The religious Gurus or yogis are nothing to do with Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.+

The religious Gurus or yogis are nothing to do with Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. Religious gurus and yogis are more concerned with practical life and the practical world. They preach to their followers to be, to behave, to live according to the code of conduct prescribed by the religious books, and live in a society with love, peace, and harmony.  

The seekers of truth have to realize the fact that, all religious ideas of God, scriptures, rituals, and yoga in order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman.  Bhagavan Buddha rejected religion, the idea of God, and the Vedas they are inadequate and useless. Sage Sankara also indicated the same.  

Religion, Yoga, God and Guru glorification, and scriptural studies are not needed in pursuit of truth. Only an intense urge and courage to accept the truth and reject the untruth, when the uncontradictable truth is revealed through deeper self-search.

A religious guru or yogi is too enthusiastic to have everyone as his disciple, and he will push himself on others with his advice, and authoritative scriptural knowledge. Religious Gurus or yogis want to keep everyone in the domain of religion and yoga. More than he wants to help people, he wants to help his ego. he only uses people and imposes his inherited idea of religion and God on them, usually unintentionally because he himself is more unconscious than others of the ultimate truth. 

A Gnani is not enthusiastic to have anyone as his disciple. He never identifies himself as a guru.  He does not impose his ideas on anyone. A Gnani sows the seed of truth by sharing the  Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana and tries to guide the serious seeker to the ultimate end. It is very difficult to identify a Gnani because he never claims himself to be a guru or teacher.

Most people are not aware of what they are really seeking. They start their pursuit with their inherited religious ideas, and as they go deeper they will feel that religion and yoga are inadequate and useless in quenching their inner thirst.

A serious seeker will realize the fact that he is looking for something else, and he is now sure it is not a self-assurance, fulfillment of dreams, or fulfillment of social demands. He will realize the fact that religion and yoga are not meant to quench his inner thirst.

A Gnani dearly cares about the serious seeker but will stay aloof, he knows that if the seeker needs to be assisted by him, he will approach or rather be drawn to approach him. He has no self-interest whatsoever and so anyone considered equally, for his love as anybody else, whoever comes, comes and if no one comes it is also fine. 

If the Advaita is bifurcated from all the religious add-ons it becomes 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 Sankara and Sage Goudpada have declared non-dualistic or Advaitic truth centuries back, but one has to reach the destination with the scientific (rational) investigation, not through punditry. 

Until one mentally reaches the conclusion, the conviction will not arise. Without firm conviction, the 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 a 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: ~ The merciful Veda teaches Karma and Upasana to people of lower and middling intellect, while Jnana is taught to those of higher intellect.

Gnana here is the knowledge of uncontradictable truth or scientific truth.  Thus their scientific truth of the whole, not the part is declared by  Sage  Sankara 1200 years back and thought only to those of higher intellect.  Karma and Upasana (religion and yoga), which are meant for the ignorant masses 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 or Brahman or God in truth.

When one goes into the annals of history it looks like the true Advaita expounded by Sage Sankara and Sage Goudpada was lost or mutilated by the orthodox cult because their preaching is based on nonduality and practices are based on duality. 

Sage Sankara says in Brahma Sutras:~ ' 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 the Maya, the cosmic illusion (mind or matter), must be transcended in order to realize the ultimate truth of Brahman.

If Brahman is considered the all-pervading consciousness then, it is necessary to realize, the consciousness as self, which pervades all the three states, to realize the fact that there is no second thing that exists other the consciousness. Thus, consciousness (Atman) is the ultimate truth or 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. Ultimate Truth can be known if the seeker keeps up the pursuit to the very end, whereas some assert that the ultimate truth cannot be known. 

When the Vedas and Upanishads 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.:~Santthosh Kumaar 

Learn yourself, make everyone aware of the truth of their true existence, call upon the sleeping Soul and see how it awakes.+

Sage Sankara’s Advaita as the fairest flower of wisdom that the world in any age has produced.

Learn yourself, make everyone aware of the truth of their true existence, call upon the sleeping Soul, and see how it awakes.

Power will come on its own, glory will come on its own, grace will come, purity will come on its own, and the truth hidden by the ‘I; will be revealed when the Soul, the Self wakes up from its sleep of ignorance. this sleeping Soul is roused only through Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom is universal. The whole of humanity owns it because it is the knowledge of their true existence.

The Atmic path of the Path of wisdom is not meant for those who are strongly attached to Advaitic orthodoxy. Atmic path is not suited for the orthodox people.

Orthodox people must continue with their inherited path because they are sentimentally and emotionally involved with their orthodox there is no hope that they will adopt anything new. The orthodoxy is a self-imposed prison. It is very difficult for the orthodox people to come out of their religious outfits.

For those who want to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman, there is no need for this orthodox baggage they have to discard it as useless because they block the realization of the ultimate truth or Brahman.

Theistic Advaita has to be bifurcated to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman.

Theistic Advaita is based on the ego whereas the Advaitic wisdom is based on the Atman.

Theistic Advaita is based on the experience of birth, life, death, and the world as reality whereas Sage Sankara declared the world in which we exist is an illusion. The Atman the cause of the world, which exist is real and eternal.

Sage Sankara said:~ Talk as much philosophy as you like, worship as many gods as you please, observe ceremonies, and sing devotional hymns, but liberation will never come, even after a hundred aeons, without realizing the Oneness.

According to Advaita Vedanta, the Veda addresses itself to two kinds of audiences - the ignorant people who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices, thus, the Purva mimam. sa, with its emphasis on the karma kanda of the Vedas, is meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. Thus, all the theistic Advaita is meant for the ignorant populace.

The serious seeker who is seeking truth nothing but the truth or Brahman or God the Vedanta, with its emphasis on the jnana kanda, is meant for those who wish to go beyond the form, time, and space to realize their true existence is formless, timeless and spaceless existence.

All the theistic Advaita belongs to religion it is nothing to do with Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom

Sage Sankara Advaitic wisdom is purely based on soulcentric reason and independent without the support of any scriptures.

Sage Sankara:~ “This (the unreality of duality) is borne out by the Srutis ... But it is possible also to show the unreality of the objective world even from pure reasoning. (Commentary on the Manduka Upanishad, II, 1)

Sage Sankara himself had often said that his philosophy was based on Sruti, or revealed scripture. This may be because Sage Sankara addressed the ordinary man, who finds security in the idea of causality and thus in the idea of God—and Revelation is indispensable to prove the latter. He believed that those of superior intelligence, have no need for this idea of divine causality, and can, therefore, dispense with Sruti and arrive at the truth of Non-Dualism by pure reason.

Sage Sankara gave out what was of most use to the greatest number of people. Therefore, in the commentaries on the Upanishads, such as the famous Manduka, he gave the Advaitic message of the identity of Atman and Brahman, revitalizing the philosophy and practice of Advaita, while in the commentaries on the Brahmasutra he gave lesser teaching, positing both higher and lower Maya and higher and lower Brahman (Ishvara) to explain creation for those of lesser intellects until they were ready for the highest truth.

Sage Sankara says: - Whatever thing remains eternal is true, and whatever is non-eternal is untrue. Since the world is created and destroyed, it is not true.

The Truth is the unchanging thing. Since the world is changing, it is not true.

Whatever is independent of space and time is true, and whatever has space and time in itself is untrue.

Just as one sees dreams in sleep, he sees a kind of super-dream when he is waking. The world is compared to this conscious dream.

The world is believed to be a superimposition of the Brahman. Superimposition cannot be true.

On the other hand, Sage Sankara claims that the world is not false. It appears false only when compared to Brahman. In the pragmatic state, the world is completely true—which occurs as long as we are under the influence of Maya. The world cannot be both true and false at the same time; hence Sage Sankara has classified the world as indescribable. The following points suggest that according to Sage Sankara, the world is not false (Sage Sankara himself gave most of the arguments)

Maya or illusion is the most important contribution of Sage Sankara. Maya or illusion is the complex illusionary power of the Atman (Soul), which is present in the form of consciousness.

This Māyāvāda of Sage Sankara was highly criticized and misunderstood. Bhaskaracharya described Sage Sankara to be indebted to the Buddhists for his concept of Maya. The term Maya however, appears in the Bhagavad Gita 7.14 and also in many Upanishads.

The concept of Māyā seems to be a hypothesis. Since according to the Upanishads only Brahman is real, but we see the material world to be real, Sage Sankara explained the anomaly by the concept of this illusionary power Māyā.

Sage Sankara:~ “The world, filled with attachments and aversions, and the rest, is like a dream: it appears to be real as long as one is ignorant, but becomes unreal when one is awake.

Sage Sankara: ~ “As fire is the direct cause of cooking, so knowledge, and not any other form of discipline, is the direct cause of Liberation; for Liberation cannot be attained without Knowledge." (Self-Knowledge)

Sage Sankara:- As the moon appears to be moving when the clouds move in the sky, so also to the non-discriminating. Atman appears to be active when in reality the senses are active.

Sage Sankara's commentary to Brahma Sutras (Chap.3.4.50) shows that the Gnani "should pass through life", not run away from life, and should take a middle course between seeking worldly honor and worldly abasement.

Sage Sankara varied his practical advice and doctrinal teaching according to the people he was amongst. He never advised them to give up their particular religion or beliefs or metaphysics completely; he only told them to give up the worst features of abuse: at the same time, he showed just one step forward towards the truth. Sri, Sankara was extremely precise and careful in his choice of words.

Sage Sankara gave religious, ritual, or dogmatic instruction to the mass but pure philosophy only to the few who could rise to it. Hence, the interpretation of his writings by commentators is often confusing because they mix up the two viewpoints. Thus, they may assert that ritual is a means of realizing Brahman, which is absurd.

Sage Sankara indicated in Bhaja Govindam says: ~ (Jnana Viheena Sarva Mathena Bajathi na Muktim janma Shatena) - one without knowledge does not obtain liberation even in a hundred births, no matter which religious faith he follows.

Sage Sankara believed that those of superior intelligence, have no need for this idea of divine causality, and can, therefore, dispense with Sruti and arrive at the truth of Non-Dualism by pure reason.

Sage Sankara’s supreme Brahman is Nirguna (without the Gunas), Nirakara (formless), Nirvisesha (without attributes), and Akarta (non-agent). He is above all needs and desires.

Sage Sankara says:~"This Atman is self-evident. This Atman or Self is not established by proofs of the existence of the Self. It is not possible to deny this Atman, for it is the very essence of he who denies it. Atman is the basis of all kinds of knowledge. The Self is within, the Self is without, the Self is before and the Self is behind. The Self is on the right hand, the Self is on the left, the Self is above and the Self is below".

Satyam-Jnanam-Anantam-Anandam is not a separate attribute. They form the very essence of Brahman. Brahman cannot be described because the description implies distinction. Brahman cannot be distinguished from any other than He.

The objective world-the world of names and forms-has no independent existence. The Atman alone has real existence. The world is only phenomenal.

Sage Sankara was the exponent of the Advaitc wisdom. His Advaitic wisdom can be summed up in the following words:

Brahma Satyam Jagat Mithya,

Jeevo Brahmaiva Na Aparah

Brahman alone is real, this world is unreal; the Jiva is identical with Brahman.

Sage Sankara: ~ Just as the snake is superimposed on the rope, this world and this body are superimposed on Brahman or the Soul the innermost Self. If one gets knowledge of the rope, the illusion of the snake will vanish. Even so, if he gets knowledge of Brahman, the illusion of the body and the world will vanish.

The snake is only an idea: it disappears on inquiry but deeper Self-search reveals the fact that the rope is also an idea and its reality will be exposed when wisdom dawns. There is neither a snake nor a rope in reality because from the ultimate standpoint the duality is merely an illusion created out of consciousness.

Sage Sankara’s Supreme Brahman is impersonal, Nirguna (without Gunas or attributes), Nirakara (formless), Nirvisesha (without special characteristics), immutable, eternal, and Akarta (non-agent). It is above all needs and desires. It is always the Witnessing Subject. It can never become an object as it is beyond the reach of the senses. Brahman is non-dual, one without a second. It has no other besides it. It is destitute of difference, either external or internal. Brahman cannot be described because the description implies a distinction. Brahman cannot be distinguished from any other than It. In Brahman, there is not distinction between substance and attribute. Sat-Chit-Ananda constitutes the very essence or Svarupa of Brahman and not just Its attributes. The Nirguna Brahman of Sage Sankara is impersonal.: ~ Santthosh Kumaar

After this perfect understanding of assimilation and realization of the Self, nothing is required to do.

Awakening is nothing but a complete, perfect understanding and assimilation of what is what. A clear-cut understanding of a ‘what is what’ is awakening. The reality is not to be achieved; it is there as it is.

After this perfect understanding of assimilation and realization of the Self, nothing is required to do.

And we expect "awakening" to be some great, mysterious happening! "Reality is not to be achieved; it is there” as it is, as unchangeable existence within the changeable illusion.

Kabir views humanity as being caught up in the illusion, searching for Ultimate Reality in all the wrong places, always seeking It outside of ourselves in various rituals, temples, forests, and mountaintops, not realizing That for which we seek is already hidden within us.

The ultimate truth or Brahman dwells within the three states like fragrance in the flower; Musk lies within the Musk-deer yet seeks it afar." Until one traces the truth within the three states the illusion of birth, life, death, and the world is experienced as a reality.

All is consciousness. The whole universe is consciousness. From consciousness, the universe comes. When the universe disappears, consciousness still remains without form, time, and space.

Sage Sankara: ~ “VC~ All this universe which through ignorance appears as of diverse forms, is nothing else but Brahman (Consciousness) which is absolutely free from all the limitations of human thought.

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

After verifying through deeper inquiry if one finds the world is a reality within the illusion then he cannot again say the world is not an illusion.

If one is frightened to accept the world is an illusion (waking) then he is unfit to acquire ‘Self’-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. Those who are stuck with the reality of the world are stuck with the reality of the individual experiences of birth, life, and death, which take place within the unreal world. Thus the pursuit of truth is for those who have the courage to accept reality as it is, that is the reality without form, time, and space.

When you finally realize the ‘‘Self’ ‘is not you but the ‘‘Self’’ is the Soul then you will realize the world in which you exist is merely an illusion created out of the Soul. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness.

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 non-Self.

Till you think you are an individual separate from the world and the world existed prior to you and you are born in it afterward ignorance will prevail as a reality. Till ignorance is there the universe prevails as reality.

Sage Sankara says: ~ “The exercise in discrimination between real and unreal and renunciation of the false is real meditation, then why you are indulging in other types of meditation.

Perfect understanding and realization of ‘what is what’ leads to Self-awareness.

Perfect understanding and realization of ‘what is what’ leads to Advaitic -awareness. By holding on to theories one remains in the realm of duality. One has to mentally go on dropping what is not the truth through deeper self-search. 

Finally, when one becomes aware of the fact that, his ego, his body, and the world are one in essence then there is Self-awareness in the midst of duality. 

Upanishads clearly declare:~

Katha Upanishad 1:2:23 The Soul cannot be realized through hearing scholarly explanations of the discourses, not even by the intellect.

Katha Upanishad 1:3:6 “Through the knowledge of the Soul, God, one is pure and clean constantly.” Neither by reading books nor by taking a bath at holy places has one become pure. Inner purity is possible when one remains in constant touch with the Soul. Constant Soul-Consciousness is the real purity.

Kena Upanishad 2:4 When it is known through every state of cognition, it is rightly known, for (by such knowledge) one attains life eternal. Through one's own self one gains power and through wisdom, one gains immortality.

Kena Upanishad 2:5 If here one knows it, then there is truth, and if there one knows it not, there is a great loss. Hence, seeing the Real in all beings, wise men become immortal on departing from this world.

Mundaka Upanishad 1:2:8  “Remaining in the fold of ignorance and thinking “we are extremely wise and learned,” the fools with boastful nature ramble about like the blind led by the blind alone.”

Mundaka Upanishad 3:2:3  “The weak and timid cannot realize the Self. Self-Realization is not possible through intellect or hearing spiritual discourse. One who welcomes God in every activity, through a thorough controlled and disciplined life, to him also the Soul is revealed."

Mundaka Upanishad 3:2:3  The Soul cannot be realized by the weak and timid.  

That is why  Sage  Sankara says in Viveka Chudamani:~  56. Neither by Yoga, nor by Sankhya, nor by work, nor by learning, but by the realization of one's identity with Brahman is Liberation possible, and by no other means. 

58. Loud speech consisting of a shower of words, the skill in expounding the Scriptures, and likewise erudition - these merely bring on a little personal enjoyment to the scholar but are no good for Liberation.

59. The study of the Scriptures is useless so long as the highest Truth is unknown, and it is equally useless when the highest Truth has already been known.

60. The Scriptures consisting of many words are a dense forest that merely causes the mind to ramble. Hence men of wisdom should earnestly set about knowing the true nature of the Self.

61. For one who has been bitten by the serpent of Ignorance, the only remedy is the knowledge of Brahman. Of what avail are the Vedas and (other) Scriptures, Mantras (sacred formulae), and medicines to such a one?

62. A disease does not leave off if one simply utters the name of the medicine, without taking it; (similarly) without direct realization one cannot be liberated by the mere utterance of the word Brahman.

63. Without causing the objective universe to vanish and without knowing the truth of the Self, how is one to achieve Liberation by the mere utterance of the word Brahman? — It would result merely in an effort of speech.

64. Without killing one’s enemies, and possessing oneself of the splendor of the entire surrounding region, one cannot claim to be an emperor by merely saying, ‘I am an emperor’.

Until one knows the truth of his true existence, whatever he knows about god is based on blind belief. Gods based on blind belief is in not God in truth.:~Santthosh Kumaar