The devotional paths, which are based on the human conducts, are not the means for Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

The true purpose of pursuit of truth is to reconnect with our soul, the innermost self , by realizing the fact that,  the self is neither the waking entity,  nor the self is the dream entity,  but the self is the formless soul,which witnesses the coming and going of the three states. 


Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana  is   supreme goal to realize the present waking entity or ego is false self within the false experience. Therefore the individual experience of birth,life,death and world are  experienced within the waking experience  is bound to be falsehood.    If waking entity is falsehood than the waking world is falsehood. If waking world is falsehood than the form,time and space experienced within the waking experience is bound to be falsehood. 


The inner  peace that is not dependent on life's circumstances - a profound peace that is eternal. this inner peace is the nature of the soul, the innermost self. The soul is the   true source of the eternal happiness that we all crave.


Indian has diverse beliefs, caste and creeds traditions religion and spirituality but they are noting to do with path of truth or path of  wisdom.  It is for one  to know, and make sure that none of them the traditional paths can transport ultimate destination.  Indian culture is really great. But it has been mixed and messed in time.


 The traditional  Advaita preached by the religious source is not pure Advaita because it been based on the birth,life, death ,karma  and the world whereas the Sri,  Sankara declares the the world is myth and Brahman alone is real and everything is Brahman.  It means the the birth,life,death which takes place within the world is myth. Therefore  it is necessary to realize the 'Self'' is not the waking entity and whatever  understanding based on the waking entity is mere intellectualism.   

 In dualistic philosophies  and also in traditional Advaitic orthodoxy  the imaginary God is made as creator basing on cause and effect theory. Then the doubt natural arises, who is the cause of the creator. The creator is dependent on creation for his existence.  Without the creation the creator ceases to exist. Thus the dualistic theory holds no water, because it is based on mere imagination and speculation, which they try to prove it on citing the mythological stories and doctrine of code of conducts. When the self is not the body then all these dualistic ideologies hold no water.

   The devotional paths, which are based on the human conducts, are not the means for Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.  Thus traditional Advaita is priest-crafted to suit lower mindset who are not fit for pursuit of truth. Those who are seeking non-dualistic truth or brahman has to discard the traditional path ,which creates  great hindrance pursuit of truth.  It is impossible to acquire Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana through traditional paths and practices.  
 

In Brahma Sutras Sri, Sankara says:- Brahman is the cause of the world, whereas in Mandukya he denies it.

This may be because that at the lower stage of understanding, the former teaching must be given, for people will get frightened as they cannot understand how the world can be without a cause, but to those in a higher stage, the truth of non-causality can be revealed.

Sri, Sankara says:- one must first know what is before him. If he cannot know that, what else can he know or understand? If he gives up the external world in his inquiry, he cannot get the whole truth.

[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.[ Sri, Sankara says in Viveka Chudamani ]  

As one goes deeper investigation he finds:-

 Sri, Sankara founded his Advaita Vedanta either on reason independent of sruti or on sruti confirmed by reason."   Sri, Sankara's commentary on the Mandukya Upanishad, II, 1:  This [the unreality of duality] is borne out by the Srutis ... But it is possible also to show the unreality of the object world even from pure reasoning, and this second chapter is undertaken for that purpose.

 Sri, Sankara himself had often said that his philosophy was based on Sruti, or revealed scripture.  This may be because Sri, Sankara addressed the ordinary man, who finds security in the idea of causality and thus in the idea of God—and Revelation is indispensable to prove the latter.  He believed that those of superior intelligence, have no need of this idea of divine causality, and can therefore dispense with Sruti and arrive at the truth of Non-Dualism by pure reason. 

Those who lack the intelligence to discriminate between formless witness [subject] and three states [object] will not be able to grasp what is real and what is unreal. Both subject and object are consciousness, not subject alone.

The truth can never change. The nature of truth is, it can never be changed under any circumstances. It may be misrepresented. It must apply to the whole of existence, to the whole of the universe. It is in the object [three states] alone that one has all changes, as deeper analysis points out.

 The subject [formless witness] remains unchanged. The subject [formless witness], as such remains immortal. It can never die for it never changes. The body and world are an object, and goes, but the subject or knower of the body and the universe, can never go. Seeker has to take this principle as his guiding thread and non-dual truth becomes easy to grasp. The formless witness can never be subject to the changes of the object; it is unchanged. The mistake usually made is that subject becomes object, or that object is subject.

The ultimate truth declared by Sri, Sankara – THE WORLD IS UNREAL AND BRAHMAN ALONE IS REAL AND EVERYTHING IS BRAHMAN -   has to be discovered by the seekers of truth on their own by bifurcating religion, concept of God, Gurus, scriptures and yoga.

 There is no need to condemn the any religion but one has to know the fact that, it is meant for the mass mind set and it is not the means to Self-Realization or Truth Realization.  There is no need to study religious doctrine in order to acquire Self-Knowledge.

There is no need to condemn the religion, concept of god and scriptures or indulge in criticizing the religious gurus, but there is need highlight how they are hindrance in realizing the ultimate truth or Brahman.