Sage Sankara says:~Ataman is Brahman. The universe is an illusion.
If the universe is an illusion many Souls, which exist within the illusory universe bound to be an illusion. the Soul, which is the cause of the illusory universe is real and eternal.
The theory of many souls is an imaginary theory propagated by religion. There is only one Self, which is the Soul. There are no separate individual Souls. Nobody has ever seen the Soul of an individual. You can only say that you have seen different bodies. when the whole universe is made of a single clay, which is the Soul then whatever the universe contains is also made of the Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of the consciousness.
Remember:~
In the context of Advaita Vedanta: ~ Jagat (the world) is not different from Brahman; however, Brahman is different from Jagat
It has not been possible to preach Advaitic Truth entirely free from the settings of dualistic weakness it has not been more operative and useful to mankind at large because only a few will be able to grasp and realize it.
To realize the Advaitic Truth a freer and fuller scope the seeker has to realize the form, time and space are one in essence. And that essence is consciousness. And the soul, the innermost self is present in the form of consciousness.
To realize the Advaitic truth the seeker has to be free from all superstitions and orthodox contaminations. The seeker has to be dedicated to acquiring Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana alone.'
A Gnani will easily appreciate the high flights of Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom is one of the 'most majestic structures and valuable products of the Genius of man in his search for Truth.
People who strongly believe this world is real must realize: ~
A person, who stamped his foot on the ground to refute to show the world, is real, ignore that in a dream he would do exactly the same--stamp his dream foot on the ground and assert it to be real.
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, which is present in the form of the consciousness.
Thus, you, your experience birth, life, death, and the world merely an illusion created out of the consciousness, the consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God.
The world is both real and unreal. It is real because it is a manifestation of consciousness, but is unreal, in the sense, that it is not absolute and eternal like consciousness itself.
People's approach is more practical, and they are stuck with the reality of the world, they take it as real. That is why all the confusion.
In Self-awareness: the witness and witnessed are one in essence. That essence is consciousness. There is no second thing that exists other than consciousness.
Thus, whatever is seen, known, believed, and experienced as a person is a reality within the waking experience (duality) but waking experience (duality) itself is merely an illusion created out of consciousness.:~Santthosh Kumaar
