Sage Sankara says:~ Adyatma is pure spirituality. Knowledge of Atma is Adyatma. Advaita is Adyatma.+

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. 

Sage Sankara says:~  Orthodoxy is meant for ignorant people. 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.

Sage Sankara says the scriptures dealing with rituals are addressed to an ignorant person.

Upanishad aspiration is best expressed in the following sutra:~

Om Asato ma sad gaMaya, tamaso ma jyotir gaMaya, mrityor ma aamritaam gaMaya. Shanti, Shanti, Shanti

"OM Lead me from ignorance to truth, from darkness to light, from death to immortality. Peace, Peace, Peace" (Brhadaranyaka Upanishad (1/3/28)).

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 more 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.

Those who lack the intelligence to discriminate between formless witness (subject) and three states (object) will not be able to grasp what is real and what is unreal. Both subject and object are consciousness, not subject alone. 

 Ish Upanishad declares: - Those people who have neglected the attainment of ‘Self’-knowledge and have thus committed suicide ~10/11/12

Those people who have neglected the attainment of ‘Self’-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana and have thus committed suicide, as it were, are doomed to enter those worlds after death.

This is a condemnation of people who do not try to attain ‘Self’-knowledge. They are, in a real sense, committing suicide, for what can be worse than being a slave to sense enjoyment, completely oblivious of the real purpose of life, which is to be one’s, own master?

Remember:~

Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom is nothing to do with religious orthodoxy.

The seeker must do his homework, and verify the validity of all the claims, rather than blindly believe, what orthodox pundits expound as knowledge, till; the un-contradicted truth is obtained.

Self- Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is only being true knowledge not the absence of duality. Self -Knowledge cannot destroy the world but it eliminates ignorance and exposes the unreal nature of the mind, or the universe.

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.

Sage Sankara: ~ VC- 61.- For one who has been bitten by the serpent of ignorance, the only remedy is the knowledge of Brahman. Of what avail are the Vedas and (other) Scriptures, Mantras (sacred formulae), and medicines to such a one?

How does one get knowledge? What is meant for knowledge? What is true knowledge? –All this of which must be dealt with by the seeker of truth to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman.

The Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana does not destroy the world but it exposes the unreal nature of the world which appears as the waking. The same way the unreal nature of the dream was exposed when waking took place. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Consciousness remains as the universe in waking and consciousness remains without the universe in deep sleep.+

The reality is hidden by the form, time, and space. The form, time, and space are a dualistic illusion. The dualistic illusion is created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, which is the unborn eternal.

Mentally reduce the form, time, and space into consciousness by realizing the form, time and space are nothing but a dualistic illusion created out of consciousness. The Soul is the fullness of consciousness without the illusory division of form, time, and space.

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

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)

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

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.

Realize the ‘Self’ is not you but the 'Self is the Soul. Do not struggle by practicing this and that to know the truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space.

The ‘Self is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Consciousness is the cause of the dualistic illusion and it itself is causeless.

Consciousness is hidden by the illusory universe or Maya but it is without the illusory universe.

Consciousness can remain with or without an illusory universe or Maya. Consciousness remains as the universe in waking (duality) and consciousness remains without the universe in deep sleep (nonduality). : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

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.+

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

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

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.

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

Rig Veda: ~ The Atman (Soul or Spirit) 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)

Thus, it clearly indicates the God is without the form and attributes and ever free.

Vedic Gods, hardly have any significance in present-day Hinduism. 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, Sarasvati, Lakshmi, and Shakti. None of these deities figured prominently in the Vedic pantheon and some of them are clearly non-Vedic.

The world is a reality on the dualistic perspective; similarly, the personal Gods are mere imagination on the false self (ego) within the false experience (waking).

On the non-dualistic perspective, the world in which you exist is an illusion. Religious Gods based on blind faith or belief within the illusion is bound to be an illusion.

The orthodox people believe God is the distributor of the fruits of one's Karma. In order to make the practical life successful, it is very important to believe in God and worship him. But such belief in personal God is a great hindrance to realizing the truth beyond the form, time, and space.

Religious scholars whenever they talk about the Soul; are unaware of the fact that, the Soul itself is God. They talk about the religious Gods. Religious Gods are dependent on blind faith or belief.

If there is no belief then there is no religious God that can exist. The belief is not God. Self-knowledge is knowledge of the real God. God is the highest all theoretical knowledge based on theories and beliefs are based on the ego, which is the false self within the universe, which is the dualistic illusion or Maya.

Orthodoxy believes the Bhakti (Devotion) will cancel the effects of bad Karma and will make a person closer to true knowledge by purifying his mind. Slowly, the difference between the worshiper and the worshiped will vanish. But such claims are imaginary. Without getting rid of the ignorance it is not possible to realize God because God is beyond the for, time, and space

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.

The Soul the innermost Self is not Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist”, because it is ever formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

In religion, there is no freedom to believe other than what it preaches. Religious people consider the mythological stories as truth and not believing in mythological Gods is irreligious.

The mythological God can exist within the domain of duality. From the Advaitic perspective, the duality is merely an illusion. Thus, whatever belongs to the illusion is bound to be a falsehood.

The religions say one must believe that there is no other God but God propagated by the particular belief system.

The seeker has to deny the existence of such a God based on the belief because the first one must realize what God really is.

People find some of the religious doctrines is very illuminating. People who renounce the world and become monk or sanyasi who leaves it all behind to find the truth of their true existence.

People think the events that happened in the mythological stories really happened the way they are described and hallucinate about these stories.

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

Swami Vivekananda: ~ If religion and life depend upon books or upon the existence of any prophet whatsoever, then perish all religion and books! Religion is in us. No books or teachers can do more than help us to find it, and even without them, we can get all truth within. You have gratitude for books and teachers without bondage to them and 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 He is an eternal help.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~ The Self is indeed Brahman (God), but through ignorance, people identify it with intellect, mind, senses, passions, and the elements of earth, water, air, space, and fire. This is why the Self is said to consist of this and that and appears to be everything.

Yajurveda says if one worships what is not God: ~

Translation 1.

They enter darkness, those who worship natural things (for example air, water, sun, moon, animals, fire, stone, etc.).

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

Translation 2.

"Deep into the shade of blinding gloom fall asambhuti's worshippers. They sink to darkness deeper yet who on sambhuti is intent.~("Yajurveda Samhita by Ralph T. H. Griffith pg 538)

Translation 3.

"They are enveloped in darkness, in other words, are steeped in ignorance and sunk in the greatest depths of misery who worship the uncreated, eternal prakrti -- the material cause of the world -- in place of the All-pervading God, But 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.)

So, 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.)

The Hindus believed in polytheism, believing all of their Gods to be separate individuals, which were introduced much later by the founders of Hinduism which contains diverse beliefs caste, and creed.

When the religion of the Veda knows no idols, then why so many Gods and Goddesses with different forms and names are being propagated as Vedic Gods. Why these conceptual Gods are introduced when the Vedic concept of God is free from form and attributes.

Someone has introduced the concept of God with attributes and attributeless Gods are non-Vedic because Yajur Veda says: ~ 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. Therefore, all these add-ons prove that the form and attribute-based concepts are introduced by some sages of the past with a new belief system and code of conducts in the name of Vedas.

It clearly indicates that: -If the human goal is to acquire the Self -Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, then why one has to indulge in rituals and glorifying the conceptual Gods and Goddesses to go into deeper darkness. Instead, spend that time moving forward towards the Self -knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, which is one’s prime goal. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

The Monastic path is the path of ignorance because it based on the false Self within the illusory universe or Maya.+

 

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana cannot be surmised by merely reading the Vedas and Upanishads.

Self -knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana arises when one indulges in deeper discrimination between the real and unreal.

Self -knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana annihilates all ignorance. Without the Self -knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana Advaitic Self -awareness is impossible.

Orthodoxy unanimously holds chief means of attaining Self -knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is sannyasa, which means the renunciation of all action and worldly desires, to be an essential element of spiritual contemplation.

Nevertheless, indifference to practical life within the practical world, control of senses, eagerness to attain salvation, places, and time without distraction, and other factors are necessary, in the path of orthodoxy. But in the path of wisdom or reason, the sannyasa or monkhood is a great obstacle because the sannyasa and the world are merely an illusion from the standpoint of the Soul, the Self.

People who believe the sannyasa or monkhood as the means to acquire Self -knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana are taken the wrong path.

The orthodox view is based on the false self (ego) within the false experience (waking) because the orthodoxy holds the experience of birth, life, death, and the world (waking) as reality. Those who attained the monastic knowledge are unfit to acquire Self -knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

The Monastic path is the path of ignorance because it is based on the false Self within the illusory universe or Maya. 

Remember:~

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.

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).

But remember:~

Most Orthodox scriptural scholars are ignorant in the guise of Gnanis.

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. However, the texts that combined rituals with wisdom (jnana_karma_samucchaya) more in favor of the Mimamsaka position came into vogue, projecting Sankara as the rallying force of the doctrine.

Sage Sankara:~ Loud speech, the profusion of words, and possessing skillfulness in expounding scriptures are merely for the enjoyment of the learned. They do not lead to Liberation."

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 real truth?" (P.334 line 9)

The scriptures mastery, the force of religious merit--none of these lead to the realization of that Ultimate Truth or Brahman. The ultimate truth is revealed in the clear understanding and realization of ‘what is truth and ‘what is the untruth. When one realizes the untruth (universe) is created out of single stuff, Self-awareness rises in the midst of duality exposing the unreal nature of the form, time, and space.

An adherent of the orthodox philosopher may say his philosophy teaches so and so", another man may object and say “No, his religious philosophy teaches such and such." Thus, they may go on uttering contradictions in the name of philosophy. True philosophy deals only with the appeal to facts, not theories.

Where scriptures and authorities do not agree with the reason, the seeker of truth must reject them.

How is one to know that the scriptures are true? The seeker has to look into the facts, for proof of what has the worship of God done for the people! When a tsunami occurred in Japan the God did not save the believers of Japan. Thus, God saves the one who prays such an argument is of no value in pursuit of truth.

People believe scripture is infallible, but deeper Self-search reveals the fact that they are the mere book of words. The words are a mere expression of thoughts. Then it is impossible to see if the scripture-writers thoughts are founded in fact or not.

The fallacy of orthodoxy’s appeal to scripture lies in the varying and conflicting interpretations of the same scripture that different men feel entitled to give or hold.

The scriptures are for the ignorant masses, who wholly accept the practical life within the practical world as it presents itself. Gnana is for those who have begun to realize that things are not what they seem.

Where scriptures and authorities do not agree with the reason, the seeker of truth must reject them.

Scriptural knowledge is conceptual divisions invented by teachers of philosophy by their excessive analysis.

All these concepts are a great obstacle in the pursuit of truth. Why should confusion created, and then explained away? Fortunate is the man who does not lose himself in the labyrinths of philosophy but goes straight to the source from which they all arise:~Santthosh Kumaar

There has never been a single doctrine by which one could enter the true essence of thing.+

Mundaka Upanishad:~ First we deal with the known and seen, this inquiry leads up to the unknown in the end.

All the philosophies are a mental fabrication.  There has never been a single doctrine by which one could enter the true essence of things.~Nagarjuna 

 

There has never been a single scripture by which has the whole wisdom in it. Sage Sri, Sankara restrained himself parting the Advaitic wisdom to the mass and imparted only with selected few. 

Advaitic wisdom was hidden from the people who were not qualified and receptive to it. 

Advaitic wisdom was not written down in one book but was imparted orally to the chosen few. Thus, religion was given to the ignorant populace and the Advaitic wisdom is given only a selected few. 

We find traces of Self-knowledge in some of the religious books in the form of parables. 

Sage Sankara says: ~ A buried treasure is not uncovered by merely uttering the words: “Come forth.” You must follow the right directions, dig, remove the stones and earth from above it, and then make it your own. In the same way, the pure truth of the Atman, which is buried under Maya and the effects of Maya, can be reached by discriminating between real and unreal and renouncing the of the false is real meditation,

The 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.

Sage Sankara says:~ 58.- Loud speech consisting of a shower of words, the skill in expounding the Scriptures, and likewise erudition - these merely bring on a little personal enjoyment to the scholar but are no good for Liberation.

59. The study of the Scriptures is useless so long as the highest Truth is unknown, and it is equally useless when the highest Truth has already been known.

60. The Scriptures consisting of many words are a dense forest that merely causes the mind to ramble. Hence men of wisdom should earnestly set about knowing the true nature of the Self.

The seeker has to without the scriptures move ahead in his pursuit of truth. 

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. 

You have to study the book of the universe carefully and find and realize God hidden in it. 

All religions claim that their books are not man-made. Hindus claim that the Vedas are Aporsheya: not made by man but revealed by God himself; and Sanskrit is the divine language, not human. 

All religions have the same type of claim. Muslims say the Koran has descended from God, and so with Jews and Christians. Everybody is trying to claim that their book is the sacred book and nobody bothers to look at the real divine book.

This is what the real Veda, the real Koran, the real Bible is. This is the book, and all other books are man-made. Only this universe is the book that is authored by God because God is hidden by the universe. 

The universe is real Veda, the real Koran, the real Bible is. The universe is the book, and all other books are man-made.

Only when you open the book of the universe the God hidden in the book will be revealed. When you finish reading the book of the universe then the universe will become an illusion and God alone prevails as the ultimate reality. 

Sage Sankara says: ~ “What is accepted without a proper inquiry will not lead a person to the final goal. On the contrary, such acceptance will result only in evil, in something which is detrimental to our spiritual progress. 

You are also part of the divine book of the universe! And whatever you have seen, known, believed, and experienced as an individual is part of it. 

It is difficult to understand assimilate Advaitic wisdom within a framework of some Gurus teaching or holding some philosophy as a yardstick. 

We have to drop all our accumulated dross to understand and assimilate and realize the non-dualistic truth.

I am highlighting some scriptural citations only to show the seeker that the Advaitic Sages themselves declare that scriptures, religion, and ideas of God are unimportant in pursuit of truth. It is easier to understand, assimilate, and realize the ultimate truth or non-dualistic truth by rationalizing our views and understanding. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Religion is not based on truth and it renders no help to find the God in truth, which is hidden by ignorance.+

Religions are dependent on their holy books.  No God ever created a Soul because the Soul itself is God in truth. Without religion, there is only undivided humanity.

All the philosophies are a mental fabrication.  There has never been a single doctrine by which one could enter the true essence of things.

All religions claim that their books are not man-made. Hindus claim that the Vedas are Aporsheya: not made by man but revealed by God himself; and Sanskrit is the divine language, not human. 

All religions have the same type of claim. Muslims say the Koran has descended from God, and so with Jews and Christians. Everybody is trying to claim that their book is the sacred book and nobody bothers to look at the real divine book.

All religious books are man-made. The universe is the book that is authored by God in truth because God in truth is hidden by the universe. 

The universe is real Veda, the real Koran, the real Bible. The universe is the book, and all other books are man-made.

Only when you open the book of the universe the God hidden in the book will be revealed. When you finish reading the book of the universe then the universe will become an illusion and God alone prevails as the ultimate reality. 

Sage Sankara says: ~ “What is accepted without a proper inquiry will not lead a person to the final goal. On the contrary, such acceptance will result only in evil, in something detrimental to our spiritual progress. 

You are also part of the divine book of the universe! And whatever you have seen, known, believed, and experienced as an individual is part of it. 

It is difficult to understand assimilate Advaitic wisdom within a framework of some Gurus teaching or holding some philosophy as a yardstick. 

We have to drop all our accumulated dross to understand and assimilate and realize the non-dualistic truth.

Remember:~

Religions, castes, sects, dogmas, creeds, doctrines, and rituals are all hindrances in the path of Truth. The truth is all-pervading and infinite.

Religion is not based on truth it renders no help to find the truth, which is hidden by the illusory form, time, and space. Truth belongs does not belong to any religion.

Churches, temples, and mosques are nothing to do with the ultimate truth, which is hidden by the form, time, and space because they are based on belief. To attain the ultimate Truth, the seeker has to get rid of all obstacles by a perfect understanding of ‘what is what’.

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

Religion belongs to the ignorant populace. Spirituality is higher than religion. People must get prepared to accept the truth, which was hidden by the religion they belong to. The falsity of the religion has to be exposed so that people will be able to realize the Truth of their true existence.

There is no religion, which is a higher goal other than Self-realization. Self-realization itself is God-realization.

Gurus and yogis provide only a superficial understanding of Advaita; it is dry knowledge. One must realize God by realizing the world in which he exists is an illusion created out of the Soul, which is Brahman or God in truth.

The shortest, quickest way to the realization of Truth is through to realize the world in which we exist is nothing but the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. There is no second thing that exists other than consciousness, which the ultimate truth or Brahman. Brahman is God or Advaita. :~ Santthosh Kumaar

Science has begun to admit that the world of the spirit and the world of matter are not two antipodes.+

Max Planck - Father of quantum physics says: ~ Science has no answer to it. Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are part of the mystery that we are trying to solve.

Scientific inventions based on the dualistic perspective whereas the ultimate truth of existence is based on the nondualistic perspective. Scientific inventions are limited to the domain of the form, time, and space whereas the truth is formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

When the scientists and the world in which they exist and their inventions are created out of single stuff. And that single stuff is consciousness. Knowledge of the single stuff is Advaita.

Thus Advaita is the rational truth, scientific truth, the ultimate truth, and universal truth cannot be contradicted. The Advaitic truth declared by the Sage Scientist Sankara 1200 years back.

One day the scientist also will confirm and declare that the universe is nothing but consciousness.

Remember:~

Science has begun to admit that the world of the spirit and the world of matter are not two antipodes... A leading British astronomer, Sir James Jeans, confessed that the scientific conception of the universe in the past was mistaken and that the borderline between the objective world, as it is manifested in nature, and the subjective one, as it expresses itself through the mind, hardly exists.

In (a 1934 address at Cornell University), he said: “The Nature we study does not consist so much of something we perceive as of our perceptions, it is not the object ... but the relation itself. There is, in fact, no clear-cut division between the subject and object.” Twenty years earlier, such a statement would have been sheer heresy. Likewise, a search for the Ultimate Reality that we usually call "God," a search along both intellectual and unorthodox lines, need not be regarded as either heresy or sacrilege. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Some Gurus hold the ‘I’ as a thought but holding the 'I' as a thought is an error.+

By searching the source of the thoughts the truth will not reveal. The thoughts, thinker, and the world in which thinker exists are within the dualistic illusion. The dualistic illusion is present in the form of the ‘I’.

Some Gurus hold the ‘I’ as the thought but holding the 'I' as thought is an error.

Deeper self-search reveals: The ‘I’ is not a thought but ‘I’ is the mind. The mind is present in the form of the universe. The universe appears as waking or dream (duality) and disappears as deep sleep (nonduality).

The thinker and the thoughts are nothing to do with the Soul, the ‘Self’, which is ever formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. Without the form, time, and space the thought will not be formed.

The thought rises only to the waking entity or dream entity. Without the waking entity or dream entity, the thoughts will not arise.

Deeper self-search reveals the fact that the Self is neither the waking entity nor the Self is the dream entity but the ‘Self’ is the Soul, which witnesses the coming and going of the three states. The three states are nothing to do with the ‘Self’ because they are merely an illusion. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

The whole world which one perceives is illusionary; it is just an appearance of unreality.+

The whole world which one perceives is illusionary; it is just an appearance of unreality and there are only one indeterminate and attributeless truth at the root of this world".

The Soul, the Self has none of those attributes or tags. Hence, the person who superimposes all those attributes on the changeless, eternal Soul, the ‘Self’ and identifies the Soul, the ‘Self’ with the body is confusing one for the other; and is, therefore, an ignorant person.

Sage Sankara affirming his belief in one eternal unchanging reality (Brahman) and the illusion of plurality, drives home the point that Upanishads deal not with rituals but with the knowledge of the Absolute (Brahma vidya) and the Upanishads give us an insight into the essential nature of the Soul, the Self which is identical with the Absolute, the Brahman.

Sage Sankara: ~ Atman, the innermost Self is verily Brahman (God), being equanimous, quiescent, and by nature absolute Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss. Atman is not the body which is non-existence itself.

All the attributes and quality belongs to the dualistic illusion. The Soul is qualityless and attributeless because it is the formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

Only dualist sages who take the illusory world as a reality propagated the attributes and qualities to the Soul, which is qualityless and attributeless purity. 

If you take 'you' and the universe in which you exist as reality then it is impossible to realize the 'Self' hidden by the universe.

Remember the universe is merely an illusion created out of the Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The universe hides the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

That is why Sage Sankara Says: ~ 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.

Sage Sankara says: ~ A buried treasure is not uncovered by merely uttering the words: “Come forth.” You must follow the right directions, dig, remove the stones and earth from above it, and then make it your own. In the same way, the pure truth of the Atman, which is buried under Maya and the effects of Maya, can be reached by meditation, contemplation, and other spiritual disciplines but never by perverse arguments.

Sage Sankara: ~ “VC~ All this universe which through ignorance appears as of diverse forms, is nothing else but Brahman (Consciousness) which is absolutely free from all the limitations of Maya.

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. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness.

Sage Sankara says:~VC-47- All the effects of ignorance, root, and branch, is burnt down by the fire of knowledge, which arises from discrimination between these two—the Self and the non-Self.

Remember: ~ All is consciousness. The whole universe is consciousness. From consciousness, the universe comes. When the universe disappears, the consciousness still remains without form, time, and space.:~ Santthosh Kumaar