[Advaita-l] The nature of spiritual realisation

[Sundaram, Vaidya (MED)]

Professor.
 I have a question, and sorry if it is stupid.
You wrote:
> We are conscious of our body, so we are different from the body.

This statement of fact and conclusion from that is not at all clear to
me. Why should the body be different just because there is consciousness
of it? If I am "conscious of myself" - what does it mean? 
 Does it necessarily mean that one is conscious of only one's body when
one makes a statement like "I am self conscious"? Can I not be conscious
of just a general nature of my being, without negating the being itself?
How does knowing what it is affect it? And in the case of final
realization, the knower is conscious of Himself as the only existence.
He does not negate Himself right?

 Given these, "being conscious of XX" does not mean that XX does not
exist right?

bhava shankara desikame sharaNam
Vaidya.