Without Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom, Self-realization is an impossibility.+

Without Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom, Self-realization is an impossibility. There is no higher or lower goal. Self- realization is the only one and only goal. 

Without Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom, Self-realization is an impossibility. When religion has become merely a matter of worshiping superstition, dogmas rituals, and ceremonies, it has become a cage for the Soul, the Self.

God in truth is not the religious Gods you believe and worship. God in truth is the Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of consciousness. 

Do not search for God in the external world because God in truth is the cause of the universe. God in truth is hidden by the universe in which you exist. Let these words be inscribed in your subconscious.

Nothing is real but the Soul, which is  God in truth. Nothing matters but the realization of God in truth. 

God in truth pervades everywhere and in everything in the world in which you exist because the world in which you exist is merely an illusion created out of God in truth, which is present in the form of consciousness. Consciousness, which is God in truth, alone is real, and all else is an illusion.

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

Some Gurus advised concentration on the sense “I” as a means to obtain realization. Some Gurus say “You should just go on thinking ‘I’ constantly the ‘I’ will shine as Self’. Such declarations are a great error, because, the ‘I’ itself is ignorance.

The ‘I-centric and ‘you-centric’ Gurus and their teaching deal with lower knowledge. The seeker has to ignore these ‘I-centric and ‘you-centric’ Gurus and their teaching to move to realize the higher truth hidden by the ‘I’.

The ‘I-centric and ‘you-centric’ Gurus and their teaching are unsafe rafts for crossing the sea of ignorance. Doomed to shipwreck are those who try to cross the sea ignorance on these poor rafts. Ignorant of their own ignorance, yet wise in their own esteem, these deluded men proud of their vain learning go round and round like the blind led by the blind.

That is why Bhagavan Buddha: ~ “Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.

It is foolish to say ‘I AM GOD’ when the Self is not you, but the Self is the Soul. Therefore, the Soul, the Self, is God in truth.

People say Aham Brahmasmi ~ I am God, I am Brahman. But when Brahman is, how can "I" remain? Only Brahman remains, not the ‘I’.

People study Vedanta and they are under the delusion and conclude that they say, ‘I AM Brahman’ or ‘I AM THAT’ but they fail to realize the fact that Brahman is everywhere and in everything! The existence of Brahman is not limited to the physical identity because, it the very essence of the form, time, and space.

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."

Sage Sankara: ~ VC 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 (verses-6)

Sage Sankara: ~ "Though I wear these robes of a sanyasin, it is only for the sake of bread."

~ This shows he was wearing the religious robe only for the sake of bread." Thus, it means those who are wearing a religious robe for the sake of bread.

Sage Sankara: ~ A Gnani "bears no outward mark of a holy man"

Thus, it proves that religious Gurus and yogis are not Gnanis because they identified themselves as holy people. The religious Gurus, yogis, and ‘I-centric’ ‘you-centric’ Gurus and their teachings are not Advaitic wisdom.

If you hold anyone as holy or anything as sacred you will never be able to transcend from dualistic illusion to the nondualistic reality. Other than the Soul nothing is holy and sacred.

A Gnani never claims himself as a Gnani, he guides the seekers, not posing himself as a Guru, and he does not force his wisdom on others.

Advaita is not a theory or a philosophy. Advaita is the nature of the Soul the  Self. There is no need for any theory or philosophy or scriptures to acquire Self-knowledge. Only a perfect understanding of ‘what is what’ is needed.

Rig Veda: ~ May ye never turn away from the Atman (Soul) the Self. May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?" (10:48, 5)

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 ~ that thou art."

That is why Sage Sankara says:~ The transparent Truth of the ‘Self’, which is hidden by the Maya (‘I’) and its effects, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman (Gnani).

If you concentrate on the ‘I’ then you are concentrating on ignorance. If you focus your attention believing the ‘‘Self’’ as the ‘I’ then your ignorance will become more and more deep-rooted.

Those who are stuck up with this ‘I-centric’ and ‘you-centric’ Gurus and their teaching will never be able to get rid of ignorance.

At a certain point, advice and words become meaningless. Those words may have served as a pointer along the way, and that’s fine, but sooner or later the seeker will have to discard these ‘I-centric’ and ‘you-centric’ Gurus and their teaching in order to get rid of ignorance.

That is why Bhagavan Buddha said: ~ “Believe nothing because a wise man said it, Believe nothing because it is generally held. Believe nothing because it is written. Believe nothing because it is said to be divine. Believe nothing because someone else said it. But believe only what you yourself judge to be true

All accumulated knowledge is of no use in the path of wisdom. Without realizing “What is truth it is impossible to realize “What is untruth?” 

Without realizing what is the truth? and what is untruth? - it is impossible to assimilate the Self –Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. The seeker must know with full and firm conviction what truth is.

The wisdom consists in knowing the truth, that everything (mind or physical existence) is consciousness. 

The freedom (ultimate truth) is always there yet one does not know it. But those whose reason is turned away from physicality and who have attained the serenity of the Soul or consciousness, the ‘Self’, are quite near to realizing the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

It is very difficult for those who strongly believe the ‘I’, as the ‘Self’, to realize the truth. Most of the spiritual paths hold the ‘I’, as the ‘Self’ and spin their imagination on the base of ‘I’, which leads them to hallucination. 

People mistake that ‘Self’ as “I” whereas the gross bodies are many. So the ‘I’ cannot be ‘Self’. By sentimentally and emotionally getting involved with some teachings or Guru is a great hindrance in pursuit of truth.

People hold their Guru as the ultimate authority and drop their pursuit of truth and indulge in their glorifying and worshiping the Gurus, which keeps them in the permanently in ignorance.

The serious seeker should constantly reflect on the ‘Self’ constantly through deeper ‘Self’-search. The Soul, the ‘Self’ is present in the form of consciousness.

Realizing the ‘Self’ is not ‘I’ but the ‘Self’ is the formless Soul, which witnesses the ‘I’. ‘Self’-knowledge is the only tool for the acquisition of final freedom from experiencing the illusory duality as reality.

Sage Gaudapada: ~ To establish the truth of Nonduality 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)

The seeker has to make sure what is this ‘I’ supposed to be? The seeker has to make sure the unreal nature of the ‘I’ which comes and goes in order to realize the truth, which is beyond the form, time and space.

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

The ‘I’ hides the truth of the Soul. The Soul is the whole universe because the universe is nothing but an illusion created out of the Soul. The Soul becomes the universe in waking experience and the universe becomes Soul in deep sleep.

People think the ‘I’ without the body is the ‘Self’. 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.

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.

People are stuck with the reality of the ‘I’, which they take it as real because some Gurus have propagated the ‘Self’ is the ‘I’. There is no need to convince such a mindset. The seeker of truth accepts only the truth nothing but the truth.

That is why Sage Sankara says:~ VC-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 are to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, followed by reflection, meditation and so forth, but not through perverted arguments.

People refuse to accept anything other than their Guru's words. For them, their Guru's words are the ultimate truth. They do not accept anything else other than their accepted truth. There is no need to convince such a mindset.

Such a mindset is not fit to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. The seekers of truth accept only the truth nothing but the uncontradictable truth. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar