First, you must know what God is supposed to be then only you will realize you and the world in which you exist merely an illusion created out of the Soul or God.+

God cannot be brought down to the domain of duality. There is only one being in reality, and it is the Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness pervades in everything and everywhere in all three states. Thus, the Soul or consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

When one realizes the form, time and space are one in essence. And that essence is the consciousness, then he realizes there is no second thing that exists other than consciousness. Thus, everything is consciousness. 

Thus, consciousness is the ultimate truth. And the ultimate truth or Brahman or  God in truth.

Holding the religious belief that God keeps the Soul, the Self permanently in ignorance. Ignorance keeps the Soul permanently in the prison of dualistic illusion. 

The illusion makes the Soul remain in the domain of form, time, and space. In the domain of form, time, and space, the experience of birth, life, death, and the world is experienced as a reality.

If the seeker wants to realize the truth, then he has to discard all the religious beliefs yogic practices, and scriptural studies. Nothing is needed in pursuit of truth other than an intense urge and receptivity to realize the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

That is why Sage Sankara: ~ VC-  Let erudite scholars quote all the Scripture, let Gods be invoked through sacrifices, let elaborate rituals be performed, let personal Gods be propitiated---yet, without the realization of one‘s identity With the Self, there shall be no liberation for the individual, not even in the lifetimes of a hundred Brahmas put together.- (verses-6)

Sage Sankara said:~ -Neither by practicing yoga nor philosophy, nor by good works nor by learning, does liberation come, but only through the realization that Atman and Brahman are one in no other way. (1) Vivekachoodamani v 56, pg~25

Sage Sankara’s wisdom has nothing to do with religion and yoga. There are two kinds of audiences - the ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices, and the most advanced seekers who seek to know the truth beyond form, time, and space. 

Religion and yoga are meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom, with its emphasis on the Advaitic wisdom, is meant for those who wish to go beyond such transient pleasures.

First, you must know what God is supposed to be then only you will realize you and the world in which you exist are merely an illusion created out of the Soul, which is God in truth.

Religions are based on personal Gods based on blind belief whereas Sage  Sankara’s Supreme Brahman (God in truth) is impersonal, Nirguna (without Gunas or attributes), Nirakara (formless), Nirvisesha (without special characteristics), immutable, eternal, and Akarta (non-agent). God in truth is above all needs and desires. God in truth is always the Witnessing Subject. God in truth can never become an object as God in truth is beyond the reach of the senses. God is non-dual, one without a second. God in truth has no other besides it. God in truth is destitute of difference, either external or internal. God in truth cannot be described because the description implies a distinction. God in truth cannot be distinguished from any other than God in truth. In God in truth, there is not a distinction between substance and attribute. Sat-Chit-Ananda constituted the very essence or Svarupa of God in truth, and not just God's attributes. The Nirguna Brahman of Sage  Sankara is impersonal.

There is a clear-cut idea in the scriptures, of what is supposed to be God. And what not to worship in place of God then why worship the belief of God, which is not God in truth.

That is why Lord Krishna Says Ch ~V: ~ “Those who know the Self in truth.". The last two words (tattvataha) are usually ignored by pundits, but they make all the difference between the ordinary concept of God and the truth about God.

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

Rig Veda: ~ The Atman is the cause; Atman is the support of all that exists in this universe. May ye never turn away from the Atman, the Self. May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?" (10:48, 5)

Yajurveda – chapter- 32: ~ God is  Supreme Spirit has no ‘Pratima’ (idol) or material shape. God cannot be seen directly by anyone. God pervades all beings and all directions. 

Thus, Idolatry does not find any support from the Vedas.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~ Brahman (God in truth) is in the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself.

People, who worship the belief of God, are hallucinating that they become one with such God.

Vedas itself declares: May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman? Thus, to know the real God Self-realization is necessary. Self-realization is God-realization. Self-realization itself is real worship. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Karma is product of ignorance. Karma cannot be the cause of Liberation. There is no hope of freedom without the Advaitic Gnana.+

Karma is a product of ignorance. Karma cannot be the cause of Liberation. There is no hope of freedom without the Advaitic Gnana.  

First Manduka - Chapter 2 (10) - Ignorant fools, regarding sacrifices and humanitarian works as the highest, do not know any higher good. Having enjoyed their reward on the heights of heaven, gained by good works, they still remain in ignorance of the Atman the real God.

As a person, one performs karmas throughout his life and aspires for rewards will view the world in which he exists as a reality. However, the Soul, the Self unborn eternal hidden by the world in which he exists.

From the standpoint of the Soul, he and the world in which he exists is merely a dualistic illusion or Maya. Thus, all the karmas performed within the dualistic illusion or Maya has no value. The scriptures dealing with karmas, rewards, etc. are therefore addressed to an ignorant person. The religious people and yogis strongly believe in the theory that Karmas are ignorant people.

First Manduka - Chapter 2 (9) - Children, immersed in ignorance in various ways, flatter themselves, saying: We have accomplished life's purpose. Because these performers of karma do not know the Truth owing to their attachment, they fall from heaven, misery-stricken, when the fruit of their work is exhausted. 

First Manduka - Chapter 2 (8) - Fools, dwelling in darkness, but wise in their own conceit and puffed up with vain scholarship, wander about, being afflicted by many ills, like blind men led by the blind. 

Ish Upanishad:~ Those people who have neglected the attainment of Self-knowledge and have thus committed suicide. -  10/11/12

The religious orthodox people who have neglected the attainment of Self-knowledge and have thus committed suicide, as it were, are doomed to enter those worlds after death.

This is a condemnation of people who do not try to attain Self-knowledge. They are, in a real sense, committing suicide, for what can be worse than being a slave to sense enjoyment, completely oblivious of the real purpose of life, which is to be one’s own master?  

Remember:~   

The Karma Theory is the theory of ignorance and is meant for the ignorant populace. 

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

The karma theory is based on the birth entity whereas the Soul is birthless and deathless because it is an ever-formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.  The Soul, the  ‘Self’ is not limited to you because it pervades everything and everywhere in the world in which you exist.  

The Karma theory is based on the form, time, and space. Without the form, time, and space the doer, doing and the world ceases to exist.  

From the standpoint of the Soul, form, time, and space are an illusion. If the form, time, and space are an illusion the doer, doing and the world are bound to be an illusion.   

Thus, the karma theory is based on the illusory reality that is bound to falsehood.

The individual experiences within the practical world are a reality only within the waking experience but the waking experience itself is an illusion created out of consciousness.  

If the waking experience is a mere illusion then practical life within the practical world is bound to be an illusion.

The karma theory is not meant for those who have chosen the religious and yogic path which is based on the birth entity whereas the Atmic path is pure spirituality is based on the birthless Soul,  Self.

That is why Sage  Goudpada says that: - The merciful Veda teaches karma and Upasana to people of lower and middling intellect while Gnana is taught to those of higher intellect.

The Atmic path or the path of wisdom is independent. The Soul has no karma, therefore; the karma theory has nothing to do with the Soul, which is birthless and deathless.

The experience of birth, life, death, and the world is a dualistic illusion. The Advaitic orthodox people are stuck with the karma theory and rituals are stuck with the theory meant for the lower mindset that thinks by glorifying their guru and conceptual god and indulging in all sorts of non-Vedic (Puranic) rituals they get Moksha.

Religious orthodox think that through their good karma and performing rituals, they get moksha.

According to Advaita Vedanta, the Veda addresses itself to two kinds of audiences -There are two kinds of audiences - the ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices, and the more advanced seekers who seek to know the truth beyond the form, time, and space. 

The religious orthodoxy is meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. The Atmic path, with emphasis on the Advaitic wisdom, is meant for those who wish to go beyond such transient pleasures.

That is why Sage Sankara: ~ VC- Let erudite scholars quote all the scripture, let Gods be invoked through sacrifices, let elaborate rituals be performed, let personal Gods be propitiated---yet, without the realization of one‘s identity with the Self, there shall be no liberation for the individual, not even in the lifetimes of a hundred Brahmas put together (verses-6)

Sage Sankara: ~ “Action (karma) cannot destroy ignorance, for it is not in conflict with or opposed to ignorance. Knowledge does verily destroy ignorance as light destroys deep darkness. (Atma Bodha)

Sage Sankara says in Aparoksh Anubhuti: ~ “88. 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?

