In the past the Gurus and the scriptural interpreters used the word ‘I’ to the ‘Self’ without knowing what is this ‘I’ supposed to be in actuality.+

In the past the Gurus and the scriptural interpreters used the word ‘I’ to the ‘Self’ without knowing what is this ‘I’ supposed to be in actuality.

Deeper Self-search reveals the fact that the ‘Self’ is not the ‘I’  but the  ‘Self’ is the witness of the ‘I’, which appears as waking or dream (duality) and disappears as deep sleep (nonduality).

The witness of the ‘I’ is the Soul. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness is real and eternal.

WHO AM ‘I’ AND ‘I AM THAT’ is only for a lower stage where one gives up externally in order to expose the false nature of the form(ego), which is not the full truth.

To unfold the ‘Self’ hidden by the ‘I’ the seeker has to inquire into the nature of the ‘I’.

The ‘I’ appears as the universe.  Inquiring into nature the universe is higher.  

With the ‘WHO AM ‘I’? or ‘I AM THAT’- teaching is not the Advaitic wisdom of Sage  Sankara wisdom.  With the ‘WHO AM ‘I’? or ‘I AM THAT’-  the journey is incomplete.

Sage Sankara introduced WHO AM ‘I’? or ‘I AM THAT’ for the lower stages and it becomes inadequate and useless as the seeker advances in his quest for truth.  Some Gurus in the past introduced WHO AM ‘I’? or ‘I AM THAT’ –as their own teaching with their own cocktail of imagination.

Self-knowledge is the knowledge of the whole, not the part. Therefore the universe, which confronts one, has to be included in the inquiry to get the truth of the whole.  Thus, the ‘WHO AM ’I’ inquiry is helpful in unfolding the half-truth. 

Thus WHO AM ‘I’?- inquiry is helpful in the first stage, but the seeker has to go much beyond ‘WHO AM ’I’ ?.  The seeker has to do his homework to realize the truth of the whole.  

Advaitic truth is the ultimate truth.  Yogis, Mystics, and religious teachers do not accept the path of wisdom because it pries into the truth, the source, and the validity of the knowledge they claim. Therefore, it is the most difficult part of the study of Advaita.

Sage Sankara:~ “VC "As layers of clouds generated by the sun's rays cover the sun and alone appear(in the sky), so egoism generated by the Self, covers the reality of the Self and appears by itself."

Sage Sankara: ~ VC~ "All this universe which through ignorance appears as of diverse forms, is nothing else but Brahman which is absolutely free from all the limitations of human thought.

Sage Sankara said:~ Talk as much philosophy as you like, worship as many Gods as you please, observe ceremonies, and sing devotional hymns, but liberation will never come, even after a hundred aeons, without realizing the Oneness.

Sage Sankara says: ~ V.63 ~ "Without knowing and examining the external world, one can’t know Truth, as the idea that the external world exists, won't go. It can go only by an inquiry into the nature of the external world.

The universe in which we exist is non-existent without the ‘I’. The universe in which we exist will not remain as reality when wisdom dawns. 

The universe is a mere mirage created out of consciousness and there is a conscious awareness of unity in diversity because there is no second thing that exists other than consciousness.

That is why Sage Sankara said: ~ “Without causing the objective universe to vanish and without knowing the truth of the ‘Self’, how is one to achieve Liberation.

Lord Krishna confesses that the oldest wisdom of India (Advaitic wisdom) has been lost: people misinterpret and falsify it today as they did then. It is not yoga but the philosophic truth. But nobody knows it. The teachers of philosophy and leaders of mysticism or religion do not want to inquire into truth and have no time for it. (Gita –Chap- IV-v.2)

There is no need to criticize these Gurus and their ‘I’-centric teachings but it is necessary to expose their falsity to correct past errors.

Mundaka Upanishad 1.3:~ ‘Complete knowledge includes knowledge of the phenomenal world, the spirit behind it, and the source of both of them.  When the cause of all causes becomes known, then everything knowable becomes known, and nothing remains unknown.”

It is erroneous to identify the Soul, the 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'.

That is Why Sage Sankara says in the commentary in Vedanta-sutra that what is accepted without a proper inquiry will not lead a person to the final goal. On the contrary, such acceptance will result only in evil, in something which is detrimental to our spiritual progress.  

Seeker of truth should not believe blindly any Gurus teaching without verifying all the facts from every angle. One has to reflect through reasoning over and over again without getting tired of the process.:~ Santthosh Kumaar