ATMABODHA (Self-Knowledge) is a deeply explanatory text on the essence of the Advaita Vedanta Teaching. Shankara addresses those who have purified themselves through the practice of austerity, attained peace in their hearts, are liberated from all fear, and are freed from the desires of the senses and who now aspire to just one thing: identity with the Being-without-a-second.
For Advaita Vedanta what imprisons us is avidya or metaphysical ignorance. It is therefore only through 'knowledge' of a metaphysical order that we can defeat ignorance concerning the nature of Being. This Knowledge implies a deep transformation, a realizative sadhana whose phases are only moments of transformation-transfiguration of the entity following the unfolding of realizations, i.e. 'recognitions. And this is so because the entity is already in itself absolute Consciousness.