Those Gurus who are busy propagating ‘I-centric’ knowledge are promoting ignorance.+

First, know what ‘I’ is supposed to be in actuality. Blindly believing the ‘I-centric’ Gurus and their teaching will keep you permanently in the domain of ignorance.

Those who sentimentally stuck up to the physical Gurus will never be able to cross the threshold of ignorance. Those Gurus who are busy propagating ‘I-centric’ knowledge are promoting ignorance.

Those who promote ignorance as wisdom with the help of scholarship to justify and the worship of a mortal in the guise of God will never be able to realize the ‘Self’ hidden by the ‘I’, which itself is ignorance.

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)

By remembering ‘I AM ‘the ignorance will not vanish because the ‘I AM it itself is ignorance.

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

Nothing has to be accepted as truth without verification.

Sage Sankara is the only Sage who has final authority on the Advaitic truth (non-duality). The Advaitic truth is rational truth and scientific truth without dogma.

Advaitic wisdom has nothing to do with orthodox Advaita, which is dualistic. Orthodox Advaita is a sect, which blindly accepts and follows dogmas and superstitions.

The Advaitic orthodoxy is not the means to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. Advaitic orthodoxy is meant for the ignorant populace that is unfit to grasp the highest truth. The Advaitic orthodoxy has nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman.

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, then why anyone should indulge in it.

Religion, the concept of an individualized god, and scriptures are a great obstacle to Self-realization because they are based on a false self. The seeker of truth has to search for the ultimate truth without losing himself in the labyrinths of philosophy, through deeper self-search and assimilate and realize it.

That is why Sage Sankara, indicated in Bhaja Govindam says: ~ (Jnana Viheena Sarva Mathena Bajathi na Muktim janma Shatena) ~ One without knowledge does not obtain liberation even in a hundred births, no matter which religious faith he follows.

Sage Sankara’s wisdom is not a teaching or philosophy but Advaita is the universal wisdom. Advaitic wisdom is neither a teaching nor a theory but it is merely guidance to those who are seriously seeking the ultimate truth or Brahman. Grasp the ultimate truth anytime, at any age, if the seeker has the spiritual maturity and capacity to grasp it.

Sage Sankara says: ~ VC-47- All the effects of ignorance, root, and branch, are burnt down by the fire of knowledge, which arises from discrimination between these two—the Self and the not-Self.

It really depends on his inborn natural capacity to understand and assimilate it. Sage Sankara’s wisdom is a Self-examiner, to test oneself to discover how near to Gnana he has approached what progress has already been made on the path, and what still remains to be done. It sets up the criterion for Self-judgement. There are millions in search of truth but one in a million will be able to grasp it.

Remember: ~

The Self is not you. You are not eternal because you are bound by the experience of birth, life, death, and the world. The Soul, the Self is eternal. The Soul is birthless and deathless because it is ever formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

It is foolish to say I AM THIS or I AM THAT’ because the ‘Self ‘is not ‘I’. The ‘Self is the Soul, which witnesses the ‘I’.

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.

Even after knowing the ‘Self’ is not ‘I’ people are stuck to ‘I-centric teaching and Gurus.

Those who are stuck with ‘I’ or ‘I AM’ will never be able to get rid of ignorance.

The seeker should not cling to any book as the final authority. Do not hold any authority of any book over any other book. No book contains all the truths about Brahman, God, Soul, and the ultimate reality.

The seeker should remember again and again, “Not by reading books can we realize the Self”

Veneration for the physical Gurus becomes more difficult to realize the truth hidden by the dualistic illusion. The seeker of truth must realize he must not cling to any physical Guru or any teachings because the physical Guru and their teaching belong to the dualistic illusion. Clinging to physical Guru and their teaching is clinging to ignorance.

The seeker must realize that the Advaitic wisdom has nothing to do with religion yoga and any philosophies. Gurus and yogis belong to religion and yoga. There is no need for a Guru to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

If you are seeking truth then you have to bifurcate religion yoga and philosophy from Advaitic wisdom. Advaitic wisdom has nothing to do with religion yoga and philosophy.

People assume Guru is Godmen are great because other people say so, or that he is wise because he, himself says so, or that what he teaches is true because it attracts them. Such an attitude and easy assumptions become an obstacle to unfolding the truth and it requires some trouble to put into effect.

Swami Vivekananda: ~ Worship your Guru as God, but do not obey him blindly; love him all you will, but think for yourself. No blind belief can save you, work out your own salvation.

The Gurudom may succeed to a limited extent in the West by appealing to the emotions of Western people by creating a new cult with diverse theories of Hinduism. The ultimate truth is beyond religion, yoga, and scriptures.

Devotion to the physical Guru will not yield Advaitic Gnana because you and your physical gurus are part and parcel of the dualistic illusion.

You have to transcend the dualistic illusion by getting rid of ignorance through Advaitic Gnana. Advaitic Gnana comes only through A perfect understanding of ‘what is what'.

That is why Swami Vivekananda said: ~ “You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher, but your own Soul.”

Yogis and Guru are not Gods.

This idea of worshiping Guru as God is not a Vedic idea but adopted from Jainism and Buddhism.

Vedas bar human worship: ~

Yajur Veda:~ "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.)

Then why worship and glorify the Gurus and Yogis (human form) in place of God when Veda bars such activities and also warns people who indulge in such activities 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.

Mundaka Upanishad:~ The rituals and the sacrifices described in the Vedas deal with lower knowledge. The sages ignored these rituals and went in search of higher knowledge. ... Such rituals are unsafe rafts for crossing the Sea of Samsara, of birth and death. Doomed to shipwreck are those who try to cross the Sea of Samsara 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.

The Vedas talk about Brahman which refers to the ultimate truth or ultimate reality. Consciousness is the ultimate truth, therefore, consciousness is Brahman and Brahman is God in truth.

Vedas do not permit idol worship. All the idols are of the Puranic Gods Priests are referring to the Puranic Brahma as God they are ignorant of the God in Vedas even though they speak of Vedas.

Priests do not understand the meaning of the Brahman, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The scientists and their inventions are based on the physical Self and its experience of the world as a reality, whereas, the truth lies beyond physical existence.

Until Scientists discover the truth beyond form, time, and space, the mystery of the universe (I) will not be unfolded.

Remember:~

Rig Veda:~ Prajnanam Brahma: - Consciousness is the ultimate reality.

Mentally reduce the world in which you exist into consciousness by realizing the world in which you exist is nothing but consciousness. If everything is consciousness then how can anything exist which is not consciousness?

When conviction about consciousness becomes firm then everything falls into the right slot.

What is the Soul?

What is consciousness?

What is awareness?

~They all are one in Essene. They all are one and the same.

The universe is present only in waking experience. The waking experience is present only when the mind is present and the mind is present only when the ‘I’ is present.

The universe or the waking experience or the mind (I) are one and the same thing. This truth has to be assimilated first.

Mentally reduce the universe into waking experience and waking into mind (I) and the mind into consciousness by realizing the mind or universe or the waking is nothing but merely an illusion created out of consciousness.: ~ Santthosh Kumaar