‘I-centric Gurus and their teachings are not Advaitic Gnana or Sage Sankara.+

You become your own obstruction if you accept ‘I-centric’ Gurus and their teaching as final. ‘I-centric’ Gurus and their teachings, you remain ignorant of the pitfalls on the path of wisdom. 

Those who believe in religion, and its ritual and the religious idea of God and yoga are considered as ignorant. 

Remember:~ 

The ‘I-centric Gurus and their teachings are not Advaitic Gnana or Sage  Sankara.

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 more advanced seekers who seek to know the ultimate truth or Brahman.  

The Guru and Guru 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 who wishes to realize the truth hidden by the illusory 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 form, time, and space. Religion is not spirituality.

In spirituality the ultimate truth is God. The Atman is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

Sage Sankara’s wisdom has nothing to do with the orthodox Sect. Sage  Sankara is the only sage who has final authority on the Advaitic truth. The Advaitic truth is rational truth and scientific truth without dogma.

The Advaitic orthodoxy is not the means to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.  Advaitic orthodoxy is meant for the ignorant populace that is unfit to grasp the highest truth.   The Advaitic orthodoxy has nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman.

All sect-based beliefs are dualistic and unphilosophical nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman.  In spirituality the ultimate truth is God.  Thus, the Advaitic orthodoxy is a sect that has nothing to do with the Advaitic wisdom of the Sage  Sankara. Advaitic orthodox sect is meant for the ignorant populace.

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 wear the sanyasin robes are wearing it for the sake of bread belong to the religion; they have nothing to do with Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. There is no need to criticize and condemn the Gurus, yogis, and swamis because they are needed for the welfare of the ignorant masses in the dualistic world.

Sage Sankara in Viveka Chudamani (2), states that the Knower of the Atman (i.e., a Gnani) "bears no outward mark of a holy man" (Stanza 539).

It means the Gurus, Swamis, and Yogis who identify themselves as holy people are not Gnanis. 

Those who are seeking truth need not follow any religion, sect, Guru, or any teaching.  

The ‘Self is not you but the ‘Self’ is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Consciousness is not limited by form, time, and space.  The consciousness pervades everything and everywhere in the universe. 

You must abide in a Soul by realizing the Self is not ‘I’ but the Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness and rest in consciousness. 

People can only lecture for giving out falsehood (duality), but it is a waste of time to deliver a public lecture giving out the truth.   It is the illusions that appeal to the taste of the audience because they are ignorant about the world in which they exist is merely an illusion from the standpoint of the Soul, the ‘Self’.

For a crowd at a venue will contain men of varying capacities to understand, of whom only one or two might be seekers for truth or receptive to receive Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

If one wants to interview a Gnani then he must be ripe enough to understand what a Gnani is pointing at.    A Gnani will be withholding the truth because he is aware of the fact that, the unready people will not understand what he is saying.

That is why Bhagavad Gita says:-  "Don't unsettle the minds of the ignorant by revealing the esoteric truth."

A Gnani may travel provided he is actively engaged therein helping others.

For the benefit of those who think from the lower standpoint of the world of duality, the Gnani tells them to follow their chosen path and when they are convinced that their chosen paths are inadequate and useless in quenching their inner thirst they only take the path of wisdom or reason.

A Gnani is not a sanyasi or guru or swami or Sadhu or monk.  He does not belong to any ashrams."  Both Gnani and the ignorant see the multiplicity, but Gnani does not take the differences he sees as being real. That is the difference between them. 

A Gnani sees the unity behind the differences within the realm of form, time, and space by knowing that form, time, and space are one in essence.  A true Gnani can never renounce anything. It is impossible. He has only renounced the idea of a separation of form, time, and space.

Remember:~

Gnanis have ignored the opinions of whole peoples in their independent search for truth and questioned all beliefs, all scriptures, and all authorities until they could be proven to be true. Even the arguments that religions have been followed since time immemorial make no difference to them because if people have believed a false thing over thousands of years, the length of time does not prove it true.  

The ultimate truth does not belong to the religion because the religion and its belief in the religious idea of God and its scriptures are a reality within the scope of form, time, and space whereas the ultimate truth is beyond form, time, and space. 

The Gnani accepts the sameness in pleasure and pain because he is fully aware of the fact that pleasure, pain, and the world are made of the same stuff and that stuff is consciousness.   Without consciousness, there is no pleasure, pain, and the world.  

Gnani’s position is that if enjoyment comes, he accepts it; if it does not, he keeps quiet. Even when he is taking pleasures, however, he is not deluded by them and he regards them as a game he is playing for he knows their unreality: he does not take them seriously.

Clouds do not affect the sky, although they appear to; so the pleasure and pain do not change the Gnani because he is fully aware that, the pleasure and pain belong to the world. And the world is merely an illusion from the standpoint of the Soul, the Self.    From the standpoint of the Soul, the Self the illusion is merely a passing show.

Remember:~

The Gnani will follow whatever occupation he wishes according to circumstances. There are no prohibitions for him. He may be a peasant or a billionaire.

Gnanis do not perform miracles to attract attention to the truth.  If one performed Miracles in a dream the dream becomes unreal when waking takes place. Similarly, the waking becomes unreal when Advaitic wisdom dawns. 

Advaitic wisdom dawns when the waking entity (you) realizes it, itself is not the self but the Self is the invisible  Soul, which witnesses the coming and going of the three states. The witness of the three states and the three states are one in essence.  That essence is the soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. 

Even whilst in the midst of the experience of objects, the Gnani have the awareness of the soul, the innermost self.  The Soul is present in the form of consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman. 

In Self-awareness, there is no separation of form, time, and space from the other because the form, time, and space are one in essence.

A person who realizes the ultimate truth or Brahman will throw off his religious robe and his religious identity and become Avadhuta and live as he wishes. : ~Santthosh Kumaar