Sage Sankara strongly advocated the study of Upanishads and at the same time cautioned that study of Upanishad alone would not lead to moksha.+

The Upanishads are Self-contradictory. Every pundit even gives conflicting interpretations of them. The final authority, therefore, is using one’s own reason. One should apply his reason to them.

Sage Sankara strongly advocated the study of Upanishads and at the same time cautioned that study of Upanishad 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; 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).

Of the 120 or so Upanishads which are extant, about twelve Upanishads are considered to be major Upanishads.

Almost every religious Gurus and pundits have commented on most of these major Upanishads. They are all discourses and dialogues on spiritual experiences and pursuits. Long or short, in prose or poetry, they are expositions and theses on fundamental questions transcending the phenomenal realities of day-to-day life.

However, the one under-current of everything in the Upanishads would seem to be the concept of one Godhead, amidst the plethora of names and forms that confront us in nature as well as in the mental universe in each one of us.

The word ‘Brahman’ is used by the Upanishads to refer to the ultimate truth or ultimate Reality.

The essence of the Upanishads:~ Atman is the ultimate reality or Brahman. Atman is the Self hidden by the universe. Atman pervades everything animate and inanimate. Atman is the One and only One intangible power behind all tangible forces. Atman is the vast boundless ocean of which everything that is experienced is only a wave.  Everything that appears as the universe(I) is only a fragment of that wave.

The seeker with all earnestness to delve beneath the form, time and space and seek the Infinite Atman hidden by the universe(I). All the doubts and confusion prevails till the Atman, the Self hidden by the ignorance is realized.

Atman is Brahman or God. God is everywhere because the universe in which we exist is merely an illusion created out of Atman God.   God pervades everywhere and everything in the universe.  There is no second thing other than Atman, the God.

This implication of the Upanishadic teaching is missed by all but the true Seer. To say that there is nothing but God means we must be able to see God hidden by the universe.

A Gnani sees only the Atman, the Self. Atman is the immanent Reality in hidden by the universe.  For Gnani, the universe in which he exists is only a dualistic illusion or Maya. To attain this equanimous vision is the goal of every seeker.

To bring home this point the Sages  of the Upanishads get into elaborate dialectical arguments, competitive discourses, provocative dialogues, revealing reminiscences of spiritual experiences, descriptions of tentative conclusions after initial experimentations, numerous questions and varied answers to each of them, meditative searches after truth, joyous declarations of the Advaitic  Wisdom and last of all, very involved comparisons and analogies some of them very complicated and involved as to defy our understanding and some of them as elementary as may verge on the naïve. However, much we may write about it we shall still be floating only on the TIP! It is the experience that is the Iceberg!

Even if one master the four Vedas, then the Vedangas, the various sastras in spite of all this knowledge he has not learned about the Ultimate Truth or Brahman.

Infinite is nondual. the Finite is the dualistic universe.  A Gnani sees Atman as it is in the midst of the dualistic illusion. nothing else hears nothing else, is aware of nothing else, that is the Infinite.

Chandogya Upanishad 7.24.1: ~ The Infinite is immortal while the Finite is mortal.

The ultimate is non-dual. Any presence or awareness of duality makes the awareness finite. The Infinite is the fullest expression and manifestation of the ultimate truth or ultimate Reality.

Kenopanaishad 1 – 4: ~ That is everywhere. That is above, that is below, that is in front of you, behind you. That is Atman, the immanent Reality. That is brahman, the Transcendent Reality. What you see before you physically, is not Brahman, but what makes you see is Brahman.

It cannot be heard by your ears, because it is what makes you hear. It cannot be thought of as an object of thought by your mind, but it is what makes your mind think. Such profound descriptions abound everywhere in the Upanishads.

Remember:~ 

Sage Sankara strongly advocated the study of Upanishads, and at the same time cautioned that study of Upanishad 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; 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).

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 which 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?

62. A disease does not leave off if one simply utters the name of the medicine, without taking it; (similarly) without direct realization one cannot be liberated by the mere utterance of the word Brahman.

63. Without causing the objective universe to vanish and without knowing the truth of the Self, how is one to achieve Liberation by the mere utterance of the word Brahman? — It would result merely in an effort of speech.

64. Without killing one’s enemies, and possessing oneself of the splendor of the entire surrounding region, one cannot claim to be an emperor by merely saying, ‘I am an emperor’.

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.

66. Therefore, the wise should, as in the case of disease and the like, personally strive by all the means in their power to be free from the bondage of repeated births and deaths.

Then there is no need for the scriptures, religion, and idea of God. One has to be more rational to realize the Advaitic truth, which is the ultimate truth or scientific truth.

Remember:

The dualistic knowledge of the ‘Self ‘gathered from scriptures holy books or Gurus can never emancipate a man until its ‘Self’ is rightly investigated and applied; only direct realization of the ‘Self ‘will reveal the truth hidden by the ‘I’.

Sage Sankara says: ~ “What is accepted without a proper inquiry will not lead a person to the final goal. On the contrary, such acceptance will result only in evil, in something which is detrimental to our spiritual progress.

Sage Sankara regards personal realization as independent and convincing evidence.

Sage Sankara says that an individual’s experience cannot be disputed because the experience he went through was real to him; though that may not be real from the absolute point of view.

Sage Sankara makes a distinction between the absolute view and the relative view of things.

The seeker's aim is the search for the Ultimate Truth or Brahman. The search to find the non-dualistic or Advaitic truth that in actuality never was lost, only hidden.

The scriptures are for ignorant masses, who wholly accept the material world as it presents itself. Gnana is for those who have begun to realize that things are not what they seem.

The Scriptures are of value only when dealing with persons who are incapable of understanding the truth. They have no value as authority for those who use reason.

I quote only verified citation form the scriptures. I need no scriptures but I quote them to help the seekers to realize that religion, scriptures, and the belief of God is nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman.

Upanishads say: ~ It is impossible to find and realize the truth via religion and scriptural study. :~Santthosh Kumaar