   89. O enlightened one; pass your time always contemplating on Atman while you are experiencing all the results of Prarabdha; for it will cause you to feel distressed.

   90. The theory one hears of from the scripture, that Prarabdha does not lose its hold upon one even after the origination of the knowledge of Atman, is now being refuted.

   91. After the origination of the knowledge of Reality, Prarabdha verily ceases to exist, inasmuch as the body and the like become non-existent; just as a dream does not exist on waking.

   92. That Karma which is done in a previous life is known as Prarabdha (which produces the present life). But such Karma cannot take the place of Prarabdha (for a man of knowledge), as he has no other birth (being free from ego).

   93. Just as the body in a dream is superimposed (and, therefore, illusory), so is also this body. How could there be any birth of the superimposed (body), and in the absence of birth (of the body) where is the room for that (i.e., Prarabdha) at all?

 94. The Vedanta texts declare ignorance to be verily the material (cause) of the phenomenal world just as the earth is of a jar. That (ignorance) being destroyed, where can the universe subsist?

   95. Just as a person out of confusion perceives only the snake leaving aside the rope, so does an ignorant person see only the phenomenal world without knowing the reality?

   96. The real nature of the rope being known, the appearance of the snake no longer persists; so the substratum being known, the phenomenal world disappears completely.

   97. The body also being within the phenomenal world (and, therefore, unreal), how could Prarabdha exist? It is, therefore, for the understanding of the ignorant alone that the Shruti speaks of Prarabdha.

   98. “And all the actions of a man perish when he realizes that (Atman) which is both the higher and the lower”. Here the clear use of the plural by the Shruti is to negate Prarabdha as well.

   99. If the ignorant still arbitrarily maintain this, they will not only involve themselves in two absurdities but will also run the risk of forgoing the Vedantic conclusion. So one should accept those Shrutis alone from which proceeds true knowledge.

The above proves that karma is a reality only from the dualistic perspective. From the non-dualistic perspective, the Karma theory has no value.

The Advaitic orthodoxy is based on the birth entity so it accepts the karma theory as a reality. The karma theory is the theory of ignorance. 

If you accept the karma theory as a reality, you will never be able to come out of ignorance. And ignorance makes you believe the cycle of birth, life, and death as a reality. 

Thus, the freedom which you are seeking will remain a distant dream. For the one who accepts birth, karma, and death as reality is unfit to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. : ~Santthosh Kuma

The religion and its idea of Gods based on the blind belief. Gods based on blind belief is myth not God in truth.+

The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth. 

The Soul, the Self is free from form, time space, and name. The nature of The Soul, the Self, is formless, timeless, spaceless, and nameless existence.

All the beliefs, names forms of Gods, and symbols of God belong to the religion. The religion is based on blind faith or blind belief.

The real God that is hidden by the illusory form, time, and space, is the Spirit or Consciousness.

One must know God in truth not God based on blind belief.  God based on blind belief is not God in truth. 

The diverse beliefs have diverse ideas of God. The beliefs have no value in the domain of the truth.

The religion and its idea of Gods are based on blind belief. Belief is a myth, not the truth.  The Soul, the ‘Self itself is the Infinite God. 

The Soul is the Self. God is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. God is the fullness of the consciousness without the illusory division of form, time, and space.  Therefore, there is nothing apart from it. 

The God is Self-evident. God is not established by extraneous proofs. It is not possible to deny God because God is the very essence of the one who denies it. 

God is the basis of all kinds of knowledge, presuppositions, and proofs. God is within the universe in which you exist, God is without the universe in which you exist.

God is the Supreme Being the One eternal homogeneous essence, indivisible consciousness, and intelligence, which is beyond form, time, and space. To which the Sages describe in a variety of ways through diverse words.

Bhagavad Gita: ~ ‘All those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires, they worship many Gods. (7- Verse -20)

Only the path of wisdom leads the seeker of truth on his journey to the ultimate realization of the true nature of the Universal Essence, which is the Soul. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness.

Bhagavad Gita: 7: 19: ~ "Such a man who has attained true knowledge, the knowledge of Self, the knowledge of Atman, worships ‘Self’ as~ Atman (God in truth) alone exists~ everything is Atman, there exists nothing except Atman. Such a man is extremely rare."

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

When Bhagavad Gita says, that God is considered the all-pervading consciousness which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material then nothing has to be accepted as God other than consciousness.

Lord Krishna says Ch ~V: ~ “Those who know the Self in truth.". The last two words (tattvataha) are usually ignored by pundits, but they make all the difference between the ordinary concept of God and the truth about God. 

The dualistic worship of "God” is only for the ignorant populace. The God in truth is only Atman, the  Self. In reality, there is no duality, no differentiation. Only Atman exists.

The Vedas confirm God is Atman (Spirit), the Self.

Rig Veda: ~ 'Prajnanam Brahma'- Consciousness is the ultimate reality or Brahman or God in truth.

Do not accept any other God other than the Soul. The Soul is God in truth. Nothing is real but the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Nothing matters but realizing God in truth. God in truth, is everywhere and in everything. Let these words be inscribed in your subconscious.

God in truth, is hidden by the illusory universe. God in truth alone, is real and eternal, and all else is an illusion.

Brahman is merely a word to indicate the ultimate truth or God in truth. The ultimate truth itself is God in truth.

People are not aware of the fact that there is no individual God exists, apart from the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Yajurveda – chapter- 32: ~ God is Supreme Spirit has no ‘Pratima’ (idol) or material shape. God cannot be seen directly by anyone. God pervades all beings and all directions. 

Thus, Idolatry does not find any support from the Vedas.

Vedas itself declares: May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman? Thus, to know the real God Self-realization is necessary. Self-realization is God-realization. Self-realization itself is real worship.

Rig Veda: ~ The Atman is the cause; Atman is the support of all that exists in this universe. May ye never turn away from the Atman, the Self. May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?" (10:48, 5)

How can you worship God? That implies two ~ the worshiper and the worshiped, whereas God is non-dual. One can worship his idea of God only or realize his unity with it when he can’t worship it as a part.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~ Brahman (God) is in  the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself.

When the Upanishads and Vedas declare that, “God is the form of the Athma, and God is indeed Athma itself” then why accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman.

People, who worship the belief-based Gods are hallucinating that they become one with such God.: ~Santthosh Kumaar

There is no hope of immortality without the Advaitic wisdom.+

Those Gurus who are unaware of the Self hidden by the illusion say you are unborn eternal. such a statement has no value because you are born, live, and die in the world in which you exist. 

The world itself is an illusion created out of the Soul, the Self, which is birthless and deathless because it is a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. 

 There is no hope of immortality without the Advaitic wisdom.

Immortality is not a concern to you because you are not the ‘Self’. You are born, live and die within the world, so you are not the ‘Self’. 

You are mortal, because, the ‘Self is not you. The unborn Self is the  Soul, which is immortal because it is real and eternal.

The Soul the ‘Self’ is hidden by the illusory world in which you are born, live, and die. From the standpoint of the Soul, the world in which you live, and die is merely an illusion. 

Thus, your individual experience of birth, life, death, and the world is merely an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. 

Thus, you are mortal because you belong to the universe, which is a dualistic illusion whereas the Soul, which is hidden by the dualistic illusion, is real and eternal.

The Soul is birthless and deathless because the Soul is formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. 

Remember:~ A scholar will go on and on about the immortality of the Soul but when death approaches, he will be trembling and weeping and wailing. Scholars, interpretations of sacred texts, the force of religious merit--none of these lead to the realization of that ultimate truth or Brahman.  

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is the knowledge of the immortal Soul, the one and only ‘Self’ of all that exists as the universe is an illusion. 

All this talk of immortality will crumble into nothingness because he has not known the knowledge of the Soul, which is immortal.

A Gnani knows what he is talking about is not an explanation, what he is talking about is the realization of the truth, which is hidden by the illusory form, time, and space.

