The whole world which one perceives is illusionary; it is just an appearance of unreality and there are only one indeterminate and attributeless truth at the root of this world".
The Soul, the Self has none of those attributes or tags. Hence, the person who superimposes all those attributes on the changeless, eternal Soul, the ‘Self’ and identifies the Soul, the ‘Self’ with the body is confusing one for the other; and is, therefore, an ignorant person.
Sage Sankara affirming his belief in one eternal unchanging reality (Brahman) and the illusion of plurality, drives home the point that Upanishads deal not with rituals but with the knowledge of the Absolute (Brahma vidya) and the Upanishads give us an insight into the essential nature of the Soul, the Self which is identical with the Absolute, the Brahman.
Sage Sankara: ~ Atman, the innermost Self is verily Brahman (God), being equanimous, quiescent, and by nature absolute Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss. Atman is not the body which is non-existence itself.
All the attributes and quality belongs to the dualistic illusion. The Soul is qualityless and attributeless because it is the formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.
Only dualist sages who take the illusory world as a reality propagated the attributes and qualities to the Soul, which is qualityless and attributeless purity.
If you take 'you' and the universe in which you exist as reality then it is impossible to realize the 'Self' hidden by the universe.
Remember the universe is merely an illusion created out of the Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of consciousness.
The universe hides the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.
That is why Sage Sankara Says: ~ VC-63-. Without causing the objective universe to vanish and without knowing the truth of the ‘Self’ how is one to achieve Liberation by the mere utterance of the word Brahman? — It would result merely in an effort of speech.
Sage Sankara says: ~ A buried treasure is not uncovered by merely uttering the words: “Come forth.” You must follow the right directions, dig, remove the stones and earth from above it, and then make it your own. In the same way, the pure truth of the Atman, which is buried under Maya and the effects of Maya, can be reached by meditation, contemplation, and other spiritual disciplines but never by perverse arguments.
Sage Sankara: ~ “VC~ All this universe which through ignorance appears as of diverse forms, is nothing else but Brahman (Consciousness) which is absolutely free from all the limitations of Maya.
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.
Sage Sankara says:~VC-47- All the effects of ignorance, root, and branch, is burnt down by the fire of knowledge, which arises from discrimination between these two—the Self and the non-Self.
Remember: ~ All is consciousness. The whole universe is consciousness. From consciousness, the universe comes. When the universe disappears, the consciousness still remains without form, time, and space.:~ Santthosh Kumaar
