Self-awareness is freedom or Moksha.+

The intellectual is egocentric. The egocentric is always ignorant of the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.  Intellectual argument is egocentric. He thinks what he knows is the truth.  He always indulges in the pursuit of an argument.  

The intellectuality is nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman. An intellectual accumulates knowledge and tries to show his intellectual wealth. Such intellectual sharing of knowledge is mere garbage. It is nothing to do with the Advaitic truth; intellectual wealth will not yield any truth.

A religious believer is ignorant of the truth, which is beyond the three states.   The religious believer is sentimentalized to his belief system.   He just tries to prove that he is correct and others are wrong because he presumes he already knows and wants to see whether others know or not.

A scriptural scholar because he has mastered scriptural knowledge he is a Gnani.  He provokes others to snub them.

All our discussions are within the domain of the duality. The duality is a reality only in ignorance.  The universe, of course, is illusory, but there is consciousness, that exists, forming the very substratum of all things (illusion or universe).

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)

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 ultimate truth is Self-realization or truth realization. To realize this truth, there is no need for scriptures. This I am highlighting again and again in my blogs. 

There is no use of scriptural knowledge when it is not of any use in the pursuit of truth. 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 in order to acquire the Advaitic 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.

There is only one Reality to be known, the same for all seekers, but the ways to it, are hidden by the religion.  Self-discovery is the only way, towards the non-dualistic or Advaitic truth without any religious doctrines, which will help the seekers to unfold the mystery of the illusion in which we all are searching for the truth of our true existence.

Scriptures deal only with the Objects, the Seen, not with the Seer. If one starts with the idea that Samsara (universe) exists, he can never see Atman because Samsara is an illusion and only ignorant people read it as a reality.

Hence, Sage Sankara: ~VC- V.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.

Sage Sankara himself says: ~ VC ~ 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’.

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.

There is a need for the scriptures, religion, and religious ideas of God.  One has to be more rational to realize the Advaitic truth, which is the ultimate truth or scientific truth. Thus, the seeker has to drop all the accumulated knowledge and start afresh. 

Realizing the universe is created out of single stuff and that single stuff is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness leads to non-dualistic or Advaitic Self-awareness. Self-awareness is freedom or Moksha. Moksha is unity in diversity in the midst of dualistic illusion (Maya). :~Santthosh Kumaar