Everyone is holding some teaching or teacher or their accepted truth as a yardstick but all that accumulated knowledge is of no use in pursuit of truth.

Everyone is holding some teaching or teacher or their accepted truth as a yardstick but all that accumulated knowledge is of no use in pursuit of truth. 

This universe is common to all of us, therefore one must include the universe his investigation in order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman.   It is only after one has inquired into the nature of the objective universe, that he should inquire into who is the knower. If, however one   inquires into the knower before the inquiry into the universe, then it is mere mysticism.  One must have the perfect understanding of what is what.

v      “What is the universe?
           What is this ‘I’?

That is why Sri, Sankara indicated in (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.

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.

The ‘I’ is inborn samskara or conditioning, because of this inborn samskara or conditioning one has accepted the ‘I’ as ‘self, he is ignorant of the fact that, he has accepted illusion as reality.  The ‘I’ itself is an illusion.  And whatever is connected to the ‘I’ is bound to be an illusion.  The self is not an individual because it is birthless because it is formless.  The self is not limited to waking experience alone because it pervades all the three states.  Thus identifying the self without the form alone is erroneous.   The self is without the form, without the time and without the space.

People speak of getting rid of conditioning or samskara but they themselves are unaware of the fact that, the universe in which they exist is product of the inborn samskara or conditioning.  The ignorance is the cause of the inborn samskara or conditioning which present as ‘I’ or ‘I AM’. I or ‘I AM’ itself is the cause of ignorance.

Eradicating the ignorance completely is necessary. And this is possible only through self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.   Thus, there is no other road to freedom other than Gnana.  There is no other entrance other than except Gnana.  The ignorance will vanish only when the nondual wisdom dawns.