The Sages of truth are not religious Gurus or Saints.+

The look of an object will depend upon the medium through which the observer views it. In fact, our mental and intellectual conditions determine the three states, observed and experienced.  The commoner viewing the three states will see differently from a Gnani viewing the same three states. Each one interprets the three states that they see in terms of their existing knowledge. The commoner sees everything based on the ego, therefore, he experiences the birth, life, karma,  death, and the world as a reality, whereas a Gnani sees everything as the consciousness and he is fully aware of the fact that, there is no second thing exists other than the Soul or consciousness. 

Thus, all the egocentric (religious) adulteration has to be bifurcated to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman to know the truth propagated by the ancient sages of the truth. The sages of truth are not religious Gurus or saints.     

There is no need to follow anyone.  There is no need to follow any path.  The ultimate truth or Brahman is nothing to do with religions, philosophies,  some Guru's teachings.

The religious teachers, gurus, yogis are nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman. They are merely propagators of their religious beliefs and theories.  Therefore, they cannot help in the quest of the Self.

Remember:~

Religion teaches one to look outside the Soul, the Self and promises a heaven and a reward outside the Soul, the innermost Self, is not the means to Self-realization.

Perfect understanding and realization of ‘what is what’, leads to non-dualistic or Advaitic Self-awareness.

Sentimentally and emotionally getting involved with some teachings or teachers is a great hindrance in the pursuit of truth. People hold their guru as the ultimate authority and drop their pursuit of truth and indulge in glorifying and worshiping the gurus, which keeps them permanently in ignorance.

For Gnani the world is an illusion. Viewed from the absolute, there's neither birth nor life nor death, neither the appearance nor the disappearance, neither the production nor the destruction, neither the bondage nor the liberation. There's none who neither seeks for freedom nor is there any who is liberated - this is the highest truth. 

A Gnani knows that there's neither unity nor plurality - the world is neither one nor many. Just as a piece of rope is mistaken for a snake, the Atman is mistaken as this diverse world. Duality is an appearance and the non-dual Atman is the real truth. 

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 of this idea of divine causality, and can, therefore, dispense with Sruti and arrive at the truth of Non-Dualism by pure reason.

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.  Advaitic orthodoxy is meant for the ignorant mass that is unfit to grasp the highest truth.   Thus, the Advaitic orthodoxy is nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman. 

Sage Sankara disagrees with Buddhists who say, there is nothing - a nonentity. Sage Sri, Sankara believes there is some reality, even though things are not what they appear to be. If one knows the truth, he will know what to do to find inspiration for action.  The seeker of truth‘s subject is to know what is it that is Real.

Buddhism says:~ all things are illusory and nothing exists.  However, Advaita avers that it is not so.  It says that the universe, of course, is illusory, but there is Brahman (consciousness), that exists, forming the very substratum of all things (illusion or universe).

The ignorant are always egocentric. He thinks what he knows is the truth.  He always indulges in pursuit of an argument.  The ignorant is sentimentalized to his belief system.  An ignorant person just to prove that he is correct and others are wrong because the ignorant presumes he already knows and wants to see whether others know or not. 

The ignorant person provokes others to snub them. Ignorant accumulates knowledge and tries to show his intellectual wealth. Such intellectual sharing of knowledge is mere garbage. It is of no use in pursuit of truth. Because they are egocentric based on ignorance thus they will not yield any truth.:~Santthosh Kumaar