The word God is the best word to express because the ignorant populace is attached to the word God.+

There is no proper word for Athma in English. Translators used the Self for Athma, which is an error. Athma means existence. Athma is the cause of the whole universe, whereas the Self is limited to a physical entity.

The English use of the word the Self as applied to the individual Soul. Sage Sankara rejects the many souls theory. Sage Sankara's wisdom is ekathma vada (one Soul).

Existence without the illusory form, time, and space is applied to unseen Athma, which is the cause and support of the illusory universe in which we exist.

The seeker has to remember that the Self means Athma, which is not limited to an individual, but Athma pervades everything and everywhere in the whole universe.

Athma or Soul. Athma or Atman is the Sanskrit word for the Soul, the Self. Athma is the cause and support of all that exists in the universe.

Athma is immanent, unaging, immortal, eternal, and holy, and the cause of all. Athma alone is worthy of being worshiped.

Do not accept any other God other than the Athma. The Athma is God in truth,

Nothing is real but Athma, which is present in the form of consciousness. Nothing matters but realizing God in truth.

God in truth is everywhere and in everything. Let these words be inscribed in your subconscious.

God in truth, is hidden by the illusory universe. God in truth alone is real and eternal, and all else is an illusion.

Brahman is merely a word to indicate the ultimate truth or God in truth. The ultimate truth itself is God in truth.

Remember:~

The word God is the best word to express because the ignorant populace is attached to the word God.

Brahman -The English use of the word real as applied to the material world, whereas we Advaitins use it as applied to unseen Atman or the consciousness. Hence, many errors have arisen in translations from Sanskrit.

Brahman ~ The word Brahman or Sat has no proper equivalent in English. The nearest is the ultimate reality or ultimate truth. The West, however, applies reality to individual objects or to the multiplicity of them all, whereas Advaitins apply it to the nonduality. Brahman is called "That" because it is something not known yet by the seeker.

The words are used for communication purposes. From the non-dualistic perspective, the words are meaningless. The words are only used within the dualistic illusion to indicate the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar 

To realize the universe is consciousness, there is no need for Guru.+

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.

Guru is needed in the religious and yogic path. For truth seekers, the Soul is the inner Guru.

The seeker has to grow from the inside out by Soulcentric reasoning. None can teach him none can make him reach the ultimate end of understanding. There is no other Guru but the formless Soul or the consciousness, which is the Self.

The invisible Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is the source of all that exists as the universe.

To realize the universe is consciousness, there is no need for Guru.

That is why Sage Sankara says:~ ~ VC 63. Without causing the objective universe to vanish and without knowing the truth of the Self, how is one to achieve Liberation by the mere utterance of the word Brahman? — It would result merely in an effort of speech.

VC-65. As a treasure hidden underground requires (for its extraction) competent instruction, excavation, the removal of stones and other such things lying above it and (finally) grasping, but never comes out by being (merely) called out by name, so the transparent truth of the Self, which is hidden by Maya and its effects, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, followed by reflection, meditation and so forth, but not through perverted arguments.

66. Therefore the wise should, as in the case of disease and the like, personally strive by all the means in their power to be free from the bondage of repeated births and deaths.

There is no need for a Guru for acquiring Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

The seeker must personally strive by all means of soul-centric reason to be free from the bondage of the illusory experience of form, time, and space. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

the concept of incarnation – God taking flesh in human form to save humanity. All these suddenly appeared after the entry of St, Thomas to India.+

The DaVita, Vedanta borrows the concept from Abrahamic religions, such as Eternal Damanation (of certain souls destined to hell forever), which goes against the belief of most Vedanta schools, which state that the Soul attains liberation.

It looks like the creator-creation theory is also borrowed from the Abrahamic religion, and on this basis, a new belief system has been introduced, giving it a Vedic outlook and propagating all non-Vedic rituals and worship by someone in the past.

St. Thomas is said to have come to India to spread Christianity in the first century AD. It first spread among the people of the Malabar Coast and in areas near present-day Madras.

There is a total discontinuity in the concept of God before and after the entry of St Thomas. As one goes deeper into the annals of religious history then we become aware of the fact that the Vedic Gods were personifications of Nature, and their worship essentially involved sacrifices to these Natural Forces to appease them. All of a sudden, by the first century, we encounter Vedanta. Vedanta literally means “End of the Vedas,” though it is today interpreted as "the essence of the Vedas."

Vedanta, which appeared as theological discourses, presents a supreme Godhead, “Para Brahman. Such an idea was not even remotely conceivable in the Vedic context.

New Gods like Maheshwar and Vishnu appeared. The concept of Maheshwar, Vishnu, means Sky or Heavens. Vishnu simply means the God of Heaven lies or one who pervades everything. Then we have the concept of incarnation – God taking flesh in human form to save humanity. All these suddenly appeared after the entry of St Thomas.

This was also the time when most of the Vedic Gods passed into oblivion. Their place was taken by the trinity of Gods, with Brahma as the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer. It is believed that when evil is rampant, various incarnations of Vishnu enter the world of men to save them. Krishna is one such 'avatar'.

There are many contradictions. Brahma, Vishnu, and Maheshwar are the three main GODs, but they are one. Brahma is the creator of this universe (Generator), Vishnu is responsible for the smooth conduct of the same (sustainer), & Maheshwar is the Destroyer! But if you go and read the Vishnu Purana, he is characterized as the supreme power.

Further, due to many castes and sub-castes prevailing in the society, some more rules and principles were added for the benefit of these priests. Can you imagine how you would get rid of the sin you committed by killing a cat? You will have to make a golden cat weighing equal to the dead cat and hand over this golden cat to the priest chanting for the purification of an individual soul! Hinduism is different from Sanatana Dharma Vedic religion.

Yajur Veda:~ "They are enveloped in darkness, in other words, are steeped in ignorance and sunk in the greatest depths of misery who worship the uncreated, eternal prakrti -- the material cause of the world -- in place of the All-pervading God, But those who worship visible things born of the prakrti, such as the earth, trees, bodies (human and the like) in place of God are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time."~ (Yajur Veda 40:9.)

As indicated in the ISH Upanishads: ~ “By worshipping Gods and Goddesses, you will go after death to the world of Gods and Goddesses. But will that help you? The time you spend there is wasted because if you were not there, you could have spent that time moving forward towards Self-knowledge, which is your goal. In the world of Gods and Goddesses, you cannot do that, and thus, you go deeper and deeper into darkness.

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

It clearly indicates that: -If the human goal is to acquire Self-Knowledge, then why does one have to indulge in rituals and glorify the conceptual Gods, Goddesses, and Gurus to go into deeper darkness? Instead, spend that time moving forward towards Self-knowledge, which is one’s prime goal.

One must remember that for all periods the Vedas are the final goal and authority, and if the Puranas differ in any respect from the Vedas, the Puranas are to be rejected without mercy.

Self-realization is the Truth realization. Truth realization is God-realization. God-realization itself is real worship.:~Santthosh Kumaarr

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.+

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.

Religious or yogic Gurus propagate that, once a seeker identifies a Guru, he must totally surrender to the Guru, and then from there onwards, the spiritual journey is fully the Guru's responsibility, not his... Hence, the importance of choosing the right Guru is necessary, but in the pursuit of truth, the Guru is not necessary, because the truth is not theoretical. Truth has to be ascertained by the seeker on his own through Soulcentric reasoning.

The one who identifies himself as a swami, a Guru, or a yogi is not a Gnani. A Gnani never identifies himself as swami, Guru, pundit, or yogi. Swami, Guru, pundit, or yogi belong to the religious or the yogic path, not to the path of wisdom.

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Sage Sankara's commentary:~ Page 489: "The knower of Brahman (Self-realized or Gnani) wears no signs.

Page 500 asks in effect, "Tell us what you know, show it, and let us examine it under the mental microscope." It means we must bring notions and beliefs out of vagueness into clearness. It also criticizes the mystics who claim superior knowledge but who cannot communicate it for purposes of verification.

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On page 482: On Gnani: "The knower of Brahman wears no signs. Gives up the insignia of a monk's life…his signs are not manifest, nor his behavior." When the knower of Brahman wears no signs, it means he does not identify himself as a Guru or a teacher. : :~ Santthosh Kumaar

Sentimentally and emotionally getting attached to anything of the dualistic illusion or Maya blocks Self-realization.+

If you are seeking truth, then you should not emotionally and sentimentally get stuck with the physical Guru because the physical Guru belongs to the dualistic illusion.

Sentimentally and emotionally getting attached to anything of the dualistic illusion or Maya blocks Self-realization.

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

Do not search for Guru in the world in which you exist. Guru is the Self. Let these words be inscribed in your subconscious.

The transparent truth of the Self is hidden by the ‘I’, which is the dualistic illusion. It requires extraction, competent instruction, excavation, and the removal of ignorance.

The truth is never revealed by following some Guru or his teaching or by glorifying the religious and yogic Gurus.

The transparent truth of the Self is to be attained through constant reading of the words of wisdom, followed by reflecting and so forth, but not through perverted discussion and arguments.

All the penances are external because they are based on individuality. Investigating the mind alone leads to Self-realization.

To know what the mind is, profits much rather than searching for the truth in the external world, moving from one ashram to another, and one Guru to another, and one mountain to another.

When one starts investigating the universe that confronts him will mentally move inwards and will reach the ultimate end and become fully aware of “What is the truth?” and “What is untruth?” in his own home or city and establish in truth by realizing what the untruth is. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

The religious gurus and yogis are not Gnanis because they identified themselves as holy people.+

You do not require the grace of the physical Guru. You and your physical guru belong to the dualistic illusion; therefore, the grace of the physical Guru is bound to be an illusion.

Glorifying and worshipping a physical Guru as God keeps you in the domain of ignorance because the physical Guru belongs to the dualistic illusion.

If you are seeking truth, nothing but the truth, then you must not indulge in such activities. All such activities create obstacles in realizing the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

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

Sage Sankara: ~ "Though I wear these robes of a Sanyasin, it is only for the sake of bread." (Select Works of Sage Sankara, also his commentary on Brihad)

Thus, the above passage proves that all those who wear the sanyasin robes are wearing them for the sake of bread and belong to the religion; they have nothing to do with the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

There is no need to criticize and condemn the gurus, yogis, and swamis because they are needed for the welfare of the ignorant masses in the dualistic world.

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

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

A person who realized the ultimate truth or Brahman will throw off his religious robe and all religious identity and live like a commoner. He never identifies himself as Gnani, nor does he identify himself as superior to others. He only shares his knowledge with fellow seekers.

A Gnani never identifies himself as a Guru or a Yogi, or someone disciple. The one who accepts himself as a Guru or someone’s disciple is not a Gnani. :~ Santthosh Kumaar

The only business of the Gnani is to enable serious seekers to attain Gnana, to come to his level.+

The only business of the Gnani is to enable serious seekers to attain Gnana, to come to his level. There is nothing else for him to do.

Let no wise man cause unrest in the minds of the ignorant. That is why a Gnani cannot be distinguished from others, because he would work with those who are ignorant as if he were one among them.

A Gnani has nothing to gain by activities in the world," does not mean that one must sit quietly like Yogis and do nothing. The emphasis must be placed on the word "gain". It means that when you are active, you don't expect anything.

If one says that being engaged in work is of no use to the Gnani, what is the use of actionlessness to him?

Our actions help in the realization of the invisible Soul, provided we seek the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space. "A Gnani sees action in inaction, and inaction in action."

When everything is known to be the consciousness, how can the presence or absence of things affect the invisible Soul, the Self?

Gnani does not want to think of the ego; therefore, he does not do or say anything to make himself appear superior to others or to pretend to know more than others. If a person spends his time in Samadhi, he is not a Gnani, but he is only a yogi.

The Gnani is as alert and awake to what is happening to him externally as all other people: he is not a yogi in Samadhi.

A yogi does not know the ultimate truth or Brahman because he believes his Samadhi as Brahman.

The Gnani has realized the world in which he exists is merely an illusion created out of consciousness. And consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman.

Remember:~

People think that their physical Guru or Guru's grace guides them, and they have surrendered to their Guru, and it is the Guru’s responsibility; such blind acceptance leads to hallucination.

Those who think their physical Guru’s teaching is the ultimate truth will never be able to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana, or Atma Gnana.

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.

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

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

Even Swami Vivekananda was Ramakrishna Paramahansa's disciple. Swami Vivekananda himself 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 the religious and the yogic path. There is no need for a Guru to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Those who are stuck with the idea that without Guru and Guru's grace it is impossible to get Self-realization are not seeking truth but are stuck with their orthodox ideas. Such a mindset is unfit to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar