The Advaitic and the dualists orthodoxy are the path of dogmatism.+

Advaitic pearls of Sage Sankara lead to Advaitic Awareness.

Without Sage Sankara, there is no Advaita (non-duality). Since it was mixed up with orthodoxy there is a lot of confusion. Sage Sankara’s quotes (selected verified) are quoted in my blogs and postings to show what Sage Sankara meant and ‘what is blocking the seekers 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.

There is no need to buy books of Sage Sankara to acquire self-knowledge. A perfect understanding of what is what' is needed. Nothing else is needed 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 nondualistic 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-dualistic wisdom.  That is why Buddha rejected the scriptures, and even Sage Sankara indicated that the ultimate truth lies beyond religion, the concept of God, and the scriptures.

Sage Sankara’s Advaita as the fairest flower that any country of any age has produced. Sage Sankara’s erudition is very impressive.  Sage Sankara was a Gnani and a practical visionary.

Sage Sankara some philosophers in the world are as misunderstood and misinterpreted Sage Sankara; and, most of the harm came from the orthodoxy. 

Sage Sankara, is the greatest Gnani of all time. This world owes him a deep debt of gratitude. He not only consolidated the classical values of life but also spiritual wisdom. Ironically, most of the harm came from his admirers and followers of the  Advaitic sect because they propagated rituals as a means to attain the lower knowledge which is meant for those who believed in the physical existence (universe or waking)  as reality. 

Sage Sankara emphasizes that the scriptures are not needed to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman, which is beyond form, time, and space. The soulcentric reason is the main aid in the path of wisdom.

That is why Sage Sankara says:~  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.

Sage Sankara set himself the priorities to quest for truth through Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

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.

Sage  Sankara clearly indicates in the  Viveka Chudamani (2) that the Knower of the Atman (A Gnani) "bears no outward mark of a holy man" (Stanza 539).

A Gnani wears no signs which means he does not identify himself as Guru or teacher or swami.  Thus, it is not necessary to become a sanyasi or a yogi, or a swami to acquire self-knowledge.

Sage Sankara page 482: On Gnani: "The knower of Brahman wears no signs. Gives up the insignia of a monk's life…his signs are not manifest, nor his behavior." 

When the knower of Brahman (Gnani) wears no signs it means he does not identify himself as a Guru or a yogi or teacher or Swami. 

Sage Sankara: ~ "Though I wear these robes of a Sanyasin, it is only for the sake of bread." Exploring if an outside observer can, in all cases, determine if a person is Enlightened or not, the venerated Indian Sanyasin, Sage Sankara (788-820), in his work The Crest Jewel of Discrimination (1)or as it is sometimes known, Viveka Chudamani (2), states that the Knower of the Atman (i.e., a Gnani) "bears no outward mark of a holy man" (Stanza 539).

Continuing, although there are variances found in the actual wording between various translators and translations the gist behind the words remains the same, Sage Sri, Sankara writes: - “Sometimes he appears to be a Fool, sometimes a wise man. Sometimes he seems splendid as a king, sometimes feeble-minded. Sometimes he is calm and silent. Sometimes he draws men to him. Sometimes people honor him greatly, sometimes they insult him. Sometimes they ignore him.

Sage Sankara exclaims:~  The soul is unattached, its pure awareness isn’t identified with any labels, it isn’t attached to anything it is not entangled with anything at all…’

Sage Sankara is the only sage who has final authority on the Advaitic truth. The Advaitic truth is rational truth and scientific truth without dogma.

The Advaitic orthodoxy is not the means to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.  The Advaitic orthodoxy is meant for the ignorant mass, which is unfit to grasp the highest truth.   Thus, the Advaitic orthodoxy is nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman.

Sage Sankara:~VC-  Let erudite scholars quote all the scripture, let Gods be invoked through sacrifices, let elaborate rituals be performed, let personal gods be propitiated---yet, without the realization of one‘s identity with the Self, there shall be no liberation for the individual, not even in the lifetimes of a hundred Brahmas put together. (verses-6)

Actions help to purify the mind but they do not, by themselves, contribute to the attainment of Reality. The attainment of the Reality is brought about only by Self Inquiry and not in the least by even ten million acts. (11)

The fear and sorrow created by the delusory serpent in the rope can be ended only after fully ascertaining the truth of the rope through steady and balanced thinking. (12)

Neither sacred baths nor any amount of charity nor even Hundreds of pranayamas* can give us the knowledge about our own Self.  The firm experience of the nature of the Self is seen to proceed from inquiry along the lines of the salutary advice of the wise. (13)

Ultimate success in spiritual endeavors depends chiefly upon the qualifications of the seeker.  Auxiliary conveniences such as time And place all have a place indeed, but they are essentially secondary. (14)

He alone is considered qualified to enquire after the supreme Reality, who has discrimination, detachment, qualities of Calmness, etc., and a burning desire for liberation. The four-fold qualifications. (17)

The ultimate truth has to be ascertained without the scriptures, by realizing the self is neither the waking entity (you) nor the dream entity, but the Self is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. In the realm of truth the form, time, and space are created out of single stuff. That single stuff is consciousness. 

Realizing the single stuff as the ultimate truth is self-realization or truth realization. To realize this truth, there is no need for the scriptures. This I am highlighting again and again in my blogs. 

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 description implies a distinction. Brahman cannot be distinguished from any other than It. In Brahman, there is not a 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.

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

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 ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices, and the more advanced seeker who seeks to know Brahman. 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. However, the Vedanta, with its emphasis on the jnana kanda, is meant for those who wish to go beyond such transient pleasures

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 Sankara:~ (11) As regards the rituals, Sage Sankara says, the person who performs rituals and aspires for rewards will view himself in terms of the caste into which he is born, his age, and the stage of his life, his standing in society, etc. In addition, he is required to perform rituals all through his life. However, the 'Self' has none of those attributes or tags. Hence, the person who superimposes all those attributes on the changeless, eternal Self and identifies Self with the body is confusing one for the other, and is, therefore, an ignorant person. The scriptures dealing with rituals, rewards, etc. are therefore addressed to an ignorant person. -Adhyasa Bhashya 

Sage Sankara:~ (11.1) This ignorance (mistaking the body for Self) brings in its wake a desire for the well-being of the body, aversion for its disease or discomfort, fear of its destruction, and thus a host of miseries(anartha). This anartha is caused by projecting karthvya(“doer” sense) and bhokthavya (object) on the Atman. Sankara calls this adhyasa. The scriptures dealing with rituals, rewards, etc. are, therefore, he says, addressed to an ignorant person.-Adhyasa Bhashya 

Sage Sankara:~ (11.2) In short, a person who engages in rituals with the notion “I am an agent, doer, thinker”, according to Sage Sankara, is ignorant, as his behavior implies a distinct, separate doer/agent/knower; and an object that is to be done/achieved/known. That duality is avidya, an error that can be removed by Vidya.-Adhyasa Bhashya 

Sage Sankara: ~ (12) Sage Sankara affirming his belief in one eternal unchanging reality (Brahman) and the illusion of plurality, drives home the point that Upanishads deal not with rituals but with the knowledge of the Absolute (Brahma Vidya) and the Upanishads give us an insight into the essential nature of the Self which is identical with the Absolute, the Brahman.-Adhyasa Bhashya 

Sage Sankara: ~ Atman, the innermost self is verily Brahman (God), being equanimous, quiescent, and by nature absolute Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss. Atman is not the body that is non-existence itself. This is called true Knowledge by the wise. 

Sage Sankara: ~VC~ if the universe is true, let it then be perceived in the state of deep sleep also. As it is not at all perceived, it must be unreal and false like dreams.  

Sage Sankara says: ~ one must first know what is before him. If he cannot know that, what else can he know or understand? If he gives up the external world in his inquiry, he cannot get the whole truth.

VC~ 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. 

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.  Sage 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. 

That is why Sage Sankara says: ~ VC~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.

Thus, one has to know what is real by realizing our body and our experience of the world is merely an illusion created out of the soul or consciousness. The Soul is the Self.  The nature of the Soul, the Self is emptiness. And it is identified by different masters with different names, such as God or Brahman or Consciousness or Self or Ultimate Truth.

The orthodoxy is egocentric; therefore, it is based on the experience of birth, life, death, and the world, whereas Sage Sankara declared the world is an illusion. Brahman alone is real. If the Brahman is taken as a rule, then the experience of birth, life, death, and the world automatically becomes an illusion. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar