Advaitic wisdom or Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana frees the Soul from the cage of the ‘I’, which is the dualistic illusion or Maya.+

The truth means existence. The real existence is hidden by the dualistic illusion. The dualistic illusion is present in the form of the ‘I’. Realizing the ‘I’ is the untruth lead to the realization of the truth hidden by the ‘I’.

The ‘I’ is the cause of the bondage of the illusory form, time and space.  Advaitic wisdom or Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana frees the Soul from the cage of the ‘I’, which is the dualistic illusion or Maya.

People think the ‘Self’ as the ‘I’ and they think it is not possible to function without the ‘I’ as a person because they think ‘I’ is limited to the body and ‘I’ is within the body.  This is an error. The ‘I’ is the whole universe in which you exist.

People refuse to accept the world is an illusion.  But they must think the world in which they exist appears as waking and disappears as deep sleep (nonduality).

A person, who stamped his foot on the ground to refute to show the world, is real, ignore that in a dream he would do exactly the same--stamp his dream foot on the ground and assert it to be real. 

When people finally realize the  ‘Self ‘ is not the ‘I’  but the ‘Self’ is the Soul, the witness of the ‘I’  then you will realize the world in which they exist is merely an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Thus, people and their experience birth, life, death, and world mere an illusion created out of consciousness. The consciousness alone is real and all else is an illusion. Thus, consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

Many Gurus in the past glorified the ‘I’. People got emotionally stuck with their Gurus worshipping them and got entangled with the studying the life and happenings of their guru when their Gurus was alive. They forgot their main goal of discovering the truth of their true existence.  This following Gurudom trend is still continuing.

Yoga Vasistha says: ~ ‘Self’-knowledge or knowledge of truth is not had by resorting to a Guru (preceptor) nor by the study of scripture, nor by good works: it is attained only by means of inquiry inspired by the company of wise (Gnani). One’s inner light alone is the means, naught else. When this inner light is kept alive, it is not affected by the darkness of inertia. 

There is no need to condemn Gurus, but there is a need to highlight how they become an obstacle in realizing the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

Swami Vivekananda said: ~   “You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher, but your own Soul.”

The Guru is useless so long as the ultimate truth is unknown, and the Guru is equally useless when the ultimate truth or Brahman has already been known.

A Guru is needed in religious and the yogic path.  There is no need for a Guru to acquire ‘Self’-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

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 seeker who seeks to know the truth beyond the form, time and space. The Gurudom is meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. The Atmic path is meant for those who wish to go beyond the domain of the form, time and space 

Sage Sankara gave religious, ritual or dogmatic instruction to the masses but pure philosophy only to the few who could rise to it. Hence the interpretation of his writings by commentators is often confusing because they mix up the two viewpoints. Thus, they may assert that ritual is a means of realizing Brahman, which is absurd. 

The Atmic path is straight. One travels from ignorance to wisdom by perfect understanding of ‘what is what’. 

The search of the truth of our true existence ends in the discovery of the Soul, the  Self.   When the form, time and space are created out of single stuff then there is no division in consciousness.  The Soul is the fullness of consciousness without the illusory division of the form, time and space. :~Santthosh Kumaar