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

Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom is 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 rational truth and scientific truth without dogma.

Adyatma is nothing to do with religious sect or creed and religious belief. Adyatma is pure spirituality. Knowledge of Atma is Adyatma. Advaita is Adyatma.

Adyatma is the knowledge of the truth beyond the form, time, and space. Bifurcate religion, yoga, and theoretical philosophy and based the truth on the Athma it is Adyatma.

Adyatma is based on the ultimate truth which is based on the Atma or Spirit, which is the Self.

Sage Sankara's Advaitic wisdom is pure spirituality or Adyathma.

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

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

Religion is nothing to do with Advaitic Gnana. Advaitic sect belongs to religion. Advaitic wisdom is pure spirituality based on the Soul, the Self.

Advaitic sect is dualistic is nothing to do with the Advaitic truth which is hidden by the illusion. Mixing religion and spirituality 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.

The religion and its sects are based on the form, time, and space whereas Spirituality is based on the Atman the formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

Religions hold birth, life, death, and the world as a reality. From the ultimate standpoint, the world in which we exist is 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.

Many people think that religion itself is spirituality. Spirituality leads to discovering the truth which is hidden by the illusory form, time, and space.

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 is 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.

The traditionally religious people are so entangled in orthodox religiosity; it is very difficult for them to free themselves from narrow-minded prejudices and 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 meant for the ignorant populace they ignore and they are like 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 seeker who seeks to know the ultimate truth or Brahman.

Guru and Guru's 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 those who wish to realize the truth which is beyond the 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 the form, time, and space. 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 were the sanyasin robes are wearing it for the sake of bread belongs to the religion; they are nothing to do with the ‘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 ignorant masses 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 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 religious Gurus and yogis are not Gnanis because they identified themselves as holy people.

On 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 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 Guru is equally useless when the ultimate truth or Brahman has already been known.

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

Religion advocates extreme asceticism. Asceticism is 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, 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, then why anyone should indulge in it.

The religion, concept of individualized God, 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 God 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 universal God.

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

It is high time, the 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 the 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 on the religious point of view by their parents, which 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, what they are seeking. Religious truth is individual truth and it is not universal truth because religion is based on individuality.

Atmic path is not the religious and yogic path. Atmic path is 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 for glorifying the Gurus.

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

One need not be a monk, a sanyasi, or swami to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Athma Gnana. Religious rituals scriptural mastery are 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 the form, time, and space.

Guru, Swami, Yogi, Sadhu belongs 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, Sadhu, 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, 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 hindrance, 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 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.

The 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 or God in truth.

It is high time for the highly educated religious people to realize their religious path was meant for the ignorant in the past, therefore, it is outdated 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 is 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 recognized 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 to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Athma Gnana by realizing ‘what is real’ and ‘what is unreal’.: ~Santthosh Kumaar

By getting rid of the ego, the truth will not reveal, they have to get rid of the ignorance, not ego.+

First, realize the fact that you are the ego, therefore, you cannot get rid of the ego. The ego is the basis of the world in which you exist. People mistake pride to be the ego but the ego is physical identity. That is you are the physical identity so you are the ego.

Without the ego, the world in which you exist ceases to exist. The ego is the very basis of the universe. The universe ceases to exist without the ego.

Many seekers are venturing to get rid of the ego but they are unaware of the fact that by getting rid of the ego, the truth will not reveal, they have to get rid of the ignorance, not the ego.

A perfect understanding of ‘what is what' is very much necessary to realize the truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space.

It is foolish to get rid of the ego alone because, the ego, body, and the world in which you exist appear together and disappear together.

The ego is the false self within the false experience. The ego is the product of ignorance. Ignorance is the cause of experiencing duality as reality. Without the ego, one cannot perceive the world as a person because the person itself is ego. People mistake the ego will vanish by being humble loving to others but one cannot be humble and loving without the ego. Ego is the cause of ignorance, mistakes, and misunderstanding miscalculations.

The world in which you exist is an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. You are part of the illusion. therefore, your existence is bound to be an illusion. Your individual experience of birth, life, and death, is happening within the illusion. You are unaware of the fact that you are the illusory self within the illusion.

The illusion is dependent on the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Without knowing you are not the ‘Self’ you are thinking you are the ‘Self’. This is a great error.

If you do not rectify this error you are stuck with the erroneous idea of the ‘Self’ injected by the Gurus in the past.

If the Self is not ‘I’ but the Self is the Soul then from the standpoint of the Soul, the Self: ~

Where is the ‘I’?

Where is the ego?

Where is the body?

Where is the mind?

Where is the world in which you exist?

Where are form, time, and space?

Where is the waking experience?

Where is the duality?

Where is void?

They are or have become one with the Soul which is present in the form of the consciousness.

Consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

The ‘I’ is present only when the mind is present. The mind is present only when the world is present. The world is present only when there is the waking experience.

Deeper self-search reveals the fact that the waking experience is not considered different from the world. The world is not considered different from the mind. The mind is not considered different from the’ I’. This truth has to be assimilated.

The ‘I’ is merely an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. ‘I’ is not the subject. The ‘I’ is an object to the Soul, which is the formless, timeless, and spaceless subject.

If the ‘I’ is an illusion then the world in which you exist is bound to be an illusion.

If the ‘I’ is an illusion then three states, are bound to be an illusion.

If the ‘I’ is an illusion then the form, time, and space are bound to be an illusion.

If the 'I’ is an illusion then the individual experience of birth, life, death is bound to be an illusion.

If the ‘I’ is an illusion then the words and thoughts are bound to be an illusion.

If the ‘I’ is an illusion then the duality is bound to be an illusion.

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 in order to realize the truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space.

That is why Bhagavad Gita: ~ The permanent is always there, only the transient ‘I’ comes and goes. (2.18)

The ‘I’ hides the Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of the consciousness.

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.

That is why Sage Sankara says: - VC-65- As a treasure hidden underground requires (for its extraction) competent instruction, excavation, the removal of stones and other such things lying above it and (finally) grasping, but never comes out by being (merely) called out by name, so the transparent Truth of the Self, which is hidden by Maya and its effects, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, followed by reflection, meditation and so forth, but not through perverted arguments.

People refuse to accept anything other than their Gurus words. For them, their Gurus words are the ultimate truth. They do not accept anything else other than their accepted truth. There is no need to convince such a mindset.

Such a mindset is not fit to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. The seekers of truth accept only the truth nothing but the uncontradictable truth.: ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Near-Death Experience (NDE) is nothing to do with the Soul, the Self because the Soul is birthless and deathless.+

All those whose intelligence has been stolen by ignorance believe in the illusory individual experience of the birth, life, death, and rebirth and the world as a reality.

Near-Death Experience (NDE) is nothing to do with the Soul, the Self because the Soul, the Self is unborn eternal. Soul. The Soul, the Self is unborn eternal because it is ever formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

When the Self is not the body but the Self is the formless Soul then it is foolish to hold, the experience of the birth, life, death, rebirth, and the world as a reality. Because it is the body that is born, lives, and dies in the world, which is merely an illusion or Maya.

When you realize the words, thoughts, and the world in which you exist is created out of single stuff and that single stuff is consciousness, then you will realize the truth which is hidden by the illusory form, time, and space.

When everything is created out of consciousness then there is no second thing that exists, other than consciousness. It takes time to grasp the Advaitic truth. All the obstacles have to be overcome one by one.

Realize with full and a firm conviction that: ~

You are not you but consciousness; your body is not the body but consciousness, the world in which you exist is not the world but consciousness.

Everything that is known, seen, believed, and experienced by you is nothing but the consciousness then what else remains, which is not consciousness. There is nothing else to realize other than to realize consciousness alone is, everything else is merely an illusion created out of consciousness.

By realizing everything is consciousness is the Advaitic wisdom dawns. Perfect understanding and assimilation of ‘what is what’ lead to Advaitic awareness.

Without the world, in which you exist God alone exists. When God disappears the world, in which you exist appears. The world, in which you exist disappears God appears. Thus, realize the God to be the Soul.

The Soul is the Self. Thus, the Soul which is present in the form of consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

If you stick to the ultimate truth then the world in which you exist is merely an illusion created out of consciousness. If you realize this truth you will live in this world but not of this world. Thus, consciousness alone is real and eternal.

Remember:~

The Advaitic wisdom leads the seeker from darkness to light, from ignorance to wisdom, from unawareness of the ‘Self’ to Self-awareness, 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) 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, God is present in the form of consciousness. Thus, consciousness itself is Brahman or God in truth.

Even The Bhagavad Gita says: ~ 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).

Consciousness, God is Self-evident. It is not established by extraneous proofs. It is not possible to deny God because God is the very essence of the one who denies God. God is the basis of all kinds of knowledge, presuppositions, and proofs.

Even Rig Veda: ~ The Atman (Soul) is the cause; Atman is the support of all that exists in this universe. May ye never turn away from the Atman the Self. May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?"

Even in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~ Brahman (God) is present in the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself’.

The Vedas talk about Brahman (God) which refers to the ultimate truth or ultimate reality or Advaita. Consciousness is the Advaita or the ultimate truth, therefore, consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman. Brahman is Advaita God in truth. : ~Santthosh Kumaar

All the Advaitic Gurus and their teaching available in India and elsewhere is not the Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara.+

If you study and master the scriptures, you will not get Self-realization. If you learn the Sanskrit language you will not be able to get rid of ignorance. If you lean Shastras you will be trapped in ignorance.

If you follow physical Gurus, you will be stuck with the reality of the dualistic illusion. If you are stuck to the reality of the dualistic illusion you will never be able to realize the ‘Self’ hidden by ignorance. You must tread the path independently by a perfect understanding of ‘what is what’.

All the Advaitic Gurus and their teaching available in India is not the Advaitic wisdom of Sage  Sankara. 

Sage Sankara's wisdom was hidden, the seeker has to strive on his own to realize the truth hidden by the ignorance by a perfect understanding of ‘what is what.

That is why Sage Sankara says: ~ “V C-65-As a treasure hidden underground requires (for its extraction) competent instruction, excavation, the removal of stones and other such things lying above it and (finally) grasping, but never come out by being (merely) called out by name, so the transparent Truth of the Self, which is hidden by Maya and its effects, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, followed by reflection, meditation and so forth, but not through perverted arguments.

In reality, three is no scope for two. Advaita means one without the second. Advaita means the Soul. The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is one without the second.

Consciousness is one without the second because the world in which you exist is created out of consciousness. Thus, everything is consciousness. No second thing exists other than consciousness.  Consciousness alone is real and eternal.

Advaitic truth has to be grasped mentally by realizing the form, time, and space are nothing but an illusion created out of the single clay, and that single clay is the Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness. Knowledge of the single clay is Advaita, the one without the second.

Those who come to India in search of truth must know the truth they are seeking is not available in the Himalayas or Ashrams or with any Gurus or yogis, but it is hidden by the world in which they exist. All the paths and practices available in India are not meant for those who are seriously seeking the truth of their true existence.

Sage Sankara says: ~ “Atman is Brahman. The Atman alone is real is not religious truth. Sage  Sankara declared this Advaitic truth, which the ultimate truth to the whole world, many centuries back is the rational truth, scientific truth, and the ultimate truth.

Thus, the Atman which is present in the form of consciousness is real and eternal, the world in which we exist is merely an illusion.

Sage Sankara already declared ‘what is truth’ and ‘what is untruth’.

Atman is Brahman ~ “That is the Soul the innermost ‘Self’ is the ultimate truth”.

The world is unreal ~ “The unreal hides the truth because the world is created out of the real.

Sage Sankara: ~ “VC- 65-As a treasure hidden underground requires (for its extraction) competent instruction, excavation, the removal of stones and other such things lying above it and (finally) grasping, but never come out by being (merely) called out by name, so the transparent Truth of the Self, which is hidden by Maya and its effects, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, followed by reflection, meditation and so forth, but not through perverse arguments.

Sage Sankara: ~ VC 63- Without causing the objective universe to vanish and without knowing the truth of the ‘Self’ how is one to achieve Liberation by the mere utterance of the word Brahman? — It would result merely in an effort of speech.

Atman which is present in the form of consciousness is real and eternal, the world in which we exist is merely an illusion.

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).

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).

Vedas declare not to accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman but people unaware of their own sacred Vedas and worship non-Vedic Gods as real Gods.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~ Brahman (God) is present in the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself.

Even  Bhagavad Gita says: ~ 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 other than consciousness a God in truth.

Religious Gods are based on Blind faith or belief. Religious God cannot be considered as the center because, the Soul, the ‘Self’ is the center of all that exists. Without the Soul the world in which you exist ceases to exist, which means the religious God is dependent on the Soul for his existence.

Even Rig Veda: ~ The Atman is the cause; Atman is the support of all that exists in this universe. May ye never turn away from the Atman the innermost self. May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?" (10:48, 5)

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

The Gods worshiped in India today are not God in truth. Believing and worshiping in non-Vedic Gods barred by Vedas.

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

Be aware of what you are searching for. Be aware of what you are seeking.

The truth will reveal itself to you if you move in the right direction. You are making it complicated by accepting the untruth propagated as truth by the Gurus.

There is nothing but water in the Holy Rivers. Even if you dip million times and by indulging in performing pranayama, your ignorance will not vanish.

Sage Sankara: ~ VC Neither sacred baths nor any amount of charity nor even Hundreds of pranayamas* can give us the knowledge about our own Self. The firm experience of the nature of the Self is seen to proceed from inquiry along the lines of the salutary advice of the wise. (13)

All the Gods sculpted of stone and metal will not be pleased with your devotion and offerings. People are praying out to them.

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)

The Sacred Books of the East are nothing but words you will not find the truth in it.

Sage Sankara says: Keep the scriptures for children but throw them on the fire for wise seekers.

Mundaka Upanishads: ~ So-called spiritual pundits and learned are called children because a child takes whatever it thinks as truth. The question never occurs to children “Is what I have seen or thought really the truth?" (P.334 line 9)

People have lived through indulging in all these priests crafted beliefs dogmas and superstitions, something, it is not true.

One of Sage Sankara’s missions was to wean people away from the ritualistic approach advocated by Mimamsakas and to project wisdom (jnana) as the means of liberation in the light of Upanishad teachings.

Sage Sankara criticized severely the ritualistic attitude and those who advocated such practices.

Mundaka Upanishad says:~ 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.

If you are seeking truth and you are trying to get it from yoga and following some teaching and following some Guru and other paths then you are dwelling in ignorance and go around and round, by various tortuous paths, like the blind led by the blind.: ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Vedas declares God cannot be seen directly by anyone.+

No one has ever seen God. By practicing yoga or indulging in glorifying and worshiping the religious God and Goddesses it is impossible to see God. Seeing God with form and name attributes is a hallucination because God exists prior to the form, time, and space.

Vedas declares God in truth cannot be seen directly by anyone. God in truth pervades all beings and all directions. Thus, personal Gods do not find any support from the Vedas.

As one goes deeper into the annals of history, it indicates the fact that somewhere someone has added the Puranas in the name of Veda Vyasa the grandmaster of Vedas. It is impossible to accept and believe that Veda Vyasa authored and introduced Puranas which has all conceptual gods because:-

In Vedas, God has been described as: ~

Rig Veda: ~ The Atman is the cause; Atman is the support of all that exists in this universe. May ye never turn away from the Atman the Self. May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?" (10:48, 5)

Yajurveda – chapter- 32:~ “It has been said that God Supreme or Supreme Spirit has no ‘Pratima’ (idol) or material shape. God cannot be seen directly by anyone. God pervades all beings and all directions. Thus, Idolatry does not find any support from the Vedas.

Yajur Veda indicates that: ~

They sink deeper in darkness those who worship sambhuti. (Sambhuti means created things, for example, table, chair, idol, etc. (Yajurveda 40:9)

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." (Yajurveda 40:9.)

Upanishads: ~

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~” Brahman (God) is present in the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself.

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

Even Bhagavad Gita says: ~ ‘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.

The form, time, and space cease to exist as a reality when wisdom dawns. Thus, the Gods and Gurus have no place in the domain of the Advaitic reality. Advaita is the nature of the Soul, which is real God. Thus, Self-realization is the only way to God-realization.

If you are stuck up with yoga you are unfit to tread the Atmic path.

That why Sage Sankara said:~Talk as much philosophy as you like, worship as many gods as you please, observe ceremonies, and sing devotional hymns, but liberation will never come, even after a hundred aeons, without realizing the Oneness.

Upanishad says:~ Human goal is to acquire Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana and they indicate the personal gods, scriptures, worship, and rituals are not the means to Self –Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, then why anyone should indulge in it.

The religion, concept of individualized god and scriptures are the greatest obstacle to realize non-dual truth or 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, inquiry, analysis, and reasoning and assimilate and realize it.

That is why Sage Sankara, indicated in Bhaja Govindam says: ~ “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 roundabout way, trace the Brahman (God) which is the formless substance and the witness of the universe. The universe is present in the form of the mind. By tracing the source of the mind (universe) one will be able to realize the Brahman or God in truth. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar