There is no need to take sanyasa or become and monk or yogi in order to acquire Self-knowledge of Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.+

There is no need to take sanyasa or become and monk or yogi in order to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

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 Guru or a yogi or teacher or Swami. 

If someone has acquired Self-knowledge and shares his acquired knowledge with others, they cannot say that there is nothing for them to do. Everyone has to discover afresh for himself by verifying all the facts. Each one has to grasp assimilate and realize it until he gets a firm conviction of the ultimate truth or Brahman.

The mind appears due to ignorance. Without ignorance, the mind (I) ceases to exist.  Thus, the mind is in the form of the universe and appears as waking or dream.  The waking or dream is a state of duality. 

Thus, the seeker has to hold wherever there is duality there is ignorance.  If duality is considered as reality then the experience of birth, life, death, and the world is considered as reality.  If experience birth, life, death, and the world are considered as a reality then the form, time, and space become a reality. If form, time, and space become reality as reality, then there is diversity in unity.  To bring back the unity in diversity, one has to put the ego into reverse gear until he reaches the ultimate end or source from where the mind rises and subsides.      

Sage Sankara: ~"That which permeates all, which nothing transcends and which, like the universal space around us, fills everything completely from within and without, that Supreme non-dual Brahman — that thou art."

Sage Sankara, is one of the greatest thinkers 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. Unfortunately, few philosophers in the world are as misunderstood and misinterpreted as Sage Sankara. Ironically, most of the harm came from his admirers and followers of the Advaitic sect because they propagated rituals as a means to attain lower knowledge which is meant for those who believed in the physical existence (universe or waking)  as reality. 

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 most advanced seeker who seeks to know the ultimate truth or Brahman.  The Guru and Guru Paramparas are meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. However, there is no need to follow any parampara and follow any Guru those who wish to realize the truth which is beyond the form, time, and space. We should not mix religion with spirituality because religion is based on the ego and spirituality is based on the Soul.   Religion is concerned with its paramparas, not truth whereas spirituality is concerned only with the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space. Religion is not spirituality.

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

Upanishads: ~ Fools dwelling in darkness, but thinking they wise and erudite, go round and round, by various tortuous paths, like the blind led by the blind. (Upanishads Nikilanada - Ch II-5 P-14)

No one can teach anybody. The wisdom is hidden within the world in which you exist.  A Gnani can only show the way that much is the work of a Gnani. A Gnani only guides the seekers to apply their own reason and realize the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space. When the seeker learns to view and judge and reason the three states on the base of the Soul, the truth will start unfolding on its own.     First, the seeker may find it difficult to use soulcentric reason but gradually it will become easy. :~Santthosh Kumaar