Ignorance or delusion shrinks our sense of self.
It makes us forget our bigger self,
the self that is one with God,
and causes us to believe we are the little self, the body.
The body performs actions, and we believe we are the body,
this individual performing all these activities.
We become concerned with the achievements of the body.
We strive for a good education, to amass wealth,
to gain recognition and success in our worldly life;
and towards the end of our life,
we become fearful when death approaches.
All this while we forget about our bigger self, our soul.
Our soul is the witness within us
that observes the ups and downs in our life.
It is not interested in the success and failures of the body,
and nor is it concerned about the death of the body.
As Vasugupta beautifully explains in the Spanda Karikas (Verses 14-16):
Two are found to exist here, called the Creator and the created. Among them, created matter is subject to decay but the Creator is imperishable.
Looking at created matter dissolving into the whole, examine carefully what is being destroyed here. At the time of his death, an ignorant man thinks, “I will cease to exist”.
But the Being within us, who is the abode of the quality of omniscience, cannot be destroyed. Due to lack of knowledge of this other Self, a man believes sooner or later, he may cease to exist.
Ranjit Chaudhri
The Shiva Sutras