The Atma has no chakras because it is the ever formless, timeless and spaceless existence.+

All the chakras belong to the yogic path, not the Atmic path. The Atma has no chakras because it is an ever formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

The chakras exist within the form. Without the form, the chakras cease to exist. From the standpoint of the Soul form, time and space are merely an illusion. Thus, whatever belongs to form, time and space are bound to be an illusion.

The Gurus of the past and present who profound Advaita holding the Self as ‘I’. Their teaching based on the ‘I’, is based on the dualistic perspective. Whatever teaching is based on the dualistic perspective is speculated imagination.

Most of these bands of Gurus are half religious and half spiritual. They have not reached anywhere but they think they are Gnanis and propagate their cocktail teaching collected from different sources. They are just playing with the emotions of people.

Religion is nothing to do with spirituality. If you mix religion and yoga with spirituality, you will never be able to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. Those who are stuck with religion and yoga are not fit to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. Religion and yoga are based on the matter not on the Spirit therefore, they are useless in the pursuit of truth.

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."

All yogic teachings are based on the body, and thus have nothing to do with Sage Sankara's Advaitic Gnana.

Ashtavakra says: ~ "This is your bondage, that you practice Samadhi or meditation.”

Remaining thoughtless in the waking experience is yogic Samadhi. Yogic Samadhi is not the Advaitic wisdom  Yoga helps only to remove mental and physical stress.

Panchadasi: ~ The impossibility of yoga arrives at a successful end to its practices. (P.509 v, 109)

Brih Upanishad: page 32:~  "Yoga does not yield truth or liberation."

One who is in Samadhi will not know that this universe as the consciousness; therefore yoga is not the means to Self- knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

 In Samadhi the yogi knows nothing, sees no universe; so if there is nothing but blankness. The blankness is not the Advaitic wisdom.

The yogi does not know the nature of the universe. If the universe is not seen in the Samadhi then there is no need to use the word Atman and Brahman.  The yogi is unaware of the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space. 

By shutting his eyes in Samadhi, the yogi does not know the universe, which confronts him. Hence the universe can't be known as the Soul or the consciousness through yoga.

One is in a non-dual condition in deep sleep or Samadhi, One without a second, true, but he did not know it at the time. He says only in the waking experience afterward. Hence, there must be an inquiry so that you find non-duality whilst you are awake so that you can see nonduality at the time not afterward. Hence, too the need for inquiring into the nature of the universe and knowing it as the Soul or the consciousness whilst one is awake, and not during sleep or Samadhi.

Sage Sankara says you must first know what is before you. If you cannot know that, what else can you know or understand? If you give up the external world in your inquiry, you cannot get the whole truth.

That is why Sage Sankara said: ~VC-63- “Without causing the objective universe to vanish and without knowing the truth of the Self, how is one to achieve Liberation. 

The universe in which we exist will not remain as reality when wisdom dawns. The universe is a mere mirage created out of the consciousness and there is a conscious awareness of unity in diversity because there is no second thing that exists other than the consciousness.

Chandogya Upanishad: ~ One who meditates upon and realizes the 'Self' discovers that everything in the cosmos-- energy and space, fire and water, name and form, birth and death, mind and will, word and deed, mantrams and meditation--all come from the Self.

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.

Remember:

Manduka Upanishads: ~  Even the Gods cannot find out who is a Gnani because he bears no external mark. Neither nudity nor the yellow robe has anything to do with him.

Some Gurus declare watch the ‘I. The reality is just behind it. Keep quiet and keep silent, it will emerge or rather it will take you in.”

The seeker of truth read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider and discover the truth by using his own reason. The greatest and noblest pleasure that a seeker can have is to discover new truths and drop old prejudices and accumulated knowledge.

That is why  Bhagavan Buddha: ~ We ourselves must walk the path.

By relaxing and watching the ‘I’ you will not realize the reality hidden by the ‘I. Without knowing what this ‘I’ supposed to be in actuality ignorance will prevail. By relaxing or by keeping quiet or being silent within the dualistic illusion the ignorance will not vanish. Without getting rid of ignorance the Advaitic wisdom will not dawn.

Most people believe that all enlightened people have exactly the same experience and merely express it differently depending on a deep study of the scriptures but this is just an assumption.

No one can really know the truth beyond form, time, and space because the ultimate truth or Brahman is beyond experience. If anyone says that, he has experienced the Self, then he is only hallucinating. The Soul, the Self cannot be experienced, because there is neither any experience nor any experiencer when the Soul, the innermost self, remains in its own awareness.

One Guru says the ‘I’ as the self and another Guru holds the ‘I’ as the witness. Both of these Gurus hold the Self as the ‘I’. So, both the Gurus are not gone deep enough because holding the ‘I’ itself is an error. So both have built their teaching based on imagination holding the self as the ‘I’.

Remember: ~

The ‘I’ is ignorance. Till one holds the ‘I’ as the Self, it is impossible to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. Thus, the seeker has to get rid of the ignorance, which is present in the form of ‘I’, in order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman.

What is this ‘I’?

The ‘I’ is not a thought. The ‘I’ is the mind. The mind is the whole universe. The universe appears as waking or dream (duality and disappears as deep sleep (nonduality). The one that appears as waking or dream (duality) and disappears as deep sleep (nonduality) is the Soul, the innermost Self. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. The consciousness pervades everything and everywhere in all three states.

Without knowing what mind is, it is impossible to realize the truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space. People think the mind is within the body, but deeper self-search reveals the fact that the world in which you exist itself is the mind. When the ‘I’ is there then only the mind is there. If the mind is there then only the universe is there. If the universe is there then only the waking is there. Thus, it is very much necessary to realize the ‘what ‘I’ is in actuality. Without knowing ‘what is this ‘I’ it is impossible to realize the ‘I-less’ truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space.

Until you hold the ‘Self ‘as the ‘I’ you will never be able to get Self-realization. ‘I’ hides the Soul, which is the Self. ‘

I’ is ignorance.

‘I’ is the duality.

‘I’ is form, time, and space.

‘I’ is the universe.

‘I’ is the waking.

‘I’ is the dream.

‘I’ is the illusion.

‘I’ is the experience of birth, life, death, and the world.

But remember:~

Without the ‘I’ there is no ignorance.

Without the ‘I’ there is no duality.

Without the ‘I’ there is no form, time, and space.

Without the ‘I’ there is no universe.

Without the ‘I’ there is no waking.

Without the ‘I’ there is no dream.

Without the ‘I’ there is no illusion.

Without the ‘I’ there is no experience of birth, life, death, and the world.

The ‘I’ hides the truth of the whole. The ‘I’ hides the truth.

That is why Ashtavakra Gita 16:10:~ If you desire liberation, but you still say ‘I,’, If you feel the ‘Self’ is the ‘I’, you are not a wise man or a seeker. You are simply a man who suffers.

The Bhagavad Gita: ~ ‘The permanent is always there, only the transient ‘I’ comes and goes. (2.18)

It is time to discard the ‘I’. Never use the word the ‘I’ or I AM, for the Self. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

The Soul is indivisibly one because the Soul is the fullness of the consciousness.+

The Soul is indivisibly one because the Soul is the fullness of the consciousness.  The form, time,  and space are mere illusory divisions.

In reality, there is no separation. There are no divisions, no separateness. Separation is nothing but ignorance.

Think of Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness as the Sea and of every drop in the Sea as the Sea itself.

The form, time, and space are an appearance of separateness. People do not know that the world in which they exist is merely an illusion created out of consciousness until the Advaitic wisdom dawns.

The nature of the Soul is the Advaitic awareness. The Soul is a real God. The nature of God is a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

Religious Gods are based on blind belief. Belief is not God. Religious God cannot be considered as the center because the Soul and the innermost ‘Self’ are the centers of all that exists. Without the Soul the world in which you exist ceases to exist, which means the religious God is dependent on the Soul for his existence. God in truth is only the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. 

