When the true Self is known the jigsaw puzzle of the world gets solved, doubts end, and all misery vanishes. In Atmabodha, a lyric of sixty-eight mellifluous verses, Shankara gives us a lucid analysis of the nature of the Self and explains step by step how it can be realized. Swami Nikhilananda prefaces his delightful English translation with a masterly survey of the Upanishadic view of life.
We believe that every being is divine, is God. Every soul is a sun covered over with clouds of ignorance; the difference between soul and soul is owing to the difference in density of these layers of clouds. - Swami Vivekananda