There is a need to bifurcate Advaitic wisdom from Advaitic ortodoxy to grasp the Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara.+

Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom has nothing to do with any religion because Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom is pure Spirituality.

Sage Sankara is the only Sage who has final authority on the Advaitic wisdom. The Advaitic truth is the non-dualistic truth, the rational truth, the scientific truth, and the ultimate truth.

All the Advaitic Gurus of East and West and their teaching are based on dualistic and orthodox perspectives. Most of the Gurus spin their yarn on imagination and make their own cocktail. Most of these Advaitic teachings are commercial grade. All Advaitic gurus of the east or west and their teaching is not Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara.

There is a need to bifurcate Advaitic wisdom from the Advaitic belief system to grasp the Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara.

Religion has nothing to do with the Advaitic Gnana of Sage Sankara. The Advaitic sect is dualistic and belongs to religion. Advaitic wisdom is pure spirituality or Adyathma based on the Athma, the Self.

The Advaitic sect is dualistic and has nothing to do with the Advaitic truth which is hidden by the illusory universe or Maya. Mixing religion and spirituality or Adyathma is like mixing oil and water.

Religion is regarded as sacred and real by the common people, by the wise as false, and by the politicians as useful.

Religion and its sects are dualistic and based on ego. Spirituality or Adyathma is based on the nondualistic Athma.

Religions hold birth, life, death, and the world as a reality. From the ultimate standpoint, the world in which we exist is nearly an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The seeker must know the difference between religion and spirituality before he starts his quest for truth.

Many people think the religion itself as spirituality. Spirituality leads to discovering the truth which is hidden by ignorance.

Advaita is universal. Advaita is the nature of the Soul, the Self. The world in which you exist is created out of single stuff. That single stuff is consciousness. Knowledge of the single stuff is Advaitic wisdom.

Sage Sankara’s wisdom has nothing to do with the orthodox belief systems. Some philosophers in the past dissented from this interpretation of Vedanta philosophy, holding that the incarnated Souls were separate from the Divine Essence and only finally merged with it after the cycles of birth.

All these theoretical philosophies are based on the imagination based on the false self (ego or you) within the false experience (waking).

Orthodox people argue that Sage Sankara had a Guru. Sage Sankara himself’ was Guru.

For orthodox people he is Jagadguru but for the seeker of truth, he is a Brahma Gnani. Orthodoxy is the path of ignorance meant for the ignorant populace.

Traditionally religious people are so entangled in orthodox religiosity; that it is very difficult for them to free themselves from narrow-minded prejudices dogmas and superstitions. These educated orthodox people are more ignorant than illiterate.

They strongly stuck to their inherited orthodox baggage meant for the ignorant populace. Even though their own Sage has said that orthodoxy is meant for the ignorant populace they ignore and they are like the blind led by another blind follow the inherited blind belief.

Even Swami Vivekananda was Ramakrishna Paramahansa’s disciple. Swami Vivekananda himself’ 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.”

There are two kinds of audiences - the ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices, and the most advanced seekers who seek to know the ultimate truth or Brahman.

Guru and Guru paramparas are meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. However, there is no need to follow any parampara and follow any Guru who wishes to realize the truth which is beyond form, time, and space. We should not mix religion with spirituality because religion is based on the ego and spirituality is based on the Soul.

Religion is concerned with its paramparas, not truth whereas spirituality is concerned only with the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space. The religion is not spirituality or Adyathma.

Sage Sankara: ~ "Though I wear these robes of a Sanyasin, it is only for the sake of bread." (Select Works of Sage Sankara" also, his commentary on Brihad)

Thus, the above passage proves that all those who wear the sanyasin robes are wearing them for the sake of bread belong to the religion; they have nothing to do with Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Athma Gnana. \

There is no need to criticize and condemn the Gurus, yogis, and swamis because they are needed for the welfare of the ignorant mass in the dualistic world or Maya.

So, he wore a Guru's robe only for the sake of the ignorant. So, he was identified as a Guru with parampara by religious people. For the truth seekers, Sage Sankara is a Brahma Gnani.

Sage Sankara clearly indicates in Viveka Chudamani (2) that the Knower of the Atman (A Gnani) "bears no outward mark of a holy man" (Stanza 539).

When Sage Sankara says, the Knower of the Atman (A Gnani) "bears no outward mark of a holy man.

Thus, it proves that the religious Gurus and yogis are not Gnanis because they identified themselves as holy people.

From the Advaitic perspective, A Gnani never identifies himself as a Guru or a Yogi or someone disciple. The one who accepts himself as a Guru or someone’s disciple is not a Gnani.

The seekers of truth need not identify Sage Sankara as a holy man or Jagadguru but as a Brahma Gnani.

Ashtavakra Samhita: ~ "The man of knowledge (Gnani), though living like an ordinary man, is contrary to him, and only those like him understand his state.

All the Guru Parampara is for the religious people. There is no need for a Guru who wants to tread the path of wisdom.

The Guru is useless so long as the ultimate truth is unknown, and the Guru is equally useless when the ultimate truth or Brahman has already been known.

A Guru is needed in the religious and the yogic path. There is no need for a Guru to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

The religion advocates extreme asceticism. Asceticism is a waste of time. Religion is nothing but remaining in a false belief, dogmas, and superstition.

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.

Sage Sankara says: ~ The scriptures dealing with rituals, and rewards are therefore addressed to an ignorant person. Thus, the rituals are meant for ignorant people.

Upanishad says: ~ The human goal is to acquire Self-Knowledge and they indicate the personal Gods, scriptures, worship, and rituals are not the means to Self–knowledge, so why anyone should indulge in it.

The religion, concept of individualized God, and belief in physical Guru scriptures are a great obstacle to Self-realization because they are based on 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.

Then it is no use going a roundabout way, trace the Brahman which is the formless substance and witness of the universe, which is in the form of mind. By tracing the source of the mind or universe one will be able to realize the Brahman or God in truth.

Religion has become merely a matter of rituals, glorifying false Gods as real Gods and ceremonies and individual conduct, it has become a prison for the Soul, the Self.

People are making unlimited sacrifices and enduring unlimited suffering in the name of protecting their religion and God. They are therefore ignorant about the truth and incapable of understanding the ultimate truth, which is the universal God.

All organized religions have unequivocally claimed man for life in the truth; thus it is sheer folly to fight in the name of religion and God.

It is high time, that humanity had a fresh vision of truth that the mind, which is in the form of the universe, is a myth and consciousness is the only thing that is real and that matters. On the base of consciousness as the Self, the physical life is a vain and empty pursuit of illusory values.

Parental grooming is the main cause of religious influence upon the mass mindset and it cannot be wiped out without knowing the truth of one’s true existence.

Thus, teaching children to view and judge everything from the religious point of view of their parents, warps the minds and destroys the capacity to think beyond the belief system of their grooming.

People who are yearning for spiritual truth will not find it what they are seeking. Religious truth is individual truth and it is not universal truth because religion is based on individuality.

The Atmic path is not the religious and yogic path. The Atmic path has nothing to do with religion and yoga.

There is no need to walk in the mountains in search of the truth. There is no need to meet any Gurus. There is no need to renounce family life. There is no need to study the scriptures. There is no need to glorify the Gurus.

There is a need to spend a fortune to please the Gurus. Going to the mountains, searching for a Guru, renouncing the family life, studying the scriptures, and glorifying the personal Gods and Gurus are the greatest obstacles in the path of wisdom.

One need not be a monk, a sanyasi, or a swami to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Athma Gnana. Religious rituals' scriptural mastery is not a qualification to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Athma Gnana. Monkhood and sanyasa is a great obstacle to realizing the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

Guru, Swami, Yogi, and Sadhu belong to religious paths. Religious paths are paths meant for the ignorant who blindly accept their experience the birth, life, death, and the world as a reality because the universe is the product of ignorance.

When wisdom dawns then the unreal nature of the world in which you exist is exposed. Thus, whatever experiences take place within the world in which you exist is bound to be a falsehood.

The Guru, Swami, Yogi, and Sadhu, have nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman because they are based on the false Self (ego), and false experience (waking).

The Path of wisdom is only for those who are seriously in search of ultimate truth or Brahman. Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana is the mother of all knowledge.

Some are intoxicated with the theory of karma; some are with the theory of cause and effect, some with love alone, some with humanism, some with service, and some with the rituals, and worship, some with glorifying and surrendering to the guru, some with their logical and intellectual conclusions, some with their orthodoxy and some with their Yogic Samadhi. But all these are the biggest hindrances, not the qualification to acquire Advaitic wisdom.

It is a waste of time to convince these people because they have already had accepted something else as truth. Thus, they will not have any urge to know the ultimate truth. Therefore, it is no use discussing with such a crowd and it is better to avoid such a mindset if one seriously seeking the truth.

First Mundaka - Chapter 2 (10): ~ Ignorant fools, regarding sacrifices and humanitarian works as the highest, do not know any higher good. Having enjoyed their reward on the heights of heaven, gained by good works, they enter again this world or a lower one.

It is high time to stop judging who is right and who is wrong in this unreal world and instead spend the same time acquiring Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Athma Gnana to realize the world (Samsara) is unreal the Brahman alone is real.

According to Advaita Vedanta, the Veda addresses itself to two kinds of audiences - the ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices, and the most advanced seeker, who seeks to know Brahman.

Thus, the purva mimam. sa, with its emphasis on the karma kanda of the Vedas, is meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. However, the Vedanta, with its emphasis on the jnana kanda, is meant for those who wish to go beyond such transient pleasures.

The orthodox people are ordinary people. Thus, the ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures are obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices. The karma kanda of the Vedas is meant for the ordinary audience, to help lead its followers along the way.

Modern mindset is more advanced and capable of reasoning and discriminating. Thus, the modern mindset is the most advanced which seeks to know the ultimate truth or Brahman.

It is high time for highly educated religious people to realize their religious path was meant for the ignorant in the past, therefore, it is outdated and not suited for the modern mindset.

The right path for the modern mindset is the path of the wisdom or reason of Sage Sankara. The orthodox religious Advaitic path has nothing to do with ultimate truth or Brahman.

Thus, getting stuck with the religious path is getting stuck with duality. Getting stuck with duality is getting stuck with falsehood. Getting stuck with the falsehood is accepting the experience of birth, life, death, and the world as reality.

Thus, the people who want freedom or Moksha right here right now in this very life and in this very world must follow the path of wisdom or Soulcentric reason.

Religion is the path of ignorance because it recognizes the experience of birth, life, death, and the world as a reality.

It is high time to stop judging who is right and who is wrong in this unreal world instead one has to spend the same time acquiring Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Athma Gnana by realizing ‘what is real’ and ‘what is unreal’.: ~Santthosh Kumaar