The hidden treasure of Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara can be discovered only through a perfect understanding of ‘what is what’.+

The hidden treasure of the Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara can be discovered only through a perfect understanding of ‘what is what’. 

Sage Sankara's Advaitic Gnana is the direct means to the attainment of Self-realization or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.  It is necessary for the seeker of truth to realize the ‘Self’ hidden by Maya (dualistic illusion). 

Sage Sankara said:~ Neither by the practice of yoga nor philosophy, nor by good works nor by learning, does liberation come, but only through the realization that Atman and Brahman are one in no other way. (1) Vivekachoodamani v 56, pg~25

Sage Sankara goes on to say:~  A sickness  is not cured by saying the word “medicine.” You must take the medicine. Liberation does not come by merely saying the word “Brahman (God).” Brahman must be realized. Until you allow this apparent universe to dissolve from your consciousness until you have realized Brahman, how can you find liberation just by saying the word Brahman? The result is merely noise. Until a man has destroyed his enemies and taken possession of the splendor and wealth of the kingdom, he cannot become a king by simply saying “I am a king.”

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 subtle arguments.

The seeker has to realize the ‘Self’ hidden by the ‘I’. The 'I'  is the dualistic illusion.  Without knowing what he wants to attain it is not possible for the seeker to tread the Atmic path. 

Sage Sankara says Advaitic Gnana cannot be attained by yogic practice, by following the religion, rituals, worshipping religious Gods, and scriptural studies. The seeker of ‘Self’ should discard religion and yoga if he is really interested in acquiring Advaitic Gnana or Sage  Sankara.

Sage Sankara says: ~ ‘The scriptures dealing with rituals, and rewards are therefore addressed to an ignorant person.  

Adhyasa Bhashya of Sage Sankara:~ (11) As regards the rituals, Sage  Sankara says, the person who performs rituals and aspires for rewards will view himself in terms of the caste into which he is born, his age, the stage of his life, his standing in society, etc. In addition, he is required to perform rituals all through his life. However, the 'Self' has none of those attributes or tags. Hence, the person who superimposes all those attributes on the changeless, eternal Self and identifies the Self with the body is confusing one for the other; and is, therefore, an ignorant person. The scriptures dealing with rituals, rewards, etc. are therefore addressed to an ignorant person. 

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 which is beyond 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 them 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 or Guru, or any teaching. The one who thinks of himself as a Guru and the one who thinks of himself as a chela (disciple) will not be able to acquire Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana because both of them accepted themselves as the body. And all their understanding, practices, and knowledge are based on the false self (ego or you).  Therefore, the Guru–Shisya concept is a great obstacle in the pursuit of truth.  A Gnani never accepted himself as a Guru nor accepted anyone as his disciple. 

That is why Sage  Sankara:~  VC-  v6~ 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.

Sage  Sankara says: ~ VC 56. Neither by Yoga, nor by Sankhya, nor by good work, nor by learning, but by the realization of one's identity with Brahman is Liberation possible, and by no other means.

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.

Advaita is the nature of the Soul. Advaita is second to none. Advaita is universal wisdom revealed on its own to all the serious and sincere seekers of truth.

The real Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara is Soulcentric knowledge.  Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is Soulcentric knowledge that destroys ignorance.

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 be 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 where the ‘I’ arises.

Blinded by the illusion very few grasp the nondualistic or Advaitic truth. Only a few escape from the web of illusion, and only a few will be able to acquire nondualistic or Advaitic wisdom.

The non-duality has to be grasped in the midst of the waking experience (duality or mind or universe).  That is, being aware of the truth and untruth, reality and unreality. And able to establish himself in the truth and able to view and judge, the three states, on the base of the Soul, the  Self. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. The consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman.

Unfortunately, people are stuck with their accumulated ideas based on the false self, imagine nonduality, and say nothing exists other than the source. But a Gnani says everything exists (illusion) but everything is created out of the Soul (Spirit or consciousness).  

Everything rises from the Soul and subsides as the Soul (Spirit or consciousness). Thus, the whole diversity has no relevance, from the standpoint of the Soul as the Self.

Everything (universe or illusion or matter) is the consciousness (Soul or Spirit) realizing the three states are created out of consciousness (Soul or Spirit).

Awareness is the nature of the Soul (Spirit or consciousness) because there is no second thing that exists other than the Soul (spirit or consciousness), the Self.   Thus, consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman.

Sage Sri, Sankara’s wisdom reveals: ~ Atman is the only one ultimate reality or Brahman.  Brahman is God,

This point must be borne by the seeker in understanding Sage Sankara's indication of his Advaitic wisdom.

Sage  Sankara states wisdom can eliminate ignorance, but the ignorance it eliminates is not real because it has no existence of its own. Once the error is removed the Universe (Brahman) will reveal of its own accord.

Sage Sankara explains darkness and light are distinct from each other in their nature and in their functions. Darkness has no existence of its own; it is merely the absence of light. Whereas, the light is positive and helps vision. Darkness and light can neither coexist nor share their functions or nature. Darkness is an error that can be removed.

Sage Sankara says that an individual’s experience cannot be disputed because the experience he went through was real to him; though that may not be real from the absolute point of view. Sage Sankara makes a distinction between the absolute view and the relative view of things.

Sage Sankara: ~ “In short, what the person does is, he imposes his transactional experience (relative or dual) over the transcendental (absolute) and accepts the former as real. That subjective experience need not be proved or disproved. However, the confusion it creates can be removed by wisdom (vidya). 

According to Sage Sankara the world we experience is not absolutely real but it is not false either. The reality is that which cannot be negated and that which is beyond contradiction.

Sage Sankara explains that vyavaharika (dualistic perspective) and paramarthika (non-dualistic perspective) both are real. However, the relative reality is “limited” to form, time, and space and it is not beyond contradictions. The absolute on the other hand is infinite (is formless, timeless, and spaceless existence meaning without the dualistic illusion of form, time, and space).

Sage Sankara is careful to point out that the two dimensions – Vyavaharika and Paramarthika- are two levels of experiential variations. It does not mean they are two orders of reality. There are only two perspectives. Whatever that is there is REAL and is not affected by our views. 

Sage  Sankara: ~ The Self in the vyavaharika (Dualistic perspective) context is saririka (embodied Self); it encounters the world. However, the ‘Self’ in reality is not saririka (not physical); it is absolute, asaririka (it is the fullness of the consciousness without the division of form, time, and space) and is infinite. The infinite Self, perceived as the limited self (jiva) is what Sage Sankara calls as adhyasa.

Sage Sankara:~ The dichotomy between being an individual-in-the-world (jiva) and being originally a pure, transcendental consciousness (Atman) is taken by Sage  Sankara as merely superficial. According to Sage Sankara, it is due to Avidya that the individual fails to see the nexus between Being and the world. That nexus indicates the oneness underlying the subject-object, inner-outer, and Man-Nature distinctions. All that is required is to remove the error and the universe will shine on its own accord.

Sag Sankara: ~ “The analogy given in the text is that of a pond that is clear and undisturbed. One can see the bottom of the pond through its still water. When, however, pebbles are thrown into the pond, the water in it is disturbed and the bottom of the pond becomes no longer visible. That bottom, however, is there all the time and it remains unchanged, no matter whether the surface water is disturbed or not. The water in the pond is the transactional world. The bottom of the pond is the transcendental reality. The disturbance created is Avidya.

Sage  Sankara recognizes three levels of existence, the Absolute, the relative, and the illusory. Adhyasa consists in superimposing one level of existence (relative/illusory) over the other (The Absolute) and accepting the former as true while it may actually be untrue. The absolute (atman) appearing as the limited (jiva) is what Sage Sankara calls adhyasa. (For more on this please see Adhyasa )

Sage  Sankara:~Extending the concept of adhyasa, Sage  Sankara says, we superimpose the body, the sense organs, and the mind on the Self(infinite) and we use expressions like: ‘I am fat’, ‘I am thin’, ‘I am white’, ‘I am black’, ‘I stand’, ‘I go’, ‘I am dumb’, ‘I am deaf’, ‘I think’, ‘I am not going to fight’, ‘I shall renounce’ and so on. In this way, we superimpose our mind on the Atman, which is the eternal witness. We do it the other way also by superimposing the ‘Self’ on the mind, the non-self. According to Sage Sankara, the relation between the mind and ‘Self’ involves mutual superimposition (itaretara-adhyasa). This relation is false since there cannot be any real relation between the Self and the non-self. This confusion or adhyasa is innate to us and is a matter of common experience. Sage Sankara says, the purpose of Upanishads is to remove adhyasa or Avidya; and once it is removed, Brahman will shine of its accord, for it is the only reality. This doctrine of Sage  Sankara became the nucleus for the development of the Advaita school of thought.

Sage Sankara: ~VC~ if the universe be true, let it then be perceived in the state of deep sleep also. As it is not at all perceived, it must be unreal and false like dreams.  

Sage Sankara’s wisdom reveals: ~ Atman is the only one ultimate reality or Brahman.  Brahman is God

Advaita means the Soul, the Self, which is second to none. The Soul, which is present in the form of the Spirit or consciousness, is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth. Advaita is the nature of God in truth, the Self. Advaita is God in truth. Advaita is the fullness of consciousness. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar