The one who identifies himself as a Swami, a Guru or a Yogi is not a Gnani.+

Sage Sankara: ~ The Knower of the Atman or the knower of Brahman is the Brahma Gnani.

A Gnani does not consider himself as wise and others are less wise. No one is wise or less wise in the pursuit of truth. The inner revolution starts within and ends within. Gnani is neither a scriptural scholar nor he is a philosopher. A  Gnani is neither a teacher nor he has any teaching.  He silently works and helps his fellow seekers inspiring them and guiding them towards inner reality in his own way.

The scholar will remain as scholars and philosophers will remain as philosophers and intellectual remains as intellectuals arguing their point of view. A  Gnani never propagates any philosophy because philosophy is nothing to do with the pursuit of truth but he points out, the obstacles, which is blocking everyone’s realization.   

Ashtavakra Samhita: ~ "The man of knowledge, though living like an ordinary man, is contrary to him and only those like him understand his state.

Sage Sankara's commentary:~  "The knower of Brahman (Self-realized or Gnani) wears no signs.  Page 489

Page 500 asks in effect "Tell us what you know, show it, and let us examine it under the mental microscope." It means we must bring notions and beliefs out of vagueness into clearness. It also criticizes the mystics who claim superior knowledge but who cannot communicate it for purposes of verification.

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

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

Sage Sankara: ~ The Knower of the Atman or the knower of Brahman is the Brahma Gnani.

When the knower of Brahman (Gnani) wears no signs it means he does not identify himself as Guru or yogi or teacher or Swami because a Gnani sees the form, the time and space are one in essence. Thus, there is unity in diversity in his realization.

The one who identifies himself as a Swami, Guru, or Yogi is not a Gnani. A Gnani never identifies himself as a Swami or a Guru, Pundit or Yogi.  The Swami or Guru or Pundit or Yogi belongs to the religious and the yogic path,  not to the path of Wisdom.  

Sage Sankara:~  “Sometimes he (a Gnani)  appears to be a Fool, sometimes a wise man. Sometimes he seems splendid as a king, 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.

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. None 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 for this diverse world. Duality is an appearance and the non-dual Atman is the real truth.

The Gnani is not a sanyasi or a Guru or Swami or Sadhu or monk.  Gnani does not belong to any ashrams."  Both Gnani and the ignorant see the multiplicity, but Gnani does not take the differences, which he sees as being real. That is the difference between them. 

The Gnani sees the unity behind the differences within the realm of form, time, and space by knowing that form, time and space are one,  in essence.  A true Gnani can never renounce anything. It is impossible. He has only renounced the idea of a separation of form, time, and space.

A person who realized the ultimate truth or Brahman will throw off his religious robe and his religious identity and becomes an Avadhuta, and live as he wishes.:~Santthosh Kumaar