Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is knowledge of the Soul or Spirit, or Consciousness, which is God in truth.+

Sage Sankara restrained himself parting the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana to the mass and only a selected few.

Advaitic wisdom was hidden from the people who were not qualified and receptive to it. Self- it was given knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana was not written down but was imparted orally to the chosen few.

Thus, religion was given to the masses, and knowledge of the Spirit was given to only selected a few. Thus, we find traces of the knowledge of the Spirit in the religious books in the form of parables.

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), Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana (pearls) should not be given to the ignorant populace (pigs).

If you have an intense urge to realize the ultimate truth that intense urge itself leads you to realize the truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space.

Yajurveda – chapter- 32:~ God is Supreme Spirit. Vedas and Upanishads confirm God is the Atman (Soul), the Self, is the present in the form of the Spirit or consciousness.

Rig Veda: ~ The Atman (Soul or Spirit) 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)

The Bible says: ~ God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24)

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

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

If God is formless Spirit, how does man know God created the world? There is no proof. If man had seen God creating the world, he could admit it, but how could he have seen God before he came into existence? (i.e. were created).

Burn down the ignorance with the fire of Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is knowledge of the Soul or Spirit or God.

Realizing the ‘Self ‘is not the ‘I’ but the Self is the Soul, the witness of the ‘I’. You think the ‘Self is the ‘I’ and ‘I’, is within the body. You are mistaking the ‘Soul, the ‘Self ‘for the ‘I’, which appears and disappears.

This is the great stumbling block of the Gurus who propagated the ‘I’-centric teaching. These Gurus think that when the ego is not, nothing remains. You must realize you are the ego. You are the false self within the false experience.

You (the ego), the body, and the world appear together and disappear together. Therefore, you cannot get rid of the ego alone because your body and the world also appear along with the ego.

It is a foolish venture to get rid of the ego alone. Therefore, the seeker must realize ‘what is what’ to discover the truth, which is hidden by the ‘I’.

The ‘I’ is not different from the mind. The mind is not different from the universe. The universe is not different from the waking. Without the ‘I’ there is neither the mind nor the universe nor the waking.

The universe is verily the consciousness. Without realizing ‘what is the Mind? it impossible to get ‘Self’- realization. The universe is not different from the Mind because the universe is the mind itself. The mind is not different from the Soul because the mind is the dualistic illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Thus, the universe is nothing but consciousness. The universe is unreal because it is not absolute and eternal like consciousness. It is impossible for any human being to challenge successfully the Advaitic position, as Sage Sankara says.

Sage Sankara asks his opponents "How do you know there are separate individual Souls? Have you seen the Soul of a man? You can only say that you have seen different bodies. To say more is to misuse language. Therefore, I call you liars unless you give proof, which is impossible.

You and your experience of the world disappear when the waking experience disappears. The waking experience disappears in deep sleep.

The dream disappears when the waking takes place. There is neither the waking nor the dream in deep sleep.

The seeker has to find out ‘what is it’ that’ becomes the waking or dream (duality) and ‘what is it’ that becomes the deep sleep (nonduality).

The one that becomes the dual (waking or dream) and that one that becomes nondual (deep sleep), is formless Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The Soul is the innermost ‘Self’. In the realm of the Soul, diversity has no value because there is unity in diversity in consciousness.

All three states are made of a single stuff. Realizing that single Stuff, which is the Soul is ‘Self’-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

If the Soul is the innermost ‘Self’ then the world in which you exist is merely an illusion. The world is a reality on the base of the ego (you), which is the false self within the false experience.

The world in which you exist is the product of ignorance. When ignorance vanishes the unreal nature of the world in which you exist is exposed. In the same way, the unreal nature of the dream was exposed when the waking takes place. Ignorance vanishes when Advaitic wisdom dawns.

Perfect understanding of ‘what is ‘what’ helps the seeker to remove all the obstacles, which is blocking our realization.

That is why Sage Sankara Says: ~ V.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.

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

It takes time for the subconscious to gain speed; it takes time for the Soul to awake and it takes time for the Soul which has been in the sleep of ignorance to wake up to its own awareness. ~ Santthosh Kumaar