Sage Sankara says:~ If you give up the external world in your inquiry, you cannot get the whole truth.+

There is only the mind that is present in the form of the universe. Thus we have to investigate the world that confronts us.

You cannot understand Sage Sankara instantly because your understanding is dualistic. It is not possible to realize the non-dualistic truth with dualistic understanding unless you inquire into the nature of the universe.

That is why Sage Sankara says you must first know what is before you. If you cannot know that, what else can you know or understand? If you give up the external world in your inquiry, you cannot get the whole truth.

Sage Sankara says the transparent Truth of the Self, which is hidden by the illusion, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, (Gnani).

First, know ‘what is the truth’ and ‘what is untruth’ for sure. Without realizing what untruth truth is, it is difficult to know what truth is.

Sage Sankara: ~VC 63-"Without knowing and examining the universe, 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.

Sage Sankara says: ~ “What is accepted without a proper inquiry will not lead a person to the final goal. On the contrary, such acceptance will result only in evil, in something detrimental to our spiritual progress.

The universe hides consciousness. The universe is like a cloud and consciousness is like water hidden by the cloud. The cloud has no existence without water. The same way the universe ceases to exist without consciousness.:

The very purpose of analyzing the world that confronts you is to realize the fact that, the form, time, and space are merely an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Thus, to enable you to judge the ‘what is what’ from the highest viewpoint.

People fail to make this analysis, as with so many religious, yogic, and intellectual-minded seekers fail to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman because their judgment is based on the dualistic perspective.

On the non-dualistic perspective, the world that confronts you is merely an illusion created out of consciousness.

One must be receptive and sharp enough to grasp the truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space.

Remember:~

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 have the courage to accept the reality as it is, that is the reality without the illusory form, time, and space.

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

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, 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 that existed prior to you and you are born in it afterward the ignorance will prevail as a reality. Till ignorance is there the universe prevails as reality.

The Soul is the ‘Self’. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. Consciousness is that which knows everything, that which sees. Consciousness alone remains after one gets rid of all thoughts and ideas by identification with ‘Self’. Consciousness is only the seer; it is not Brahman that is an error. It becomes Brahman only after a deeper inquiry and Soulcentric reasoning. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar