Celibacy and living in a monastery was always strange to the ancient Sanatana Dharma.+

Celibacy and living in a monastery was always strange to the ancient Sanatana Dharma. In fact, almost all the great Sages of the Vedic era were householders. 

Observing celibacy and the monastery system in the Hindusim is the influence of Buddhism and Jainism. Hinduism is a mixture of   Jainism, and Buddhism, and many other ideologies. Hindusim is not ancient Sanatana Dharma. 

There is no need to renounce anything, other than ignorance. Renouncing the worldly life and becoming a sanyasi is not needed for Self-realization.  Sanyasa is not the means to Self-Realization. Sanyasa is nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.  

Whatever renounced on the base of the ego or physical self cannot be the qualification to acquire Self-knowledge.  

There is no use in giving up the worldly life and become a monk or sanyasi, in order to get self-realization, because all the physical activity is part of the illusory universe or Maya. 

Renunciation is a religious idea and it is the greatest obstacle in pursuit of truth. The sanyasi thinks he is an individual separate from the world, therefore; he will not be able to renounce the ignorance. Therefore, he is not qualified for Self-knowledge.

Religionists cannot take a comprehensive view and so decry what they cannot understand. There is no need to get an aversion to existence, as do the ascetics and yogis; on the contrary,   he should go on living in the world, as a householder and he should accept worldly life like any other commoner.

There is no need to give up anything in order to acquire nondual wisdom, but to know “What is truth “and “What is untruth” in order to assimilate Self-knowledge. 

Religious people think The method of asceticism is where one gives up externally in order to help one get into the internal attitude of freedom from desire but by getting rid of the desire, the ignorance will not vanish. Without getting rid of ignorance the Self-realzation is an impossibility. 

Remember:~

Celibacy, fasting, and Hata yoga are nothing to do with the Soul, the Self, which is ever nondual.

Having food or fasting, Having sex or observing celibacy, wearing clothes, or being nude does not qualify you to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Know the mystery of the ‘I’. Come out of the intoxication of the ‘I’.

Till you remain in the grip of the ‘I’, you are blocked from realizing the truth, which is beyond the ‘I’.

The ‘I’ hides the truth of the whole. The realization of ultimate truth or Brahman is possible only when the seeker inquiries into the nature of the ‘I’. The ‘I’ is present in the form of the Mind.

The Mind is present in the form of the universe and the universe appears as waking or dream (duality) and disappears as deep sleep (nonduality).

The one which appears as the duality and disappears as nonduality is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Do not try to know who you are? By inquiring ‘Who am ‘I’, you will never reach the ultimate end of understanding.

‘Who am ‘I’? is only helpful at the beginning on later stages it is inadequate to realize the truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space.

Try to find out what is this ‘I’ which appears and disappears. What is it that knows this appearance and disappearance of the ‘I’?

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

That is why Ashtavakra Gita 16:10:~ If you desire liberation, but you still say "mine," If you feel the ‘Self’ is the ‘I’, You are not a wise man or a seeker. You are simply a man who suffers. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

GOD is a mere word used by the religion who believed there is a higher power that is the cause of the creation.

Different religions used different words for the same thing. The idea depends on the man’s imagination. God is an English word. The different language uses a different word for the same thing.

The words are there for only communication purposes.

The sages of truth called the ultimate truth as Brahman. For them, the ultimate truth is God.

The earliest uses of the word God in Germanic writing is often cited to be in the Gothic Bible or Wulfila Bible, which is the Christian Bible as translated by Wulfila (a.k.a. Bishop Ulfilas) into the Gothic language spoken by the Eastern Germanic, or Gothic Tribes. The oldest parts of the Gothic Bible, contained in the Codex Argenteus, is estimated to be from the fourth century. During the fourth century, the Goths were converted to Christianity, largely through the efforts of Bishop Ulfilas, who translated the Bible into the Gothic language in Nicopolis ad Istrum in today's northern Bulgaria. The words guide and guþ were used for God in the Gothic Bible.~wiki

All these experiences as the father, son, guru, pupil, and the world were one and the same consciousness appearing differently. All these distinctions disappear when one realizes the ultimate truth.

Remember:~

BRAHMAN ~The English use of the word real as applied to the material world, whereas we Indians use it as applied to unseen Brahman. Hence, many errors have arisen in translations from the Sanskrit.

BRAHMAN~The word Brahman or Sat has no proper equivalent in English. The nearest is ultimate reality or ultimate truth. The west, however, applies reality to individual objects or to the multiplicity of them all: whereas Advaitins apply it to the non-duality. Brahman is called "That" because it is something not known yet by the seeker.

The Vedas talk about Brahman which refers to the ultimate truth or ultimate reality. Consciousness is the ultimate truth, therefore, consciousness is Brahman and Brahman is God in truth

Remember ~

The word Brahman means ultimate truth or reality which cannot be indicated by any word. The Brahman can be expressed through silence because it is beyond the experience form, time, and space. Therefore, the word Brahma clearly stands for the essence of the three states, which is consciousness only. The final stage of the pursuit of truth is to know that the ‘Self’ is consciousness.

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.

Brahman is the Ultimate Reality or God in truth.

Bhagavad Gita: ~ ‘All those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires, they worship many Gods. (7- Verse -20)

Only the path of wisdom leads the seeker of truth on his journey to the ultimate realization of the true nature of the Universal Essence, which is the Soul. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness.

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 reality has its source in Brahman. All reality has its grounding sustenance in Brahman. It is in Brahman that all reality has its ultimate repose. Vedas specifically, is consciously and exclusively aiming toward this reality termed Brahman.

In the 'Taittiriya Upanishad' II.1:~ Brahman is described in the following manner: "Satyam Jnanam Anantam Brahma", "Brahman is of the nature of truth, knowledge, and infinity." Infinite positive qualities and states have their existence secured solely by virtue of Brahman's very reality. Brahman is a necessary reality, eternal (i.e., beyond the purview of temporality), fully independent, non-contingent, and the source and ground of all things. Brahman is immanently present in the realm of materiality, interpenetrating the whole of reality as the sustaining essence that gives it structure, meaning, and existential being, yet Brahman is simultaneously the transcendent origin of all things (thus, panentheistic).

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

Sage Sankara’s Supreme Brahman is impersonal, Nirguna (without Gunas or attributes), Nirakara (formless), Nirvisesha (without special characteristics), immutable, eternal, and Akarta (non-agent). It is above all needs and desires. It is always the Witnessing Subject. It can never become an object as is beyond the reach of the senses. Brahman is non-dual, one without a second. It has no other beside it. It is destitute of difference, either external or internal. Brahman cannot be described, because description implies a distinction. Brahman cannot be distinguished from any other than It. In Brahman, there is no distinction between substance and attribute. Sat-Chit-Ananda constitutes the very essence or Svarupa of Brahman, and not just Its attributes. The Nirguna Brahman of Sage Sankara is impersonal.

The Soul, the ‘Self itself is the Infinite God.

The Soul is the Self. God in truth is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. God in truth is the fullness of consciousness without the illusory division of form, time, and space. Therefore, there is nothing apart from it.

God in truth is Self-evident. God in truth is not established by extraneous proofs. It is not possible to deny God in truth because God in truth is the very essence of the one who denies it. God is the basis of all kinds of knowledge, presuppositions, and proofs. God in truth is hidden by the illusory universe in which you exist, God in truth is without the universe in which you exist.

God in truth is the Supreme Being the One eternal homogeneous essence, indivisible consciousness, and intelligence, which is beyond the form, time, and space. To which the Sages describe in a variety of ways through diverse words.

Brahman or God in truth alone is real and eternal all else is an illusion. :~

Santthosh Kumaar

The Soul, the ‘Self itself is the Brahman or Infinite God.+

Your quest is over. You need not search for the truth. Sage Sankara has already declared 'what is the ultimate truth' and 'what is the untruth'. His declaration is final. There is no need to follow anyone or any teaching.

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.

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

There is no need to search for the truth. The truth is already declared by Sage Sankara you have to realize the world in which you exist is merely an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. to realize this simple truth why you are struggling.

 The Soul, the ‘Self itself is the Brahman or Infinite God.

The Soul is the Self. God is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. God is the fullness of the consciousness without the illusory division of form, time, and space. Therefore, there is nothing apart from it.

The God in truth is Self-evident. God in truth is not established by extraneous proofs. It is not possible to deny God in truth because God in truth is the very essence of the one who denies it. God in truth is the basis of all kinds of knowledge, presuppositions, and proofs. God in truth is hidden by the illusory universe in which you exist, the God in truth is without the illusory universe in which you exist.

God in truth is the Supreme Being the One eternal homogeneous essence, indivisible consciousness, and intelligence, which is beyond the form, time, and space. To which the Sages describe in a variety of ways through diverse words.

Bhagavad Gita: ~ ‘All those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires, they worship many Gods. (7- Verse -20)

Only the path of wisdom leads the seeker of truth on his journey to the ultimate realization of the true nature of the Universal Essence, which is the Soul. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness.

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."

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. ~

Santthosh Kumaar

Consciousness is the ultimate reality. Consciousness is unborn eternal.+

Consciousness is the ultimate reality. Everything else is impermanent. Consciousness is unborn eternal. Consciousness is nondual by nature.

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

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

The Soul is Self only held in the bondage of matter; perfection will be reached when ignorance vanishes through Advaitic wisdom. Advaitic wisdom free the Soul, the Spirit from the bonds of imperfection, freedom from experiencing the dualistic illusion as a reality."

The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is the only reality in which everything exists, to which everything belongs, from which everything has emerged, which is the cause of everything, and which is everything.

Thus, there is a need to realize the Self is not you but the ‘Self is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. The world in which we exist is nothing but consciousness.

When the matter is an illusion created out of the Spirit then Spirit alone is real.

When the object is created out of the subject then the subject alone is real. 

When the world in which you exist created out of consciousness then consciousness alone is real.

Reality and unreality are created out of single stuff because unreality (the world in which we exist) is experienced as a reality we are unaware of the reality hidden by the unreality.

There is no second thing that exists other than the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. The dualistic illusion, which is present in the form of the ‘I’, hides the truth. Stick to the reality by mentally dropping the unreality

The scientific theories and inventions have made the materialistic life easier and comfortable for a man to live in the practical world, however, science failed to unfold the truth of the true existence. Since their invention is based on the false self (ego) and false experience (waking)

The Science cuts itself from the witness (Soul or spirit) and remains aloof from the witnessed (universe or matter). The scientist not only stands aside, outside the field of the witness. It is because the scientist is unaware of the witness, which is apart from the witnessed, and he and his invention are part of the witnessed. Therefore, science cannot cross the threshold of physical existence (universe or waking). Thus, its invention is limited to physicality.

Science is based on objects; its invention is based on an object as the subject. Thus, modern science can get the truth of the objectified subject. Elimination of object mentally and realizing the subject, then judging the worldview on the base of the pure subject leads to the discovery of ultimate truth.

The feelings and impressions and notions are based on the physical Self (ego or the waking entity). The scientific inventions are based on the physical Self. Deeper Self-search reveals the fact that the waking entity (ego) is a false self within the false experience (waking).

Most people will not understand what I am driving at because they are seeking something which they can enjoy in this world. The ambition of the true spiritual seeker is to realize the Self, which is hidden by the illusory form, time, and space.

People are looking for an advantage in the practical world, to take care of their practical life~ that is the maximum they expect out of spirituality.

The so-called Gurus and yogis focus their ambition on seeing that their daily life goes on comfortably. Nobody is ready to enquire about the truth of their true existence.

In spiritual pursuit, the Soul is the Goal it is necessary to realize the ‘Self’, not you but the Soul.

The Soul, the ‘Self is present in the form of consciousness. The ‘Self’ is not within you but it pervades in everything and everywhere in the world in which you exist. Thus, the whole universe in which you exist is nothing but an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Thus, limiting the ‘Self’ to you is the cause of ignorance because, the Soul, the Self is formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

Without realizing the fact that your body and the world in which you exist is made of the same stuff ‘Self-realization is an impossibility.

Advaita is soulcentric. All the Advaitic teaching of modern gurus of east and west are egocentric. Egocentric teaching is not Advaitic wisdom. Egocentric teaching is accumulated Garbage from different sources.

The seeker has to become soulcentric to understand, assimilate and realize the Advaitic truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space. The seeker has to become soulcentric to understand, assimilate and realize the Advaitic truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

BRIH. Upanishad:~ "Yoga does not yield truth or liberation."+

Manduka Upanishads:- Those that want Brahman will not practice control of the mind. That is Yoga for duffers. The others will inquire and practice discrimination. (p.231)

Manduka Upanishad:~ Yoga is in the sphere of duality and is unnecessary to one who knows non-duality

BRIH. Upanishad: page 32:~ "Yoga does not yield truth or liberation."

One may read the Mahabharata for all philosophical, yogic, and cosmological teachings but at the end, it finally says "All is imaginative."

Brihad Upanishad:~ It too declares Yoga cannot give you the truth.

Bhagavan Buddha gave up his austerities of yoga as impossible and useless. (Page.70/71 "Buddhism in Translation” by Warren)

Bhagavan Buddha got enlightenment only after he gave up Yoga. Unless one exercises his reason--there is no chance of getting the truth.

When the yogi enters this highest Nirvikalpa (effort-less) Samadhi, he will at once enter deep sleep. This will make plain to him after he wakes, that the inner ‘Self’ he sought and found, the Atman, is reached only when all his ideas are refunded into it, when there is then all the features of non-duality, one without a second. However, the yogi must later wake up, emerge from Samadhi and there is duality again, for the world of objects confronts him. So now he has to work on the next stage which is to find consciously in the waking experience the same non-duality that he unconsciously knew in sleep. This is done by learning that the universe is or idea or an object for the formless subject, and then refunding the universe, ~idea back into its source, which is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Only at this final stage, he says "Atman, which is present in the form of the consciousness is the same as the Brahman. Brahman is the ultimate truth. " Now he is fully aware of it.

All yogic visions, however, wonderful will pass away; they go as they come. They have the value of dreams. They are not the truth which is un-passing and beyond changes.

One can’t shut his eye to the universe, which confronts him as in Samadhi of yoga and see supreme reality. One can know it only by keeping himself’ clear and open.

Sage Sankara says: - The yogi must add discrimination to his quest.

Nirvikalpa Samadhi and deep sleep are the same from the standpoint of the Soul, the innermost ‘‘Self’’ the absence of the known. The knower was there.

How does Samadhi give Gnana? Only by preparing yourself’ to see that the world disappears and re-appears and, that non-duality is here and duality there, to convince the man that in non-duality one won’t disappear as he doesn't disappear in Samadhi or deep sleep. Another advantage of Samadhi is one gets the capacity to forget the external world and to treat it as an idea.

Yoga can never give you the fundamental thing, that the world is an illusion. Only Gnana can give it. Nirvikalpa Samadhi is unquestionably the same as deep sleep, and all ideas are refunded back there too. One must learn what ideas are when all the ideas of the universe go back into one’s mind through Yoga. Then one learns this. How has he to learn that the entire universe is consciousness or Brahman if he stops at Nirvikalpa Samadhi? Without perceiving the universe, and having a duality before him, it is impossible.

Nirvikalpa has no duality, hence it cannot tell you about the universe. The yogi who emerging from Samadhi and says he found Gnana there, says it to a second person, hence there is duality again. If he were a real Gnani, there would be nobody for him to tell that he had experienced Gnana.

Self-knowledge will interest only a few people; the rest are interested in Religion, yoga other paths, and pleasure hunting. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

The Soul, the Self is AUM.+

AUM represents the three states and everything that exists. True knowledge has only one consequence of making one firmly believe in the unreality of this world if you know them.

It only teaches the unreality but does not destroy. If a true knowledge of the Self were able to destroy the entire world, then it would also put an end to the fructification of past deeds. But it only teaches the unreality and does not destroy it.

If you say you get Gnana in Nirvikalpa Samadhi, and then why not admit it in deep sleep?

Sage Goudpada expands further on these states of consciousness. The Soul, the  Self is AUM. It represents manifest and un-manifest aspects of Brahman. It is the single syllable that symbolizes and embodies Brahman, the Absolute Reality. It is the Pranava that pervades all existence and is our very life-breath.

Vaisvanara in waking the state is A the first part of AUM, One, who realizes this, attains his desires.

Teijasa in the dream state is U the second part of AUM. One, who realizes this, attains knowledge.

Prajna in deep sleep is M the third part of AUM, concluding the sounds of the earlier two parts. One, who realizes this, attains the compressive understanding of all.

The Syllable AUM in its entirety stands for the fourth state, Turiya the one beyond the phenomenal existence, supremely blissful and non-dual.

AUM in its integral whole stands for the fourth state which is transcendental, devoid of phenomenal existence and is the source of all existence. AUM represents Ultimate Reality. AUM is thus verily the Self itself. One who realizes this merges into that Self. Meditate on AUM as the Self. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

In Yogic Samadhi, the yogi is unaware of the universe, and hence of the ultimate truth or Brahman.+

People try to see God through yogic samadhi meditation. And this process of yogic samadhi meditation does not help the seeker to get rid of the ignorance. The ignorance hides the God.

The seeker has to rip open the veil of the ignorance through  Advaitic wisdom  then only the god hidden by the ignorance will be revealed.

There are many paths and practices all over the world. Many are trying to gain bliss through extraneous means of sex and drugs.

Different people try to see God through different means, and naturally, they get different experiences without knowing what God supposed to be in actuality what is the use of seeing and experiencing God. These are different kinds of hallucinations.

There are many self-styled fake gurus who dupe people promise enlightenment, although such enlightenment are nothing but hallucinations.

People flock around them to have some experience also, and thus they have their own group of followers indulge in the propaganda of the power of their guru. 

Even One in a million, through religion, yoga, and meditation does know God what God supposed to be in truth. 

Remember:~

Sage Sankara says: - Yoga is not the means of liberation (page 132-133 - Commentary on Brihadaranyakopanishad.

In Sutra Bashya and Mandukya: - The 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 he also says Samadhi is the same as sleep (p.312) 

~This indicates that yoga is not the means to Self-realization.  And yogic Samadhi is not nondual Self-awareness. 

Remember:~

In Yogic Samadhi, the yogi is unaware of the universe, and hence of the ultimate truth or Brahman. 

To talk of Brahman without knowing the meaning of the universe is like utterly meaningless. Nirvikalpa gives only the idea of the Soul but not the truth of the whole.

Yogi thinks of the blankness or thoughtlessness in his samadhis as Brahman.

It is not enough to see a mere blank, Nirvikalpa. You have to see the ‘Soul’ the universal Self, which is the cause of the world in which you exist and it itself is uncaused.

The Soul, the innermost Self is free from ignorance not when it sees nothing at all, as in Yogic Samadhi but only when it sees this entire universe in itself. Hence, there is a need to know

“What is this universe?”

The attention must be drawn to the external world. Advaitic wisdom is the only weapon to bring peace, love and harmony, and universal welfare. This is the highest aim of Advaita to realize the world in its essence is Advaita.

It is no use seeing the personal God everywhere. You must see the Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness everywhere, and then you will be able to treat the world in which you exist as the consciousness.

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

The ‘Self-realization' through yoga is not philosophic. Every yogi who shuts himself in a cave is not thereby freed from thinking.

Yoga can lead only to temporary peace because the world is subject to change. Only Self- knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana can yield Advaitic awareness in the midst of the form, time, and space. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar 

Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara is not found in one book. Even without the books, we can get the truth.

There is no need to read books or here sermons to realize the truth which is hidden by the illusory universe or Maya. 

Sage Sankara says:~ 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.

Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara is not found in one book. Even without the books, we can get the truth.

Some people think they have read Ashtavakra Gita and mastered the knowledge. Ashtavakra Gita was misinterpreted based on the dualistic perspective by many people and published in the past.

It is for the seeker to do his own homework to know where is the fault by using his own reason

Ashtavakra Gita or any other books are not final authority because it has been misinterpreted by different authors based on their egocentric outlook. The Soulcentric knowledge cannot be grasped on the dualistic understanding.

Nothing has to be accepted as truth without verification. What is accepted without a proper inquiry will not lead a person to the final goal.

The study of Upanishad was neither indispensable nor a necessary prerequisite for attaining the human goal, the moksha.

All that one was required to do was to get rid of ignorance.

There is no need to read books after books. You need to realize only the world in which you exist is created out of single stuff. That single stuff is consciousness. Knowledge of that single stuff is Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is Advaitic Gnana.

No books can do more than help us to find it, and even without them, we can get all truth if you search for the truth which is hidden by the world in which we exist.

You have the love for books without bondage to them; and read the books, but do not believe blindly because it well written with the ornamental world, but think for yourself.

Ashtavakra: ~ “My child you may speak upon various scriptures or hear the sermons on the scriptures. But you cannot establish in the ‘Self’ unless you forget all. 16-1 – p49

Lecture consisting of a shower of ornamental words, the skill in expounding the accumulated bookish knowledge, and likewise erudition - these merely bring on a little personal enjoyment to the scholar, but it is not Gnana or wisdom.

The accumulated scriptural and bookish knowledge is useless so long as the highest Truth is unknown, and it is equally useless when the highest Truth has already been known. Hence men of wisdom should earnestly set about knowing the true nature of the Self.

To get rid of ignorance, the only remedy is Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana, or Atma Gnana. There is no need to study the scriptures in order to get rid of ignorance. The scriptures themselves declare this valuable truth.

Without direct realization, one cannot be liberated from experiencing the dualistic illusion as reality.

Remember:~

Swami Vivekananda: ~ “Advaita encompasses everything. Since Advaita requires heavy-duty intellectualism, it had to be progressively simplified. (From 'The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda)

Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is not based on any teaching or teacher. The Pursuit of truth is the pursuit of verification not the pursuit of argument. Intellectual discussion is a great hindrance in the pursuit of truth.

That which is unreal, that is duality, cannot contradict the truth of non-duality. It cannot be counted as an adversary of non-duality. The illusion cannot, 'oppose' the substratum, reality. It can at best lead to the mistaking of the substratum. Perfect understanding is the only way to overcome ignorance. : ~Santthosh Kumaar

By stopping the thoughts through yogic samadhi, the ignorance will not vanish.+

Ashtavakra says: ~ “This is your bondage, that you practice Samadhi or meditation.”

When the yogi enters this highest Nirvikalpa (effort-less) Samadhi, he will at once enter deep sleep. This will make plain to him after he wakes, that the inner ‘Self’ he sought and found, the Atman, is reached only when all his ideas are refunded into it, when there is then all the features of non-duality, one without a second. However, the yogi must later wake up, emerge from Samadhi and there is duality again, for the world of objects confronts him. So now he has to work on the next stage which is to find consciously in the waking experience the same non-duality that he unconsciously knew in sleep. This is done by learning that the universe is or idea or an object for the formless subject and then refunding the universe ~idea back into its source, which is the Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness. Only at this final stage, he says "Atman, which is present in the form of consciousness, is the same as the Brahman. The Brahman is the ultimate truth. “Now” he is fully aware of it.

By stopping the thoughts through yogic samadhi, the ignorance will not vanish.

In Sutra Bashya and Manduka Upanishads:~ Samadhi and sleep are identical.

Brihad Upanishad does not advocate Samadhi.

Yoga can never give you the fundamental thing, that the world is an illusion. Only Gnana can give it. Nirvikalpa Samadhi is unquestionably the same as deep sleep, and all ideas are refunded back there too. One must learn what ideas are when all the ideas of the universe-existence go back into one’s mind through Yoga. Then one learns this. How has he to learn that the entire universe is consciousness or Brahman if he stops at Nirvikalpa Samadhi? Without perceiving the universe, and having a duality before him, it is impossible.

Nirvikalpa has no duality, hence it cannot tell you about the universe. The yogi who emerging from Samadhi and says he found Gnana there, says it to a second person, hence there is duality again. If he were a real Gnani, there would be nobody for him to tell that he had experienced Gnana.

Self-knowledge will interest only a few people; the rest are interested in Religion, yoga other paths, and pleasure hunting.

Remember:~

Bhagavan Buddha gave up his austerities of yoga as impossible and useless. (Page.70/71 "Buddhism in Translation” by Warren)

Bhagavan Buddha got enlightenment only after he gave up Yoga. Unless one exercises his reason--there is no chance of getting the truth.

Remember:~

Thoughtlessness is not wisdom. The thoughts and the thinker and the world in which thinker exists belongs to the dualistic illusion.

Some gurus say find out, to ‘whom these thoughts come?’ But such an inquiry will not help to unfold the mystery of the ‘I’.

The thoughts are nothing to do with the Soul, the innermost 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 or consciousness, which witnesses the coming and going of the three states.

The three states are nothing to do with the Soul, the Self because the three states are an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness.

Thus, thoughtless is not wisdom. The thought, thinker, and the world are created out of single clay and that clay is the consciousness. That essence is consciousness thus, the thought, thinker, and the world are part of the illusion. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar