All Gurus and their teaching of the past and present Glorified the ‘I’ and made seekers permanently remain in ignorance.
Most seekers are sentimentally and emotionally get involved with ‘I-centric Gurus and their teaching and refuse to accept anything other than their Gurus teachings. Such seekers who follow 'I-centric Gurus and their teachings are blocking themselves from the truth, which is hidden by the ‘I’, which itself is ignorance.
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.
The Guru is useless so long as the ultimate truth is unknown, and Guru is equally useless when the ultimate truth or Brahman has already been known.
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 the Soul.”
A Guru is needed for the religious and the yogic path. There is no need for a Guru in to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.
Swami Vivekananda: ~Jñāna Yoga is divided into three parts. First: hearing the truth--that the Atman is the only reality and that everything else is Maya. Second: reasoning upon this philosophy from all points of view. Third: giving up all further argumentation and realizing the truth. This realization comes from being certain that Brahman is real and everything else is unreal.
The ‘I’ becomes ‘I’-less in deep sleep and the ‘I’-less appear as waking or dream (duality). The one that appears as the ‘I’, and the one that disappears as the ‘I-less Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. The ‘I’ (mind) and ‘I-less (Soul) both are one in essence.
From the standpoint of the Soul, the Self, the three states are merely an illusion. The ‘I’ never exists in reality.
The ‘I’ is impermanent. The ‘I’ comes and goes as waking or dream, and disappears as deep sleep. There must be something permanent, to register the coming and going, of the ‘I’. The ‘I’ itself is an illusion. The Soul is the witness of the ‘I’ is permanent and eternal.
The Soul is the innermost Self. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. The consciousness pervades everything and everywhere in all three states.
It is for the seeker to go on his own and remove all the obstacles, which is blocking the realization of the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.
The greatest hindrance is mixing religion, God, scriptures, and yogic theories. Moreover, attachment to scriptures, personal God, and religious code of conduct keep one permanently in the grip of the dualistic illusion or Maya.
Embark on the journey of the truth; it frees the Soul from the illusion of form, time, and space.
When you finally realize the ‘Self ‘ is not you but the ‘Self’ is the Soul then you will realize the world in which you exist is merely an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.
Self-inquiry is to realize the ‘Self’ is not ‘I’ but the ‘self is the ‘I-LESS Soul’, which is present in the form of consciousness.
If the inquiry does not include the universe then it is incomplete. The universe itself is what God is all about. The totality of the universe is what God is all about. You just study the nature of the universe with all the seriousness and sincerity to unfold the mystery of the universe. That is all you have to do. The universe is the seeker's school.
Sage Sankara: ~ VC-63-"Without knowing and examining the universe, one can’t know the Truth, as the idea that the external world exists, won't go. It can go only by an inquiry into the nature of the external world.
All the religious scriptures and holy books are irrelevant -- God's greatest book is just in front of you.
That is why Sage Sankara says:~ You must first know what is before you. If you cannot know that, what else can you know or understand? If you give up the external world in your inquiry, you cannot get the whole truth.
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 non-Self.
Until you think you are an individual separate from the world and the world that existed prior to you and you are born in it afterward ignorance will prevail as a reality. Till ignorance is there the universe prevails as reality.
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 other types of meditation. Remember: ~
You are not the ‘Self.
You are bound by form, time, and space.
You are bound by the experience of birth, life, death, and the world.
You are never free because the world in which you exist is the product of ignorance.
It is not you who is in ignorance but it is the Soul, which is in ignorance of its own true nature. When the Soul wakes up from its sleep of ignorance and remains in its own awareness the world in which you exist becomes one with Soul-awareness.
When ignorance vanishes through wisdom than the world in which you exist never again prevails as a reality.
The world in which you exist is created out of single clay. That single clay is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. The Soul is the Self. The Soul is not ‘I’. The Soul is the witness of the ‘I’ which appears and disappears.
The Soul is the only permanent thing and the ‘I’ is merely an illusion. If you are unable to grasp non-dualistic truth you will never be able to cross the ‘I’, which is the dualistic illusion of Maya.
The seeker has to make sure what is this ‘I’ supposed to be? The seeker has to make sure the unreal nature of the ‘I’ which comes and goes.
That is why Bhagavad Gita: ~ “The permanent is always there, only the transient ‘I’ comes and goes. (2.18)
The ‘I’ hides the truth of the whole.
People think the ‘I’ without the body is the Self. The seeker has to understand the fact that ‘I’ is not the Self, but the witness of the ‘I’ is the true Self, which is eternal.
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.
People are stuck with the reality of the ‘I’, which they take as real because some Gurus have propagated the Self is the ‘I’. is no need to convince such a mindset. The seeker of truth accepts only the truth nothing but the truth.
Advaita is the true nature of existence. The ‘I’ hides the Advaitic reality. Realize the ‘I’ is merely an illusion created out of consciousness, which is Advaita. Consciousness is Advaita because it is second to none.
The world in which you exist is the Dvaita (duality) is merely an illusion created out of consciousness, which is Advaita. The Advaita (nonduality) is real and eternal the Dvaita (duality) is merely an illusion.
Holding ‘I’ as the ‘Self’ is the cause of ignorance. Realize the ‘I’ is merely an illusion. Stop identifying the Self as ‘I’ or ‘I AM’. Till you identify the Self as ‘I’ or ‘I AM’ the Soul will remain in the cage of ignorance. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar
