The true nature of Moksha or freedom.+

How to attain Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.  It is only those that seek the truth they alone take to the Atmic path.

Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find it, they will realize the world in which they exist is an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The knowledge of both matter and spirit is the Self- knowledge or Brahm Gnana or Atma Gnana.   The world in which you exist is an illusion created out of the Soul, the Spirit, or the consciousness.

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is meant for those who are seriously seeking the truth. Patience and humility are the main ingredients in the path of truth

The true nature of Moksha or freedom:~

The real Moksha or freedom is to realize the fact that ‘I’ consciousness is mere physical awareness. Physical awareness is present in form, time, and space. The form, time, and space are present in the form of the mind. The mind is present in the form of the universe. The universe appears as waking or dream (duality) and disappears as deep sleep (nonduality)     Physical awareness is not Self-awareness. Self–awareness is when the formless Soul or consciousness remains aware of its own non-dual true nature.

Religious people think  Mukthi or liberation is attained if one goes to die in Kashi, some say Mukti is gotten after death. Some say it is achieved if they indulge in good karmas and rituals and dip in the holy river Ganga and so on.

Sage Sankara: ~   “VC ~ “Neither sacred baths nor any amount of charity nor even Hundreds of pranayamas* can give us the knowledge of our own Self.  The firm conviction of the nature of the Self is seen to proceed from inquiry along the lines of the salutary advice of the wise. 

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.

Fortunate is the one who does not lose themselves in the orthodoxy. Fortunate is the man who does not lose himself in the labyrinths of philosophy but goes straight to and realizes the truth, which is hidden by the ‘I’, which is the dualistic illusion.

Upanishad says ~ “The human goal is to acquire Self-Knowledge and they indicate that belief in the personal Gods, yoga scriptures, worship, and rituals are not the means to Self –Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, then why anyone should indulge in it.

That is why Sage Sankara says: ~ “One without knowledge does not obtain liberation even in a hundred births, no matter which religious faith he follows. (Bhaja Govindam)

Thus, the path of wisdom is the only means. Then it is no use going a roundabout way, trace the Brahman which is the formless substance and the witness of the universe (mind).  By tracing the source of the mind or the universe, one will be able to realize the Brahman.

Yoga Vasistha says: ~ “Self-knowledge or knowledge of truth is not had by resorting to a Guru (preceptor) nor by the study of scripture, nor by good works: it is attained only by means of inquiry inspired by the company of wise (Gnani). One’s inner light alone is the means, naught else. When this inner light is kept alive, it is not affected by the darkness of inertia. 

Sage Sankara: -  Loud speech, a profusion of words, and possessing skilfulness in expounding scriptures are merely for the enjoyment of the learned.  They do not lead to liberation."

Due to the absence of proper guidance, many have been deluding and fallen prey to a false sense of Mukti and only a few will be able to cross the ocean of ignorance and realize what is this Mukthi or freedom supposed to be.

Real Moksha or  liberation is:~

Liberation: From the ignorance.

Liberation from ignorance means liberation from the ‘I’.

Liberation from the ‘I’ means liberation from the mind.

Liberation from mind means liberation from form, time, and space.

Liberation from form, time, and space means liberation from the universe

Liberation from the universe means liberation from the waking experience.

Liberation from the waking means liberation from the experience of birth, life, and death.

Liberation from the experience of birth, life, and death means liberation from the dualistic illusion.

Liberation from the dualistic illusion means liberation from falsehood.

Liberation from falsehood means establishing in the reality which is hidden by the ‘I’.

The Soul is hidden by the dualistic illusion.  As flowing rivers disappear in the sea, losing their names and forms, the Soul, the Self frees itself from the ‘I', which is the dualistic illusion, and attains freedom or Mukti from experiencing the dualistic illusion  (world) as a reality.

He who knows the truth of his true existence verily becomes one with it. He overcomes grief caused by experiencing birth, life, death, and the world as a reality. He is fully aware of the fact that the ‘Self’ is not ‘I’ but the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. the Soul, the Self is immortal.

Having realized the Soul as the Self, the Gnani become satisfied with that Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Katha Upanishad says:~ Fools dwelling in darkness, but thinking themselves wise and erudite, go round and round, by various tortuous paths, like the blind led by the blind. (Ch II-5 P-14)

The ultimate truth has to be realized first, and then only it is possible to know what the scriptures are saying.:~Santthosh Kumaar 

Hold on to Sage Sankara’s yardstick and discriminate to realize the real which is hidden by unreal.+

If you are a seeker of truth then you must seek only truth nothing but the truth. You will be distracted and you will find no time for this search after the Advaitic Gnana or Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana

People who have any other object in views such as name or fame or prosperity then the Atmic path is not for them. Such people are not attracted to the Atmic path and they are holy beggars ready with begging bowls begging to their belief of God to fulfill their desires and they are unaware of the fact that their God of belief is not God in truth.

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.

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

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)

All the God and Goddesses people worship are religious beliefs. Whatever is seen, known, believed, and experienced as a person within the dualistic illusion (world) is a falsehood.

Thus, whatever belongs to the falsehood has to be discarded in order to realize the truth which is hidden by the dualistic illusion.

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)

The starting point of your spiritual journey is discrimination between the real and unreal.

To discriminate you must know what is unreal to realize what is real. Without knowing what is unreal, you will not have a yardstick to discriminate.

There is no need to search for the truth because Sage Sankara has declared what is real and what is unreal 1400 years back.

Atman is Brahman ~ “The Soul is the ultimate truth

Jagan Mithya ~ “The world is unreal

Hold on to Sage Sankara’s yardstick, and discriminate to realize the real which is hidden by unreal. Mentally hold on to the real and drop the unreal to enter the awareness of the Soul in the midst of the unreality.

If you have the humility to accept the truth patience, sincerity, and seriousness in your quest for truth then you will be able to realize the truth, which is hidden by the unreal world in which you exist.

Your ‘I' know the attitude, your habitual argumentative attitude, your scriptural mastery, and your accumulated knowledge block you from acquiring Self.-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Tripura Rahasya: ~ Second-hand knowledge of the Self-gathered from books or Gurus can never emancipate a man until its truth is rightly investigated and applied; only direct realization will do that. Realize yourself, turning the mind inward. (18: 89)

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana frees the Soul, the innermost Self from the cage of the dualistic illusion.

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.

People dwelling in ignorance, but thinking themselves wise and erudite, go round and round by various blind beliefs and tortuous paths and practices, like the blind led by the blind. :~Santthosh Kumaar 

People talk about experiencing the reality they are unaware of the fact that their own existence is a reality within the dualistic illusion.+

People talk about experiencing the reality they are unaware of the fact that their own existence is a reality within the dualistic illusion. Their individual experience of birth, life, death, and the world is a reality within the dualistic illusion. How can they experience the reality which is free from the illusory form, time, and space?

Experience implies duality. Without duality, there is no experience. The duality hides reality. Reality is a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

Self-realization is not an experience. Self-realization is realizing the ‘Self’ is not you but the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. The Sages of truth did not call it Self –experience but they called it  Self-realization.

Experiencing the ‘Self’ is the religious and yogic fable. Only in the religious and yogic path, do people talk about experiencing the ‘Self.

The Soul, the ‘Self’ cannot be experienced because the ‘Soul, the Self is prior to any experience. The Soul, the ‘Self’ is not an individual to experience because the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness pervades everything and everywhere in the world in which you exist.

The world in which you exist is a dualistic illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The Soul is the root element of the universe. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. From the Soul, the universe comes into existence. In the Soul, the universe resides. And into the Soul, the universe dissolves. The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is the parent of all that is present as the universe. The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

Bhagavad Gita: ~ 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).

Chandogya Upanishad: ~ sarvam khalvidam brahma ~ All this (universe) is verily Brahman (consciousness). 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.

Consciousness is the only reality in which the universe exists, to which the universe belongs; from which the universe has emerged, which is the cause of the universe and which itself is uncaused. Thus, the universe is nothing but consciousness.

Remember:~

The look of an object will depend upon the medium through which the observer views it. In fact, our mental and intellectual conditions determine the world, observed and experienced. The commoner viewing the world will see differently from a Gnani viewing the same world. Each one interprets the world that they see in terms of their existing knowledge. The commoner sees everything based on the ego, therefore, experiences the birth, life, death and the world as a reality, whereas a Gnani sees everything as the consciousness and he is fully aware of the fact that, there is no second thing exists other than the Soul or the consciousness. Thus, all the egocentric knowledge has to be bifurcated to realize the ultimate truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

Anubhav in the Advaitic contest is not an experience but it is the realization of the 'Self' hidden by the dualistic illusion (Maya or world). Remember the 'Self', not an individual but the Self is a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. the experience is possible only in the domain of form, time, and space. In reality, the form, time, and space are one in essence.

Sage Sankara himself has warned us not to use ambiguous words, and to practice semantic analysis (“Definition of one's own Self." Page 199, v.24 of "Sankara's Selected Works”

Sage Sankara strongly advocated the study of Upanishads, and at the same time cautioned that the study of Upanishads alone would not lead to moksha. In matters of such as spiritual attainment, one’s own realization was the sole authority and it cannot be disputed

Sage Sankara also said the study of Upanishad was neither indispensable nor a necessary prerequisite for attaining the human goal, the moksha.

Sage Sankara pointed out; that even those who were outside the Upanishad fold were as eligible to moksha as those within the fold were. He declared that all beings are Brahman, and therefore the question of discrimination did not arise. All that one was required to do was to get rid of ignorance (Avidya or duality).

Sage Sankara: ~ 'Like a servant who carries a lamp in front of you to find your way, and you have found it, so becomes the Veda to that person. What is the Veda? ~ utterances of those who have known the Truth. Here is one who has known the Truth; why should he or she depend upon the Veda further? Actual realization takes you beyond books. At a certain stage, books become a botheration. The Upanishad itself says that the 'words are only so much of distraction for such minds'

Upanishads:~ They alone in this world are endowed with the highest wisdom who are firm in their conviction of the sameness and birthlessness of Atman. The ordinary man does not understand their way. (Chapter IV — Alatasanti Prakarana 95-P-188 in Upanishads by Nikilanada)

Sage Sankara himself says: ~ VC 59. The study of the Scriptures is useless so long as the highest Truth is unknown, and it is equally useless when the highest Truth has already been known.

60. The Scriptures, consisting of many words are a dense forest that merely causes the mind to ramble. Hence men of wisdom should earnestly set about knowing the true nature of the Self.

61. For one who has been bitten by the serpent of Ignorance, the only remedy is the knowledge of Brahman. Of what avail are the Vedas and (other) Scriptures, Mantras (sacred formulae), and medicines to such a one?

It is not that one should pore over the ancient scriptures. There is no need to study first, and then realize. One has to realize first, then only he will know ‘what is the truth’ and ‘what is untruth’. One has to make his discoveries through the process of rational thinking.

That is why Sage  Sankara says:~ V C:~65. As a treasure hidden underground requires (for its extraction) competent instruction, excavation, the removal of stones and other such things lying above it, and (finally) grasping, but never comes out by being (merely) called out by name, so the transparent Truth of the Self, which is hidden by Maya and its effects, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, followed by reflection, meditation and so forth, but not through perverted arguments.

Sage Sankara says: ~ What is accepted without a proper inquiry will not lead to the final Goal. (Commentary on Vedanta Sutra).

The "Self" cannot be experienced because the experience is possible only in the realm of duality. There is neither experience nor experiencer in reality. In Self-awareness, the body, ego, and the world are not considered different from consciousness.

The experience and experiencer exist within the domain of form, time, and space. The form, time, and space are within the domain of the dualistic illusion.

To experiencer must have a form, without the form the experience is impossible? The experience is impossible without the form, time and space. The experiencer and the experience are one, in essence. The essence is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The Soul, the ‘Self’ is the fullness of consciousness without the division of form, time, and space. All the division in consciousness is merely an illusion. Thus, other than consciousness all else is merely an illusion. The illusion is also consciousness because it is created out of consciousness.:~Santthosh Kumaar 

Advaita is another word for God. Advaita, is the God, the one without the Second.+

Advaita is universal.  What is sold as Advaita in the spiritual supermarket is not the Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara.

Advaita is the nature of the Soul, the Self.

The world in which you exist is created out of single stuff. That single stuff is consciousness. Knowledge of the single stuff is Advaitic wisdom.

Advaitic truth is very simple, but it is very difficult to realize because you have accumulated mental garbage from different sources in the name of Advaita.

Until you discard all the accumulated knowledge you will never be able to realize the Advaitic truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space.

The Advaita is the nature of the Soul, the 'Self' shines in its own awareness when wisdom dawns.

The Advaita is the Soul is the cause and the support of all that exists in the world in which we exist. Advaita is the nature of God, the innermost Self.

The Advaita is present in the form of consciousness. Advaita is the root element of the universe. From the Advaita, the universe comes into existence. In the Advaita, the universe resides. And into the Advaita, the universe is dissolved. The Advaita is the parent of all that is present in the form of the universe.

All the Advaitic Gurus of the east and the west are based on the dualistic perspective. Dualistic knowledge is egocentric knowledge. All egocentric Advaita or nonduality is based on imagination. All imagined Advaita is will not help to cross the domain of form, time, and space.

The egocentric knowledge keeps the Soul in the intoxication of the ‘I’. The ‘I’ hides the whole truth.  The Gurus and the teachers of nonduality of the east and west are stuck up with their own accepted truth gathered from here and there and  Their egoic attitude blocks than from realizing the Advaita hidden by the dvaita, which is present in the form of the ‘I’.

Mundaka Upanishads: ~ So-called spiritual pundits and learned are called children because a child takes whatever it thinks as truth. The question never occurs to children “Is what I have seen or thought really the truth?" (P.334 line 9)

Scriptures are not needed in pursuit of truth. Even the Upanishads and the Advaitic Sages declare the same.

The ultimate truth has to be ascertained without the scriptures by realizing the Self is neither the waking entity nor the dream entity but the Self is the formless Soul which is present in the form of consciousness. In the realm of truth the form, time, and space are created out of single stuff. That single stuff is consciousness. Realizing the single stuff as ultimate truth is Self-realization or truth realization. To realize this truth there is no need for the scriptures.

The ultimate truth has to be realized first then only it is possible to know what the scriptures are saying.

That is why Sage Sankara says: ~ VC 56. Neither by Yoga, nor by Sankhya, nor by good work, nor by learning, but by the realization of one's identity with Brahman is Liberation possible, and by no other means.

58. Loud speech consisting of a shower of words, the skill in expounding the Scriptures, and likewise erudition - these merely bring on a little personal enjoyment to the scholar but are no good for Liberation.

59. The study of the Scriptures is useless so long as the highest Truth is unknown, and it is equally useless when the highest Truth has already been known.

60. The Scriptures consisting of many words are a dense forest that is merely causes the mind to ramble. Hence men of wisdom should earnestly set about knowing the true nature of the Self.

Advaita is the nature of the Soul. Advaita is second to none. Advaita is universal wisdom revealed on its own to all the serious and sincere seekers of truth.

The real Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara is Soulcentric knowledge.  The Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is Soulcentric knowledge that destroys ignorance.

It takes time for the seeker to gain the perfect understanding of ‘what is the truth’ and ‘’what is untruth’. It takes time for the Soul, the innermost Self to wake up from the sleep of ignorance, and it takes time for one realizes the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

Remember

Advaita is another word for God in truth. Advaita is  God in truth, the one without the Second.

Adyatma is knowledge of Brahman or God, which is hidden by the illusory form, time, and space.

Adyatma is nothing to do with religious sects or creeds and religious beliefs. Adyatma is pure spirituality. Knowledge of Atma is Adyatma. Advaita is Adyatma.

Adyatma is the knowledge of the truth beyond form, time, and space. bifurcate religion, yoga, and theoretical philosophy and based the truth on the Atma is Adyatma.

Adyatma is based on the ultimate truth which is based on the Atma or Spirit, which is the innermost Self.

Vedas are of the Adyatma because Vedas are based on the Atma the supreme Spirit.   

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

Vedas confirm the  Atma (Soul), the innermost Self, is present in the form of the Spirit or the consciousness is the ultimate truth or  Brahman or  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) 

The Spirit is the root element of the universe. The Spirit is present in the form of the Soul, the innermost 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. 

Yajurveda says: ~ 

Translation 1.

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

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

Translation 2.

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

Translation 3.

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

So, Yajur Veda indicates that: ~

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

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

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

There is a clear-cut idea of God in the Vedas, Upanishad, and Bhagavad Gita. And also there is a clear-cut idea of what not to worship as God in place of real God. 

Bhagavad Gita: ~ 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. 

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. 

That is why 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.

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

As one peeps into the annals of the Indian  religious history  he finds that some saints in the past introduced the concept of God with attributes

But remember:~

Yajur Veda says:~  those who worship visible things, born of the prakrti, such as the earth, trees, bodies (human and the like), in place of God are enveloped in still greater darkness. Therefore, all these adulterated add-ons prove that the form and attribute-based concepts are introduced by some sages of the past with a new belief system and code of conduct in the name of Vedas. 

Sruti is made the final or exclusive authority in apara Vidya and that for supporting the tenet of the causal relation or creatorship of Brahman, Nirguna Brahman = the "Absolute beyond qualities," which can be defined only in a negative way.

For the Sankarian school = the Ultimate Reality, higher than the Lord. i.e. of Saguna or apara Brahman ... The support of Scriptural Revelation is, therefore, absolutely necessary for this hypothesis of cosmology, this Saguna or apara (= inferior) Brahman, but not for the absolute truth of Nirguna Brahman. 

The Sruti itself’ says:~  "This Atma is not to be attained by a study of the Vedas.  (Katha Upanishad I, 2, 23.)   

        

Therefore, all the adulterated add-ons and attribute-based knowledge, which are inferior, have to be bifurcated and excluded to know the ultimate truth.  The seeker of truth has to drop all the inferior knowledge based on the attributes and go beyond the Vedas to understand assimilate and realize the ultimate truth or Brahman. 

One has to think beyond Vedas' means to think beyond religion. Think beyond religion means, going beyond Gods based on blind faith or blind belief.  

Thinking beyond the Vedas, the Religion, and the belief God is thinking beyond the illusion.   That is the end of the Vedas (Veda –antha). The realization of the ultimate truth is Adyatma. :~Santthosh Kumaar 

The dualists Gurus brought all the mythological entity introduces a new version of scriptures with non-Vedic entities of male and female Gods.+

Sage Sankara gave religious, ritual, or dogmatic instruction to the ignorant populace but the Advaitic wisdom 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. 

Advaita is misrepresented by the orthodoxy because they preach the ritualistic side of Advaita, which is nothing to do with the Advaitic wisdom.

Advaitic orthodoxy is based on the dualistic perspective whereas the Advaitic wisdom is based on the nondualistic perspective.

The world is an illusion means the experience of birth, life, and death also is part and parcel of that illusion.  The illusion hides the reality because the illusion is created out of reality.

All individuals exist within the illusory reality.  The seeker has to rise to see the universe as the consciousness.

The seeker must first see the ‘I’ as illusory before he sees others as illusory by realizing the ‘I’ is nothing but the illusion created out of the Soul, the Self.

The dualists' Gurus used the word ‘I’ for the Soul, the ‘Self. They brought all the mythological entity introduced a new version of scriptures with non-Vedic entities of male and female Gods, which has no Vedic sanction.

This all the pundit's interpretation of the scriptures are based on ‘self as the ‘I’. Thus, they glorified the ‘I’ without the body is the Self.  They propagated that ‘I’ is within the physical heart without realizing what this ‘I’ is supposed to be in actuality.  Thus, many people

The seeker has to understand the fact that ‘I’ is not the Self but the witness of the ‘I’ is the true Self, which is eternal. 

One who realizes the Self is not the ‘I’ but the Self’ is the Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness, discovers that form, time, and space are nothing but consciousness.

Sage Sankara says:  VC- How can the talk of diversity, dvaita, apply to the Supreme Reality which is one and homogeneous, Advaita? Who has ever observed diversity, dvaita, in the unmixed bliss of the state of profound sleep?

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

It is very much necessary for the seeker of the truth to realize what God is supposed to be in actuality according to Vedas and Upanishad and Bhagvad Gita.

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

Religious Gods are based on blind belief. Religious God cannot be considered as a center because the Soul and the  ‘Self’ are the center 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.

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)

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

No worship of religious Gods helps to get rid of ignorance. All the worships and rituals are based on the non-Vedic Gods. Non~Vedic Gods are not God in truth.   

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 other than consciousness a God. 

There is no God but God because the universe is merely an illusion created out of God. There is nothing that is not God. God is the whole,  not the part. The part is an illusion.

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

Religion is meant for the ignorant populace, which strongly believes, the world in which he exists as a reality.

For one who wants to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, the mantas will not help to realize the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

That is why Sage Sankara says: ~  “VC- v6~ Let erudite scholars quote all the scripture, let Gods be invoked through sacrifices, let elaborate rituals be performed, let personal Gods be propitiated---yet, without the realization of one‘s identity with the Self, there shall be no liberation for the individual, not even in the lifetimes of a hundred Brahmas put together.

VC~.61:~ “For one who has been bitten by the serpent of Ignorance, the only remedy is the knowledge of Brahman. Of what avail are the Vedas and (other) Scriptures, Mantras (sacred formulae), and medicines to such a one?

Sage Sankara goes on to say: ~A sickness of not cured by saying the word “medicine.” You must take the medicine. Liberation does not come by merely saying the word “Brahman (God).” Brahman must be realized. Until you allow this apparent universe to dissolve from your consciousness until you have realized Brahman, how can you find liberation just by saying the word Brahman? The result is merely noise. Until a man has destroyed his enemies and taken possession of the splendor and wealth of the kingdom, he cannot become a king by simply saying “I am a king.”

A buried treasure is not uncovered by merely uttering the words: “Come forth.” You must follow the right directions, dig, remove the stones and earth from above it, and then make it your own. In the same way, the pure truth of the Atman, which is buried under Maya and the effects of Maya, can be reached by meditation, contemplation, and other spiritual disciplines but never by subtle arguments.

Sage Sankara’s wisdom reveals: ~ Atman is the only ultimate reality or Brahman or God in truth

Advaita means the Soul, the Self, which is second to none. The Soul, which is present in the form of the Spirit or consciousness, is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth. Advaita is the nondual nature of God, the Soul, the  Self. Advaita is God in truth. Advaita is the fullness of consciousness. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar