our practical life within the practical world is merely an illusion.+

The knowledge of the Self is Brahma Gnana, which frees the Soul from the cage of ignorance. When the ignorance vanishes, the Soul becomes free from experiencing the dualistic illusion as a reality. It is the Soul that is in ignorance, and it is the Soul that becomes free from ignorance.

On the non-dualistic perspective, there is no purpose of life because the Self’ is not you b, but the ‘Self’ is the Soul, which is birthless and deathless because the ‘Self’ is the ever formless, timeless, nd spaceless existence, whereas you are bound by birth, life, death, and the world.

If the ‘Self' is not you, then the world in which you exist is bound to be an illusion. If the world in which you exist is bound to be an illusion, then the purpose of life is a reality only within the dualistic illusion. There is no purpose of any sort because there is no second thing that exists other than the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Onlyfrom thee dualistic perspective, there is a purpose of life because the experiences of birth, life, death, and the world are considered as a reality. But the duality is merely an illusion from the non-dualistic perspective.

It is erroneous to mix practical life and the practical world in the pursuit of truth. The ups and downs of the practical life within the practical world have nothing to do with the Soul, the Self.

In Self-awareness, nothing disappears at the dawn of wisdom, but the unreal nature of the waking is exposed in the midst of the duality.

One sees his body as the consciousness, his ego as the consciousness, and the world as the consciousness. Thus, there is a unity in diversity in his understanding. In Self-awareness, the unknown restlessness disappears. Self-awareness brings stillness of the mind in the midst of action or duality.

Thus, searching the truth within illusion with the illusory Self, within the illusory world, is bound to be an illusion. The illusion is created and sustained, and finally dissolves as the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Since there is no second thing other than the Soul or the consciousness, the consciousness itself is the ultimate truth or Brahman.

Advaitin Sage and Maya.

The King of the Hoysalas was a dualist and was greatly incensed at the doctrine taught by the Advaitin Sage that everything here below is an illusion. He wanted to teach the exponent of this doctrine a lesson. So he invited the then Advaitin sage to his palace. That Advaitin sage went there and stoutly maintained that everything in this world was an illusion. The king had arranged to let loose an infuriated elephant against Advaitin Sage. The beast rushed at Advaitin sage who took to a precipitate flight to save himself.

'Oh, Venerable Sir,' shouted the king, 'why do you run so fast, seeing that the elephant is only an illusion?'

'Oh, king,' said Advaitin Sage in the course of his flight, 'my running too is an illusion. Everything in this world is an illusion.

Similarly, our practical life within the practical world is merely an illusion. All our hopes and desires, or pleasure and pain, are a reality within the illusion. We are all searching tfor ruth within the illusion, not being aware of the fact that the illusion is created out of a single stuff, which is the Soul or the consciousness. The Soul is the Self. When the waking entity realizes it is not the Self in the midst of the waking experience, it enters the nondual Self-awareness, which is free from form, time, and space.

A Gnani is fully aware of ‘what is truth’ and ‘what is untruth’. A Gnani e is fully aware of the fact that the experience of pleasure and pain within the waking experience is merely an illusion because the waking experience itself is an illusion.

Thus, life within the waking experience will go on, on its own. It has nothing to do with the Soul, the Self. The waking or dream is merely an object to the formless witness.

The Soul is the innermost Self. The Soul is the witness. The Soul the witness is nothing to do with the three states because it is the witness of the coming and going of the three states or illusion. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar