To overcome the ignorance one has to acquire the Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

As Sri, Sankara says: When the whole universe, movable and immovable, is known to be Atman, and thus the existence of everything else is negated, where is then any room to say that the body is Atman.
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If body is not the Atman/self, then the karma theory has no meaning on the standpoint of the truth. Thus no second thing exists other than Atman, therefore why to view the worldview on the standpoint of the waking entity or ego when the waking entity or ego  is the false self, and the soul or Atman is the true self.

If body is not the self, then the birth, life, death and the universe are bound to be illusion. If birth, life and death are illusion then all conducts actions and their fruits are mere illusion. If body is not the self, then the existence of god, heaven and hell is mere illusion. If body is not the self then all religious beliefs of god is mere illusion. If body is not the self but the Atman [soul] which is in the form of consciousness is the true self, then there is no scope for second thing other than consciousness, therefore consciousness, which is Atman is Brahman or ultimate truth. The Brahman alone is real and eternal. Thus whatever is real eternal has to be identified as god. To identify the real and eternal, one has to overcome the ignorance caused by the illusion. To overcome the ignorance one has to acquire the Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

The individual experience within the dream is reality with in the dream. Therefore waking reality is also is reality within the waking. This waking is parallel dream and dream is parallel waking. Only when self-wakes up in waking the dream becomes unreal. When the self-consciously wakes up in its formless non-dual true nature in the midst of waking experience then all the three states are mere mirage created out of its formless non-dual true nature.

The form time and space within the dream are falsehood when waking takes place. Similarly the form, time and space of the waking are also falsehood when wisdom dawns. The wisdom dawns only when one realize the self is neither the waking entity nor the dream entity. Thus it is erroneous to judge and reason and conclude the ultimate truth on the base of waking entity and waking world because waking experience itself is illusion. –FORMLESS PATH

The one who views and judges the worldview on the base of his birth entity will not realize the fact that, the man including the world is created sustained and finally dissolves as Atman

 

 A Gnani is one who attains the non dual self-awarenes  in the midst of duality. A Gnani is in self –awareness and he is fully aware of the fact that the form, time and space are mere mirage created out of consciousness. 


Upanishads:- They alone in this world are endowed with the highest wisdom who are firm in their conviction of the sameness and birthlessness of Atman. The ordinary man does not understand their way. (Chapter IV — Alatasanti Prakarana 95-P-188 in Upanishads by Nikilanada)

 
This passage indicates the fact that everything is Atman or spirit. The one who views and judges the worldview on the base of his birth  entity  will not realize the fact that, the man including the world is created sustained and finally dissolves as Atman(consciousness). Thus Atman alone is, and all else is mirage.

 
Thus self-knowledge is the aim of every human being. Since everyone thinks the physical body is the self, their aim is misdirected and they focus their attention on materiality which makes one feel the duality [waking] as reality.

 
In pursuit of truth the ultimate truth has to be proved, not assumed. Pundits who take scriptures for granted are not Gnanis.

 
Pundits teach that all is your-self, but none of them can show that this is so, none has analyzed it scientifically, and none can prove it. Rational proof is needed, so that one arrive at knowing truth i.e. wisdom; punditry is mere dogma, parrotism, repetition of what they read in scripture. 

 

Scriptures are not yardstick and scriptural truth is not proof. Pundits take scriptures as authority. Authoritarianism merely assumes as true what another says, but what has yet to be proved.

 
Pundits have to test truth in this world not in the next world. There is no proof other than blind belief based on the scriptures, belief is not truth. So, doctrines are not the means to realize the ultimate truth. There is no need to follow them.

Consciousness is all-full, infinite, changeless, self-existent, self-delight, self-knowledge and Awareness.

 Consciousness is second to none. Consciousness is not another. Consciousness is all-full, infinite, changeless, self-existent, self-delight, self-knowledge and Awareness. Consciousness is essence. Consciousness is the formless knower of all that is known. Consciousness is the formless Seer and the Seen. Consciousness is transcendent and formless Witness. Consciousness is impersonal and without attributes, formless, without special characteristics, immutable, eternal and non-agent. Consciousness is above all needs and desires. It is always the Witnessing Subject. It can never become an object as it is beyond the reach of from, time and space. 

Consciousness is non-dual, one without a second. It has no second thing beside it. Consciousness is destitute of difference, either external or internal. Consciousness cannot be described, because description implies  distinction. Consciousness cannot be distinguished from any other than it. In consciousness, there is not the distinction of substance and attribute.

 

Awareness is the very essence of consciousness, is ultimate truth or Brahman. – FORMLESS PATH

Attributed consciousness and attributeless consciousness are not two different consciousnesses.

The attributeless consciousness is impersonal and pure. Consciousness becomes a personal or attributed consciousness only through its association with illusion, which appears in the form of mind or universe or waking or dream.

Attributed consciousness and attributeless consciousness are not two different consciousnesses. Attribute-less consciousness is not the contrast, antithesis or opposite of attributed consciousness. The same attributeless consciousness appears as attributed consciousness. The mind and the soul are one in essence. The essence is consciousness. Thus consciousness is second to none.

The attributed consciousness appears in the form of mind. Mind is in the form of universe. And universe appears as waking or dream. Thus Mind, universe, waking or dream are one and the same thing.

The universe is reality on the standpoint of the waking entity. The universe is unreal on the standpoint of the Atman, which is attributeless consciousness. 

He who has realized the ultimate truth or Brahman transcends the duality or mind where he sees no second thing other than consciousness. Yogi who sees the universe as reality may try to deny it because he thinks thoughtlessness is Brahman. The yogi sees the universe as a second thing and he wants to banish the universe in Samadhi, because he does not know that in non-duality there is no need to deny the universe. But he has to realize the fact that, universe is not something different from the self, which consciousness. Those who cannot grasp and realize this position, misunderstand it, and wrongly hold it be yogic Samadhi where there is only blankness.

The presence of the universe is no obstacle to Gnani‘s realization; he does not need yogic Samadhi. But yogi has imagined Brahman as blankness or thoughtlessness thus he is still in the grip of duality. Thus Yogis Brahman is but a thought. Brahman is not a thought but Brahman is prior to any mind or universe. Thus one has to know what is prior to waking experience.

The yogi who wrongly thinks there is Brahman to be got ,may attempt to do so, and may think he sees it, but all the time he under the delusion of duality because he bases his- self on physical body, thinking Brahman to be something different from the soul, which is the true self.

If one is seeking truth but practicing yoga or Kundalini or any other practice for long years and finding them inadequate and useless quenching his inner thirst has to drop them

 If one is seeking truth but practicing yoga or Kundalini or any other practice for long years and finding them inadequate and useless quenching his inner thirst has to drop them by realizing they are only useful in preparatory stages to make them more receptive to grasp the ultimate truth and they cannot transport them to ultimate end. 

Seeker has to follow up his deeper self-search and get rid of the inborn samskara or conditioning, which is present as ‘I’ or ‘I AM’. There is no need of buying reading material or hearing the sermons and running to one place to another or one guru to another or surrendering to any guru or glorifying any guru in order to acquire self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.
 

In success or failure or gain or loss, in society or in solitude there is no difference to the Gnani because for him everything is mirage created out of consciousness.

Where is performance of ritualistic or meritorious work, where is worldly wealth, where is sense of enjoyment or discrimination has no significance for the Gnani who has transcended such dual notions such as ‘this is to be done and this no to be done.

 
The one who risen to Gnana is liberated from experiencing the birth, life, death and the world as reality, while living in the midst of world before his physical death.

 
There is no delusion, there is no universe there is no need of renunciation or meditation there is no desire for liberation for the Gnani who is resting in consciousness by realizing everything is consciousness and no second thing exists other than consciousness.

 
What is the state of the ego or physical self when it has realized that the self is not the body? Such souls have attained their pristine condition. “Self” is not visible to the physical eyes. “Self” is not to be found in the world as a thing, entity or an object. Self is above these, has neither beginning nor ending. –FORMLESS PATH

Many People adopt the attitude that what they know is truth and what others say is false.

Many People adopt the attitude that what they know is truth and what others say is false. This attitude makes them not to verify anything other then what they know. One needs to be rational, not merely logical. Logic is has its value only in physical plane.

As one advances towards spiritual plane he sees the logic underlying experience and becomes more rational. His reasoning is two-fold--implicit and explicit.

There is a need of facts of physical proof in scientific invention, whereas in pursuit of truth the proof has to be grasped mentally and realized. Therefore, the truth is realized only by few who take this mental pursuit. “Whatever facts revealed, which is un-contradictable has to be accepted as truth.
 
The truth based on the formless soul, the innermost self is worthwhile; without it, one has something else, not truth. Most people refuse to venture into pursuit of truth; because they do not want to go into the root of things.


Until one gets firm conviction of the ultimate truth he has to constantly reflect on the nature of the true self, till he achieves the equilibrium. Thus renouncing the worldly life is not necessary in order to acquire non-dual wisdom. –FORMLESS PATH

The term permanent or impermanent cannot be applied to the invsible and unborn Soul, the Self.+

The term permanent or impermanent cannot be applied to the invisible and unborn Soul, the Self.

What is indescribable in words cannot be discriminated against as permanent or impermanent.

As in a dream, the invisible Soul, the Self-acts through illusion, presenting the appearance of duality, so also in the waking experience, the invisible and unborn Soul, the Self, acts through illusion, presenting the appearance of duality.

There is no doubt that the soul, the Self, which is in reality non-dual, appears to be dual in dreams; likewise, there is no doubt that what is non-dual, i.e., Atman, appears to be dual in the waking experience.

You, your body, and the world in which you exist are impermanent because they are merely an illusion created out of the Soul, the Self, which is unborn and eternal.

Your existence itself is impermanent. You, your body, and the world in which you exist were created out of consciousness, which is permanent.

Holding the Self as 'you' is an error. Unless you rectify this mistake, Self-realization is an impossibility.

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

Just think and reason deeply:~

Why the 'I', does not disappear even after inquiry, even if one knows intellectually 'I am not the body?

If the 'I', is not the body, what is 'I', without the body?

How can the 'I', remain as 'I', without the body?

Where 'I' disappear in deep sleep?

What is it that knows the appearance and disappearance of the 'I'?

When the 'I' is impermanent, what is it that is permanent, which knows the appearance and disappearance of the 'I'?

How can one remain as 'I', when it is impermanent, and judge the eternal truth, which is not the 'I'?

The seeker of the truth has to find what is eternal and what is impermanent to decide whether the 'I' or duality is permanent or the invisible Soul, cause of the 'I', is permanent, to overcome the illusion and establish in the non-dualistic reality.

The invisible Soul is the witness-consciousness that experiences the action, the actor, and the world of separate things. It is like a light that illuminates everything in a theatre, revealing the master of ceremonies, the guests, and the dancers with complete impartiality. Even when they all depart, the light shines to reveal their absence. :~Santthosh Kumaar