Sage Sankara is the finality in the Advaitic Wisdom.+

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 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, which is the false self within the universe, which is the dualistic illusion or Maya.

Swami Vivekananda:~ Advaita encompasses everything. Since Advaita requires heavy-duty intellectualism, it had to be progressively simplified.

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

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

Gnana is common to all religions. 

There is nothing like One Gnana for a Hindu and another for a Christian.

The entire philosophy 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 Advaitic wisdom.

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 of consciousness, is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

The Soul, the Self is constant and, therefore, real, while the phenomena constituting the universe are 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 are waking, dream, and deep sleep ~ in waking or dream one experiences duality, and in deep sleep, there is only non-duality. To obtain a complete picture of our existential reality, we need to include evidence from all three states. This is the phenomenology of consciousness.

The consciousness is one only, without a second. One experiences 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. 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, ignorance ceases, and the illusion, which is present in the form of 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 or God in truth. 

Consciousness is the cause of the origin, maintenance, and withdrawal of the universe is Advaita (i.e. non-dual), which means that 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 nonexistent. And it is not unconsciousness. Nothing positive can be stated about consciousness.

Remember:~

It is not you who is in ignorance because the world in which you exist is a product of ignorance. It is the Soul that has to wake up from its sleep ignorance. All the non-dualistic teachings of modern authors are based on the dualistic perspective and intellectual speculations and logical conclusions.  

One must keep in mind only Sage Sankara is the finality in the Advaitic  Wisdom.  All other Gurus and teachings have stopped in the preliminary stages of Advaitic teaching ‘Who Am ‘I’? and ‘I AM THAT’.

So many centuries have passed since Sage  Sankara appeared, yet it is very hard to find his true wisdom understood anywhere in the world today. It is because so few could rise to his level.

Sage Sankara‘s doctrines spread after his lifetime.  Very few were capable of understanding his wisdom.  The orthodox pundit’s followers are not Gnanis or have grasped the Advaitic wisdom.

The Advaitic orthodoxy is meant for the ignorant populace. According to Advaita Vedanta, the Veda addresses itself to two kinds of audiences - the ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices.

 The more advanced seeker who seeks to know the ultimate truth or   Brahman. Thus, the Purva mimam. sa, with its emphasis on the KARMA KANDA of the Vedas, is meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. However, the Vedanta emphasis on the JNANA KANDA is meant for those who wish to go beyond such transient pleasures.

Sage Sri, 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) VivekaChudamani v 56, pg 25

The seeker should never stick to any Guru or his teaching if he is seeking the ultimate truth.  Scriptural knowledge is conceptual divisions invented by some past and modern authors of Advaita by their excessive imaginary analysis.  

All the imaginary analyses are a great obstacle in the Atmic path.    They create more confusion and try to satisfy their imaginary explanations based on the dualistic perspective. Fortunate are people who do not lose themselves in the labyrinths of such bookish knowledge, but they will never be satisfied until they find ‘what they are seeking.

Most thinkers hold views of Maya (illusion) which are entirely incorrect and untenable because they do not know Sage  Sankara'sUpanishad Bashyas, but only the Brahma Sutra Bashya.

When one is unaware of what illusion is, then there is ignorance. From the standpoint of the Soul, the innermost Self, The duality is merely an illusion.   The illusion is a reality only from the standpoint of you (ego).   The world in which you exist is the product of ignorance. Till ignorance is there, the world in which you exist prevails as a reality.

"One may recognize a fool by the fact that he talks too freely"…Sunyavadins Buddhists say everything is non-existence but their judgment is based on the dualistic perspective.

As one goes deeper and deeper he realizes; how can one see, hear, and think? …All these differences, all this multiplicity, all this ignorance which regards the multiplicity as real, is caused by ignorance of the Soul, the innermost Self.

The Soul is the witness of the world in which you exist.   Your youth, maturity, and old are happening within the dualistic world.   The Soul remains unchanged amid these changes.

All these experiences as the father, son, owner, and pupil and all the contents of the world were one and the same the Soul or consciousness appearing differently. All these distinctions disappear in the Soul wakes up from its sleep of ignorance.

Dream the mountain which is apparently insentient and material, is nevertheless still the Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness alone. Whether living or dead, conscious or unconscious thought or matter; all things are appearances of one and the same consciousness. All these distinctions are seen by Gnani as only the Soul or consciousness. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar