There is no need to condemn Gurus, but there is need highlight how they become an obstacle in realizing the ultimate truth or Brahman.+

The Saints and Gurus belong to the religion and yogic path it is nothing to with the Gnanic path. Saints and Gurus were meant for the welfare of the society to maintain love, harmony, and guidance to the ignorant populace.     

Most of the Saints and Gurus of the past are mostly social reformers, thus they are more concerned with the humanism rather than the truth. Their contribution is very valuable to the populace within the practical world.  Thus, humanism is part and parcel of the universe, which is an illusion from the Advaitic perspective.  

Many Gurus glorified the ‘I’ in the past. People got emotionally stuck with their Gurus worshipping them as Gods and got entangled with studying the life and happenings of their Guru when their Gurus were alive. They forgot their main goal of discovering the truth of their true existence.  This following Gurudom trend is still continuing.

Yoga Vasistha says: ~ Self-knowledge or knowledge of truth is not had by resorting to a Guru (preceptor) nor by the study of scripture, nor by good works: it is attained only by means of inquiry inspired by the company of wise (Gnani). One’s inner light alone is the means, naught else. When this inner light is kept alive, it is not affected by the darkness of inertia. 

There is no need to condemn Gurus, but there is a need to highlight how they become an obstacle in realizing the ultimate truth or Brahman.

Swami Vivekananda said: ~   “You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher, but your own Soul.”

The Guru is useless so long as the ultimate truth is unknown, and Guru is equally useless when the ultimate truth or Brahman has already been known.

A Guru is needed in the religious and the yogic path.  There is no need for a Guru to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

There are 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 the truth beyond the form, time, and space. The Gurudom is meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. The Atmic path is meant for those who wish to go beyond the domain of the form, time,  and space  

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. 

The Atmic path is straight. One travels from the ignorance to wisdom by perfect understanding of ‘what is what’. 

The search for the truth of our true existence ends in the discovery of the Soul, the innermost ‘Self’.   When the form, time, and space are created out of single stuff then there is no division in consciousness.  The Soul is the fullness of consciousness without the division of the form, time,  and space.

It is erroneous to identify the Soul, the innermost Self as 'I' or 'I AM' because the Soul, the Self is not 'I' or I AM’. The Soul, the  ‘Self’  is that witness of the 'I'.

The ‘I’ is not the expression of the fullness of consciousness.

 The ‘I’ is the cause of the division within consciousness.

The ‘I’ is ignorance.

The ‘I’ is the cause of experiencing the dualistic illusion as a reality.

The ‘I’ is the cause of the experience of birth death and the world.

The ‘I’ is the cause of the form, time, and space.

The ‘I’ is the cause of the universe.

The ‘I’ is the cause of the three states.

The ‘I’ is the cause of the mind.

Remember:~ 

Without The ‘I’ is the fullness of consciousness.

 Without The ‘I’ there is no division within consciousness.

Without the ‘I’ there is no ignorance.

Without the ‘I’ there is no dualistic illusion.

Without the ‘I’ there is no experience of the birth death and the world.

Without the ‘I’ is there is no form, time, and space.

Without The ‘I’ there is no universe.

Without the ‘I’ there are no three states.

The ‘I’ is the cause of the mind.

People try all kinds of paths and practices in order to get ‘Self’-realization. Realizing the ‘‘Self’ ‘is not you but the ‘Self’ is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness is ‘Self’-realization'. Consciousness is the cause of the world in which you exist and it itself is uncaused.

Consciousness is pure, flawless and full, beyond the form, time, and space. Consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman. Consciousness is beyond all limitations of form, time, and space. :~Santthosh Kumaar