Sage Sankara: - One without knowledge does not obtain liberation.+

All these religions have produced a great many saints, prophets, and Sages. If they had been born in Hinduism, in all probability, they would have been deified in the same way as the founders of several Hindu sects.

Upanishad says: ~ The human goal is to acquire Self-Knowledge, and they indicate that the belief in the personal Gods, yoga scriptures, worship, and rituals are not the means to Self–Knowledge, then why should anyone indulge in it? The religion, concept of individualized God, and scriptures are the greatest obstacles to realizing non-dual truth or Self-realization because they are based on the false self. The seeker of truth has to search for the ultimate truth without losing himself in the labyrinths of philosophy, through deeper self-search and assimilation, and realize it.

That is why Sage Sankara, indicated in Bhaja Govindam, says: ~ One without knowledge does not obtain liberation even in a hundred births, no matter which religious faith he follows.

Thus, the path of wisdom is the only means. Then it is no use going a roundabout way, trace the Brahman, which is the formless substance and the witness of the universe (mind). By tracing the source of the mind or the universe, one will be able to realize the Brahman.

Hinduism has an ever-increasing number of Avatars and Gurus installed as God Himself, with the support and sanction of scriptures and teachings of saints and sages.

Those Saints and Sages in the past introduced Glorifying God and Guru and rituals for the masses who have immersed themselves in worldly life and are incapable of inquiring or not ready for the pursuit of truth.

Glorying God and Guru and rituals might also be regarded as harmful, as they might cause doubt and confusion in the minds of some seekers who strive with simple faith and earnestness to practice the discipline for Self-realization.

If one is seeking truth, then this application of the theoretical philosophy is erroneous and improper. It has been instrumental in spreading sophistry and delusion in the guise of philosophy and direct realization and must be abandoned.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad:~ "He who worships the deities as entities entirely separate from the ‘Self’ does not know the truth. For the Gods, he is like a pasu (beast)". (1. 4. 10)

Isa Upanishad says: ~ Into blinding darkness enter those who cling to ignorance, but into still deeper darkness go those who flirt with knowledge. It is the promotion of nescience with the help of scholarship to justify the worship of a mortal in lieu of God. It makes no difference whether God is conceived as clothed with attributes (Saguna) or as absolute, attribute-less existence (Nirguna).

Sage Sankara: ~VC 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 (verses-6)

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

Lord Krishna confesses that the oldest wisdom of India ( Advaitic wisdom ) has been lost: people misinterpret and falsify it today as they did then. It is not yoga but the philosophic truth. But nobody knows it. The teachers of philosophy and leaders of mysticism or religion do not want to inquire into truth and have no time for it. (Gita –Chap- IV-v.2)

In the Gita Chapter. IV where Lord Krishna says: ~ "This yoga has been lost for ages." The word yoga refers to Gnana yoga, not other yogas: the force of the word is to point this out.

Lord Krishna describes some of the other yogas, but devotes this chapter separately to Gnana Yoga. So, one sees even in those ancient days, people did not care for Advaita; they wanted religion; hence, Gnana got lost. That is why Krishna calls it "the supreme secret." Krishna points out that the yoga must-see is "Brahman in action."

Gita Chap. IV:~ "He who achieves perfection in Yoga finds the Self in time." This means that after his yoga is finished, he begins the inquiry into the ultimate truth, and in due course, this inquiry produces the realization of the universal spirit as the result.

Lord Krishna says Ch. V:~ “Those who know the Self in truth.". The last two words (tattvataha) are usually ignored by pundits, but they make all the difference between the ordinary concept of God and the truth about God.

There is no need for any practice to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman, or God in truth.

Perfect understanding and assimilation of ‘what is what’ is very much necessary to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman, which is God in truth. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar