignorance.

Only through Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana Self-awareness is it possible.

In self-awareness, the witness simply witnesses itself. The seer sees itself. There are no thoughts, no objects. The Soul becomes still; it simply becomes a light unto itself. There is nothing that it lights, it lights only itself, the Soul, the Self is surrounded by silence, surrounded by Stillness. It is the objectless awareness in the midst of objects.

The Soul becomes the Soul in Self-awareness. Self-awareness itself is enlightenment. The Soul consciously remains aware of itself in the midst of the dualistic illusion (form, time and space).

The ‘I’ has dissolved as the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The ‘I’ has dissolved means the mind has dissolved as the Soul.

The mind has dissolved means the form, time and space have dissolved as the Soul.

The form, time and space dissolved as the Soul means the universe has dissolved as the Soul.

The universe has dissolved means the waking has dissolved as the Soul.

The waking has dissolved as the Soul means the individual experience of birth, life, death, and the world has dissolved as the Soul.

The individual experience of the birth, life, death, and the world has dissolved as the Soul means the dualistic illusion is dissolved as Soul.

The Soul alone exists as the formless, timeless and spaceless eternal existence.

The seeker must first know the Soul is the only reality and that the world in which he exists is an illusion. 

The seeker must reason upon this truth from all points of view and up all further argumentation and realize the truth. This realization comes from being certain that Soul is the ultimate truth or Brahman or is real and the world in which he exists is merely an illusion created out of consciousness. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar