The Guru is not needed in pursuit of truth because the truth has to be ascertained by seeker himself.+

The Guru is useless so long as the ultimate truth is unknown, and Guru is equally useless when the ultimate truth or Brahman has already been known.

A Guru is needed in the religious and the yogic path.  There is no need for a Guru to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

The Guru who pretends to be Self- realized and plays with the emotions and sentiments of the seekers is a fraud, not a Gnani.

All the Guru Parampara is for the religious people.  There is no need for a Guru who wants to tread the path of wisdom.

Even Swami Vivekananda was Ramakrishna Paramahansa's disciple.  Swami Vivekananda himself 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.”

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 more 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, the Self.   

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. 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 the truth, whereas spirituality is concerned only with the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space. Religion is not spirituality.

Sage Sankara: ~ "Though I wear these robes of a Sanyasin, it is only for the sake of bread." (Select Works of Sage  Sankara" also his commentary on Brihad)

Thus, the above passage proves that all those who were the sanyasin robes are wearing it for the sake of bread belongs to the religion; they are nothing to do with the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. There is no need to criticize and condemn the Gurus, yogis, and swamis because they are needed for the welfare of the ignorant populace in the dualistic world.

Sage Sankara in Viveka Chudamani (2), states that the Knower of the Atman (i.e., a Gnani) "bears no outward mark of a holy man" (Stanza 539).

It means the Gurus, Swamis, and Yogis who identify themselves as holy people are not Gnanis.

 Those who are seeking the truth need not follow any Guru or any teaching. The one who thinks of himself as a Guru and the one who thinks of himself as a Chela (disciple) will not be able to acquire Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana because both of them accepted themselves as the body. And all their understanding, practices, knowledge are based on the false self (ego or you).  Therefore, the Guru –Shisya concept is a great obstacle in the pursuit of truth.  A Gnani never accepts himself as a Guru or accepted anyone as his disciple, because he was fully immersed in his true Self, which is formless consciousness. There was no division in his consciousness, even though he was in the midst of division or duality.   

The Guru is not needed in pursuit of truth because the truth has to be ascertained by the seeker himself. Advaitic or Nondual Wisdom will not rise from intellectual spoon-feeding, but it arises only from deeper self-search to the sincere and serious seeker who has an intense urge to know the ultimate truth or Brahman.    The guidance comes from within because the Guru is within. People think Self is the body, they think their Guru also has the body and the Guru would do something tangible to them. 

People who are stuck with branded Masters and Guru and take their Guru’s word as final without verifying the validity of their Guru’s teaching.  They are stuck with their egocentric intellectuality, which is the greatest hindrance in realizing the ultimate truth or Brahman.

A Guru who speaks of knowing Brahman within the body is thinking only of his head or heart, i.e. of his body. He is hallucinating.  There is no need to condemn the Gurus, but the seeker needs to realize Gurus are needed in the yogic path, but  Guru is not needed in the pursuit of truth.  

Many people are struck with awe or reverence at the outer indications of renunciation, and thus blindly accept a religious Guru or Godman to be a Gnani. The two have no connection. Because he has no wife, no family, and no possessions" they think the man who has merely repressed these desires as though these things had anything to do with the wisdom he is a religious man. People are quite incompetent to judge who is a Gnani between Godmen, intellectuals, and yogis. A Gnani is neither Godmen, nor a yogi, nor an intellectual.

The man who speaks about religious God, the religious rituals, and religion, is not a Gnani. A yogi who speaks about yoga is not a Gnani. A Godman who indulges in miracles is not a Gnani. An intellectual who argues on his own speculated theories is not a Gnani. A Gnani is the one who shares knowledge and guides people towards the source of the mind (physical existence) is real Gnani. A Gnani never claims himself a Guru nor does he accept anyone as a disciple.   

Some Gurus and Self-declared Godman say:  "I am God." This presupposes that they have the same miraculous and creative powers of God. They do not, however, display the possession of such power. Such is the fallacy of their logic.

Remember:~ 

The Gurus who declare “I am God or “I am Brahman" is merely repeating like parrot words which they have read in the scriptures or heard. It does not prove that they have realized the ultimate truth or God or Brahman. With bookish or hearsay knowledge, it is unable to prove that everything is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. One has to do lots of homework to realize the Soul, the innermost Self. 

A Guru who speaks of knowing Brahman within the body is thinking only of his head or heart, i.e. of his body. He is hallucinating.  

Some religious Gurus give medicinal herbs and cure people, the latter then falls into the fallacy of attributing their cure to the Swami's spiritual power, status, or greatness. Those Gurus may have expert knowledge of herbs, but that does not prove they are Gnanis.  

The stories of non-believers coming to a Guru denouncing him as deceivers, and then suddenly being converted to faith in him are easily explicable. Both attitudes are merely emotional. One emotion succeeded another; it is in the nature of emotion to change. People are emotionally carried off their feet when they first visit a famous Guru. 

Gurus who propagate Samadhi through sexual intercourse are not Gnanis. Sexual intercourse is nothing to do with the Soul, which is ever formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.   Those who indulge in sexual activities in order to get enlightenment will permanently remain in the prison of the dualistic illusion.  They are unfit to acquire Self-knowledge. 

Those Gurus who glorify themselves as God and collect money by promising people instant realization are frauds. Whoever speaks of knowing Brahman within us is thinking only of his body. He is hallucinating about getting instant realization because he is an intellectual. He thinks he has read and understood everything.   The Gurudom is nothing to do with Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. 

Religious Gurus are concerned with the welfare of humanity to propagate love, peace, harmony, and compassion to the populace.  

Humanity belongs to the dualistic illusion.  Spirituality is beyond the dualistic illusion. Mixing religion and spirituality is like mixing oil and water. Religion is nothing to do with spirituality.   Religion is nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman. :~Santthosh Kumaar    

A Gnani sees the world in which he exists as the consciousness, just as the goldsmiths view the ornaments as nothing but the gold.+

A Gnani sees the world in which he exists as the consciousness, just as the goldsmiths view the ornaments as nothing but the gold. A Gnani does not spend his life sitting in meditation as a sanyasi or giving sermons, but he shares Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana to the seeking world. 

Many times we get insights into a mysterious way and mysterious people and mysterious circumstances.   The advanced seekers will be able to grasp the non-dualistic or Advaitic truth.   The Advaitic truth is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God.

A Gnani can point at the sky, but the seeing of the star is the seeker's own work.

India is the home of mysticism and deification and very few are keen on rational Advaitic truth. Indian populace is most interested in their caste and creed propagated by different founders in different regions of India.  Very few are interested in Advaitic wisdom. In Atmic path has no place for an extra-cosmic God or for anything supernatural. 

Without Sage Sankara, there is no Advaita. Without Advaita, it is impossible to realize the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

Sage Sankara’s whole wisdom can be summed up in one sentence, ‘There is nothing else but Brahman. He says that Absolute Existence, Absolute Knowledge, and Absolute Bliss are real. The universe is not real. He says that Brahma and Atman are one. The ultimate and the Absolute Truth is the Self, which is one though appearing as many different individuals. The individual has no reality. Only the Self is real; the rest, mental and physical are but passing appearances. 

Genuine philosophy must be independent of religion, that in Sage Sankara himself the Saguna Brahman or a personal God is only a part of the phenomenal (if not illusory) world, and the Nirguna Brahman is the only reality and has nothing to do with religion.  

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)

The Brahma Sutras together with Sage Sankara's commentary thereon do not contain the higher wisdom. They are intended for those who are incapable of thinking rationally.

Sage Sankara's commentary on the Brahma Sutras is not on a philosophical basis, but on an orthodox and mystic basis, with an appeal to the Vedas as a final authority.

In Brahma Sutra Sage Sankara takes the position that there is another entity outside us, i.e. the wall really exists separately from the mind. This was because Sage  Sankara explains in Manduka that those who study the Sutras are orthodox minds, intellectual children, hence his popular viewpoint to assist them. 

These people are afraid to go deeper because it means being heroic enough to refuse to accept Sruti, and God's authority, in case they mean punishment by God.  A Gnani says the scriptures for children, but wise seekers will think rationally.

In Brahma Sutras Sage Sankara takes for granted, and assumes that a world was created: He there mixes dogmatic theology with philosophy.

That God created the world is an absolute lie, nevertheless one will find Sage  Sankara (in his commentary on Vedanta Sutras) clearly says this! He has to adapt his teachings to his audience, reserving the highest for philosophical minds.

The text of Brahma Sutras is based on religion and dogmatism, but in the commentary Sage Sankara cleverly introduced some philosophy. If it is objected that a number of Upanishads are equally dogmatic because they also begin by assuming Brahman, only a few Upanishads do not but prove Brahman at the end of a train of proof.

Scholars' translation of Brahma Sutras in Sacred Books of East must be read cautiously as he has not understood its highest sense, e.g. for Advaita, they wrongly put "Unity" instead of “Non-duality."

Sage Sankara gave religion and scholasticism and yoga no less than philosophy, to the seeking world. He was great enough to be able to do so. His commentary on Mandukya is pure philosophy, but many of his other books are presented from a religious standpoint to help those who cannot rise up to philosophy.

Orthodoxy is the home of mysticism and deification that 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.   

You will not be able to find the truth because you are blindfolded by dualistic illusion.  If you have to traverse the path, you will have to seek the aid of the one who knows the truth beyond the form, time, and space; else you will wind up meandering here and there without gaining anything. 

The ‘Self’ is not within you,  because the ‘Self’ is not the body.   If the ‘Self’ is not you,   then why do you think the Self is within you. Deeper Self-search reveals the fact that you and the world are within the Soul the innermost Self.  Perfect understanding and assimilation lead to Advaitic Self-awareness. :~Santthosh Kumaar 

God cannot be religious because God is universal.+

The Religious idea of Brahma with four faces and Brahman should never be confused. Brahman is totally different from the religious idea of Brahma with four faces.  If you want to understand Brahman, go directly and immediately ~ not via Hinduism; then you will never understand Brahman.

God cannot be religious because God is universal.  God is so vast that no religion can own God because God pervades everything and everywhere in all three states.

Only religion can be organized not God. Religion is limited to the domain of form, time, and space whereas   God is unlimited because God is formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.   God’s vastness is such that the moment you realize ‘what God is you and your world become merely an illusion.

You cannot see God from your physical eyes because God exists prior to whatever exists as the form, time, and space.

Whatsoever you have been hearing about God is not about the real God; it is about the God that religions have invented, and decorated to be sold in the market. The religious God is a commodity to be sold to the ignorant populace.

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is a revolution.  The ignorance will vanish through it; it is the fire of knowledge beyond form, time, and space.

If you are really seeking truth then you have to drop all your accumulated knowledge.

It is very easy to follow the religion. It is very convenient to accept the religious God, but it is very difficult to accept the Soul, the  Self as a real God.

Accepting the soul, the Self as God, there will be a transformation; if you accept the religious God, there can be none.

The real God is not part of the form, time, and space because the real God is formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. The real God is the cause of the form, time, and space, but the real God is uncaused. 

Meher Baba said: ~   God is your innermost Self. Do not search for God outside of you.  Let these words be inscribed in your heart. Nothing is real but God. Nothing Matters but love for God. God is everywhere and does everything. God is beyond us and is everything. God alone is and all else is an illusion.

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: ~ '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.

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 innermost self. May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?" (10:48, 5)

Worshipping of the non-Vedic Gods will not yield any fruit.  The Veda and Upanishads confirm God is Atman (spirit), the innermost Self.

God and Goddesses worshipped in India today are non-Vedic Gods.   Such Gods and Goddesses cease to exist without the dualistic illusion. Whatever belongs to the dualistic illusion is bound to be a falsehood.

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

Bhagavad Gita: ~ Brahmano hi pratisthaham ~ Brahman (God) is considered the all-pervading consciousness (Spirit), which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material. (14.27).

When Bhagavad Gita says, God is considered the all-pervading consciousness (Spirit) which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material then nothing has to be accepted as God other than consciousness. 

Lord Krishna Says Ch ~V: ~ “Those who know the Self in truth.". The last two words (tattvataha) are usually ignored by pundits, but they make all the difference between the ordinary concept of God and the truth about God.

The dualistic worship of "God” is only for the ignorant populace. The God in truth is only Atman, the innermost Self.   In reality, there is no duality, no differentiation. Only Atman exists. :~Santthosh Kumaar

Sage Sankara’s Supreme Brahman (God) is impersonal.+

Sage Sankara gave religion and scholasticism and yoga no less than philosophy, to the seeking world. He was great enough to be able to do so. His commentary on Manduka is pure philosophy, but many of his other books are presented from a religious standpoint to help those who cannot rise up to philosophy.

Advaitic wisdom is nothing to do with Orthodox Advaita, which is dualistic. Orthodox Advaita is a sect, which blindly accepts and follows dogmas and superstitions.

The Advaitic orthodoxy is not the means to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.  Advaitic orthodoxy is meant for the ignorant populace that is unfit to grasp the highest truth.   The Advaitic orthodoxy is nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman.

Orthodoxy is the home of mysticism and deification that is why they are not keen on the rational truth. Thus, Sage Sankara is the Jagadguru to the religious followers and he is a Brahma Gnani to the seeking world.    One should not mix the orthodox path with the Atmic path. 

The Orthodox Advaita tradition follows the system of pancayatana puja, where Vishnu, Siva, Sakti, Ganapati, and Surya are worshipped as forms of saguna Brahman. Vishnu and Siva, the Great Gods of Hinduism, are both very important within the Advaita tradition.

