Insight vs. Outsight
You cannot be self-realized if all you know is your outer self.  Everyone is good at "outsight" but what about "insight"?

Scientists are great at the art of sakshi bhutam (witnessing objects/phenomena).  Only, we think they have not made the right conclusion yet.  They think there is some mystery in space, energy, and matter.  But the mystery, if it can be stated, is their own Consciousness.  The eye sees everything but itself.  That is the predicament of the embodied soul.  The ancient rishis of India discovered that nature is insentient and ever-changing.  They realized they had to turn their consciousness inward for answers.  They connected the outer signs to the inner origins, then to the Source.  The result is seen in eternal philosophical and religious systems like Buddhism and Vedanta.

The West thinks in terms of particles of matter.  But the East thinks in terms of the matras of the Word.  The West thinks the only reality is external.  But when you study the particle of meaning in a word, you release the power of Yoga.

"Inside and outside" - assume them to be one and meditate on them as one.  Then you will receive the all-confirming insight.

If you imagine time to be real, then everything becomes ponderous and burdensome.  If you know it to be illusory then you are free from incremental knowledge and plunge into the infinite.

How do you know if something is spiritual?  It does not undergo change.

Kaivalya-Freedom
Kaivalya means to separate from the whole mess and become your Self.  To put it simply, nature always forms things, but your nature is formless. If you give in to nature, and let it have its way, then it will mayically convince you that you are a form.  Nature is insentient; you are Sentient.  Nature is full of suffering; you are naturally blissful.  Do we suffer in deep sleep?  No, it is a state of formlessness.  Do you suffer before birth?  No, you are formless.  Do you suffer after death?  No, you are either in heaven or in Brahman.  At present you are having a relationship with Nature, but you should only allow it to be an association.  If you identify with Nature, you tend to dream yourself into insentiency.  To fully awaken, you have to make a break, get a divorce.  That break, according to Patanjali, is Kaivalya.  Seedless Samadhi, uninterrupted, ensues thereafter.

The problem is not in maya, for maya is insentient.  As Vivekananda has said to us, "You are never in maya; it is maya that is in you.  So get rid of it and be done with it."

Here is a jar that contains 50 - 50 water and oil. Water represents the body/world, and the oil symbolizes the Spirit.  If you shake the jar it appears that oil and water mix.  But by observing the jar for about 45 seconds you see that they do not.  This is true of matter and Spirit as well, of nature and Consciousness.  They appear to comingle nicely, but in the end they are of different qualities.  But do not renounce the world out of aversion due to finally realizing this fact.  Observe as well how the two are interconnected.  Then fullness, rather than mere emptiness, will be yours.

All the darshanas of India, including Buddhism, say that when you see the interconnectedness of everything - when you see how name and form are fashioned, how everything is dependent on everything else - you will want out!  This is Kaivalya!  It is isolation from everything that is not directly and essentially your very Nature.  You can get it all back later, because it is all within you.