Mastering Vedas, Upanishads, Sanskrit language, does not a qualifies one to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.+

Manduka Upanishad has no assumptions whatever. It is an honest and bold inquiry into truth. It rises above scripture. 

Sage Sankara clearly says:~ Neither studying philosophy nor by mastering the scriptures liberation comes without realizing the Oneness.

Ashtavakra:~There is no wisdom whatsoever in the scriptures-just a collection of words.

I only highlighted scriptural insights which point to the ultimate reality. what is not helpful in the pursuit of truth has to be discarded. 

 

The seeker should not bother about finding the meaning of what is written in the scriptures.

Do not indulge in arguing from your own standpoint holding your accumulated knowledge as a yardstick that is pointless. 

Instead, read, reason, and reflect on the subject, which is the Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara to get rid of ignorance.

Remember:~

Many people believe by accumulating mastering the knowledge from Vedas,  Upanishads, and other scriptures and mastering Sanskrit language makes one a Gnani. 

The one who is sharp enough can grasp the Advaitic or non-dualistic truth. The seeker must have an intense urge to know the truth One need not have to be born in any particular caste or creed to acquire Self’-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

One need not have a university degree to acquire Self -knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnan, Only strong willpower is needed. The ignorance will be gone eventually and you realize that the Self is always the pure infinite Soul or God without beginning, without end and immortal.

The scholars who mastered the knowledge from the Vedas the Upanishads and the other scriptures and mastered the Sanskrit language looked upon other people as ignorant, as illiterate people who have no knowledge of Vedas,  the Upanishads, and the other scriptures and does not know the  Sanskrit language.

Mastering the Vedas the Upanishads and the other scriptures and mastering the Sanskrit language does not a qualifies one to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

These religious scholars immersed in ignorance in various ways, flatter themselves, saying: We have accomplished life's mission. Because these performers of karma do not the Advaitic Gnana owing to their accumulated knowledge, they will never be able to cross the ocean of dualistic illusion.

Sage Sankara says ~   “VC~ 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.

Dattatreya's Song of the Avadhut 1.36-42:~ “Non-duality is taught by some; some others teach duality. They don't understand that the all-pervading Reality is beyond both duality and non-duality.

Mundaka Upanishad:~   “ The Para or Higher knowledge is the knowledge of the Supreme Being while the Apara or Lower Knowledge is that of following sacrificial rites and ceremonies. (1/2/ 1 – 6)

A Gnani may be illiterate in the dualistic world, a scholar as literaand, as a well-educated person is a dualistic world. But of what value is the scholar’s knowledge is limited to the form, time, and space but a Gnani’s even if he is illiterate his knowledge beyond the form, time, and space.

Sage Sankara: ~ 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 wears no signs ~ it means he does not identify himself as a Guru or a teacher or yogi. 

A scholar will go on and on about the immortality of the Soul but when death approaches he will be trembling and weeping and wailing. Scholars, interpretations of sacred texts, the force of religious merit--none of these lead to the realization of that Ultimate Truth or Brahman.   Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is the knowledge of the immortal Soul, the one and only ‘Self’ of all that exists as an illusion.  

All this talk of immortality will crumble into nothingness because he has not known the knowledge of the Soul, which is immortal.    

Remember:~

A Gnani knows what he is talking about is not an explanation, what he is talking about is the realization of the truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space.

 A Gnani shares his joy by sharing his wisdom; he is singing the song about the unsung truth.  Remember whenever a Gnani speaks about God it is not a belief; he knows it, it is his realization. He is talking out of his realization; hence he can be of immense help to the whole of humanity.

A Gnani always sees the world in which he exists as the Soul without any division of form, time, and space.  And a Gnani watches his own actions as if they were another's.  he is never puffed up by the praise or disturbed by blame.  

As for Gnani, his individuality is dead. It is merged in the Soul like waves in the ocean A Gnani living in freedom and has gone beyond the dualities of life.  

A Gnani is not competing with anyone, he is alike in success and failure and is content with whatever comes to him.  He is e free, without Selfish attachments; his attention is fixed in the awareness of the Soul.  A Gnani performs all practical duties of the practical world like others and he helps other seekers to get rid of the ignorance of their true existence.:~Santthosh Kumaar