Spirituality or Adyathma is nothing to do with any religion.+

Sage Sankara’s wisdom is not a teaching or philosophy but Advaita is the universal wisdom. Advaitic wisdom is neither a teaching nor a theory but it is merely guidance to those who are seriously seeking the ultimate truth or Brahman. Grasp the ultimate truth at any time, any age, if the seeker has the spiritual maturity and capacity to grasp it. 

Sage Sankara says: ~ VC-47   All the effects of ignorance, root, and branch, are burnt down by the fire of knowledge, which arises from discrimination between these two—the Self and the not-Self.

It really depends on his inborn natural capacity to understand and assimilate Advaitic wisdom.  Sage Sankara’s wisdom is a Self-examiner, to test oneself to discover how near to Gnana he has approached and what progress has already been made on the path, and what still remains to be done.  It sets up a criterion for Self-judgement.   There are millions in search of truth but one in million will be able to grasp it.

Without Sage Sankara, there is no Advaita (nonduality).  Since it was mixed up with orthodoxy there is a lot of confusion. I am highlighting all the obstacles, which are blocking one from realizing the ultimate truth or Brahman. There are so many non-dualistic masters of the east and also from the west who expound Advaitic or non-dualistic knowledge but none of them are helpful to reach the ultimate end.  Religions are egocentric whereas Spirituality is soulcentric.  

The garbage of the religious beliefs dogmas superstition is confounded with the human imagination. The great reality of the glory of the religious Gods is hyped and obscured by so much tinsel and commercialism.

Spirituality is not religion.  Advaita is not a philosophy but Advaita is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God. Advaita is Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana or knowledge of the Spirit or God in truth.

The word “Advaita” is one without the second.  Advaita essentially refers to the Atman and the whole existence. Advaita is the fullness of consciousness without the division of form, time, and space.

Religions are nothing to do with spirituality. Advaita is pure spirituality. The religious Advaita is nothing to do with the Advaitic wisdom, which is based on the Spirit the Atman. 

Religious Advaita is conceptual having its own doctrine is nothing to do with the Gnanic Advaita, because, Gnanic Advaita is Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Both approaches are not workable together, because, the religious Advaita is based on the birth entity (ego)   Gnanic Advaita is based on the Atman (Soul).

Thus, the theological Advaita has to be discarded without mercy to get Advaitic Gnana.  

“Advaita” is a term used variously to express the unity of reality.  Advaita is unity in diversity.  

The seeker has to begin by defining "What is real?" "What is unreal?,   to establish in Advaitic reality by sheer reasoning alone.   The reasoning is the right way to realize the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space. People must first know what is the truth? and what is untruth’.  

Remember:~ 

At no point in time, the world was at peace. History speaks the ware violence and terrorism in the name of religion and God.  The universal brotherhood is an impossibility with diverse beliefs and the idea of God lifestyles and culture.  

Everyone thinks is religion is superior to another religion,  so there is no universality in any religion.  Till religion and the ideas of religious God is there the wars, violence and terrorism will continue.  Till people become more and more rational and try to realize the truth of the universe in which they exist, the belief system will dominate.

It is not possible to bring order in the restless world without realizing the world is an illusion.   To realize the world in which we exist is an illusion, one has to acquire self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Spirituality is not a religion. Spirituality is nothing to do with religion and its concept of god and its code of conduct and its holy books.  Monotheism is based on religion, not spirituality. Spirituality is based on the soul, which is present in the form of the Spirit.  And the religion accepts the experience of birth, life, death, and the world as reality, whereas Sage Sri, Sankara declares the world is unreal Brahman alone is real.  

Thus, the experience of birth, life, death happening within the unreal world is bound to be a falsehood. Thus, the religious and religious belief and its ritual based on the birth entity is bound to be a falsehood.  Thus, the seeker has to realize ‘what is that is real and eternal?

In Vedas, God has been described as: ~

Vedas itself declares: May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman? Thus, to know the real God Self-realization is necessary. Self-realization is God-realization. Self-realization itself is real worship.

The Vedas confirm God is Atman (Spirit), the Self.

Yajurveda – chapter- 32:~  God is Supreme Spirit has no ‘Pratima’ (idol) or material shape. God cannot be seen directly by anyone. God pervades all beings and all directions. Thus, Idolatry does not find any support from the Vedas.

Rig Veda: ~ The Atman is the cause; Atman is the support of all that exists in this universe. May ye never turn away from the Atman, the Self. May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?" (10:48, 5)

How can you worship God? That implies two ~ the worshiper and the worshiped, whereas God is nondual. One can worship his idea of God only or realize his unity with it when he can’t worship it as apart.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~ Brahman (God) is present in the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself.

When Upanishads and Vedas declare, “God in the form of the Athma and God is indeed Athma itself” then why to accept another God in place of the Atman or worship other than the Atman.

People, who worship the blind belief-based God, are hallucinating that they become one with such God.

The Soul, the ‘Self itself is the Infinite God. 

The Soul is the Self. God is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. God is the fullness of the consciousness without the illusory division of form, time, and space. Therefore, there is nothing apart from it.

God is Self-evident. God is not established by extraneous proofs. It is not possible to deny God because God is the very essence of the one who denies it. God is the basis of all kinds of knowledge, presuppositions, and proofs. God is within the universe in which you exist, God is without the universe in which you exist.

The nature of the Soul, the Self is:~ 

 Sakshi (Witness)

 Chetan (conscious)

 Nirguna (Without form and properties).

 Nitya (eternal)

 Shuddha (pure)

 Buddha (omniscient)

   Mukta (unattached).

All this the above is the nature of the soul, the Self. Thus, the innermost self is God.   That is Atman is Brahman.   Brahman is God. 

In Advaita Vedanta: - Brahman is without attributes and strictly impersonal. It can be best described as infinite Being, infinite Consciousness, and infinite Bliss. It is pure knowledge itself, similar to a source of infinite radiance. Since the Advaitins regard Brahman to be the Ultimate Truth, so in comparison to Brahman, every other thing, including the material world, its distinctness, the individuality of the living creatures, and even Ishvara (the Supreme Lord) itself are all untrue. Brahman is the effulgent cause of everything that exists and can possibly exist. Since it is beyond human comprehension, it is without any attributes, for assigning attributes to it would be distorting the true nature of Brahman. Advaitins believe in the existence of both Saguna Brahman and Nirguna Brahman; however, they consider Nirguna Brahman to be the absolute supreme truth. 

Atman is the innermost self.   The Atman is present in the form of consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman.   Brahman is God.   Therefore, self-realization is necessary in order to realize the ultimate truth or God in truth.  Self-realization is real God-realization. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar