The Self- knowledge rises when the seeker is able to discover the Self hidden by the illusory universe or Maya.+

Rig Veda: ~ 'Prajnanam Brahma'- Consciousness is the ultimate reality or Brahman or God in truth.

Do not accept any other God other than the Soul. The Soul is God in truth,  Nothing is real but the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Nothing matters but realize  God in truth. God in truth is everywhere and in everything. Let these words be inscribed in your subconscious.

God in truth is hidden by the illusory universe. God in truth alone is real and eternal and all else is an illusion.

Brahman is merely a word to indicate the ultimate truth or God in truth.  The ultimate truth itself is God in truth. 

The Self- knowledge rises when the seeker is able to discover the Self hidden by the illusory universe or Maya.

Remember:~

Sage Sankara says: ~ “The exercise in discrimination between real and unreal and renunciation of the false is real meditation,-  then why you are indulging in other types of meditation.

Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom itself is Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Athma Gnana.

In fact, Sage Sankara states a paradox- the world is and is not. It is neither real nor unreal. It leads us to recognize the existence of Maya (illusion). He thinks that the world is illusory from one perspective and from the second it is nothing but Brahman (God), itself in manifestation. This apparent world is Maya and has its basis in Brahman, the Eternal. It looks real. It has names and forms and actually, it is not real In the light of true knowledge, it disappears and Self-alone shines as real. However, Sage  Sankara's Mayavada has not been accepted by many preachers and philosophers.

When Sage Sankara says clearly, the universe is not real. He says that Brahman and Atman are one. The ultimate and the Absolute Truth is the Self, which is one though appearing as many in different individuals. The individual has no reality. 

Only the Soul, the Self is Real; the rest, mental and physical are but passing appearances, then it indicates the form (waking or duality or mind) is unreal and the formless soul (consciousness or soul) is real. Therefore, only Atman is real because there is no second thing that exists other than Atman, which is in the form of consciousness.

Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara is the means to Self-realization. Self-realization is the realization of the highest truth Self-realization destroys the root of ignorance, the seed of the illusory universe.

Since in the ultimate analysis the problem is one of eradicating the foundational ignorance, Sage Sankara says Self-knowledge alone is the means to the attainment of liberation brings an end to ignorance.

Sage Sankara says those who possess a clear knowledge of the Self and the not-Self, who renounce the ignorance, who determine the nature of the universe in the light of the Advaitic wisdom are Gnanis and their thought ever dwell on Brahman only.

Sage Sankara Advaitic wisdom is only the means to release the Soul, the Self from ignorance. :~Santthosh Kumaar