Swami Vivekananda aptly described Sage Sri, Sankara’s Advaita as the fairest flower of philosophy.+*****

Santthosh Kumaar

In a lecture on Vedanta, delivered at Lahore on the 12th November 1897, Swami, Vivekananda asserted the superiority of Advaita in the following way:~

The same God whom the ignorant man saw outside nature, the same whom the little-knowing man saw as interpenetrating the universe, and the same whom the sage realizes as his own Self, as the whole universe itself-all are One and the same Being, the same entity seen from different standpoints, seen through different glasses of Maya, I perceived by different minds, and all the difference was caused by that. Not only so, but one view must lead to the other... Thus, you can see that this~ (Advaita) and this alone, and none else, can be the only scientific religion. . . . let us take the ignorant by the hand, lead them always step by step just as they can go, and know that every step in religious growth in India has been progressive. The Complete Works, Vol. 3, pp. 423, 424. ~ Santthosh Kumaar

• Kamal Narayan Singh, Mahesh Hegade and Roshan Maraseni like this.
• 

  Mahesh Hegade: ~ Sri Swami Vivekananda says as below. Advaita encompasses everything. Since Advaita requires heavy-duty intellectualism, it had to be progressively simplified as Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita. From 'The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda'...
  
  

  In Advaitism, there is no Jivâtmâ; it is only a delusion. In Dvaitism, there is Jiva infinitely distinct from God. Both are true. One went to the fountain, another to the tank. Apparently, we are all Dvaitists as far as our consciousness goes. But beyond? Beyond that we are Adventists. In reality, this is the only truth. According to Advaitism, love every man as your own Self and not as your brother as in Christianity. Brotherhood should be superseded by universal Selfhood. Not universal brotherhood, but universal Selfhood is our motto. Advaitism may include also the "greatest happiness" theory. So'ham — I am He. Repeat the idea constantly, voluntarily at first; then it becomes automatic in practice. It percolates to the nerves. So this idea, by rote, by repetition, should be driven even into the nerves. Or, first begin with Dvaitism that is in your consciousness; second stage, Vishishtâdvaitism — "I in you, you in me, and all is God." This is the teaching of Christ. The highest Advaitism cannot be brought down to practical life. Advaitism made practical works from the plane of Vishishtadvaitism. Dvaitism — small circle different from the big circle, only connected by Bhakti; Vishishtadvaitism — a small circle within big circle, motion regulated by the big circle; Advaitism — small circle expands and coincides with the big circle. In Advaitism "I" loses itself in God. God is here, God is there, God is "I"
• 

  Mahesh Hegade:~  Good one Santthosh Kumaar, sir. Just adding additional commentary from Sri Swami Vivekananda.
• 

  Santthosh Kumaar:~  Lord Krishna confesses that the oldest wisdom of India (our true Advaita philosophy) has been lost: people misinterpret and falsify it today as they did then. It is not yogabut philosophic truth. But nobody knows it. The teachers of philosophy and leaders of mysticism or religion do not want to inquire into the truth and have no time for it. (Gita –Chap- IV-v.2)
  
  In Gita Chap.IV where Lord Krishna says: ~ "This yoga has been lost for ages" the word yoga refers to Gnana yoga, not other yogas: the force of the word this is to point this out.
  
  Lord Krishna describes some of the other yogas but devotes this chapter separately to Gnana Yoga. So one sees even in those ancient days people did not care for Advaita; they wanted religion; hence, Gnana got lost. That is why Krishna calls it "the supreme secret." Krishna points out that the yoga must-see "Brahman in action."
  
  Gita Chap.IV:~  "He who achieves perfection in Yoga finds the self in time." This means that after his yoga is finished, he begins the inquiry into ultimate truth and in due course this inquiry produces realization of the universal spirit as the result.
  
  Lord Krishna Says Ch.V:~ “Those who know me in truth.". The last two words (tattvataha) are usually ignored by pundits, but they make all the difference between the ordinary concept of God and the truth about God.
• 

  Santthosh Kumaar:~  The Bhagavad Gita says:- Among thousands of men, scarcely one strives for perfection, and of those who strive and succeed, scarcely one knows the self in truth.
  
  Dualist sages say God cannot exist without attributes. Then they are making God as an object whereas God is the subject. Attributes can only be seen in the objective world. Causality appears in the duality, but when one goes deeper into the matter even there the causality disappears.
  
  Who else but the self could have imagined the objective world? Ramanuja and Madva see God as the imaginer, but where is the proof. Nobody has seen God creating. You have seen no other creator, whether God or angel. The only self is left. Therefore, self is the creator because imagining means creating. The Dvaita and Religionists talk nonsense. Has God meaning to you? Yes. It is an idea. What is an idea? Idea is an imagination. So God has no proved existence beyond that of the idea.
  
  Where people cannot and do not think, they follow others. A Gnani will see the world and get to know it is the only appearance. He is not blind; he sees three states or objects as it is, but he knows it is only a falsehood. Just as you see a mirage, the Gnani sees the mirage of this universe too, but he is not deceived by it. So long as one is ignorant, he will have the idea that God has created this world because the causal notion will be there. Nobody wants to suffer, and while the notion that suffering can be got rid of by appealing to God, these wishes will sway the mind to believe in God. For them, religion will arise, but for the man who wants the truth, religion offers no consolation.
  
  Anybody can write a commentary on the Upanishads other scriptures and other scriptures, all they need to do to pour out with or mental word words. It is quite easy to do this even by those who have never understood the Upanishads and but think they have. Thus the dualists and their disciple have written commentaries on scriptures: But all these have written to satisfy themselves, not to get the ultimate truth or Brahman.

  
  Religion is regarded as sacred and real by the common people, by the wise as false and by the rulers as useful.
• 

  Santthosh Kumaar:~  Dearest Maheshji thank you for your input. Pranams.
• 

  Mahesh Hegade: ~ Thank you, sir, for such wonderful write-ups. Truly enlightening.
• 

  Santthosh Kumaar:~  Swami Vivekananda also said that it is unfortunate that most of the Indians don’t understand the depth of our culture and exhibit non-culture/non-religion in day to day life in the name of culture/religion.
  
  Swami Vivekananda aptly described Sage Sri, Sankara’s Advaita as the fairest flower of philosophy that any country in any age has produced.
  
  Swami Vivekananda:-"Teach yourself, teach everyone his real nature, call upon the sleeping soul and see how it awakes. Power will come, glory will come, goodness will come, purity will come, and everything that is excellent will come when this sleeping soul is roused to self-conscious activity.