The people on the Indian side of the Sindhu were called Hindu by the Persian and the later western invaders. That is the genesis of the word `Hindu'.+

The people on the Indian side of the Sindhu were called Hindu by the Persian and the later western invaders. That is the genesis of the word `Hindu'.

When we think of the Hindu religion, we find it difficult, if not imposes to define the Hindu religion or even adequately describe it. Unlike other religions in the world, the Hindu religion does not claim any one prophet; it does not worship anyone God; it does not subscribe to any one dogma; it does not believe in any one philosophic concept; it does not follow anyone set of religious rites or performances; in fact, it does not appear to satisfy the narrow traditional features of any religion or creed. It may broadly be described as a way of life and nothing more.

Hinduism seems to be a name without any content. Is it a museum of beliefs, a medley or rites, or a mere map, a geographical expression?

The Vedas as a body of scripture contains many contradictions and they are fragmentary in nature. For most Hindus of today, scriptures like the Bhagavad-Gita, Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Puranas are more attractive and appealing than the Vedas.

The Gods and Goddesses they worship differ considerably from the Vedic ones. The collection of hymns called Vedas that are written in praise of certain deities by poets over several centuries does not seem to have much significance for the Hindus of today.

Hinduism is ‘Puranic based on mythology. Hinduis based on the myth because it believes in mythological Gods. Vedic Gods like Indra, Varuna, Agni, Soma, and the like, whom the Vedic people worshipped, hardly have any significance in present-day Hinduism.

Rig Veda: ~ 'Prajnanam Brahma'- Consciousness is the ultimate reality or Brahman or God in truth.

God in truth is the Atman, the Self. Atman is present in the form of consciousness.

Do not accept any other God other than Atman not worship other than Atman.

Let these words be inscribed in your subconscious.

Nothing is real but God. Nothing Matters but love for God in truth. God in truth is everywhere and in everything.

God in truth is hidden by the illusory universe. God in truth alone is and all else is an illusion.

Rig Veda 1/164/46: ~ “They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, or the heavenly sunbird Garutmat. The seers call in many ways that which is One; they speak of Agni, Yama, Matarishvan.

Rig Veda 8/58/2:~ Only One is the Fire, enkindled in numerous ways; only One is the Sun, pervading this whole universe; only One is the Dawn, illuminating all things. In very truth, the One has become the whole world.

The Gods and Goddesses important to the Hindus of today are Ram, Krishna, Kali, Ganesh, Hanuman, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, and the respective consorts of the last three, namely, Saraswati, Lakshmi, and Shakti. None of these deities figured prominently in the Vedic pantheon and some of them are clearly non-Vedic. The major Gods of Hinduism like Vishnu and Shiva are non-Aryan in origin. Though they may have belonged to the Vedic tradition they played no major role in the Vedas.

Thus, it is important to bifurcate Hinduism from the Ancient Vedic Religion or Santana Dharma the importance of ‘going backtoas’ in order to realize the Vedic religion is nothto do with the Hinduism, which is based on the diverse belief in non-~Vedic Gods, dogmas, ritual, and worship of human being, which is barred by Vedas.

Indian people are sentimentally attached to religion because they have inherited an adulterated version of Vedism and they call it Hinduism. Hinduism was founded by the different founders of sects and castes from time to time.

Thus, understanding Hinduism is very much necessary to realize the ancient Vedic Religion or Santana Dharma, which existed prior to Buddhism, and Jainism was nothing to do with the present Hinduism. Vedic Religion or Santana Dharma was caste-free, temple-free, priest free, and free of dogmas.:~Santthosh Kumaar 

Come out of the religious myth by realizing God in truth.+

If people have believed religious propagated myths thing over thousands of years, the length of time does not prove it true.

You are being conditioned by the religious myth which has made you a non-thinker. Come out of the religious myth by realizing God in truth. 

All these religions have produced great numbers of saints, prophets, and Sages. If they had been born in Hinduism, in all probability they would have been deified in the same way as the founders of several Hindu sects.

Sage Sankara gave religious, rituals, and dogmatic instruction to the orthodox populace, but Advaitic wisdom only to the few who could rise to it. Hence the interpretation of his writings by commentators is often confusing because they mix up the two viewpoints. Thus, they may assert that ritual is a means of realizing Brahman, which is absurd.

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 a personal god, and scriptures are great obstacles 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 assimilating and realizing 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.

First, realize what the Self is in actuality. Amazingly an honest introspection will reveal that all fault lies with “you” and “your "own perceptions and attitudes. If there is an error in understanding what 'Self' is in actuality it is in " you". 

Correcting this and changing to a Soulcentric attitude will change your perception and then the Soul, the 'Self' will reveal its formless, timeless, and spaceless true nature.

Thus, the path of wisdom is the only means. Then it is no use going a roundabout way, trace the Brahman which is the formless substance and the witness of the universe (mind). By tracing the source of the mind ( universe), one will be able to realize the Brahman.

Hinduism has an ever-increasing number of Avatars and Gurus installed as God Himself, with the support and sanction of scriptures and teachings of saints and sages.

Those Saints and Sages in the past introduced glorifying God and Guru and rituals for the mass who have immersed themselves in worldly life and are incapable of inquiring or not ready for the pursuit of truth.

Glorifying God and Guru and rituals might also be regarded as harmful, as it might cause doubt and confusion in the minds of some seekers who strive with simple faith and earnestness to practice the discipline for Self- realization.

If one is seeking truth then this application of the theoretical philosophy is erroneous and improper. It has been instrumental in spreading sophistry and delusion in the guise of philosophy and direct realization and must be abandoned.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad:~ "He who worships the deities as entities entirely separate from the Self does not know the truth. For the gods, he is like a pasu (beast)". (1. 4. 10)

Isa Upanishad says: ~

Andharh tamah pravisanti ye Vidyam upasate,tato bhuya iva te tamo ya u vidyayarh ratah.

Into blinding darkness enter those who cling to ignorance, but into still deeper darkness go those, who flirt with knowledge. It is the promotion of nescience with the help of scholarship to justify the worship of a mortal in lieu, of God. It makes no difference whether God is conceived as clothed with attributes (saguna} or as absolute attribute-less existence (nirguna).

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 said: ~ Neither by the practice of yoga nor philosophy, nor by good works nor by learning, does liberation come, but only through the realization that Atman and Brahman are one in no other way.(1) VivekaChudamani v 56, pg 25

Lord Krishna confesses that the oldest wisdom of India (our true Advaitic wisdom ) has been lost: people misinterpret and falsify it today as they did then. It is not yoga but the philosophic truth. But nobody knows it. The teachers of philosophy and leaders of mysticism or religion do not want to inquire into the truth and have no time for it. (Gita –Chap- IV-v.2)

In Gita Chap.IV where Lord Krishna says: ~ "This yoga has been lost for ages" the word yoga refers to Gnana yoga, not other yogas: the force of the word this is to point this out.

Lord Krishna describes some of the other yogas but devotes this chapter separately to Gnana yoga. So one sees even in those ancient days people did not care for Advaita; they wanted religion; hence Gnana got lost. That is why Krishna calls it "the supreme secret." Krishna points out that yoga must see "Brahman in action."

Gita Chap.IV: "He who achieves perfection in Yoga finds the Self in time." This means that after his yoga is finished, he begins the inquiry into ultimate truth, and in due course, this inquiry produces the realization of the universal spirit as the result.

Lord Krishna Says Ch. V:~ “Those who know the Self in truth.". The last two words (tattvataha) are usually ignored by pundits, but they make all the difference between the ordinary concept of God and the truth about God.

There is no need for any physical practice to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

A perfect understanding of assimilation of ‘what is what’- is very much necessary to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman, which is God. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar 

Religion with its beliefs, superstitions, and dogmas, the ideas of heaven, hell, sin, karma, and rebirth keep us in the prison of ignorance.+

Religion with its beliefs, superstitions, and dogmas, the ideas of heaven, hell, sin, karma, and rebirth keep us in the prison of ignorance.

Heaven is the abode of physicalized Gods, where one goes after death, rebirth, and karma theories based on the birth entity, which is the false self within the illusory world.

Rig Veda: ~ 'Prajnanam Brahma'- Consciousness is the ultimate reality or Brahman or God in truth.

God in truth is the Atman, the Self. Atman is present in the form of consciousness.

Do not accept any other God other than Atman not worship other than Atman.

Let these words be inscribed in your subconscious.

