Sage Sankara says religion keeps one in the domain of ignorance.+

You go to the mountain only to enjoy the beauty and serenity of the mountains but not for acquiring the Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara.

Remember you are a truth seeker you will not accept anything other than the truth. By visiting the Ashram, ignorance will not vanish. 

By glorifying the Guru or surrendering to the Guru you will not get Advaitic Gnana. All religious and yogic paths are meant for the ignorant crowd, not for those who are searching for the truth of their true existence.

By practicing kundalini you will remain in ignorance permanently. Meeting holy people you will not get the grace.

Sage Sankara says religion keeps one in the domain of ignorance.

One of Sage Sankara’s missions was to wean people away from a religious approach advocated by the orthodox and to project wisdom ( Advaitic Gnana) as the means of liberation.

Rituals belong to the religion. Religion is built on the foundation of Myth. Whatever is based on myth is ignorance.

The following religion means the following ignorance. Without getting rid of ignorance it is impossible to realize God in truth.

Sage Sankara says:~Religion are therefore addressed to an ignorant person. Thus, Religion is meant for ignorant people.

Sage Sankara himself said: ~ A Gnani "bears no outward mark of a holy man" (Stanza 539).

Sage Sankara: ~ "Though I wear these robes of a Sanyasin, it is only for the sake of bread."

So he wore a Guru's robe only for the sake of the ignorant. So he was identified as Guru with parampara by religious people. For the truth seekers, Sage Sankara is a Brahma Gnani.

Thus, it proves that the religious gurus and yogis are not Gnanis because they identified themselves as holy people. 

Tripura Rahasya: ~ Second-hand knowledge of the Self-gathered from books or Gurus can never emancipate a man until its truth is rightly investigated and applied; only direct realization will do that. Realize yourself, turning the mind inward. (18: 89)

By observing nature you will not find the truth you are seeking but by realizing the unreal nature of the universe the truth you are seeking will be revealed on its own.

Chandogya Upanishads: ~ “This universe comes forth from Brahman and will return to Brahman. Verily, all is Brahman. A person is what his deep desire is. It is our deepest desire in this life that shapes the life to come. So let us direct our deepest desires to realize the Self.

Ashtavakra Gita: ~ “The universe rises from the Soul, the Self like bubbles from the sea. Thus know the ‘Self’ to be One and in this way enter into the state of dissolution."

Sage Sankara said: ~A.A~ 88. When the whole universe, movable and immovable, is known to be Atman (consciousness), and thus the existence of everything else is negated, where is then any room to say that the body is Atman?

The ‘Self’ is not the mind. The mind is present in the form of not the world in which we exist.  The world appears as waking or dream (duality) and disappears as deep sleep (non-duality).    

The ‘Self’ is the Soul. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. The consciousness pervades everything and everywhere in all three states. Thus, diversity is created out of single stuff. That stuff is consciousness.

Consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman because there is no second thing that exists other than consciousness.   From the standpoint of the Soul, form, time and space are one, in essence. 

In spirituality, God means the ultimate truth or Brahman. Self–realization is truth-realization. Truth- realization itself is God-realization.

Sage Sankara: ~VC~ If the universe is 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.

  

That is why  Sankara's declaration: ~ “Brahman is the truth the world is unreal everything is truly Brahman and nothing else has any value.

If you are seeking truth then do not waste time finding a Guru and become his slave.  The Gurudom belongs to the religious and yogic path and it is nothing to do with the Advaitic path.

Upanishads:~  Fools dwelling in darkness, but thinking they wise and erudite, go round and round, by various tortuous paths, like the blind led by the blind. (Upanishads Nikilanada - Ch II-5 P-14)

There is no need for a Guru, to know you and your Guru and the world in which you exist is created out of single clay and that single clay is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.  Knowledge of that single stuff is Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.  Gnana is given neither from outside nor from another person.

There is no need to follow anyone. There is no need to practice anything but perfect understanding and assimilation of ‘what is what’ leads to realizing the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

The Soul the ’Self’ reveals ‘what is real’ and ‘what is unreal” when the seeker is receptive and ready. 

Sage Sankara says: ~ There is no need to study the Scriptures, in order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman

~ then why indulge in studying the scriptures.

Sage Sankara says: ~ there is no need to study philosophy, in order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman

~then why indulge in studying philosophies.

Sage Sankara says: ~ there is no need to indulge in rituals, in order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman

~then why  indulge in rituals.

Sage Sankara says: ~ there is no need to indulge in yoga, in order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman

~then why indulge in yoga.

Sage Sankara says the transparent Truth of the Self, which is hidden by the illusion, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, (Gnani)

~ then why you are sticking to a Guru who is not a Gnani.

Sage Sankara says: ~ “The exercise in discrimination between real and unreal and renunciation of the false is real meditation, then why you are indulging in other types of meditation.

Those who tell you that Brahman is unity, that you can get it only by intuition, that you should not reason, you should not question or inquire, are deluding you. Verification must come by thought. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar