It really depends on his inborn natural capacity to understand and assimilate Advaitic wisdom.
Sage Sankara’s wisdom is a Self-examiner, to test oneself to discover how near to Gnana he has approached and what progress has already been made on the path and what still remains to be done. It sets up a criterion for Self-judgement. There are millions in search of truth but one in million will be able to grasp it.
Without Sage Sankara, there is no Advaita (nonduality). Since it was mixed up with orthodoxy there is a lot of confusion. I am highlighting all the obstacles, which is blocking one from realizing the ultimate truth or Brahman.
There are so many non-dualistic masters of the east and also from the west who expound Advaitic or non-dualistic knowledge but none of them are helpful to reach the ultimate end.
One has to know and realize the Self is Soul and identify it as his true identity to find liberation from the bondage of the illusion of birth, life, death, and the world(duality). The goal of our life is to find and realize our identity with our Soul, which is our Self.
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) Vivekachoodamani v 56, pg. 25
To come to a more precise understanding of what non-duality is or might mean, we must return to the original linguistic and philosophic backgrounds from which the word has been translated into English.
If we limit a probe of the meaning of non-duality to Hindu Sanskrit literature, we find that the most frequently used term is “Advaita.
Advaita” is not a religious concept. Advaita is the nature of the existence hidden by the form, time, and space. The seeker has to attempt to rule out from the start a false understanding of reality by perfect understanding of ‘what is what’.
The Advaita is hidden by the Dvaita. Advaita is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Dvaita is the universe.
Advaita is basically a denial; it is literally the negation of the dvaita. That means whatever remains by negating the universe by realizing the universe is created out of single clay and that clay is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, the hidden truth by Dvaita uncovered. Consciousness is the cause of the universe and it itself is uncaused.
Rig Veda: ~ 'Prajnanam Brahma'- Consciousness is the ultimate reality or Brahman or God in truth.
Remember:~
To acquire the Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara the seeker hast to discard teachings of the Advaitic Gurus of the east and west.
The first step is to distinguish between the real and the unreal. That is to know about the dual and nondual experience. The seeker has to discriminate between real and unreal. It means separating the subject from the object through deeper analysis.
The real is the subject and the unreal is an object. The Advaitic Gurus of the east and west cannot think of the subject because they are unaware of the fact that the subject is hidden by the object.
Without the subject, there is no object. The subject can stay without the object whereas the object is fully dependent on the subject for its existence because the object is nothing but an illusion created out of the subject.
The subject is contained in the object. Consciousness cannot apart from the object because the object is merely an illusion. Thus, the objective illusion has no value because it is non-existent without consciousness.
The dualists regard objects as a reality because they are ignorant have no idea of a subject and hence never seek it. On the Advaitic perspective, the object is also regarded as the subject because the object is nothing but an illusion created out of the subject.
The ice will not form without the water, the cloud will not form without the water, similarly, the world, in which you exist ceases to exist without consciousness.
The world, in which you exist, is created out of single stuff. The Knowledge of the single stuff is Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.
The world in which we exist is an object to the Soul, which is the formless subject. The object is created out of the subject. In reality, the subject and object are one, in essence. That essence is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.
Thus, the world in which we exist is nothing but consciousness, which is the subject.
Thus, the subject alone is real and eternal, the world in which we exist is merely an illusion.
From the standpoint of the Soul, the Self, there is neither the object nor the subject, there is unity in diversity. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar
