And the Self begat self...

"The observable is in the mind. The nature of the self is pure awareness, pure witnessing, unaffected by the presence or absence of knowledge or liking." - Nisargadatta, I Am That

Who is the possessor of pure awareness, the witnesseser of pure witnessing? How can the infinite unmanifest have any characteristics or behavior? Are we back at the "self->Self->unmanifest" trinity? Meanwhile, the Buddha's dependent origination suggests that everything starts with ignorance. In Nisargadatta's description, I guess the Self was manifest from the unmanifest beyond and everything was peachy while Self was pure awareness until it turned into the prime ignoramus and begat self.