Sage Sankara had tremendous intellectual power, throwing the scorching light of reason upon everything.+

Sage Vasistha: ~ “We contemplate that reality in which everything exists, to which everything belongs, and from which everything has emerged, which is the cause of everything that is and which is everything.

Sage Vasistha: ~ “This world appearance is confusion, even as the blueness of the sky is an optical illusion. I think it is better not to let the mind dwell on it, but to ignore it.

Isa Upanishads indicate that:~ The time one spends in ritualistic practices is wasted; one can spend the same time moving forward towards Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, which is the main goal.

An effort is necessary up to the state of realization. Even then, the Self should spontaneously become evident. Otherwise, happiness will not be complete. Up to that state of spontaneity, there must be an effort in some form or another.

The ever-present 'Self' needs no effort to be realized. Realization is already there. Ignorance alone is to be removed. Sages say the words from a Gnani remove it.

Remember:~

Sage Sankara had tremendous intellectual power, throwing the scorching light of reason upon everything.

Sage Sankara says: ~ 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 is buried under Maya and the effects of Maya.

Sage Sankara: ~ “VC~ All this universe, which through ignorance appears as of diverse forms, is nothing else but Brahman (Consciousness), which is absolutely free from all the limitations of Maya.

When you finally realize the Self is not you but the Self is the invisible Soul, then you will realize the world in which you exist is merely an illusion created out of the invisible Soul. The invisible Soul is present in the form of consciousness.

Sage Sankara: ~ VC~.63: "Without knowing and examining the universe, one can’t know the Truth, as the idea that the external world exists won't go. It can go only by an inquiry into the nature of the external world.

Sage Sankara says: ~ “What is accepted without a proper inquiry will not lead a person to the final goal. On the contrary, such acceptance will result only in evil, in something detrimental to our spiritual progress.

Sage Sankara says: - VC-47 All the effects of ignorance, root, and branch, are burnt down by the fire of knowledge, which arises from discrimination between these two—the Self and the non-Self.

Until you think you are an individual separate from the world and the world that existed prior to you, and you are born in it afterward, ignorance will prevail as a reality. Till ignorance is there, the universe prevails as reality.

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

Perfect understanding and realization of ‘what is what’ leads to Self-awareness. By holding onto theories, one remains in the realm of duality.

You have to mentally go on dropping what is not the truth through deeper self-search.

Finally, when you become aware that your ego, your body, and the world are one in essence, then there is Self-awareness in the midst of duality.: ~Santthosh Kumaar