Religion can never make you know God. Only an intense urge to know what God is supposed to be in truth can make you realize God.  The Soul, the ‘Self is the Infinite God. 

The Soul, the ‘Self is the Infinite God. 

The Soul is the Self. God is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. God is the fullness of the consciousness without the illusory division of form, time, and space.  Therefore, there is nothing apart from it. 

God is Self-evident. God is not established by extraneous proofs. It is not possible to deny God because God is the very essence of the one who denies it. God is the basis of all kinds of knowledge, presuppositions, and proofs. God is within the universe in which you exist, God is without the universe in which you exist.

No second thing exists other than the Soul which is the fullness of the consciousness without the division of the form, time, and space.

From the standpoint of the Soul, there is neither form nor time nor space.

Religion propagates the creator and the creation theory hence people are forced to admit it. People are stuck believing in the creator and the creation theory thus they are stuck to the reality of the world in which they exist.  

Remember:~ 

God in truth is not tasty and it is a bitter pill to swallow. Religion made its God tasty with its mythical toppings. Every region has created its own myth and propagated its own GOD to the ignorant populace. Religion is the cause of the separation of humanity. Today humanity is facing wars, violence, terrorism, in the name of religious God and religion.

Democracy and religion will not go hand in hand. Democracy has its own code of conduct and religion has its own. So there is always conflict. Religion is outdated to suit modern society.

Until and unless the whole of humanity is made aware what God is in truth is the truth the true existence not what we believe and worship.

God in truth is not religious. God is universal and belongs to the whole of humanity. All Gods of the beliefs are mere imaginary.

Bible says: ~ “God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24) 

The Spirit is the root element of the universe. The Spirit is present in the form of the Soul, the Self. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. From the Spirit, the universe comes into existence. In the Spirit, the universe resides.

And into the Spirit, the universe is dissolved. The Spirit is the parent of all that is there is.

Yajurveda – chapter- 32:~   God is  Supreme Spirit.

Vedas and Upanishad confirm the Soul, the Self, is present in the form of the Spirit or the consciousness.

Even 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)

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

Even Bhagavad Gita says: ~ Brahmano hi pratisthaham ~ Brahman (God) is considered the all-pervading consciousness, 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 which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material then nothing has to be accepted as God other than consciousness.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says: "He who worships the deities as entities entirely separate from him does not know the truth. For the Gods, he is like a pasu (beast)". (1. 4. 10)

Those who indulge in the perverted argument from their own standpoint and opinion about God are not seeking the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

It is time, humanity has become fanatics of the truth to bring the universal brotherhood. The truth is the only thing that can cure all propagated by the belief system.

Jesus said:~ Do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. (Matthew -7:6)

Jesus meant the truth of our true existence, which is the Spirit the real God.

3. Jesus said:~"If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the (Father's) kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the (Father's) kingdom is within you and it is outside you. (Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas recorded)

5. Jesus said, "Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you.

For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed. [And there is nothing buried that will not be raised.]" (Jesus spoke and didymos Judas Thomas recorded)

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 not-Self.

India is the ancient land, where wisdom made its home India whose soil has been trodden by the feet of the greatest sages of truth like Bhagavan Buddha, Sage  Sankara, and Sage Goudpada.

India is the fountainhead of Advaitic wisdom. Advaitic wisdom is brighter, greater which unfolds the mystery of the universe contains the whole of humanity.

Today humanity needs universal brotherhood and peace for the whole of humanity to live with love and harmony not to indulge in the bloodbath.

The goal of every human being is to realize God in truth. The truth is inherent in every seeker of truth. The truth does not come from outside, it is hidden within the world by which we exist. Thus, humanity has to wake up and seek the truth.

Taittiriya Upanishad: ~ “The Self in man and in the sun is one. Those who understand this see through the world and go beyond the various sheaths of being to realize the unity of life. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Meher Baba: ~ ‘Meditation has often been misunderstood as a mechanical process of forcing the mind upon some idea or object.+

Meher Baba: ~ ‘Meditation has often been misunderstood as a mechanical process of forcing the mind upon some idea or object. 

Ashtavakra says: ~ “This is your bondage, that you practice Samadhi or meditation.”

Meditation is not the means to Self –Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. Meditation is not the goal itself. It is an important and useful tool to quiet the body, mind, and emotions and allow one to enter a deep and quiet state of mind. Once the turbulent tendencies of the body or ego and emotions are brought into harmony, clarity and renewed strength are available to meet and overcome each life challenge as it presents itself. Meditation will not eliminate our life challenges but can enable us to harmonize our body, mind, emotions, and spirit and to focus that energy like a powerful beam of light on the challenges that lie ahead in worldly life. 

When one sits down to meditate, he is thinking first of sitting, i.e. his body; then he tries to have only had the thoughts of getting rid of the thoughts, with the thoughts of getting rid of the thought.  Thus, he is thinking as a person within the world.  Thus, he remains as a person practicing meditation, thinking the ego alone is illusory, and the rest (universe) is a reality within the illusion.  He only thinks of the object, within the object, as an object.  But he is never aware of the formless subject.  

When one is absorbed in thinking of anything, he is thinking within the object (mind) that which witnesses all these three states is within, but always apart.

As a thinker, he gets only thoughts.  The thinker and thoughts are part of the illusion. Whenever there are thoughts and experiences, there is the duality (mind). Where there is the duality (mind) there is always ignorance. Where there is ignorance there is an illusion.  The duality, mind, ignorance, and illusion, are one and the same thing and they appear together and disappear.  The ignorance vanishes when the wisdom dawns.

When one puts aside the imagination and has the thinker-- what does he get with thinking—he can get only thoughts. Meditation is only an effort; it is imagination, an idea; the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness remains the same with or without ideas.

Remember 

Yoga does not yield truth because it ignores the objective world. Say the yoga has its place rather than its value and that its value is for a certain type of mindset. One cannot live without the physical world; it is the basis of his life, so it must be the starting point of his inquiry. Things, not imaginations, must be the seeker’s material.

Yogi shuts his eyes against the world and then has the temerity to declare that he knows the world to be Brahman! Because he has not inquired into it, he knows nothing.

Yoga helps the yogi by giving him the feeling that the world, which confronts him is not worth bothering about, it detaches him from the world; it makes him treat the world as a dream, i.e. an idea. It does the same to his ego to some extent, because he becomes indifferent to what happens to him. But the great secret is that this is only feeling, he feels these things only but does not know that the world is an idea. Such knowledge can come only from deeper ‘Self’-search and in no other way. That is why yogi cannot be Gnani.

Sage Sankara says:~  'Yoga is not the means of liberation (page 132-133 - Commentary on Brihadaranyakopanishad

Yoga can yield the only duality because everything that one can do or practice becomes a vanishing 'know

It yields relative truth based on imagination, which is true from the dualistic perspective, not on the nondualistic perspective. 

It is the difference between feeling and knowledge. The feeling of the yogi that the world is unreal may change in the future because all emotions are liable to change; and the fact is that yogis do change, as when they indulge in accumulating wealth they lose their sense of the world unreality though previously they felt it.

 A permanent view of the world as unreal can come only after Soulcentric reasoning; such knowledge cannot change. Were the yogi of sufficiently sharp intellect he could discover the ideality of the world by Soulcentric reasoning alone and then it would not be necessary for him to have gone through yoga practice at all; that is why yoga is for dull or middling intellects.

Panchadasi: - the impossibility of yoga arrives at a successful end to its practices. (P.509 v, 109)

To realize the truth of the whole, one must know the world, which confronts him, otherwise, he gets a half-truth. The seeker of truth should not run away from the external world means the incapacity to think. Thus, it is necessary to know the nature of the world in which he exists.

The ultimate truth is attainable by perfect understanding, assimilation, and realization of ‘what is what’. The perfect understanding of ‘what is what’ leads to Advaitic ‘Self’-awareness.

Remember:~

Sage Sankara said: ~ Neither by the practice of yoga nor philosophy, nor by good works nor by learning, does liberation come, but only through the realization that Atman and Brahman are one in no other way. (1) Vivekachoodamani v 56, pg 25

Sage Sankara says: ~ there is no need to study the Scriptures, in order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman

 ~ then why do you indulge in studying the scriptures.

Sage Sankara says: ~ there is no need to study philosophy, in order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman

~then why do you indulge in studying philosophy.

Sage Sankara says: ~ there is no need to indulge rituals, in order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman.

~ then why do you indulge in rituals.

Sage Sankara says: ~ there is no need to indulge in yoga, in order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman

~ then why do you indulge in yoga.

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) 
~then why you are sticking a Guru who is not a Gnani.

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. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Advaita is the next step higher than Buddhism.+

Sage Sankara's system of Advaita does not need the support of any Scripture or Revelation like the Vedas. The Srutis may all disappear, yet will his school stand.  Since it is based, not upon the varying theological fancies, which are as numerous as the sands of the sea, but upon reason, the common heritage of all mankind, irrespective of color or creed or clime.

The tenet of Nirguna Brahman is true for Sage Sankara, not because it is taught by the Sruti, but because it is based on the realization that it is also supported by the Sruti... The Advaitin knows that a legitimate doubt may have here to arise.  The Rishis may have truly spoken, but they may have been deluded themselves.  How are we certain that what the Rishis cognized is the Reality or Truth?  This can be proved according to the Advaita, only by the realization of truth beyond the form, time, and space.

And also:~

Again, in the absence of this realization, Nirguna Brahman as an object of thought is mere sound without sense. To one who has not seen a penguin, for instance, the word has no meaning ... Of what use, then, is such Sruti to him?  Similarly, common sense tells the Advaitin that the meaning of the Sruti and especially where there are conflicting interpretations is made out by means of reasoning based upon the authority of realization, which is final.

Thus, the reason comes into play between Sruti and realization corroborating the data of intuition with those of the revealed texts.

But reason also permits discrimination between the different possible experiences, for, in an a priori astonishing fashion:

Realization  ... can reveal not two, but twenty thousand conflicting experiences.  And the business of the wise is to sift the ultimate truth from out of all these ... The Advaitin rejects nothing.  All human experiences are his data.  He tests all by reason.

The only Advaita can reply: it is the witness, the Seer. The Buddhists are in error in regards to the finite ego as illusory, and as having nothing more behind it: but they would have been perfectly correct in such outlook had they added the notion of the witness. How is it that Skandhas come together and compose the ego? Who sees them come and go? It is the witness, the Atman, and this lack Vedanta supplies in the seer and seen and reason Analysis. When they say that the mind comes and goes they are forgetting that there must be another part of the mind as the consciousness which notices it and which tells them of this disappearance and appearance. All their misunderstandings arise from the fact that Buddha refused to discuss the ultimate questions. When Buddhism degenerates into Nihilism Advitin refutes it (See Mandukya P.281).

The truth of a single reality within or underlying the illusory ego is all-important and without it Buddhism becomes fallacious.

Vedanta admits the transitoriness and evanescence of thoughts just like Buddhism, but not of the Mind which observes this transitoriness and knows it.

Manduka Upanishad:~  Buddhists borrowed from Upanishads because they were Indians. The Vedantins did not need to borrow from Buddhism, therefore (see P.396 v.99)

Bhagavan Buddha taught the illusoriness of ego but did not go further, probably because he thought the world could not understand the higher truth. Hence followers go with him to that point of his and then deny the Vedantic doctrine of one supreme reality when the Bhagavan Buddha himSelf neither denied nor advocated it. Anyway, the refutation of his followers is to ask them “What is it that is aware of the ego's illusoriness?" There must be something that tells you that. That something is the  Drik, and if you say this Drik itself may be illusory, coming and going, still, there must be something non-transient i.e.permanent, to tell you this.

Bhagavan Buddha's teachings that all life is misery belongs to the relative standpoint only. For you cannot form any idea of misery without contrasting it with its opposite, happiness. The two will always go together.

Bhagavan Buddha taught the goal of cessation of misery, i.e. peace, but took care not to discuss the ultimate standpoint for then he would have had to go above the heads of the people and tell them that misery itself was only an idea, that peace even was an idea (for it contrasted with peacelessness). That the doctrine he gave out was a limited one, is evident because he inculcated compassion. Why should a Buddhist sage practice pity? There is no reason for it.

Advaita is the next step higher than Buddhism because it gives the missing reason, viz. unity, non-difference from others, and because it explains that it used the concept of removing the sufferings of others, of lifting them up to happiness, only as we use one thorn to pick out another, afterward throw both away. Similarly, Advaita discards both concepts of misery and happiness in the ultimate standpoint of non-duality, which is indescribable.

Buddhists say that a thing exists only for a moment, and if that thing has still got some of the substance from which it was produced how then can they deny that its cause is continuing in the effect; hence its existence is more than a moment. Vedanta is concerned with whether it is one and the same thing which has come into being or has it come out of nothing.

Even the Sunyavada ultimate of the "void" is really a breath, and therefore an imagination and not truth.

Bhagavan Buddha as a constructive worker committed an error in failing to give the masses a religion, something tangible they could grasp, something materialistic, if symbolic that their limited intellect could take hold of, in addition to his ethics and philosophy. Here Sage Sankara was wiser and gave religion; such as Bajan, worship, etc.--to the ignorant masses, as well as Advaitic wisdom to those who are capable of grasping the 'Self' hidden by the 'I', 

Bhagavan Buddha gave as the central feature of his doctrine the great law of Karma in order to reiterate its ethical meaning. He did more good in this to uplift the people than the ritualists.

Tibetan and Chinese Buddhists who say that there are many Buddhas living in spirit bodies and helping our earth from the spiritual world are still in the sphere of religious illusion, not the ultimate truth. Their statements are wrong. Every sage realizes that the only way to help mankind is to come down amongst them, for which he must necessarily take on flesh-body. When people are suffering how can he relieve their suffering unless he appears amongst them? When people are suffering how can he feed them from an unseen world whether their struggle is for material bread or for spiritual truth? No! He must be here actually in the flesh. It is impossible to help them in any other way and all talk of Shiva living on Mount Kailas in the spiritual body or Bhagavan Buddha in Nirmanakaya, invisible body belongs to the realm of delusion or Self-deception.

Remember:~ 

It is no use arguing Bhagavan Buddha is wrong or Sage Sankara is right, but where we are going wrong in our understanding the non-dualistic or Advaitic truth, propagated by the great sages of the past. Some say, that without the sunyavada, Advaita philosophy could not have come into existence because Advaita starts from where sunyavada ends. That is why they say it is an extension of Buddhism. If Advaita existed prior to Buddha, he would not have advocated sunyavada at all because Advaita is the final and ultimate truth.

Since the Buddhist and the Vedic scriptures have been passed down by hearing, they were written down only relatively late so one wouldn't know whether to rely on the times they give. Also, a lot depends on the translation. Each 'Sloka' or sutta is open to many layers of interpretation.

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 himself had often said that his philosophy was based on Sruti, or revealed scripture.

This may be because Sage Sankara addressed the ordinary man, who finds security in the idea of causality and thus in the idea of God—and Revelation is indispensable to prove the latter. He believed that those of superior intelligence, have no need for this idea of divine causality, and can, therefore, dispense with Sruti and arrive at the truth of Non-Dualism by pure reason.

Sage Sankara’s Supreme Brahman is Nirguna (without the Gunas), Nirakara (formless), Nirvisesha (without attributes) and Akarta (non-agent). He is above all needs and desires.

Sage Sankara says:~ "This Atman is self-evident. This Atman or Self is not established by proofs of the existence of the Self. It is not possible to deny this Atman, for it is the very essence of he who denies it. Atman is the basis of all kinds of knowledge. The Self is within, the Self is without, the Self is before and the Self is behind. The Self is on the right hand, the Self is on the left, the Self is above and the Self is below".

Satyam-Jnanam-Anantam-Anandam, are not separate attributes. They form the very essence of Brahman. Brahman cannot be described because the description implies a distinction. Brahman cannot be distinguished from any other than God.

The objective world-the world of names and forms have no independent existence. The Atman alone has real existence. The world is only phenomenal.

Sage Sankara was the exponent of Advaita philosophy. His teachings can be summed up in the following words:-

Brahma Satyam Jagat Mithya,

Jeevo Brahmaiva Na Aparah

Brahman alone is real, this world is unreal; the Jiva is identical with Brahman.

As one indulges in deeper self-search he becomes aware: - As per the religious archaeologist's view: the date of Sage Sankara may be taken most correctly as that of the 9th century. Some claims are made in India that he lived two thousand years ago, but there is absolutely no proof for this claim. They do not go back farther than the 12th century A.D. and that all so-called evidence for Sage Sankara having lived two centuries before Christ is either were conjectures or orthodox fabrication.

Regarding the question of Sage Sankara's death, one may dismiss the legend that he did not die, at the age of 32, but disappeared into a cave. This is another orthodox story which is quite unfounded. He did really die in the Himalayas at that age.

As one goes into the annals of history, one becomes aware of the fact that; the spiritual Advaita is mixed up with punditry. Therefore, there is a need to do his own research in order to know the true essence of Advaita propounded by Sage Sankara, and Sage Gudapada, and the emptiness of the Bhagavan Buddha.

How Sage Sankara could have written so many books during such a short term of existence. The fact is that he wrote very few books. Those actually written by him were Commentaries on Brahma Sutras and the Upanishads and on the Gita. All other books ascribed to him were not written down by his own hand.

Sage Sankara wrote his Manduka commentary first, and then as this revealed that he thoroughly understood the subject, his gurus requested him to write the commentary on Badarayana's Brahma Sutras, which was a popular theological work universally studied throughout India. That is why his commentary is written from a lower dualistic point, for those who cannot rise higher, save that here and there Sage  Sankara occasionally has strewn a few truly Advaitic sentences.

Sage Sankara had only four fully trained disciples, although he advised some kings. His doctrines spread after his lifetime. Sage Sri Sankara’s books were dictated to secretaries as he traveled, therefore, only a few who were capable of understanding his philosophy.

Nearly all orthodox hold views of Maya which are entirely incorrect and untenable. They do not know Sri, Sankara's Upanishad Bashyas, but only the Brahma Sutra Bashya.

Sage Sankara varied his practical advice and doctrinal teaching according to the people he was amongst. He never told them to give their particular religion or beliefs or metaphysics completely; he only told them to give up the worst features of abuse: at the same time, he showed just one step forward towards the truth.

In Brahma Sutras, Sage Sankara says that Brahman is the cause of the world, whereas in Manduka he denies it. This is because he says that at the lower stage of understanding, the former teaching must be given, for people will get frightened as they cannot understand how the world can be without a cause, but to those in a higher stage, the truth of non-causality can be revealed.

Brahma Sutras, i.e. "Vedanta Sutras" by Badarayana, are intended for those of middling intellects, not for those who have the best brains: it is a semi-theological, semi-philosophical work; it starts with the assumption that Brahman exists.

The opening sentence is "All this is Brahman." But nobody knows or has seen Brahman.

If one says "All this is gold" and shows a piece of gold, the words are understandable. Suppose one has never seen gold. Then what is the use it becomes meaningless when the object indicated is seen by none.

Hence, the Brahma Sutra opening is equivalent to "All this is Brahman". Both have no meaning so long as they are not understood if we take them as the data to start from. It is for this reason, the Brahma Sutra is intended for theological mindsets because it begins with dogma although its reasoning is close. For it starts with something imagined.

Critics who declare Sage Sankara's philosophy as negative (because of his Neti, Neti) do not know that this is applied only to the witnessed (three states), the critic ignorantly believes that it is also applied to the formless witness (soul). The seeker should never negate the formless witness, only witnessed.

Sage Sankara himself had often said that his philosophy was based on Sruti, or revealed scripture. This may be because Sage Sri, Sankara addressed the ordinary man, who finds security in the idea of causality and thus in the idea of God—and Revelation is indispensable to prove the latter. He believed that those of superior intelligence, have no need for this idea of divine causality, and can, therefore, dispense with Sruti and arrive at the truth of Non-Dualism by pure reason.

Remember:~ 

Scriptural mastery is not wisdom:~

That is why 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 the Atman that reveals to the seeker Its true nature. (3 page-70- Mundaka Upanishad. Upanishads by Nikilanada)

The Veda serves only at the starting point. What one has to learn from Veda must be understood through the exercise of reason, as far as reason might go. And what one has understood must be realized in one’s life.

It is not that one should pore over the ancient scriptures. There is no need to study first then realize. One has to realize first then only he will know ‘what is the truth?’ and ‘what is untruth?’.

There are hundreds of commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita. Each one goes on spinning yarns imagining as he likes what the meaning may be. But once one acquires Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana he will know what they really meant, he will see that there is only one possible interpretation, irrespective of his opinion or imagination.

A permanent view of the world as unreal can come only after soul-centric reasoning; such knowledge cannot change. Were the seeker who is sufficiently sharpness he could grasp the unreal nature of the world by soul-centric reasoning alone. To know the whole truth, one must know the whole universe, otherwise, he gets only half-truth.

According to Advaita Vedanta, the Veda addresses itself to two kinds of audiences - the ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices, and the most advanced seeker who seeks to know Brahman. Thus, the Purva mimam.sa, with its emphasis on the karma kanda of the Vedas, is meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. However, the Vedanta, with its emphasis on the jnana kanda, is meant for those who wish to go beyond such transient pleasures.

As one goes deeper on the subject one becomes aware of the fact that the religion, scriptures, and concept of God is nothing to do with the religious side of Advaita, the present religious-based Advaitic knowledge and theories are meant for the ignorant mass, who hold the religion as high, not the ultimate truth because religion is based on the form (waking entity) and they view and judge and argue on the base of the waking entity(ego) as self, but Gnanic Advaita is based on the formless (soul) and it negates everything other than the Soul, the Self.

All the conceptual divisions invented by teachers of philosophy by their excessive analysis. Where do all these concepts end? Why should confusion created and then explained away? Fortunate is the man who does not lose himself in the labyrinths of philosophy but goes straight to the source from which they all arise.

The ignorance is the cause of experiencing the duality (universe or waking) as reality. Thus, eradicating ignorance completely is necessary. And this is possible only through self-knowledge. Thus, there is no other road to freedom other than Gnana. There is no other entrance other than Gnana. 

The ignorance will vanish only when the nondual wisdom dawns. Detachment to attachment is impossible without wisdom. Only when one realizes the fact that the 'Self' is not the form but the 'Self' is formless, then only it is possible to detach the ‘Self’ from the false attachment.

That is Sankara, 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.

Thus, it proves that wisdom is universal irrespective of any religion of faith one belongs to. Thus, religion is not a means to Self-knowledge. Thus, Sage Sankara’s Advaita minus orthodoxy is true Advaita. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar