The path of wisdom is not for those who have the firm conviction about religion, yoga, and theories as the only means to higher truth.+

Sage Sankara’s wisdom is not teaching or philosophy but Advaita is the universal wisdom. Advaitic wisdom is neither a teaching nor a theory but it is mere guidance to those who are seriously seeking the ultimate truth or Brahman. Grasp the ultimate truth anytime, any age, if the seeker has the spiritual maturity and capacity to grasp it. 

Advaitic wisdom is pure spirituality. Advaitic wisdom is nothing to do with religion and yoga.

This universe is nothing but Atman (Soul) because it is created out of Atman. Atman is present in the form of consciousness. Consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman. Thus the Atman, the innermost self is Brahman. The Atman the Self by knowing its formless non-dual true nature becomes free from experiencing the illusory duality as reality.

Rig Veda: ~ The Atman (Soul) is the cause; Atman is the support of all that exists in this universe.

Bhagavad Gita: 7: 19:~ Everything is Atman, there exists nothing except Atman.”

All is consciousness. The whole universe is consciousness. From consciousness, the universe comes. When the universe disappears,  consciousness still remains without form, time, and space.

The one who awakened to the knowledge of the 'Self' becomes Brahma Gnani. A Gnani by realizing the ultimate truth or Brahman knows that all three states are merely an illusion created out of consciousness. 

Whoever realizes the ultimate truth or Brahman knows that the three states and the formless witness of the three states are one in essence. If a man worships God as a separate entity is ignorant.  If one is thinking God is one and the ‘Self’ another, he has not the true knowledge.

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.

Sage Sankara says in the commentary on the 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 detrimental to our spiritual progress.

Seeker of truth should not believe blindly in Orthodox Advaita without verifying all the facts from every angle. One has to reflect through reasoning over and over again without getting tired of the process.

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

The universe is the product of ignorance. The ignorance is present in the form of the ‘I’.

Sage Sankara says:~ VC-47- All the effects of ignorance, root, and branch, are burnt down by the fire of knowledge, which arises from discrimination between these two—the Self and the non-Self.

Until you think you are an individual separate from the world and the world that existed prior to you and you are born in it afterward the ignorance will prevail as a reality. Till ignorance is there the universe prevails as reality.

Sage Sankara says: ~ “The exercise in discrimination between real and unreal and renunciation of the false is real meditation, then why you are indulging in other types of meditation.

Perfect understanding and realization of ‘what is what’ leads to Self-awareness. By holding on to theories one remains in the realm of duality. You have to mentally go on dropping what is not the truth through deeper Self-search. Finally when you become aware of the fact that, your ego, your body, and the world are one in essence then there is Self-awareness in the midst of duality. 

 People believe that teacher or mystics or priest has got so many followers and therefore there must be some truth in their teaching, which is a common fallacy accepted by the mass due to their inherited conditioning. It proves only an ignorant can find a number of greater ignorant to follow him.

The one who identifies himself as swami, guru, or yogi is not a Gnani. A Gnani never identifies himself as a swami, guru, pundit, or yogi. Swami, guru, pundit, or yogi belong to the religious and yogic path, not to the path of truth or wisdom.  

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.”

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

The seeker must examine everything under the mental microscope. It means he must bring notions and beliefs out of vagueness into clearness. The mystics claim superior knowledge but they cannot communicate it for purposes of verification. nothing has to be accepted without verification. 

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."

The path of wisdom is not for those who have a firm conviction about religion, yoga, and theories are the only means to higher truth, and what they know or believe is the ultimate truth.

In practical life, religion and yoga are needed.  Religion is the tool to give samskara or conditioning to the ignorant mass, -- to be, to believe, to behave, and to live in a cultured society with its code of conduct with the fear of God, but are of no value as proof.

Remember:~

Intellectuals think that the Ultimate truth cannot be known. They do not want o to discuss nor accept anything whatever they know and accepted as truth.  "What I know is right, what another man knows is wrong." This unfortunate vanity is common to all men and prevents realization. 

A man must begin by doubting his own knowledge, therefore. Only when doubts begin to arise does a man start in quest of Truth. And such doubts usually first take the shape of asking why God sends or permits epidemics, calamities and wars, and unrest. 

Quotations from others should come only after verification convinced by the use of reason based on facts, and then only may one introduce quotations to show that others have reached the same conclusion.

One must go to the very fundamentals, to the root of thinking, to "grasp the ultimate truth, which is beyond form, time and space.

How does one know what others say and quote is true?  When this question arises from within then the inner dialogue starts within and the truth will start revealing on its own.

When all the doubts are cleared within, that is the doubts on every question. However, ultimate understanding cannot be reached without having doubts and asking questions, and demanding proof from one’s own innermost self.

To overcome doubt by the sword of wisdom, it does not mean that the seeker should give up his doubt and believe, as the religionists and intellectuals interpret it, but that he should keep on thinking about his doubts until they are solved; that he should not stop until this point is reached.:~Santthosh Kumaar