A Gnani shares his joy by sharing his wisdom; he is singing the song about the unsung truth. Remember whenever a Gnani speaks about God it is not a belief; he knows it, it is his realization. He is talking out of his realization; hence, he can be of immense help to the whole of humanity.

A Gnani always sees the world in which he exists as the Soul without any division of form, time, and space. 

A Gnani watches his own actions as if they were another's. he is never puffed up by the praise or disturbed by blame.

As for Gnani, his individuality is dead. It is merged in the Soul like waves in the ocean.  A Gnani's lives in freedom have gone beyond the dualities of life. 

A Gnani is not competing with anyone, he is alike in success and failure and content with whatever comes to him. He is e free, without Selfish attachments; his attention is fixed on the awareness of the Soul. 

A Gnani performs all practical duties of the practical world like others and he helps other seekers to get rid of the ignorance of their true existence.:~Santthosh Kumaar

Rig Veda were written before the Christian Era in the Vedic language. Vedic language is not Sanskrit. The truth is not limited to any particular language or religion.+

Vedas are in the Vedic language which was a high-class language. Rig Veda (excluding chapters II and X) was written before the Christian Era in Vedic language.  

Vedic language is not Sanskrit.  It is the same language in which the Zoroastrian Scripture Zend Avesta is written – a form of Persian language.  All the other scriptures of India are written in Sanskrit.  

These include Rig Veda Chapters II and X and the Upanishads, Brahmanas, Puranas, and the Vedanta.  These were written during the Christian Era after the Thomas ministry. 

As the use of this language diminished, it became a tough language for the commoners. The priests were supposed to be experts in this language, translated it into Sanskrit language and manipulated the meanings in time, and gradually, all the practices changed.

The truth is not limited to any particular language or religion. Those who are stuck with the idea the truth belongs to a particular religion and language will not be able to grasp the Advaitic wisdom, which is hidden by the illusory form, time, and space. 

The truth is universal. Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is for the whole of humanity. 

Many people believe that accumulating and mastering knowledge from the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the other scriptures and mastering the Sanskrit language makes one a Gnani.

The scholars who mastered the knowledge of the Vedas the Upanishads and the other scriptures and mastered the Sanskrit language looked upon other people as ignorant or as illiterate. 

Religious scholars think people who have no knowledge of the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the other scriptures and do not know the Sanskrit language are not qualified for higher truth. 

Mastering the Vedas the Upanishads and the other scriptures and mastering the Sanskrit language does not qualify one to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

These religious scholars immersed in ignorance in various ways, flatter themselves, saying: We have accomplished life's mission. Because these performers of karma do not know the Advaitic Gnana owing to their accumulated knowledge they will never be able to cross the ocean of dualistic illusion.

Sage Sankara says: ~ “VC~ 58 - Loud speech consisting of a shower of words, the skill in expounding the Scriptures, and likewise erudition - these merely bring on a little personal enjoyment to the scholar, but are no good for Liberation.

59. The study of the Scriptures is useless so long as the highest Truth is unknown, and it is equally useless when the highest Truth has already been known.

60. The Scriptures consisting of many words are a dense forest that merely causes the mind to ramble. Hence, men of wisdom should earnestly set about knowing the true nature of the Self.

Dattatreya's Song of the Avadhut 1.36-42:~ “Nonduality is taught by some; some others teach duality. They don't understand that the all-pervading Reality is beyond both duality and nonduality.

Mundaka Upanishad:~ “ The Para or Higher Knowledge is the knowledge of the Supreme Being while the Apara or Lower Knowledge is that of following sacrificial rites and ceremonies. (1/2/ 1 – 6)

A Gnani may be illiterate in the dualistic world, a scholar as literate, or a well-educated person in the dualistic world. But of what value is the scholar’s knowledge is limited to the form, time, and space but a Gnani even if he is illiterate his knowledge is beyond the form, time, and space.

Remember:~ 

Bhagavan Buddha, Sage Sankara, and Sage Goudpada have declared non-dualistic truth centuries back, but one has to reach the destination with scientific (rational) investigation, not through punditry or intellectuality. 

Until one mentally reaches a conclusion, the conviction will not arise. Without firm conviction, Advaitic wisdom will not dawn. Therefore, there is a need to know consciousness is real all else is a myth, which Sage Sankara declared as the world is a myth Brahman alone is real.

It is no use arguing Buddha is wrong or Sage  Sankara is right, but where we are going wrong in our understanding of the non-dualistic or Advaitic truth, propagated by the great sages of the past. Some say, that without the Sunyavada, Advaita philosophy could not have come into existence because Advaita starts from where Sunyavada ends. That is why they say it is the extension of Buddhism. 

If Advaita existed prior to Bhagavan Buddha, he would not have advocated Sunyavada at all because Advaita is the final and ultimate truth.

Since the Buddhist and the Vedic scriptures have been passed down by hearing, they were written down only relatively late so one wouldn't know whether to rely on the times they give. Also, a lot depends on the translation. Each 'Sloka' or sutta is open to many layers of interpretation.

That is why Sage Sankara said:- Talk as much philosophy as you like, worship as many gods as you please, observe ceremonies, and sing devotional hymns, but liberation will never come, even after a hundred aeons, without realizing the Oneness.

Sage  Sankara himself had often said that his philosophy was based on Sruti or revealed scripture. This may be because, Sage Sankara addressed the ordinary man, who finds security in the idea of causality and thus in the idea of God—and Revelation is indispensable to prove the latter. He believed that those of superior intelligence, have no need for this idea of divine causality, and can, therefore, dispense with Sruti and arrive at the truth of Non-Dualism by pure reason. 

Sage Sankara’s Supreme Brahman is Nirguna (without the Gunas), Nirakara (formless), Nirvisesha (without attributes) and Akarta (non-agent). He is above all needs and desires. 

Sage Sankara says:~"This Atman is self-evident. This Atman or Self is not established by proofs of the existence of the Self. It is not possible to deny this Atman, for it is the very essence of he who denies it. Atman is the basis of all kinds of knowledge. 

The Self is within, the Self is without, the Self is before and the Self is behind. The Self is on the right hand, the Self is on the left, the Self is above and the Self is below".

Satyam-Jnanam-Anantam-Anandam is not a separate attribute. They form the very essence of Brahman. Brahman cannot be described because the description implies a distinction. Brahman cannot be distinguished from any other than He.

The objective world-the world of names and forms has no independent existence. The Atman alone has a real existence. The world is only phenomenal.: ~ Santthosh Kumaar

The pursuit of the truth is to know the ultimate reality means to know the complete negating of all that is not this reality.+

The pursuit of the truth is to know the ultimate reality means to know the complete negating of all that is not this reality. Hence, one does not make an object of it. 

The notion of attaining Nirvikalpa Samadhi, complete blankness, non-seeing the world in which you exist, is not Advaitic wisdom. The world must be seen but known for what it is in actuality. 

Contradictions are inherent in ordinary knowledge because it is dualistic and causal-based. The possibilities of argument on both sides of a question are endless. One may say one thing and his opponent will say another. Each will have some ground for his statement.

Sage Goudpada's rational exposition of Advaita: ~ “Whatever is seen, whether external or internal, whether by the ordinary persons or yogis is unreal”.

Thus, whatever is seen, known, believed, and experienced as a person is a reality within the waking experience (duality) but the waking experience (duality) itself’ is merely an illusion.

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, that he realizes the universe which through ignorance appears as 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.

Those who assert the world is not an illusion because they are unaware of the fact that, the world is the reality within the illusion (waking). And they are frightened to consider the world as an illusion. Without considering the world as an illusion, it is impossible to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Sage  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 are stuck with the reality of the world are stuck with the reality of the individual experiences of birth, life, and death, which take place within the unreal world. Thus the pursuit of truth is for those who dare 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.

Remember: ~

All is consciousness. The whole universe is consciousness. From consciousness, the universe comes. When the universe disappears,  consciousness still remains without form, time, and space.

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

The universe is the product of ignorance. The ignorance is present in the form of the ‘I’.

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 non-self.

Till you think you are an individual separate from the world and the world existed prior to you and you are born in it afterward ignorance will prevail as a reality. Till ignorance is there the universe prevails as reality.

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.: ~ Santthosh Kumaar