The Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara has dynamic, direct, universal appeal.+

Swami Vivekananda aptly described Sage Sankara’s Advaita as the fairest flower of philosophy that any country in any age has produced.

The Advaitic truth is a rational or scientific truth declared by Bhagwan Buddha and Sage Sankara centuries back, but unfortunately, the original essence of the rational Advaita is lost mainly, because of orthodox adulteration and add-ons, which are based on the ego (waking entity), which is the false self within the false experience (waking).

The seeker has to first indulge in deeper self-search without scriptures and understand assimilate the Advaitic truth, which leads to self-awareness. Thus, soulcentric thinking, reasoning, and judgment are very much necessary in pursuit of truth.

The non-dual Atman is realized when the individual self (jiva) is awakened from its ignorance. Atman is unborn, dreamless, sleepless, and motionless and is beyond duality. It is cognition at its purest. It is Brahman- Ayam Atma Brahma, this Atma is that Brahma; Thus epitomizing the core of Upanishad teachings.

Sage Sankara ’says:~ "Kuruthe Ganga sahar gamanam Vratha paripal mathva dhanam. Gyana Vihine.Sarva Mathene.”

Advaitic Gnana is common to all religions. There is nothing like One Gnana for a Hindu and another for a Christian.

The Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara can be summed up in the following statement:-

Brahma Satyam, jaganmithya, jivobrahmaivanaparah: - Brahman alone is real; the world is non-real and the individual Self is essentially not-different from Brahman.

This is the quintessence of Sage Sankara’s metaphysics.

The consciousness is the one single reality or Brahman. The individual self is a reality within the duality. There is no individual in the realm of the nondual reality.

Sage Sankara says:~ One alone exists, and the rest is all superimposition on that One, due to ignorance.

Through a systematic inquiry into the nature of the mind, which is present in the form of the universe, one arrives at the position that the Soul, the Self, which is present in the form consciousness, is the ultimate truth or Brahman.

The Soul, the Self is constant and, therefore, real, while the phenomena constituting the universe is constantly changing and, therefore, unreal. The final conclusion is that the form, time, and space or the universe are one in essence. That essence is consciousness. Thus, no second thing exists other than consciousness.

The seeker of truth has to take into account all three states of our existence, which is waking, dream, and deep sleep ~ in waking or dream one experiences duality, and in deep sleep, there is only non-duality. In order to obtain a complete picture of our existential reality, we need to include evidence from all three states. This is the phenomenology of consciousness.

Consciousness is one only, without a second. One experience the manifold universe ignorance ~ led illusion “covers" the One and "projects" the Many. The illusion is the veil on consciousness. In truth, only One, non-dual Reality is all there is. The consciousness is all-pervasive. It is intrinsically Real, self-effulgent, infinite, undifferentiated Pure.

When the Soul, the  Self, wakes up to its own formless nondual true nature, the ignorance ceases and the illusion, which is present in the form duality never again experienced as reality.

The show of the illusory duality, however, continues, as before. Only our identification with a particular actor's role is gone forever because the self is in its own awareness.

Self-awareness is Brahmic Bliss! This state is already ours always in deep sleep in a "general" way. When the Self-Knowledge dawns then one is awake to it in a "special" way in the midst of duality.

Atman=Brahman or the Self, capture the essence of the immanent (Self) and the transcendent (Brahman) Reality. Humanity has not yet conceived a more lofty conception of its position in the universe.

Advaita only means the negation of duality. The soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is the ultimate truth or Brahman. The consciousness is the cause of the origin, maintenance, and withdrawal of the universe is Advaita (i.e. non-dual), it means that the consciousness transcends all conceptions, positive and negative. Nothing positive can ever be imagined or said about it.

The consciousness is existence absolute, awareness absolute. Existence absolute means that consciousness is not unreal or non-existent. And it is not the unconsciousness. Nothing positive can be stated about consciousness.

Remember:~ 

Many people quote Advaita without understanding it really in its highest aspect. Say to one who calls himself an Advaitin but whose knowledge of Advaita is based on dualistic or orthodox perspective belongs to the Advaitic sect their knowledge is limited to the domain of the form, time, and space.

The orthodox people are unable to digest the Advaitic wisdom because they strongly believe, their individual experience of the birth, life, death, and the world and rebirth and personal Gods with attributes as a reality whereas Sage Sri, Sankara says the world is an illusion.

 The seeker has to prepare himself to learn and reason on the nondualistic perspective to unfold the mystery hidden by the universe.

A number of Upanishads are equally dogmatic and self-contradictory because they also begin by assuming Brahman(God). Few Upanishads prove Brahman at the end of a train of proof but still, they are very confusing and vague.

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.

"Who am I?" this question was boldly taken up by the great Advaitic Sage   Sankara who wrote commentaries on some of the spiritual treatises are known as the Upanishads, which form the latter part of the Vedas, the Holy Scriptures.

Sage Sankara addressed the scholars, philosophers, and monks of his day.

The deep inquiry into the nature of the ‘I’ ’ and free the Soul from the illusory bondage of the ‘I’. The ‘Who Am ‘I’, inquiry, is for the beginners to expose the unreal nature of the ‘I’.

"Who am I?” inquiry has no dynamic, direct, universal appeal it is just a starter in the Atmic Path.

The Self-inquiry is to know ‘what is this ‘I’ supposed to be in actuality. It is erroneous to limit the ‘I’ is within the body. Thinking the ‘I’ is within the body and inquiring ‘Who Am ‘I’ will not help to unfold the mystery of the ‘I’.

The ‘I’ hides the reality of existence. The nature of existence is the formless, timeless and spaceless existence. There is no ‘I’ in reality. The ‘I’ is merely an illusion. Whatever belongs to the ‘I’ is merely an illusion.

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.

Remember:~

Bhagavad Gita: ~ “You must first see the ‘I’ as illusory before you see others as illusory. ~ CH.2 v.16

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 I’ is an illusion then the individual experience of the 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.

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 it as real because some Gurus have propagated the Self is the ‘I’. is no need to convince such mindsets. 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 Guru's 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 mindsets are 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.

The Advaitic wisdom of Sage  Sankara has dynamic, direct, universal appeal. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar