Sage Sankara says Atman is Brahman and everything is Brahman is scientific declaration.+

Sage Sankara:~  VC~.63- "Without knowing and examining the external world, one can’t know the Truth, like the idea that the external world exists, won't go. It can go only by an inquiry into the nature of the external world.

There is no need to study Advaita Vedanta or Buddhism to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.  All accumulated knowledge is of no use to realize the Advaitic truth beyond the form, time, and space.

There is no need to study Advaita Vedanta to realize the Advaitic truth is hidden by the illusory form, time, and space. Advaita is not a theory or a philosophy. Advaita is the nature of the Soul, the innermost self.  There is no need for any theory or philosophy or scriptures to acquire Self-knowledge. Only a  perfect understanding of ‘what is what’ is needed.

There is no need to buy books of  Sage Sankara to acquire Self-knowledge. A perfect understanding of 'what is what' is needed. Nothing is required other than realizing the fact that, the form, time and space are one in essence.  And that essence is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness to get the  Advaitic self-awareness.

Self-knowledge cannot be attained by the study of the scriptures and intellectual understanding or by bookish knowledge.  Therefore,  there is no use in studying the scriptures and other scriptures to acquire non-dual wisdom.  

That is why Bhagavan Buddha rejected the scriptures, and even Sage Sri, Sankara indicated that the ultimate truth lies beyond religion,  the concept of god and scriptures.

If one becomes fully aware of the fact that, the self is not formed but the Self is formless then, all the three states will naturally become unreal. If one makes no discriminations, the thousands of things are as they are, of single stuff. 

To understand the mystery of this single stuff is to be released from all entanglements. When all things are seen equally the timeless Self-stuff is reached. No comparisons or analogies are possible in this causeless, relationless state, which is illusionless existence.

 The observer (Soul) and the observed (three states) are one in essence. Until we can view and judge from the standpoint of the observer we will not become aware of the observer (Soul) and observed (three states) are one in essence. The essence is consciousness.   Thus, consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.  

If the Advaita is bifurcated from all the religious add-ons it becomes more scientific then it becomes very easy to understand and assimilate.   All these scientific –inventions are nearer to the truth, but they are not the truth in themselves.

Sage Sri, Sankara, and Sage Goudpada have declared non-dual truth centuries back, but one has to reach the destination with the scientific or rational investigation, not through the punditry, which is based on orthodoxy. Until one mentally reaches the conclusion, the conviction will not arise. Without firm conviction, wisdom will not dawn.  Therefore, there is a need to know consciousness is real all else is a myth, which Sage Sankara declared as the world is myth Brahman alone is real.

Sage Sankara says Atman is Brahman and everything is Brahman is a scientific declaration not religious or yogic.  Sage Sankara and Sage Goudpada are more scientific than anyone else in the world. Since the real Advaitic essence is hidden it cannot be got without the inner (mental) journey.

Sage Goudpada says that: ~ The merciful Veda teaches the karma and Upasana to people of lower and middling intellect, while Jnana is taught to those of higher intellect.

Gnana here is the knowledge uncontradictable truth or scientific truth.  Thus, their scientific truth of the whole not a part is declared by Sage Sankara 1400 years back and thought only to those of higher intellect.   Thus, karma and Upasana (religion and yoga), which are meant for the mass have to be bifurcated from Advaita to reach the ultimate end.    

Advaitic Wisdom is for those who are capable of inquiring into their own existence to know and realize the ultimate truth, which is Brahman.

The true Advaita expounded by  Sage Sankara and  Sage Goudpada is pure Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atman Gnana leads one to Self-Awareness whereas the orthodoxy is more concerned with the practical life within the practical world indulging in non-Vedic rituals.  

Sage Sankara says in Brahma Sutras: that Brahman is the cause of the world, whereas in Mandukya he denies it. This is because he says that at the lower stage of understanding, the former teaching must be given, for people will get frightened as they cannot understand how the world can be without a cause, but to those in a higher stage, the truth of non-causality can be revealed.

Sage Sankara himself has warned us not to use ambiguous words and to practice semantic analysis in his book "Definition of one's own Self. ( Page 199, v.24 of "Sankara's Selected Works)

Bhagavad Gita: ~brahmano hi pratisthaham- Brahman is considered the all-pervading consciousness, which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material.  ( 14.27)

Sage Sankara’s notion of Maya or the cosmic illusion (mind or matter), must be transcended to realize the truth of Brahman, which means the ultimate truth. 

If Brahman is considered the all-pervading consciousness then, it is necessary to realize, the Soul or the consciousness as self. The consciousness which pervades all the three states, to realize the fact that, there is no second thing exists other the consciousness. Thus, consciousness (Ataman) is the ultimate truth (Brahman). 

The Sruti itself says:~ "This Atma is not to be attained by a study of the Vedas.  (Katha Upanishad I, 2, 23.) 

It means the seeker has to investigate on his own and realize the ultimate truth or Brahman.

Bhagavan Buddha:~ There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth: not going all the way... and not starting.

Ultimate Truth can be known if the seeker keeps up the pursuit to the very end, whereas some assert that Ultimate Truth cannot be known. 

When the Vedas and Upanishad declare that Consciousness or Atman is actually nothing but Brahman, then why go round and round, by various tortuous paths, like the blind led by the blind. One has to realize the fact that, the mind is in the form of the universe.  Trace the source of the mind and realize that the source is consciousness. The mind arises from consciousness as waking or dream and subsides as deep sleep.  

All are searching for truth within the illusion. they are not being aware of the fact that the illusion is created out of single stuff. that single stuff is consciousness.  Because of ignorance, everyone thinks their body and their experience of the universe are not consciousness and consciousness is limited to their body. 

Thus searching the truth in the illusion with the illusory self, within the illusory experience, has to be an illusion.  The illusion is created and sustained and finally dissolves as consciousness. Consciousness is the material of the illusion.   Since there is no second thing other than consciousness.  Consciousness itself is God or Brahman.  This conviction derives only through deeper inquiry, analysis, and reasoning.

Many people want to take as little trouble as possible and gain as much as possible. They disdain the hard labor of thinking needed in pursuit of truth and hope to get the truth by doing nothing i.e. merely believing or refraining from thought in yoga.

Conversion can occur only in the sphere of religion, never in the pursuit of truth,  because the truth has to be ascertained by the seeker himself.  

When one knows the Advaitic truth, he becomes free from the sphere of imagination.   If one’s reason is not sharp enough, then only religion and yoga can satisfy him. The seeker of truth examines both scientific and religious doctrines and discoveries and evaluates them. :~Santthosh Kumaar