Self-knowledge is what we are fundamentally looking for, in part because our True Self isn't a passing, fluctuating thing like happiness and suffering, pleasure and pain. Consciousness is what experiences such pairs of opposites. What exactly is this Consciousness? What are its fundamental inner laws and characteristics? And what is NOT Consciousness within ourselves? And what does that have to do with Karma? That is what Self-Knowledge is all about. If we do not profoundly know and realize what Consciousness is, we remain forever caught in those cyclic, never-ending fluctuations. But, if we strive toward that Realization, we can eventually become free from them, and we can simply be our True Self: pure Consciousness, otherwise known as The Soul.