Sage Sankara:- Neither sacred baths nor any amount of charity nor even Hundreds of pranayamas can give us Self-knowledge.+

Sage Sankara: ~ VC Neither sacred baths nor any amount of charity nor even Hundreds of pranayamas* can give us knowledge about our own Self. The firm experience of the nature of the Self is seen to proceed from inquiry along the lines of the salutary advice of the wise. (13)

The obsession with "our sins" having been "washed away by the water of river would be regarded as evidence of a serious mental illness in an individual within any sane society, but when this is an obsession of millions of people it becomes "religious faith", held by many others to be something that should never be criticized.

It was desperately important for the believers of their belief system for some reason that others shared their beliefs because they assume that their religious doctrine is literally true, and then justify their beliefs because "God says so in their doctrine ".

It is no use of arguing with someone who has faith in his belief system because for him there can be no possible refutation of what he believes, so rational argument is entirely useless. He clings to his belief so strongly that he makes no distinction between the truth and his belief. One has to know the fact that God cannot exist without his existence. The truth does not depend on god's existence but it entirely depends on man’s existence.

Thus it is foolish to venture into knowing the truth of God's existence without verifying the facts about his own existence

Bhagavad Gita: ~ Even if you are most sinful of all the sinners, you will cross all the sins by the raft of the knowledge (IV-36)

Self–knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is inexhaustible wealth. Other wealth disappears as one spends, but with the Self –knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, the more one shares more he gains.

Remember:~

The Self is not the ‘I’. The ‘I’ is present in the form of the mind. The origin of the mind is the Soul. The mind is present in the form of the universe. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. The root of the universe is consciousness.

Thus, saying ‘I Am God’ keeps one in duality. The duality is not reality. The duality is a product of ignorance. The body, ego, and the world belong to the ignorant.

When wisdom dawns the ignorance disappears. When ignorance disappears the duality will never be a reality even though there is duality, it is merely an illusion created out of single stuff. That single stuff is the Soul which is present in the form of consciousness.

The Soul is the Self. The Soul is Self is God in truth. It is not “I AM GOD", but it’s correct to say ‘the SELF IS GOD because the Self is not the ‘I’ or ’I AM”. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar