Sage Sankara clearly indicated that: - Yoga, intellectualism, scriptural mastery is not the means to Self-knowledge.+

Many people pretend they are Self-realized just by being orthodox one cannot get liberation.  Because yogi practices Samadhi he will not get liberated. Everyone has their own idea of liberation.

The most important thing is that neither society nor politics nor any religion has anything to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman. Self –Knowledge helps the seeker transcend emotion, transcending form, time, and space. Perhaps this is why the pursuit of truth, has not had much impact. 

There is no wisdom whatsoever in this. Scriptures are just a collection of words. Thus, wisdom is not found in scriptures. Wisdom is within oneself. The truth is not found in words.  Truth is within oneself.

The scriptures are filled just with information. By accumulating information one cannot attain wisdom.  No matter how much one knows, wisdom is not attained. One can go on gathering more and more knowledge, learn the scriptures by heart, become parrots, memorize each and every sutra or stanza, let the complete Vedas be imprinted in his memory -- but still, the wisdom will not dawn. 

People think that mastering scriptural knowledge is wisdom.  Pundits and religious gurus call scriptural knowledge as wisdom. Scriptural knowledge binds one instead thus it is not liberation.  Wisdom is that which liberates one from experiencing the duality as reality.

That is why 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 says: - VC- 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’.

65. As a treasure hidden underground requires (for its extraction) competent instruction, excavation, the removal of stones and other such things lying above it and (finally) grasping, but never comes out by being (merely) called out by name, so the transparent Truth of the self, which is hidden by Maya and its effects, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, followed by reflection, meditation and so forth, but not through perverted arguments.

66. Therefore, the wise should, as in the case of disease and the like, personally strive by all the means in their power to be free from the bondage of repeated births and deaths.

Sage Sankara clearly indicated that: - Yoga, intellectualism, scriptural mastery is not the means to self-knowledge.  But by the realization of one's identity with consciousness, which is the ultimate truth or Brahman, freedom from experiencing the illusion as reality is possible, and by no other means. 

It is not necessary to study the Vedas or at least the Prastnatraya [the Bhagavad Gita, Dasoponishad, and Brahma Sutras to ensure firm realization.  Atmaic ’s path is independent nothing to with the religion and scriptures.

Sage Sankara founded his Advaita Vedanta either on reason independent of Sruti or on Sruti confirmed by reason." Sage Sankara's commentary on the Mandukya Upanishad, II, 1:  This [the unreality of duality] is borne out by the Srutis ... But it is possible also to show the unreality of the object world even from pure reasoning, and this second chapter is undertaken for that purpose.

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 Sri, Sankara, in debates with Buddhists and others who did not recognize the authority of the Vedas, had been obliged to prove the truth of Advaita through reason alone.  Mundaka Upanishad is a scripture that appealed to reason to the exclusion of Revelation. :

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 Mandukya, he gave the highest non-dual 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. 

The entire philosophy of Sage Sankara can be summed up in the following statement:-

Brahma Satyam, jaganmithya, jivobrahmaivanaparah: - Brahman alone is real; the world is non-real, and the individual Self is essentially not different from Brahman.

This is the quintessence of Sage  Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom: ~ Santthosh Kumaar