Nothing is real but God. Nothing Matters but love for God in truth. God in truth is everywhere and in everything.

God in truth is hidden by the illusory universe. God in truth alone is and all else is an illusion.

When Vedas and Upanishads give clear-cut ideas of 'what God is supposed to be in truth' then all these Gods and Goddesses which people worship have no value from the ultimate standpoint.

For those ignorant who believe their experience of birth, life, death, and the world as a reality and they think that the effect of action done in previous births, as the prarabdha in this birth.

For the Self-realized person the present birth, life, death, and the world itself is an illusion because they have realized the fact that, the waking experience itself is an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Isa Upanishads says: ~ By worshipping Gods and Goddesses and going to the world of Gods after death is of no use. The time one spends in ritualistic practices is wasted; one can spend the same time moving forward toward Self-knowledge, which is the main goal. One cannot reach the non-dual destination by glorifying gods and goddesses, and by doing that, one goes deeper and deeper into darkness. It surely indicates the fact that the seeker of truth has to drop worshiping god and goddess in order to get Self-knowledge.

Remember:~

Swami Vivekananda:~ This bending the knee to superstitions, this selling yourself to your own mind does not befit you, the Soul. Self is infinite, deathless, and birthless. Because the Self is infinite Spirit, it does not befit you to be a slave. ... Arise! Awake! Stand up and fight! Die if you must. There is none to help you. Self is the entire world. Who can help you?

Mythology breeds superstition, blind belief, senseless rituals, and the most irrational and gives them a divine outlook.

Swami Vivekananda: ~ “If superstition enters, the brain is gone. Superstition is our great enemy, but bigotry is worse.

Religious people believe in the mythological Gods but the mythological Gods cease to exist without the dualistic illusion. Whatever belongs to dualistic illusion is bound to be an illusion.

All the mythological Gods' existence, is a myth. Such Gods can exist only within the dualistic illusion. Thus, the existence of such Gods is illusory.

God and Goddess are religious concepts. Whatever is seen, known, believed, and experienced as a person within the dualistic illusion (world) is a falsehood.

Mythological contains stories of people with 10 with seven heads, etc., which are fables, yet are taken seriously by pundits. All these stories are a reality within the dualistic illusion. The waking experience is a dualistic illusion. Thus, whatever belongs to the dualistic illusion is bound to be the falsehood. In reality, there is no duality because there is only Oneness or Advaita.

That the ancient sages had miraculous occult power and books relate stories of their feats, are fairy tales were meant for children, women, and those whose minds had not developed.

Mythological gods and goddesses are based on blind belief. The belief is not God. The belief implies duality. From the ultimate standpoint, the duality is merely an illusion. Thus, whatever one sees, knows, believes, and experiences within the dualistic illusion is bound to be an illusion.

Swami Vivekananda: ~ “The masses in India cry to sixty million Gods, and still die like dogs. Where are these Gods?

Mythological stories are a myth. Whatever is based on myth is merely a superstition. Mythology was introduced in the past to the ignorant masses. It has to be discarded as one progresses in his spiritual advancement.

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

When Bhagavad Gita says, God is considered the all-pervading consciousness which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material then nothing has to be accepted as God other than consciousness.

Lord Krishna says Ch ~V: ~ “Those who know ‘Self’ in truth.". The last two words (tattvataha) are usually ignored by pundits, but they make all the difference between the ordinary concept of God and the truth about God.

The dualistic worship of "God” is only for the ignorant populace. The God in truth is only Atman, the Self. In reality, there are no dualities, no differentiation. Only Atman exists.

Remember;~

The Advaitic wisdom leads the seeker from darkness to light, from ignorance to wisdom, from unawareness of the ‘Self’ to Self-awareness, and from unreality to reality.

Bhagavad Gita: 7: 19:~ "Such a man who has attained true knowledge, the knowledge of Self, the knowledge of Atman, worships ‘Self’ as~ Atman (God in truth) alone exists~ everything is Atman, there exists nothing except Atman. Such a man is extremely rare."

All is consciousness. The whole universe is consciousness. From consciousness, the universe comes.

When the universe disappears, consciousness still remains without form, time, and space.

The Soul itself is God in truth, the One without a Second. The Soul is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

The Soul, the God is present in the form of consciousness. Thus, consciousness itself is God in truth.:~Santthosh Kumaar

Religious beliefs and practices are considered superstitious by Gnanis whereas religious believers do not consider it as so Superstition.+

Superstition is considered a widespread social problem. Superstition refers to any belief or practice which is explained by supernatural causality and is in contradiction to modern science. Religion is the fountainhead of Superstition.

Religious beliefs and practices are considered superstitious by Gnanis whereas religious believers do not consider it as so  Superstition.

People all over the world in the past and present accepted the idea of the existence of God.  The fear of God injected by religion was the root cause of worship, superstitions, and dogmas.  The religious beliefs were passed on to the populace from one generation to the next generation. It is necessary to realize what God is supposed to be to realize God in truth.

In the modern age, the proposition that science will replace faith has become an attractive one. Much that was a mystery earlier has now been rationalized through scientific discoveries. Inevitably many more mysteries of the present also will be explained in the years to come. But science has its limitations. For example, it can theories how the universe began with the Big Bang, but not explain what agency caused it. Scientific theories also are fickle. Science propagates knowledge; it does not necessarily confirm wisdom.

There is no scientific proof that God exists; neither is there any proof that God does not exist. That is where rationale drifts outside the scientific path. They make assertions in matters of faith, forgetting their own principles. They can say at the most there is no proof of God's existence. They cannot proceed further and assert that God does not exist because it is impossible to verify through scientific experiments.

The ignorant populace believes in God's existence but they are unaware of what God suppose to be in truth. The belief in religion is and leads to wars and terrorism. Admittedly, there is at any one time, far greater unanimity about scientific truths but those truths are merely hypotheses liable to be superseded in the future.

Rationalists are right in condemning superstition as dangerous and harmful. They overstep when assert science has the answers. As of today, it does not. The science is dualistic. Scientific research is based on form, time, and space whereas the truth of existence is formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

Remember:~

Swami Vivekananda:~ “This bending the knee to superstitions, this selling yourself to your own mind does not befit you, the Soul. Self is infinite, deathless, and birthless. Because the Self is infinite Spirit, it does not befit you to be a slave. ... Arise! Awake! Stand up and fight! Die if you must. There is none to help you. Self is the entire world. Who can help you? -

Mythology breeds superstition, blind belief, senseless rituals, and the most irrational and gives them a divine outlook.

Swami Vivekananda: ~ “If superstition enters, the brain is gone. Superstition is our great enemy, but bigotry is worse.

Mythological contains stories of people with 10 with seven heads, etc., which are fables, yet are taken seriously by pundits. All these stories are a reality within the dualistic illusion. The waking experience is a dualistic illusion. Thus, whatever belongs to the dualistic illusion is bound to be a falsehood. In reality, there is no duality because there is only Oneness.

That the ancient sages had miraculous occult power and books relate stories of their feats, are fairy tales were meant for children, women, and those whose minds had not developed.

When ‘Self’ is not ‘you’ then whatever you have seen, known believed, and experienced as reality is bound to be an illusion. Thus, self-realization is necessary to realize your present the world in which you exist is merely an illusion.

If the present world in which you exist is merely an illusion, then whatever you believed as a reality with the world in which you exist is bound to be an illusion.:~Santthosh Kumaar 

Tattireya Upanishad: ~Yogic or Nirvikalpa Samadhi is just like swoon or deep sleep, where one is unaware of anything, not even the world.+

Tattireya Upanishad: ~ “There are two different Samadhis, philosophic and Sahaja Samadhi, which is the highest in which is in full wakefulness, and then he inquires what is meant by this world, the world is seen in this Sahaja Samadhi. Whereas Yogic or Nirvikalpa Samadhi is just like swoon or deep sleep, where one is unaware of anything, not even the world. (Page 640,641 and verse 132,133)

Each person sees in his own Samadhi whatever is uppermost in his mind. How does he/she or anyone know that what he/she or anyone sees is the truth? Similarly, each has intuitions agreeable to what is uppermost in his mind.

A yogi cannot attain realization because he thinks his body to be the body and the world to be the world and fails to see them as consciousness and thinks his experience of Samadhi is because of his individual effort. The individual experience is limited to waking experience and is merely an illusion.

Thus, even his Samadhi is also limited to the waking experience, which is merely an illusion. He thinks the thoughtlessness is Samadhi but thoughts are of individuality. Thoughts disappear even in deep sleep. Therefore deep sleep is not wisdom. If one thinks thoughtlessness is Samadhi and Samadhi is Brahman then anyone gets knowledge of Brahman by taking sleeping pills or hemp.

In Sutra Bashya and Mundaka Upanishad: ~ Samadhi and sleep are identical.

Brihad Upanishad does not advocate Samadhi.

Sage Sankara in the commentary to "Brahma Sutras: - " "The highest beatitude is not to be attained by Yoga." (Sacred Books of East Series page 298 Vol.1.) and also he says Samadhi is the same as sleep (p.312) -which indicates that yoga is not the means to Self-realization. And yogic Samadhi is not nondualistic or Advaitic Self-awareness.

Panchadasi: ~ the impossibility of yoga arriving at a successful end to its practices. P.509 v, 109

The yogi exists within the illusory world and indulges in Samadhi. Let carefully noted that the Yogic Samadhi is nothing but a long trance, and is not Self-awareness.

Although the ego becomes still for some time, people generally overestimate their feeling and sensation, and a Yogic Samadhi is invariably supposed to be Self-realization.

The Yogic Samadhi is a temporary state; as soon as the yogi comes out of it, he becomes aware of the duality and reminisces again in the grip of ignorance. Thus, the Yogic Samadhi will not eradicate ignorance.

The Yogic Samadhi is experienced by you. You are the false self within the false experience. Thus, the Yogic Samadhi can never take one beyond the experience of form, time, and space.

Yogi who is said to experience nonduality in his samadhi must still come back to a normal state and see the world confronts him, after his samadhi. And then he will find that the world separates from him because he has ignored it and not tried to understand it.

Only the Gnani can say of the external world, "This is Brahman, Soul." and prove his statement, and that it is none other than the Self.

Many yogis are largely pretenders or self-deluded. They think they are masters who can lead the whole of humanity. They set themselves up as different from others. Many yogis promise blessings etc. to those who surrender their wealth or person to them. Many here live questionable lives with women disciples. They seek influence over others, or wealth, by thus differentiating themselves. They market their yogic product in the spiritual supermarket. A Gnani never does this.

If a yogi says "I feel Bliss" who is having the experience? His 'I' is the ego. Hence, that is not the highest Gnana. If one carefully examines the experiences of mystics, then he finds that they do differ. It is superficial to say that yogis and mystics all have the same experience.

In the dream one knows that the dream figures are also the mind, not different from it; similarly, when one knows that everything is consciousness, there is no need for the yogic control of the mind. Control presupposes second, a duality. Hence, yoga is in the sphere of duality and is unnecessary to one who knows non-duality.

Self-Knowledge requires the mind to be active in order to examine the world and discriminate. Hence nondual wisdom means knowing that there are no ideas different from the innermost self, which is in the form of consciousness, as the dream mountain is not different from Mind, knowing which they automatically the mind reaches stillness. This is different from Yogic Samadhi, which is only deep sleep.

The Yogis and Mystics want meditation, sitting still, etc. only because it gives them pleasure: the satisfaction is for their own selves only, not others; hence it is something sought by the ego. and cannot get the ultimate truth or Brahman in consequence. 

Remember;~

The yogi may get the knowledge that the witness is separate from witnessed, but he will never know Brahman without inquiring into the world that confronts him, because he is giving up the world, and hence cannot discover his unity with the world.

The Gnani regards everything in the world as the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The Soul o consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman; the yogi rejects the world. Thus, there is a fundamental difference.

Yoga is alright so far as it goes, but you have to look at the universe in which he exists also. The yogis have to eat and have to attend to all these physical necessities of the body. Therefore, no yogi can remain without ideas in Samadhi 24/7. Once out of Samadhi he is like every other ignorant man.

As soon as the yogi comes down from Samadhi, he finds the universe to be real.

The yogis do not know what the universe is, and are unable to prove that, hence their glib statement is worthless, not proceeding from understanding, or realization of the nature of the universe, following inquiry into it, but proceeding from some feeling of disappointment. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Ornamental words of the Gurus will not help you to reach the ultimate end of understanding and realization of the truth.+

Sage Sankara said: -Neither by the practice of yoga nor philosophy, nor by good works nor by learning, does liberation come, but only through the realization that Atman and Brahman are one in no other way.(1) VivekaChudamani v 56, pg 25

Sage Sankara says the transparent truth of the ‘Self’, which is hidden by the illusion, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, (Gnani) then why you are sticking to a Guru who is not a Gnani?

Sage Sankara says ~ “The exercise in discrimination between real and unreal and renunciation of the false is real meditation, then why you are indulging in another type of meditation.

The seeker has to do a mental effort of perfect understanding and assimilation of what is truth and what is untruth to reach the effortless state.

Ornamental words of the Gurus will not help you to reach the ultimate end of understanding and realization of the truth.

No Guru can transmit wisdom to you. You have to work out your own salvation.

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 your attention inward. (18: 89)

All accumulated Advaitic knowledge accumulated from different Gurus will not yield the truth because they are not verified the truth.

Neither by listening to the preachers nor by the study of scriptures, neither by meritorious deeds nor by any other means can one acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

The seeker has to do his homework to realize the truth, which is hidden by ignorance.

There is no practice as such but perfect understanding is needed. The truth is very simple, but it is very difficult to grasp because of ignorance.

You have to only realize the world in which you exist is created out of single clay. And that single clay is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Thus, you and your body and the world in which you exist are nothing but consciousness because they are merely an illusion created out of consciousness.

A perfect understanding of ‘what is what’- is needed.

I can point at the sky, but the seeing of the star is the seeker's own work.

It is necessary to reflect on the same truth again and again till it becomes a reality. One needs to constantly reflect on the subject until he gets a firm conviction of what is what.

Words of wisdom are needed until one gets a firm conviction of ‘what is what’.

People need to read and hear the words of wisdom to think reason and reflect deeply and reach the ultimate end.

“It takes time for the seeker to gain the perfect understanding of ‘what is truth’ and ‘’what is untruth’.

It takes time for the Soul, the Self to wake up from the sleep of ignorance, and it takes time for one realizes the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space. :~Santthosh Kumaar

If anyone claims himself as a Gnani he is not a Gnani. The Soul, the Self alone is a Guru and the Soul alone is a Gnani.+

If anyone claims himself as a Gnani he is not a Gnani. The Soul, the Self alone is a Guru and the Soul alone is a Gnani.

Manduka Upanishads: ~ Even the Gods cannot find out who is a Gnani because he bears no external mark. Neither nudity nor the yellow robe has anything to do with him.

Gurus, yogis identify themselves with their body and sense-organs and the world in which they exist which are illusory.

The Guru and disciple and the world in which Guru and disciple exist are created out of single stuff. That single stuff is consciousness. The consciousness is the ultimate truth of Brahman.

By identifying as a Guru or some Guru’s disciple keeps one in the cage of ignorance. A person who identifies himself as a Guru or disciple will never be able to get Advaitic Gnana.

The Guru and disciple and the world in which Guru and disciple exist are created out of single stuff. That single stuff is consciousness. The consciousness is the ultimate truth of Brahman.

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.

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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. Have only one idea of God - that God is an eternal help.

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

A Guru is needed for the religious and the yogic path. The path of wisdom is not a religious or yogic path. There is no need for a Guru to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Katha Upanishad says: ~ This Atman is attained by him alone whom It chooses. To such a one Atman reveals Its own form. (II -23-P-20)

A Gnani is neither anyone’s gurus nor anyone’s disciple. He respects all the sage of the past and highlights good points in their teaching and he also highlights the obstacles, which block the realization of the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

Bhagavad Gita says: ~ “Among thousands of men, scarcely one strives for perfection; and of those who strive and succeed, scarcely one knows the ‘Self’ in truth.

A Gnani sees only unity in diversity, just like a goldsmith estimating the gold in various items of jewelry sees only gold. When one identifies the Self with the form then only the form, time and space are present. But when one transcends form, time, and space the duality never remains as reality.

Gnanis are one in billions for they have ignored the opinions of whole peoples in their independent search for truth and questioned all beliefs, all scriptures, and all authorities until they could be proved to be true. Even the arguments that religions have been followed since time immemorial make no difference to them because if people have believed a false thing over millions of years, the length of time does not prove it true.

Your intense urge to know the truth will take you to the ultimate end but your accumulated knowledge will block you from realizing the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.: ~ Santthosh Kumaar