The Buddhist scriptures were completely distorted by the time of Sage Sankara.+

Buddhists and Jains did not believe in the Vedic positions, did not accept the scriptures. Hence, Sage Sankara had to meet their objections also.  Biographical anecdotes about his persecution of Jains and Buddhists or of his challenges to self-immolation for the loser of a debate are all foolish tales fabricated after his lifetime either by his own followers who took him to be a religious propagator but not as a  philosopher or by the dualistic cult. 

The religious pundits of the Adavitic sect relate boastfully pseudo-historical stories of how Sage Sankara's school put down, persecuted end exterminated the Buddhists, as though this was something to be proud of. However, these stories are either exaggerations or false stories fabricated by pundits or priestcraft. The religious pundits are mere followers of the religion, never having understood the depth of Advaitic philosophy. Sage  Sankara gave religion and scholasticism and yoga no less than philosophy, to the world. 

His commentary on Manduka Upanishad is pure philosophy, but many of his other books are presented from a religious standpoint to help those who cannot rise up to philosophy.  North India is the home of mysticism and deification and South India of keen rational truth.

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

Sage Sankara always traveled and he never lived in a monastery. He simply instructed his disciples to build one here and there " and then left because he was busy spreading his doctrines. 

Religious people who followed  Sage Sankara are mere followers of the orthodoxy, never having understood the Advaitic Gnana are religious scholars, not Gnanis, and they are unable to grasp the Advaitic wisdom. 

Sage Sankara says the seeker must first know what is before him. If he cannot know that, what else can he know or understand? If he gives up the external world in his inquiry, he cannot get the whole truth. 

Some thinkers hold views of Maya which are entirely incorrect and untenable. They do not know Sankara's Upanishad Bashyas, but only the Brahma Sutra Bashya.  The followers of Sri Sankara have constituted a religious sect. Thus, all movements ultimately degenerate. 

In the commentary to "Brahma Sutras Sage Sankara says ~ ." "The highest beatitude is not to be attained by Yoga." (Sacred Books of East Series page 298 Vol.1) 

  And he also says Samadhi is the same as sleep (p.312).

~ This clearly indicates that yoga is not the means to self-realization.  And yogis Samadhi is not nondualistic wisdom.

Sage Sankara's commentary to Brahma Sutras (Chap.3.4.50) shows that the Gnani "should pass through life", not run away from life, and should take a middle course between seeking worldly honor and worldly abasement. 

Sage Sankara varied his practical advice and doctrinal teaching according to the people he was amongst. He never advised them to give up 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.  Sage Sankara was extremely precise and careful in his choice of words. 

Sage Sankara did more than write books or initiate Sanyasins: He brought India into unity as a nation. He advised the mass: Worship what they wish, remain in their particular religion but remember they are also part of a larger whole. 

Few Pundits have caught the spirit; they are merely fond of his words.  Sage  Sankara’s spirit is that of an appeal to reason, with scripture dragged in as second and lesser support afterward. 

Sage Sankara gave religious, rituals, and dogmatic instruction to the mass but pure philosophy only to the few who could rise to it. Hence, the interpretation of his writings by commentators is often confusing because they mix up the two viewpoints. Thus, they may assert that ritual is a means of realizing Brahman, which is absurd. 

Centuries have passed since  Sage Sankara appeared, yet it is very hard to find his wisdom understood anywhere in the world today. It is because so few could rise to his level. Hence, dualistic cults and devotional sects came into existence prospered. 

It may not have been possible for him to have written so many books during such a short term of existence of 32 years. The truth 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. They are merely collections of notes recorded by his disciples from his sayings, talk, and discussions. 

Sage Sankara wrote his commentaries on Manduka Upanishad 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 by Advaitins. 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. 

Since, Hinduism is the mixer of many ideologies one gets confused which is true philosophy because the dual, non-dual and qualified non-dual philosophies all claim that they are based on Vedas.  And many believe the inherited beliefs of their forefathers are pure and sacred without verifying the facts. All rituals and individualized gods are added from time to time.  Only when one tries to go deeper into the annals of history one will be able to find that all the present days’ beliefs and rituals are not part of the Santana Dharma or Vedic religion. 

 It is necessary for the seeker to do his homework, and verify the validity of all the claims, rather than blindly believe, what others expound as knowledge, till, the uncontradicted truth is obtained.

The seeker must have the courage of Buddha to accept the truth and reject the untruth. Since Buddha rejected religion, the idea of god, and scriptures, therefore, it is evident that he has gone through every aspect and verified and found them to be inadequate and useless for the pursuit of truth.

Even Buddhism is mixed up with regional culture and traditions of the local religion, wherever it existed. Thus to get the full essence of Buddhism is very difficult.

The Buddhist scriptures were completely distorted by the time of Sage  Sankara. Sage  Sankara had to criticize the Buddhist literature prevailing then as the Buddhists themselves were confused as to what Shunyata is. Vasubandhu and his disciple Dignaga (the latter lived about a couple of centuries before Sage Sankara) could not retain the original teachings of the Bhagvan  Buddha.

At first, Vasubandhu did not agree with his half-brother Asanga and wrote one book on Abhidharma and, later on, he went to the side of Asanga and wrote a second book, where? he opposed his own earlier views on Abhidharma. Sage Sri, Sankara? had to criticize Buddhist knowledge? and literature of his time as he wanted to bring to us back the Pure Vedantic knowledge through his work on the Prasthanatraya. That is why there is a reference to the writing of Dharmakirti in Sutrabashya.

There is another aspect that in -  Vishnu Purana also says that Lord Buddha created confusion. In Sarnath, he first taught about the basic Moral code. He talked about Anatma. Then? two decades later he taught the concept of Shunyata and? the tenets of Mahayana Buddhism.? Despite Nagarjuna's telling that Shunyata is not Nihilism and that Parajanaparamita also mentioning about the Shunyata after one leaves? The five? skandhas, there are and there will always be people who will go on calling Buddha's philosophy as Nihilism. About the origin of Tantric Buddhism also? there are controversies.

Hindus hold Bhagvan Buddha being an Avatara of Lord Vishnu. It seems that in many Buddha viharas, probably more in Sri Lanka, there are statues of Lord Vishnu, which are looked at reverentially. by the Buddhists. Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa also says that there is no doubt about Bhagavan  Buddha being an Avatara of Lord Vishnu. Swami Vivekananda tells us about him very superlatively. Dr. Radhakrishnan says that he was a reformer of Hinduism. Personally, I worship him as the Avatara of Lord Vishnu.

Religion, yoga, and scriptures are for the ignorant masses, who wholly accept the material world as it presents itself. Wisdom is for those who have begun to realize that things are not what they seem.:~Santthosh Kumaar 

Remember:~

Once Buddha died, great philosophical schools arose. It had never happened in the whole world as it happened in India after Buddha. The man who for his whole life was against philosophy and philosophizing became the source of the greatest philosophical endeavor ever. Thirty-six schools of philosophy were born when Buddha died. And the people that he had always condemned all gathered together to philosophize about him.

And see the beauty, the irony of it all! They started philosophizing about why Buddha kept silent.

Why he did not say anything about the beyond: that became their philosophy! They started talking about why he kept silent about the beyond. And there were as many answers as possible.

Somebody said, "Because there is no beyond." Now one philosophy has taken roots. Another said, "The beyond is, but it is inexpressible. That's why he kept silent." Now another school, and so on and so forth.

Even the silence of Buddha became a problem, and people started discussing the silence. Nobody tried to become silent; people started talking ABOUT the silence.

Beware of this trap, the mind is very cunning. If I say something about meditation, I am saying it so that you can meditate. But you start thinking about meditation, what meditation is. "How many kinds of meditation are there in existence? What is the difference between them? Why are they antagonistic to each other?

And then you can go on ad infinitum, and there will not be any time when you will ever meditate.

You will become more and more confused. You will become so confused finally that you will not know how to start meditation. because there are so many directions opening. Where to go? What to choose? You will simply be paralyzed.

The mind always does that. And only a few people who are really alert are capable of getting out of these traps of the mind. The mind is a great philosopher. And life is not a philosophy, life is a reality.

Philosophy is an escape from reality; philosophy means thinking. Life is - there is no question of thought. You can simply jump into it.

OSHO

Unio Mystica Volume 1,

chapter 3: Crying For The Light

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.

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 Upanishad that those who study the Sutras are religious 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.

Sage Sankara says: ~  Keep the scriptures for children, but throw them on the fire for wise seekers.

In Brahma Sutras Sage Sankara takes for granted, 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 text of Brahma Sutras is based on religion, dogmatism, but in the commentary Sankara cleverly 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 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. Self-knowledge is for the whole of humanity to free them from experiencing birth, life, death, and the world as 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.

The seeker has to begin his analysis with the world first, not with the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. The world in which you exist, consciousness is the finality. A Gnani sees the world in which he exists as consciousness." But to know this, they must be examined and studied.

The yogi does not care to know about the world" and for a  Gnani nothing remains to be known for him because he is fully aware of the fact that the universe in which he exists is nothing but an illusion created out of consciousness.

The Pundits do not know the true nature of the world in which we exist.  Scriptures deal only with the Objects, not with the Witness of the objects.

If one starts with the idea that Samsara (universe) exists, he can never see the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, because Samsara (world) is an illusion and only ignorant people read it as a reality.

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

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. 

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

Nobody is able to live without action, even though seemingly inactive, that even the Gnani must work and not keep idle, and that the only difference between his action and the ignorant man's is that the latter works for his own Self-interest or for that of a section connected with him whereas former works to spared the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

The Soul, the Self, reveals ‘what is real’ and ‘what is unreal” when the seeker is receptive and ready.

It takes time for the subconscious to gain speed; it takes time for the Soul to awake, and it takes time for the Soul which has been in the sleep of ignorance to wake up to its own awareness. :~Santthosh Kumaar 

Nothing is real but Consciousness, which is God in truth.+

Bhagavad Gita Chapter:~ All those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires, they worship many Gods. (7- Verse -20)

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

Do not accept any other God other than the Soul. The Soul is God in truth,  Nothing is real but the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Nothing matters but realize  God in truth. God in truth is everywhere and in everything. Let these words be inscribed in your subconscious.

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

Brahman is merely a word to indicate the ultimate truth or God in truth.  The ultimate truth itself is God in truth. 

Religious truth is not the ultimate truth because it always shows contradiction. A contradiction arises because a different person's interpretations may disagree with others.

Religion is “believers Truth” and Spirituality is “the universal truth.” This means a believer takes his feeling of truth whereas the seeker of truth takes his reasoned judgment, which will be the same under test everywhere in the universe.

People who argue that truth is only in their religion are vain logicians based merely on ideas, imaginations.  Religions that say "If one follows the religion they will go to heaven while others “go to hell," are stories invented on the base of false self within the false experience.

The man himself suggests that there must be a God. It is an auto-suggestion.  To say that one knows God exists always implies he must also exist always. It would be correct to say at this point, he does not know about the existence of God because God's existence depends on individualized belief.

What God is like?

God is a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. According to the Vedas God neither has any neither image nor God resides in any particular idol or statue. God cannot be seen directly by anyone. God pervades all beings and all directions.  

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.

Religious Gods are not  God in truth. One must realize what  God suppose to be in truth.

Some scholars believe that Lord Krishna has been just a Mahan yogi and not God himself. Hinduism is not Vedic religion or Santana Dharma.    Hindus do idol-worship while Vedas bars idol worship.  God pervades everything and everywhere in all three states.

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.

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. 

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

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) 

In pursuit of truth, the seeker has to discard religion because religion is based on the false ‘Self’ within the false experience.

In spirituality or Adyathma, the ultimate truth is God. The Atman is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

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

One may believe in a position, but he is required to prove the truth of his belief. A belief is based on the false ‘‘Self’’ within the false experience, ultimate truth or Brahman is based on the Soul the ‘Self’.

People magnify every minor coincidence or every petty fact where yogis or Good men were concerned, and they see the miraculous or esoteric significance therein.

Prayers and sacrifices belong to a premature stage of development. When no answers come to prayers to their gods based on blind belief, then the doubt arises about the existence of such a God.

If God is the formless spirit, then how does man know God created the world? There is no proof. If man had seen God creating the world, he could admit it, but how could he have seen God before he came into existence? (i.e. were created).  

Remember:~

Advaita means the Soul, the innermost Self. The Soul is one without the second. The Soul is present in the form of the Spirit or consciousness. The Soul is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth. Advaita is the nature of God in truth, the Self. Advaita is the real God. Advaita is the fullness of consciousness.

Remember this: ~

The ‘Self is the whole hidden by the ‘I’.

The ‘I’ is present in the form of the mind, therefore; ‘I’ is the mind.

The mind is present in the form of the form, time, and space

The form, time, and space together are the mind.

The duality is present only when the form, time, and space are present, therefore, the form, time, and space together is the duality.

The form, time, and space are present in the form of the universe, therefore, the form, time, and space together is the universe.

The universe appears as the waking or dream, therefore, the waking or dream is the universe.

The waking is a parallel dream and the dream is a parallel waking.

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

The ‘I’ is the Dvita and 'I' hides the Advaita.

People think the ‘I’ without the body is the Self. The seeker has to realize the fact that ‘I’ is not the Self, but the  Soul, the witness of the ‘I’ is the Self, which is eternal.

Remember this: ~

Without the ‘I’ there is only the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Without the mind, there is only the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Without the form, time, and space, there is only the Soul, the fullness of the consciousness.

Without the universe, there is only the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Without the waking or the dream, there is only the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Without the individual experience of birth, life, death, there is only the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Remember this: ~

From the standpoint of the Soul, the ‘I’ is an illusion.

From the standpoint of the Soul, the mind is an illusion.

From the standpoint of the Soul, form, time and space are an illusion.

From the standpoint of the Soul, the universe is an illusion.

From the standpoint of the Soul, the waking or dream is an illusion.

From the standpoint of the Soul, the individual experience of birth, life, death is an illusion.

The Soul is the cause of all that exists as an illusion and the Soul itself is uncaused.

Bhagavad Gita: ~ “You must first see the ‘I’ as illusory before you see others as illusory. ~ CH.2 v.16

Realize, ‘what is this ‘I’ supposed to be in actuality and what is hidden by the ‘I’ will be revealed.

If you realize the ‘Self ‘is not the ‘I’ but the Soul then whatever is hidden by the ‘I’ will be revealed.

Realizing the Soul is not the ‘I’ but the Soul is the Self, is Self –realization.

The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is ever-present. Without consciousness, the world, in which you exist ceases to exist. Consciousness is Self-evident. It is not established by extraneous proofs. It is not possible to deny consciousness because it is the very essence of the one who denies it. Consciousness is the basis of all kinds of knowledge, presuppositions, and proofs. Consciousness is everything. Thus, consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

The illusion hides the truth of the Advaita.

The Soul becomes an illusion in waking (duality) and waking becomes the Soul is deep sleep (nonduality).

The one that becomes the duality (waking or dream) and one that remains nonduality in deep sleep,  is the Soul, the Self.

The 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 truth other than consciousness. : ~Santthosh Kumaar

If he remains inactive like yogi in a cave can never realize the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.+

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. 

Only through Soulcentric reasoning, one will be able to cross the domain of form, time, and space.

Ashtavakra Gita: ~ It is not the absence of Buddhi (reason) that can grasp Advaita but the man who possesses the highest intellect. Brains are necessary. Such a man, by merely hearing the truth mentioned will know it. (Page~ 224).

The one who possesses the highest intellect can grasp the Advaitic truth, by merely hearing the truth mentioned will know it.

Bhagavad Gita: ~ Reason as a means to reality. (Chap.18 verse 37)

In chap. 10 of in Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says ~ I cannot save you, but I can give you Buddhi (reason). (chap. 10)

In chap. 10 of in Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says: ~ "I have given you the most secret teaching, now reflect over it all" Krishna plainly says reflect, think. (Verse 63 of Chap. 18)

Mundaka Upanishad says: ~  Both states are harmful and take you away from the path of inquiry into truth. (Page 234)

The reasoning is interpretable in two ways. The egocentric interpretation is to apply it only to the practical purpose (waking experience). The Soulcentric interpretation is to apply it to the three states. The latter leads to a final settlement of the problems because it takes all data into consideration.

If he remains inactive like a yogi in a cave can never realize the ultimate truth of Brahman.

The true meaning of "kill doubt" is not to refrain from inquiry as Pundits, yogis and religionists say, but to tackle every doubt and to go on until you answer or solve it satisfactorily and thus the doubt disappears.

Lord Krishna tells Arjuna to fight is misrepresented by half-Vedantins as an order to kill other human beings, because they are mere Ideas, Illusory, whereas whole Vedanta says these ideas too are Brahman, and the Self and hence no killing really occurs. Only when you see all individuals, especially the Self as imagined ideas, can you rise to see them later as Brahman? Thus, there are two stages. You must first see the ‘I’ as illusory before you see others as illusory. ~ CH.2 v.16

Bhagavad Gita gives dualistic worship of "God” only for the lower minds; it also teaches Advaita for the more evolved.

Likewise, thinkers and poets of the Age of Devotion (Bhakti) of the 16th century believed in a God with attributes who became very tangible when incarnating as Avatar and was attainable simply through love and devotion rather than scholastic and intellectual meditation.

For the religious people, the Bhagavad Gita became the main vehicle of inspiration with its qualified and deistic Monism, rather than the scholastic and esoteric path shown by Sage  Sankara’s Advaitic path.

Devotional prayer (Bhakti) is valued only for the ignorant who believe the world in which they are born is real. But for the seeker on his journey to the ultimate realization of the truth beyond the form, time, and space, the devotional path becomes an obstacle.

People worship God in various ways, not knowing the Truth. At different levels, at different epochs, in different lands, people have different conceptions of God. They have quarreled because they did not know the truth about God.

The conflict of opinions among mystics and religionists proves that all are imagining God as they like, not knowing God.

Rig Veda: ~ The Atman (Soul or Spirit) 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)

Rig-Veda 1-164-46 and Y.V 32-1 clearly mention that God is “One”.

Rig Veda declares God is ‘ONE’ and God is Atman, then why believe and worship in place of real God.

Brihad Upanishad: ~ “If you think there is another entity, whether man or God there is no truth."

When Upanishad itself declares: ~   Sarvam khalvidam brahma ~ all this (universe) is verily Brahman. By following back all of the relative appearances in the world, we eventually return to that from which it is all manifest – the non-dual reality (Chandogya Upanishad). 

Sage Sankara’s Supreme Brahman (God) is impersonal, Nirguna (without Gunas or attributes), Nirakara (formless), Nirvisesha (without special characteristics), immutable, eternal, and Akarta (non-agent). It is above all needs and desires. It is always the Witnessing Subject. It can never become an object as it is beyond the reach of the senses. Brahman is non-dual, one without a second. It has no other beside it. It 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 a 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 in truth)."

Thus, truth realization is Self-realization. Self-realization is God-realization.  God-realization itself is real worship.  :~Santthosh Kumaar 

Sage Sankara says:~ All the effects of ignorance, root, and branch, are burnt down by the fire of knowledge.+

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 until ignorance is present. When Advaitic wisdom dawns the unreal nature of the universe is exposed. The universe is a mere illusion created out of consciousness. 

In Self-awareness, there is conscious awareness of unity in diversity because there is no second thing that exists other than consciousness.

The Soul is indeed the supreme Self but due to its association with ignorance, it finds itself under the bondage of the illusory form, time, and space which is the sole cause of experiencing birth,  life,  death, and the world as a reality.

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.

Sage Sankara says ~ VC-162-  There is no liberation for a person of mere book knowledge, howsoever well-read in the philosophy of Vedanta, so long as one does not give up the false identification with the body, sense organs, etc., which are unreal.

The false identification of the Self with the non-Self is considered to be the root cause of the universe. When through deeper Self-search this false identification is removed, it is called liberation.

The Soul, the Self is of the nature of objectless awareness. This truth is Self-existent and cannot be denied, to deny one‘s Self is to actually prove its existence! The realization of this truth is hidden by the illusory form, time, and space is the goal of the seeker of truth.

There is no difference between Self-knowledge and Self-realization, for to know the true Self is to realize the true Self is not the waking entity (ego) but the formless Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Since the ultimate goal of the seeker is to attain liberation from experiencing the duality as reality. Self-Knowledge leads to liberating the Soul, the Self from experiencing the illusory form, time, and space as reality.

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana has been explored since time immemorial attests to its perennial interest and universal value.

Long before Socrates’ injunction: - “Know “Thy Self”, Indian sages have been exploring for long the question of the truth of the man and his experience of the universe. Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is fundamental since all other knowledge is dependent upon this knowledge. One needs to know “what is truth” to realize “what is untruth”.

Without first knowing the true Self, one can never understand truly where he stands in the cosmic scheme of things. Ignorance of the Self is seen as the root cause of experiencing birth, life, death, and the world as a reality.

Due to the ignorance of our true Self and consequent lack of correct valuation of things, one is stuck with the illusory reality of the universe because they take it as real.

Without knowing the true Self —the truth of one’s existence—one can never overcome ignorance. :~Santthosh Kumaar 

When the world in which you exist created out of consciousness then consciousness alone is real.+

When the world in which you exist is created out of the ‘Self’ which is not you but the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness then whatever you have seen, known, believed, and experienced is bound to be consciousness. 

Like an ornament made from gold is Gold, that which is born out of consciousness is consciousness. Like gold is a permanent thing, in ornaments made of gold, similarly, the mind, which is in the form of the universe is born out of consciousness, is consciousness in its essence

When the matter is an illusion created out of the Spirit then the Spirit alone is real.

When the object is created out of the subject then the subject alone is real.

When the world in which you exist is created out of the consciousness then consciousness alone is real.

Reality and unreality are created out of a single stuff because of the unreality (the world in which we exist) is experienced as a reality we are unaware of the reality hidden by the unreality.   

There is no second thing exists other than the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. The dualistic illusion, which is present in the form of the ‘I’, hides the truth.

Stick to reality by mentally dropping the unreality.  

The matter and the Spirit are one in essence. Thus, the matter is Spirit. When the matter is created out of the Spirit then the matter has no value because there is a second thing that exists, other than the Spirit.  

Science cuts itself from the witness (Soul or Spirit) and remains aloof from the witnessed (universe or matter). The scientist not only stands aside, outside the field of the witness. It is because the scientist is unaware of the witness, which is apart from the witnessed, and he and his invention are part of the witnessed. Therefore, science cannot cross the threshold of physical existence (universe or waking).  Thus,  its invention is limited to physicality.

Science is based on objects; its invention is based on an object as the subject. Thus, modern science can get the truth of the objectified subject. Elimination of object mentally and realizing the subject then judging the worldview on the base of the pure subject leads to the discovery of ultimate truth.

The feelings and impressions and notions are based on the physical Self (ego or the waking entity). The scientific inventions are based on the physical Self. 

A deeper self-search reveals the fact that the waking entity (ego) is a false Self within the false experience (waking).

Science has begun to admit that the world of the Spirit and the world of matter are not two antipodes...  A leading British astronomer, Sir James Jeans, confessed that the scientific conception of the universe in the past was mistaken and that the borderline between the objective world, as it is manifested in nature, and the subjective one, as it expresses itself through the mind, hardly exists.  In [a 1934 address at Cornell University], he said: “ Nature we study does not consist so much of something we perceive as of our perceptions, it is not the object ... but the relation itself.  There is, in fact, no clear-cut division between the subject and object.”  Twenty years earlier, such a statement would have been sheer heresy.  Likewise, a search for the Ultimate Reality that we usually call, "God," a search along both intellectual and unorthodox lines; need not be regarded as either heresy or sacrilege.

The sun, the moon, the stars, planets shine because of the Soul or the Spirit.  The Soul shines and all things else shine as a result. Everything in the universe reflects but that light of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Merely to know the truth is not enough to escape from the tangle of illusion.

The mind is in the form of the universe. From the standpoint of the Soul, the innermost Self the universe is merely an illusion.  The illusion arises from ignorance. Enlightenment comes with detachment from the illusion by realizing the experience of the form, time and space are one in essence.

The final conclusion of any scientist has to be: ~

Everything is Spirit (Soul or the consciousness), which Sage scientist  Sankara declared 1200 years back –everything is Atman(Soul)  because Atman present is in the form of consciousness or Spirit. 

The science wholly accepts the material world as it presents itself. Non-dualistic or Advaitic wisdom makes one realize that things are not what they seem.

The Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness (Spirit), is the root element of the universe. From consciousness, the universe comes into existence. In consciousness, the universe resides. And into consciousness, the universe is dissolved.   Consciousness is the parent of all that there is. Consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman.  Brahman is God in truth.

The consciousness is the only reality, and the universe is an illusory manifestation. 

People are not aware of the fact that there is no God can exist, apart from the Soul, the innermost Self.  If there is no Soul, then there is no physical body, world, and belief in personal God. 

People think that there must be a creator of this universe. If one thinks ‘I’ Self, then there is a creator, but if one thinks of the Soul as the Self, then there is nothing that exists other than the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

If one objectifies and sees a universe, then he is bound to see many things besides the Self and postulate a God, the creator. Body, God, and world rise and set together from, and into, the Soul, the Self. If God is apart from the Soul, the Self, then He would be Self-less, that is, outside existence, that is, non-existent. :~Santthosh Kumaar