In one sense, you can say Gnani is illiterate because his Gnana is nothing to do with the scriptural mastery.+

A donkey with a load of holy books is still a donkey. A person who mastered scriptural knowledge is still a scholar, not a Gnani.

Religious Scholars or pundits believed it is enough to read, to accumulate knowledge from books. They think they have mastered Vedas and Upanishads and the other scriptures, and they looked upon other people as ignorant, as illiterate people who are not studied Vedas and Upanishads.

The scriptures are not needed for self-realization. Scriptural mastery is not actually the cause of Self-realization.

The seeker having been instructed by the Guru to search for the truth in the scriptures spends all his time searching for the truth. and he thinks by mastering the scriptural knowledge he attains Gnana, But he fails to find this.

Instead, if he perseveres, he finds something of much greater value – his true Self. This cannot be found directly as the result of anyone’s teaching or in any scriptures. It can be attained from the instruction of the knower of Brahman, not gurus.

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.

Upanishads clearly declare: ~

Katha Upanishad 1:2:23:~ “The Soul cannot be realized through hearing the scholarly explanation of the discourses, not even by the intellect.

Katha Upanishad 1:3:6:~ “Through the knowledge of the Soul, God, one is pure and clean constantly.” Neither by reading books nor by taking a bath at the holy place has one become pure. Inner purity is possible when one remains in constant touch with the Soul. Constant Soul-Consciousness is the real purity.

Kena Upanishad 2:4:~ “When it is known through every state of cognition, it is rightly known, for (by such knowledge) one attains life eternal. Through one's own ‘Self’ one gains power, and through wisdom, one gains immortality.

Kena Upanishad 2:5:~ “If here one knows it, then there is truth, and if there one knows it not, there is a great loss. Hence, seeing the Real in all beings, the wise men become immortal on departing from this world.

Mundaka Upanishad 1:2:8:~ “Remaining in the fold of ignorance and thinking “we are extremely wise and learned,” the fools with boastful nature ramble about like the blind led by the blind alone.”

Mundaka Upanishad 3:2:3:~ “The weak and timid cannot realize the Self. Self-Realization is not possible through intellect or hearing spiritual discourse. One who welcomes God in every activity, through a thorough controlled and disciplined life, to him also the Soul is revealed."

Mundaka Upanishad 3:2:3:~ “The Soul cannot be realized by the weak and timid.

Remember:~

In one sense, you can say Gnani is illiterate because his Gnana is nothing to do with scriptural mastery. If you consider a scholar as literate, as a well-educated man, then a Gnani is definitely illiterate.

But of what value is the scholar’s accumulated knowledge? A scholar will go on and on about the immortality of the Soul but when death approaches you will find him trembling and weeping and wailing. All this talk of immortality will crumble into nothingness because he has not known it.

Remember:~

The nature of the Soul is a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. All the efforts and choices belong to the domain of form, time, and space. From the standpoint of the Soul, the Self the form, time, and space are a dualistic illusion or Maya.

The truth you are seeking is the ‘Self’, which is hidden by the dualistic illusion or Maya. The dualistic illusion is present in the form of the ‘I’.

The ‘I’ is present in the form of the universe. The universe appears as a waking or dream (duality) and disappears as deep sleep (non-duality).

You cannot think beyond form, time, and space without a perfect understanding of what is what.

Without knowing ‘what is real?’ and ‘what is unreal’ ?it is impossible to realize the truth which is hidden by the ‘I’.

The seeker must realize how this ‘I’ is an illusion and from what standpoint the ‘I’ is an illusion.

Your nature is dualistic and the nature of the Soul, the Self is non-dualistic. Holding the ‘Self as ‘you’ is a great error.

All the Gurus of the past hold the ‘Self’ as ‘I’ or you and spin their imagination, which leads to hallucination. Thus, the ‘I-centric’ or ‘you-centric’ gurus and their teaching is nothing to do with the Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara.

The Soul is the Self. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. Consciousness pervades everywhere and in everything in the universe because the universe is nothing but an illusion created out of consciousness.

Advaitic wisdom is not the result of having understood this Truth from the dualistic perspective, but it is the actual realization of the Soul, the ‘Self’ hidden by the dualistic illusion or Maya.

Self-realization is the height of all other realization. Self-awareness cannot be understood with the help of dualistic intelligence.

If you cannot accept the Soul, the Self as God then you will not be able to realize God in truth. The Soul, the Self is God undoubtedly. But it is difficult for the ignorant populace to accept God in actuality.

The religions never accept God in truth because it projects their belief as God even though the scriptures indicate what god is supposed to be in actuality it hides the God in truth.

The Soul is the ultimate Reality or Brahman, while the universe is merely an illusion created out of the Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The Soul is the ultimate Reality or Brahman, while the universe is merely an illusion created out of the Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of consciousness. :~Santthosh Kumaar