Orthodox Advaitins believe that the distinction between the worshipper and God, the object of worship, is ultimately transcended and that the act of worship itself points to this identity.

Orthodox Advaitins believe in the theory of karma, which sets the cycle of rebirths into motion. All actions, good or bad, create their own karmic residues called vasanas, which exhibit their results over a period of time. The karma which has already started taking fruit is called Prarabdha Karma. This is the karma that is responsible for the current birth. The accumulated karma which is yet to take fruit is called sanchit karma. As long as the cycle of rebirth continues, more karma will be done in the future, and this is called Agamin karma. Liberation (moksha) is the way out of this endless cycle.

In Brahma Sutras Sage Sankara takes for granted, and assumes that a world was created: He there mixes dogmatic theology with philosophy.

That God created the world is an absolute lie; nevertheless, you will find Sage  Sankara (in his commentary on Vedanta Sutras) clearly says this! He has to adapt his teachings to his audience, reserving the highest for philosophical minds.

The Brahma Sutras are based on religion and dogmatism, but in the commentary, Sage  Sankara geniusly introduced some philosophy.

 If it is objected that a number of Upanishads are equally dogmatic because they also begin by assuming Brahman, but a few Upanishads do not but prove Brahman at the end of a train of proof.

The causality and creation, but these are for religious people only.  Religion is only for those who are unable to understand truth beyond form, time, and space. Religion is not final. It only gives satisfaction to the populace. The Self - knowledge is for the whole of humanity to free them from experiencing birth, life, death, and the world as a reality.

People of small intelligence follow religion and believe that the world was created by God. But how do they know that He did so? When a pot is created, one can see both pot and its maker, but not in the case of the world.

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana 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 their scriptural knowledge, it becomes impossible to assimilate and realize the Advaitic truth.   Therefore, there is no need to convince anyone other than our own selves to get a firm conviction.

Mundaka Upanishad condemns rituals.  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)

The identity of Atman and Brahman is a matter of absolute truth, not just a temporary ritual identification.

Sage Sankara’s wisdom is nothing to do with the orthodox belief systems. Some philosophers in the past dissented from this interpretation of Vedanta philosophy, holding that the incarnated Souls were separate from the Divine Essence and only finally merged with it after the cycles of birth. 

All Gurus and paramparas belong to the orthodoxy. Orthodoxy is nothing to do with  Sage  Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom.

Identifying the Atman as Self is the most important in the Atmic path.  The consciousness is the substratum on which the dualistic illusion is experienced. The consciousness is hidden by the dualistic illusion.   The consciousness that dwells in everything and everywhere in the universe, is the dualistic illusion.

The innermost Atman, the real Self. Atman is present in the form of consciousness. The whole dualistic illusion is nothing but the consciousness, the consciousness alone is real and eternal.

The orthodoxy is meant for the ignorant populace.

Genuine philosophy must be independent of religion, that in Sage Sankara himself the Saguna Brahman or a personal God is only a part of the phenomenal (if not illusory) world, and the Nirguna Brahman (God) is the only reality and has nothing to do with religion.  

Sage Sankara’s Supreme Brahman (God in truth) is impersonal, Nirguna (without Gunas or attributes), Nirakara (formless), Nirvisesha (without special characteristics), immutable, eternal, and Akarta (non-agent).

Brahman is above all needs and desires.

Brahman is always the Witnessing Subject.

Brahman can never become an object as it is beyond the reach of the senses.

Brahman is non-dual, one without a second.

Brahman has no other besides it.

Brahman is destitute of difference, either external or internal.

Brahman cannot be described because the description implies a distinction.

Brahman cannot be distinguished from any other than It.

In Brahman, there is not distinction between substance and attribute. Sat-Chit-Ananda constitutes the very essence or Svarupa of Brahman, and not just Its attributes.

The Nirguna Brahman of Sage Sankara is impersonal.

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  (God) ~ that thou art."

Sage Sankara, Upanishads, and Vedas say declare that “God is in the form of the Athma, and God is indeed Athma itself” then why accept another God in place of the Atman or worship other than the Atman.

Sage Sankara says: ~ Atman is Brahman. The Atman alone is real and is not religious truth.  Sage Sankara declared this Advaitic truth, which is the ultimate truth to the whole world, many centuries back is the rational truth, scientific truth, and ultimate truth.

Thus, the Atman which is present in the form of the consciousness is real and eternal, the world in which we exist is merely an illusion. ~Santthosh Kumaar