Brahman means the ultimate reality or ultimate truth.+

The word Brahman or Sat has no proper equivalent in English. The nearest is the ultimate reality or the ultimate truth. The intellectuals however apply reality to individual objects or to the multiplicity of them all, whereas Advaitins apply it to the non-duality. Brahman is called "That" because it is something not known yet by the seeker.

The word Brahman means ultimate truth or reality which cannot be indicated by any word.

Brahman can be expressed through silence because it is beyond the experience of form, time, and space. Therefore, the word Brahman clearly stands for the essence of the three states, which is consciousness.

Rig Veda: ~ 'Prajnanam Brahma'- Consciousness is the ultimate reality or Brahman or God in truth.

God in truth is the Atman, the Self. Atman is present in the form of consciousness.

Do not accept any other God other than Atman not worship other than Atman.

Let these words be inscribed in your subconscious.

Nothing is real but God. Nothing Matters but love for God in truth. God in truth is everywhere and in everything.

God in truth is hidden by the illusory universe. God in truth alone is and all else is an illusion.

Reality has its source in Brahman. Reality has its grounding sustenance in Brahman. It is in Brahman that all reality has its ultimate repose. Vedas specifically, are consciously and exclusively aimed toward this reality termed Brahman.

In the 'Taittariya Upanishad' II.1:~ Brahman is described in the following manner: "Satyam jnanam anantam brahma", "Brahman is of the nature of truth, knowledge, and infinity." Infinite positive qualities and states have their existence secured solely by virtue of Brahman is the very reality. Brahman is a necessary reality, eternal (i.e., beyond the purview of temporality), fully independent, non-contingent, and the source and ground of all things. Brahman is both immanently present in the realm of materiality, interpenetrating the whole of reality as the sustaining essence that gives it structure, meaning, and existential being, yet Brahman is simultaneously the transcendent origin of all things (thus, panentheistic).

Advaitic Gnana is given neither from outside nor from any Guru. It can be realized by each and every one. The Gnana Guru of everyone is only the Soul, the  Self that is always revealing when the seeker is ready and receptive. 

Swami Vivekananda: ~ If religion and life depend upon books or upon the existence of any prophet whatsoever, then perish all religion and books! Religion is in us. No books or teachers can do more than help us to find it, and even without them, we can get all the truth within. You have gratitude for books and teachers without bondage to them, and worship your Guru as God, but do not obey him blindly; love him all you will, but think for yourself. No blind belief can save you, work out your own salvation. Have only one idea of God - that He is an eternal help. 

Yoga Vasistha:~ "Teachers, interpretations of sacred texts, the force of religious merit--none of these lead to the realization of that Ultimate Truth which is revealed in the clear reflection of the heart, engendered from contact with the good."

Sage Sankara says: ~ Aparoksh Anubhuti: ~ A. A 5~ Atman (the seer) in itself is alone permanent, the seen is opposed to it (ie., transient) – such a settled conviction is truly known as discrimination.

A.A  19. Atman is all consciousness and holy, the body is all flesh and impure; and yet, etc.,

A.A 45. There exists no other material cause of this phenomenal universe except Brahman. Hence this whole universe is but Brahman and nothing else.

A.A 46. From such declaration (of the Shruti) as “All this is Atman”, it follows that the idea of the pervaded and the pervading is illusory. This supreme truth being realized, where is the room for any distinction between the cause and the effect?

A.A 47. Certainly, the Shruti has directly denied manifoldness in Brahman. The non-dual cause being an established fact, how could the phenomenal universe be different from It?

A.A 48. Moreover, the Shruti has condemned (the belief in variety) in the words, “The person who”, being deceived by Maya, “sees variety in this (Brahman), goes from death to death”.

A.A 49. Inasmuch as all beings are born of Brahman, the supreme Atman, they must be understood to be verily Brahman.

A.A 50. The Shruti has clearly declared that Brahman alone is the substratum of all varieties of names, forms, and actions.

A.A 51. Just as a thing made of gold ever has the nature of gold, so also a being born of Brahman has always the nature of Brahman.

A.A 53. When duality appears through ignorance, one sees another; but when everything becomes identified with the Atman, one does not perceive another even in the least.

A.A 54. In that state when one realizes all as identified with the Atman, there arises neither delusion nor sorrow, as a consequence of the absence of duality.

A.A 55. The Shruti in the form of the Brihadaranyaka has declared that this Atman, which is the Self of all, is verily Brahman.

A.A 56. This world, though an object of our daily experience and serving all practical purposes, is, like the dream world, of the nature of non-existence, inasmuch as it is contradicted the next moment.

A.A 57. The dream (experience) is unreal in waking, whereas the waking (experience) is absent in the dream. Both, however, are non-existent in deep sleep which, again, is not experienced in either.

A.A 58. Thus, all the three states are unreal inasmuch as they are the creation of the three Gunas, but their witness (the reality behind them) is, beyond all Gunas, eternal, one, and is Consciousness itself.

A.A 59. Just as (after the illusion has gone) one is no more deluded to see a jar in earth or silver in the nacre, so does one no more see Jiva in Brahman when the latter is realized (as one’s own self).

A.A 68. Atman, though ever pure (to a wise man), always appears to be impure (to an ignorant one), just as a rope always appears in two different ways to a knowing person and an ignorant one.

A.A. 87. Thus through ignorance arises in Atman the delusion of the body, which, again, through Self-realization, disappears in the supreme Atman.

A.A 88. When the whole universe, movable and immovable, is known to be Atman, and thus the existence of everything else is negated, where is then any room to say that the body is Atman?

A.A 96. The real nature of the rope being known, the appearance of the snake no longer persists; so the substratum being known, the phenomenal world disappears completely.

A.A 98. “And all the actions of a man perish when he realizes that (Atman) which is both the higher and the lower”. Here the clear use of the plural by the Shruti is to negate Prarabdha as well.

A.A 99. If the ignorant still arbitrarily maintain this, they will not only involve themselves in two absurdities but will also run the risk of forgoing the Vedantic conclusion. So one should accept those Shrutis alone from which proceeds true knowledge. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Puranic Gods are non-Vedic Gods. Worship of such Gods, are barred Vedas.+

If the Self is not you, then the religion you follow, the God in which you believe, and your practical life within the practical world have no value.   Religion is based on the false self (you) within the false experience (waking).  The religion and its idea of God and its code of conduct and its rituals have importance only in the domain of ignorance.

The paradise or heaven exists according to the imagination, of the religious believers.  But where people have got a little inquiring capacity, they begin to disbelieve through the contradictions of various contending religious claims and descriptions.

Religious scholars say God is a perfect being, but they have never known God, never proved his existence; hence, their ascription of the perfection of God is purely self-imagined.

Religion is so strong and popular because it makes no demand on the intelligent: It simply requires belief in the religious idea of God. Has it ever struck a religious believer to doubt whether his religion is true?  Religious believers never use their reason because they start and conclude that, their religion alone is true because they never question. If one says "his religion is higher" another will reply, "No, it is lower." It is impossible to get anywhere with such talk because both sides are merely imagining.

Spirituality is nothing to do with religion. Spirituality is realizing the truth beyond form, time, and space.

That is why Swami Vivekananda:~

The masses in India cry to sixty million Gods and still die like dogs. Where are these gods?

Knowing this, stand up and fight! Not one step back that is the idea. ... Fight it out, whatever comes. Let the stars move from the sphere! Let the whole world stand against us! Death means only a change of garment. What of it? Thus fight! You gain nothing by becoming cowards. ... Taking a step backward, you do not avoid any misfortune. You have cried to all the gods in the world. Has misery ceased? The masses in India cry to sixty million Gods and still die like dogs. Where are these gods? ... The gods come to help you when you have succeeded. So what is the use? Die game. ... This bending the knee to superstitions, this selling yourself to your own mind does not befit you, my soul. You are infinite, deathless, birthless. Because you are the infinite spirit, it does not befit you to be a slave. ... Arise! Awake! Stand up and fight! Die if you must. There is none to help you. You are the entire world. Who can help you? ~ Swami Vivekananda  (Delivered in San Francisco, on May 28, 1900) -The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Lectures And Discourses/The Gita II

As indicated in ISH Upanishads:~  By worshipping gods and goddesses you will go after death to the world of gods and goddesses. But will that help you? The time you spend there is wasted because if you were not there you could have spent that time moving forward towards Self-knowledge, which is your goal. In the world of gods and goddesses, you cannot do that, and thus you go deeper and deeper into the darkness.

It clearly indicates that:-If the human goal is to acquire Self-Knowledge then why indulge in rituals and glorify the conceptual gods, goddesses, and gurus to go into deeper darkness. Instead spend that time moving forward towards Self-knowledge, which is one’s prime goal.   

Since it is eternal and infinite, it comprises the only truth. The goal of Vedic religion, through the various yogas, is to realize that consciousness (Atman) is actually nothing but Brahman.

The Vedic pantheon of gods is said, in the Vedas and Upanishads, to be the only higher manifestations of Brahman. For this reason, "ekam sat" (all is one), and all is Brahman.

Thus, the goal is to realize Atman (consciousness).  If Atman (consciousness) is nothing but Brahman and by realizing Atman (consciousness) as Brahman (ultimate truth) is truth realization or Self-Realization, then there is no need to follow the religion, study scriptures or glorify gods or gurus and follow the path of doubts and confusion by losing oneself in the labyrinths of philosophy, when there is an easier path.  By mentally tracing the source of the mind from where it rises and subsides one becomes aware of the fallacy of the mind, which rises as waking or dream and subsides as deep sleep.  The mind raises from the soul  (consciousness) and subsides as the soul ( consciousness).

The Vedas confirm God is Atman (Spirit), the Self.

Yajurveda – chapter- 32: ~  God is Supreme Spirit has no ‘Pratima’ (idol) or material shape. God cannot be seen directly by anyone. God pervades all beings and all directions. Thus, Idolatry does not find any support from the Vedas.

Rig Veda: ~ The Atman is the cause; Atman is the support of all that exists in this universe. May ye never turn away from the Atman, the Self. May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?" (10:48, 5)

How can you worship God? That implies two ~ the worshipper and the worshiped, whereas God is nondual. One can worship his idea of God only or realize his unity with it when he can’t worship it as apart.

When Upanishads and Vedas declare that, “God is present in the form of the Athma, and God is indeed Athma itself” then why accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman.

God is the Supreme Being the One eternal homogeneous essence, indivisible consciousness, and intelligence, which is beyond form, time, and space. To which the Sages describe in a variety of ways through diverse words.

Yajurveda says: - if one worships what is not God:  

Translation 1.

They enter darkness, those who worship natural things (for example air, water, sun, moon, animals, fire, stone, etc.).

They sink deeper into darkness those who worship sambhuti. (Sambhuti means created things, for example, table, chair, idol, etc.)~ (Yajurveda 40:9)

Translation 2.

"Deep into the shade of blinding gloom fall asambhuti's worshippers. They sink to darkness deeper yet who on sambhuti are intent. ("Yajurveda Samhita by Ralph T. H. Giffith pg 538)

Translation 3.

"They are enveloped in darkness, in other words, are steeped in ignorance and sunk in the greatest depths of misery who worship the uncreated, eternal prakrti -- the material cause of the world -- in place of the All-pervading God, But those who worship visible things born of the prakrti, such as the earth, trees, bodies (human and the like) in place of God are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time." ~(Yajur Veda 40:9.)

So, Yajur Veda indicates that:~

 They sink deeper into darkness those who worship sambhuti. (Sambhuti means created things, for example, table, chair, idol, etc. ~(Yajurved 40:9)

Those who worship visible things born of the prakrti, such as the earth, trees, bodies (human and the like) in place of God are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time.~(Yajur Veda 40:9.)

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~ Brahman (God) is present in the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself.

People, who worship the belief of God, are hallucinating that they become one with such God.

Vedas itself declares: May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman? Thus, to know the real God Self-realization is necessary. Self-realization is God-realization. Self-realization itself is real worship.

The Hindus believed in polytheism, believing all of their Gods to be separate individuals, which were introduced much later by the founders of Hinduism which contains diverse beliefs caste, and creed.  

When the religion of the Veda knows no idols then why so many gods and goddesses with different forms and names are being propagated as Vedic gods. Why these conceptual gods are introduced when the Vedic concept of God is free from form and attributes. 

Vedic religion was modified and reintroduced with new add-ons by Sage Sankara a great Advaita Master to uplift the Vedic culture and Santana Dharma, which were in ruins in the clutches of Buddhism. 18 Puranas are introduced in the name of Sage   Veda Vyasa not by Sage Sankara but someone else because the Puranic Gods are non-Vedic Gods. Worship of Such Gods,  are barred Vedas.  

As one goes deeper into the annals of history, it indicates the fact that somewhere someone has added the Puranas in the name of Sage Veda Vyasa the grandmaster of Vedas. It is impossible to accept and believe that Sage Veda Vyasa authored and introduced Puranas which have all conceptual gods. 

In the year 1794 A.D. Sir William Jones, the European chief justice of the then-Supreme Court of India at Calcutta, coined the new term Hinduism for the caste discriminating principle of Varnashrama Dharma originated based on Manu Dharma Śāstra. :~Santthosh Kumaar 

Advaita is the rational truth and uncontradictable truth and scientific truth.+

Advaita is the rational truth and uncontradictable truth and scientific truth. This scientific truth of the whole is declared by Sage Sankara, and Sage Goudpada 1200 years back and imparted only to those of higher intellect who are receptive. the Advaitic orthodoxy has to be bifurcated in order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

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.

It is this Supreme Oneness that alone is real since there is nothing else but the ‘Self’. Verily, there remains no other independent entity in the state of realization of the highest Truth."

The battle is between scientific attitude and religious faith. The scientific spirit requires that one has to accept nothing as truth unless it can be verified by experiment. Scientific inquiry is to disprove the hypothesis not buttress it. Science rewrites its textbooks all the time.

In stark contrast, religious texts are sacred; they are untenable. Science holds a hypothesis untrue if it does not satisfy even one out of a hundred conditions. For faithful belief is sanctified even if comes true only once in a thousand times.

Remember:~

Karma and Upasana, yoga, and orthodoxy have to be bifurcated in order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

That is why Sage Sankara indicated in Bhaja Govindam says: ~ (Jnana Viheena Sarva Mathena Bajathi na Muktim janma Shatena) - One without knowledge does not obtain liberation even in a hundred births, no matter which religious faith he follows.

Then it is no use going a roundabout way, trace the Brahman which is the formless substance and witness of the universe, which is in the form of mind. By tracing the source of the mind or universe one will be able to realize the Brahman.

Self-knowledge is meant only for those who have an intense urge, and courage to accept the truth with humility and reject the untruth. Since people start comparing with their scriptural knowledge, it becomes impossible to assimilate and realize the non-dual truth. Therefore, there is no need to convince anyone other than our own selves to get a firm conviction. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Sage Sankara indicated that the ultimate truth lies beyond religion, the concept of god, and the scriptures.+

Sage Sankara says the transparent Truth of the Self, which is hidden by the illusion, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, (Gnani).

First, know ‘what is the truth’ and ‘what is untruth’ for sure. Without realizing what untruth truth is, it is difficult to know what truth is.

When the sky, clouds, and the world in which you exist are made of single clay then there is no second thing that exists, other than that clay. That clay is the Soul, which is formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

Reality is hidden by unreality. The world in which we exist hides the truth.  Whatever belongs to you is unreal. The words and thoughts belong to you, not to the Soul, which is the ‘Self'.

Whatever has names and forms and attributes and whatever belongs to form, time and space is an illusion. The illusion hides the Spirit, which is God.  The illusion and Spirit are one in essence.  Spirit, God alone is real and eternal.

Remember:~

Self-Knowledge cannot be attained by the study of the Vedas and intellectual understanding or by bookish knowledge. Therefore, there is no use in studying the Vedas and other scriptures in order to acquire non-dual wisdom.

That is why Bhagvan Buddha rejected the scriptures, and even Sage Sankara indicated that the ultimate truth lies beyond religion, the concept of god, and the scriptures.

Therefore, there is no use in taking the strain to understand and assimilate the conceptual divisions invented by teachers of philosophy through their excessive analysis. There are more and more doubts and confusion if one tries to understand and assimilate the ultimate truth through the scriptures.

That is Why Sage Sankara says: ~ 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, something which is detrimental to our spiritual progress.

Sage Goudpada: ~ To establish the truth of Non-duality by sheer reasoning alone. He begins by defining "What is real?" "What is unreal?" etc, because that is the right way to discuss or teach. People must first know what they are talking about. (Mandukya Karika)

That is why Bhagavan Buddha said:-

Believe nothing because a wise man said it,

Believe nothing because it is generally held.

Believe nothing because it is written.

Believe nothing because it is said to be divine.

Believe nothing because someone else said it.

But believe only what you, yourself judge to be true

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

Mundaka Upanishad:~ This Atman cannot be attained through the study of the Vedas, nor through intelligence, nor through much learning. He who chooses Atman—by him alone is Atman attained. It is Atman that reveals to the seeker Its true nature. (3 –page-70 (Upanishads by Nikilanada)

Why follow the path of doubts and confusion by losing oneself in the labyrinths of philosophy, when one can realize the ultimate truth without them.

By mentally tracing the source of the mind from where it rises and subsides one becomes aware of the fallacy of the mind, which rises as waking or dream and subsides as deep sleep.

The mind arises from consciousness and subsides as consciousness. Therefore, there is a need for a perfect understanding of the assimilation of nondual truth.

There is no need to renounce worldly life to get Self-Realization. Any householder can attain it if has the inner urge.

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

All the orthodox ideas were rejected by Sage Sankara. There is no need to indulge in rituals, in order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman.+

Religion is a cage of ignorance.  People who follow religion are caught up in ignorance. Orthodoxy is the home of mysticism and deification which is why they are not keen on rational truth. Thus, Sage  Sankara is the Jagadguru to the religious followers and he is a Brahma Gnani to the seeking world.   

Advaitic Orthodoxy misinterpreted Sage Sankara and presented only the religious side of his teaching as the highest doctrine. Thus, people are misled.  The orthodoxy is based on rituals and mythical Gods and Karma. Advaitic wisdom of Sage  Sankara is nothing to do with Advaitic orthodoxy.

Let Advaitic wisdom annihilate ignorance (I) and reveal Soul, the Self God in truth.  Let your ears become deaf to the untruth propagated by the religion as a reality; enable you to realize the truth hidden by the ignorance (I).  Let your eyes become blind to the illusion to receive the Soul as the Self as it is in the midst of the dualistic illusion.

Remember: ~

All the orthodox ideas were rejected by Sage  Sankara. There is no need to indulge in rituals, in order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman. There is no need to study philosophy, in order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman then why indulge in studying philosophy.

Sage Sankara pokes fun at ascetics and points out that all their austerities do not cause desires to go (Altar Flowers" Page 205, v.2 P.207 v.4)

Sage  Sankara pointed out those rituals could in no way bring about wisdom, much less moksha.

Sage Sankara says the rewards of the rituals are not a matter of direct realization. Advaitic wisdom is based on personal realization.

The orthodox Advaitin believes that rituals alone would lead one to higher levels of attainment. Further, the deities would reward only those entitled to perform the rituals alone. The entitlement involved caste, creed, and other parameters.

The scriptural authority and value of rituals are part of the Advaitic orthodoxy, which is meant for ignorant people.

The Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara is nothing to do with religion, caste, rituals, worship, yoga, and other practices. Therefore an obvious disparity between Sage   Sankara‘s path of Gnana and the path of Karma. 

The path of Gnana is meant for the advanced seeker of truth and the path of Karma is meant for the ignorant populace.

Even Sage Sankara appear and tell the orthodox people the path of orthodoxy is the path of ignorance they will not be able to drop their inherited samskara or conditioning, which they think is the only way to reach heaven and reap a happy life in the next life.

As regards the rituals, Sage  Sankara says, the person who performs rituals and aspires for rewards will view himself in terms of the caste into which he is born, his age, the stage of his life, his standing in society, etc. In addition, he is required to perform rituals all through his life. However, the Self has none of those attributes or tags. Hence, the person who superimposes all those attributes on the changeless, eternal Self and identifies the ‘Self’ with the body is confusing one for the other and is therefore an ignorant person. The scriptures dealing with rituals, rewards, etc. are therefore addressed to an ignorant person.-  (11- Adhyasa Bhashya)

The orthodox people only teach and preach their knowledge of ignorance but none of them wants to know God in  Truth, which is hidden by the dualistic illusion or Maya. 

Remember:~

First Mundaka - Chapter 2 (10) - Ignorant fools, regarding sacrifices and humanitarian works as the highest, do not know any higher good. Having enjoyed their reward on the heights of heaven, gained by good works, they still remain in ignorance of the Atman the real God.

As a person, one performs rituals throughout his life.  The person who performs rituals and aspires for rewards will view the world in which he exists as a reality. However, the Soul, the Self unborn eternal hidden by the world in which he exists.  From the standpoint of the Soul, the world in which he exists is merely an illusion.

The scriptures dealing with rituals, rewards, etc. are therefore addressed to an ignorant person.

First Mundaka - Chapter 2 (9) ~ Children, immersed in ignorance in various ways, flatter themselves, saying: We have accomplished life's purpose, because, these performers of karma do not know the Truth owing to their attachment, they fall from heaven, misery-stricken when the fruit of their work is exhausted.

First Mundaka - Chapter 2 (8) ~ Fools, dwelling in darkness, but wise in their own conceit and puffed up with vain scholarship, wander about, being afflicted by many ills, like blind men led by the blind.

Ish Upanishad declares:~ Those people who have neglected the attainment of Self-knowledge and have thus committed suicide 10/11/12

The religious orthodox people who have neglected the attainment of Self-knowledge and have thus committed suicide, as it were, are doomed to enter those worlds after death.

This is a condemnation of people who do not try to attain Self-knowledge. They are, in a real sense, committing suicide, for what can be worse than being a slave to sense enjoyment, completely oblivious of the real purpose of life, which is to be one’s, own master?

Sage Sankara says “he who knows the Brahman (God in truth) is one and the ‘Self’ is another does not know Brahman .”

Sage Sankara also asserts that the Self is realized when All the effects of ignorance, root, and branch, are burnt down by the fire of Self-  knowledge, which arises from discrimination between these two—the Self and the non-Self.

Sage Sankara’s Gnanic path can help the seekers draw and prepare them for the journey to the reality hidden by the dualistic illusion or Maya. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar