Friday, July 15, 2011

The yogi sees the universe as reality and thinks thoughtlessness is Brahman***




He who has realized the ultimate truth or Brahman transcends the duality or mind where he sees no second thing other than consciousness.   Yogi who sees the universe as reality may try to deny it because he thinks thoughtlessness is Brahman.  The yogi sees the universe as a second thing and he wants to banish the universe in Samadhi  because he does not know that in non-duality there is no need to deny the universe. But he has to realize the fact that, the universe is not something different from the self, which consciousness. Those who cannot grasp and realize this position, misunderstand it, and wrongly hold it be yogic Samadhi where there is only blankness.  

The presence of the universe is no obstacle to Gnani‘s realization; he does not need yogic Samadhi.  But yogi has imagined Brahman as blankness or thoughtlessness thus he is still in the grip of duality.  Thus,  the Yogis Brahman is but a thought.  Brahman is not a thought but Brahman is prior to any mind or universe.  Thus,  one has to know what is prior to waking experience.  

The yogi who wrongly thinks there is Brahman to be got ,may attempt to do so, and may think he sees it, but all the time he under the delusion of duality because he bases his- self  on physical body, thinking Brahman to be something different from the soul, which is the true self.

When one becomes aware of the fact all the experiences  of the three states and all the thoughts and words are Mind and  the mind,  in turn,  is consciousness then he has transcended thinking faculty. 

If one is seeking truth but practicing yoga or Kundalini or any other practice for long years and finding them inadequate and useless quenching his  inner thirst has to drop them by realizing they are only useful in preparatory stages to make them more receptive to grasp the ultimate truth and they cannot transport them to the ultimate end.  

Seeker has to follow up his deeper self-search and get rid of the inborn samskara or conditioning, which is present as ‘I’ or ‘I AM’. There is no need of buying reading material or hearing the sermons and running to one place to another or one guru to another or surrendering to any guru or glorifying any guru in order to acquire self-knowledge.      

In success or failure or gain or loss, in society or in solitude there is no difference to the Gnani because for him everything is an illusion  created out of consciousness.  

Where is the performance of ritualistic or meritorious work, where is worldly wealth, where is the sense of enjoyment or discrimination has no significance for the Gnani who has transcended such dual notions such as ‘this is to be done and this no to be done. 

The one who risen to Gnana is liberated from experiencing the birth, life, death and the world as reality while living in the midst of world before his physical death.  

There is no delusion, there is no universe there is no need of renunciation or meditation there is no desire for liberation  for the Gnani who is resting in consciousness by realizing everything is consciousness and no second thing exists other than consciousness.  

What is the state of the ego or physical self when it has realized that the self is not the body? Such souls have attained their pristine condition. “Self” is not visible to the physical eyes. “Self” is not to be found in the world as a thing, entity or an object. Self is above these, has neither beginning nor ending.

 A visible object has a beginning and an ending. Since the soul, which is in the form of consciousness is invisible to the physical eye; soul or consciousness is without beginning and ending. The Soul is always constant. Just as space is homogeneous everywhere, so is the consciousness is the same everywhere. 

There is no need to renounce anything within the illusion because as it has appeared it disappears when the wisdom dawns in the midst of waking experience or on its own as in deep sleep or in death.  The nature of the self is not something to be acquired by effort  and its characteristics are to be free from misery and happiness inseparable from it.

People think love is the means to self-realization



People think love is the means to self-realization but they are unaware of the fact that, love and hate are made of the same stuff. Love is not the means of self –realization. Love is very much necessary in practical life within the practical world. Love implies duality.  Whatever is of duality is falsehood. Thus love is reality within the falsehood.  Lover and love ceases to exist in reality because the experience of duality is not reality.  The experience of practical life within practical world is reality within the waking experience but waking experience itself is mere illusion created out of consciousness. Thus lover and love are one in essence. Thus path of love is religious path because religion is path of individuality or duality. 
 
Most of the saints and sages of the past are mostly social reformers, thus they are more concerned to the humanism rather than the truth. Their contribution is very valuable to live in the practical world.  Thus humanism is limited to practical life within the practical world.    The path of love is path for humanity therefore,  it is individualized path. Thus path of love is limited to the physical structure, it cannot transport one to ultimate end.  Thus seeker has to understand the fact that the practical life and practical world are part of the mirage from the ultimate standpoint. 

The simple reason is that the average person may have desire for knowledge but when the whole society is immersed in belief system and feeling himself   out of place because of societal fear and surroundings circumstances and he thinks it unfits him to pursue the path of truth. 

The seeker of truth is one who is ready verify and has courage to accept and reject the truth when he finds out what is truth and what is untruth. The meek will stick to their inherited conditioning remain experiencing duality as reality.

When a yogi realizes that yoga is not the means to acquire self-knowledge than takes up deeper self-search by dropping all the yogic discipline.  Yoga is inadequate and useless in quenching his inner thirst. By indulging in deeper self –search he realizes the self is formless consciousness and the three states are mere mirage created out of consciousness. Therefore he attains Gnana. 

The ignorance is the cause of experiencing all sorrow and calamities as reality. Thus eradicating the ignorance completely is necessary. And this is possible only through self-knowledge or 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. 

That is why Sri Sankara, indicated  in Bhaja Govindam says: - [Jnana Viheena Sarva Mathena Bajathi na Muktim janma Shatena] - one without knowledge does not obtain liberation even in a hundred births, no matter which religious faith he follows. 

Thus  it proves he religion is not the means to self-realization .

When Upanishad itself declares:-   sarvam khalvidam brahma - all this (universe) is verily Brahman. By following back all of the relative appearances in the world, we eventually return to that from which it is all manifest – the non-dual reality [ Chandogya Upanishad].  

Then it is no use going roundabout way, trace the Brahman which is the formless substance and witness of the universe, which is in the form of mind.  By tracing the source of the mind or universe one will be able to realize the Brahman. 

Thus, self-knowledge is meant only for those who have intense urge, and courage to accept the truth with humility and reject the untruth. Since people start comparing with their scriptural knowledge, it becomes impossible to assimilate and realize the non-dual truth.   Therefore, there is no need to convince anyone other than our own-selves to get the firm conviction. 


Gaudapada says: - the merciful Veda teaches karma and upaasana to people of lower and middling intellect, while jnana is taught to those of higher intellect.

So they clearly indicate rituals and theories are not meant for those who are searching for the higher knowledge or wisdom.   The path of wisdom is the only means.  

All the orthodox Advaitins indulge and immersed themselves in ritualistic oriented life style and follow the path of karma and upasana which is meant for lower and middling intellect   and not for realizing the Advaitic truth.  Many chose these orthodox scholars as their gurus. But these gurus are good to learn the conceptual Adavaita meant for those orthodox who believe their conduct oriented life style leads to Moksha [liberation].  But religious based Adavaita is not   the means to acquire self –knowledge or nondual wisdom.  Those who are seeking truth have to do their own homework in order to acquire self-knowledge.

Adi Sankaracharya says in Aparokshanubhuti:-

   88. When the whole universe, movable and immovable, is known to be Atman, and thus the existence of everything else is negated, where is then any room to say that the body is Atman?

  89. O enlightened one; pass your time always contemplating on Atman while you are experiencing all the results of Prarabdha; for it ill becomes you to feel distressed.

90. The theory one hears of from the scripture, that Prarabdha does not lose its hold upon one even after the origination of the knowledge of Atman, is now being refuted.

91. After the origination of the knowledge of Reality, Prarabdha verily ceases to exist, inasmuch as the body and the like become non-existent; just as a dream does not exist on waking.

92. That Karma which is done in a previous life is known as Prarabdha (which produces the present life). But such Karma cannot take the place of Prarabdha (for a man of knowledge), as he has no other birth (being free from ego).

93. Just as the body in a dream is superimposed (and therefore illusory), so is also this body. How could there be any birth of the superimposed (body), and in the absence of birth (of the body) where is the room for that (i.e., Prarabdha) at all?

94. The Vedanta texts declare ignorance to be verily the material (cause) of the phenomenal world just as earth is of a jar. That (ignorance) being destroyed, where can the universe subsist?

 95. Just as a person out of confusion perceives only the snake leaving aside the rope, so does an ignorant person see only the phenomenal world without knowing the reality?

    96. The real nature of the rope being known, the appearance of the snake no longer persists; so the substratum being known, the phenomenal world disappears completely.

     97. The body also being within the phenomenal world (and therefore unreal), how could Prarabdha exist? It is, therefore, for the understanding of the ignorant alone that the Shruti speaks of Prarabdha.

     98. “And all the actions of a man perish when he realizes that (Atman) which is both the higher and the lower”. Here the clear use of the plural by the Shruti is to negate Prarabdha as well.

   99. If the ignorant still arbitrarily maintain this, they will not only involve themselves into two absurdities but will also run the risk of forgoing the Vedantic conclusion. So one should accept those Shrutis alone from which proceeds true knowledge.

The above proves that the karma is reality only on the base of false self, where one thinks body and the universe as reality. When one becomes aware of the fact that, the true self is formless soul, then the karma becomes part and parcel of illusion.   My point is that, if one accepts the karma theory as reality, he will never be able to come out of the ignorance. And ignorance makes him believe the cycle of birth, life and death or pain and pleasure as reality.  Thus the freedom which one is seeking will remain distant dream. For the one who accepts the birth life and death as reality, Self-knowledge is impossible.

Thus it is necessary for the seeker of truth to know the fact that, the body which is born, lives and dies is not the self. Since he is taking the body to be the self, he is experiencing the duality as reality. 

 As Sri, Sankara says:  When the whole universe, movable and immovable, is known to be Atman, and thus the existence of everything else is negated, where is then any room to say that the body is Atman.

 If body is not the Atman/self, then the karma theory has no meaning on the standpoint of the truth. Thus no second thing exists other than Atman, therefore why to view the worldview on the standpoint of the body as self [I] when the body [I] is the false self, and the soul/Atman is the true self.

 If body is not the self, then the birth, life, death and the universe are bound to be illusion.  If birth, life and death are illusion then all conducts actions and their fruits are mere illusion. If body is not the self, then the existence of god, heaven and hell is mere illusion.  If body is not the self then all religious beliefs of god is mere illusion.  If body is not the self but the Atman [soul] which is in the form of consciousness is the true self, then there is no scope for second thing other than consciousness,    therefore consciousness, which is Atman is Brahman or ultimate truth.  The Brahman alone is real and eternal.  Thus whatever is real eternal has to be identified as god. To identify the real and eternal, one has to overcome the ignorance caused by the illusion. To overcome the ignorance one has to acquire the Self-Knowledge.      
The individual experience within the dream is reality with in the dream. Therefore waking reality is also is reality within the waking. This waking is parallel dream and dream is parallel waking. Only when self-wakes up in waking the dream becomes unreal. When the self-consciously wakes up in its formless non dual true nature in the midst of waking experience  then all the three states are  mere mirage created out of its formless non- dual true nature.
The form time and space within the dream are falsehood when waking takes place. Similarly the form, time and space of the waking are also falsehood when wisdom dawns. The wisdom dawns only when one realize the self is neither the waking entity nor the dream entity. Thus it is erroneous to judge and reason and conclude the ultimate truth on the base of waking entity and waking world because waking experience itself is illusion.


A Gnani is one who attains the non-dual tranquility in the midst of duality. A Gnani is in self –awareness and he is fully aware of the fact that the form, time and space are mere mirage created out of consciousness.  

They alone in this world are endowed with the highest wisdom who are firm in their conviction of the sameness and birthlessness of Ataman. The ordinary man does not understand their way. [Chapter IV — Alatasanti Prakarana 95-P-188 in Upanishads by Nikilanada]

This passage indicates the fact that everything is Ataman/spirit. The one who views and judges the worldview on the base of his birth /body will not realize the fact that, the man including the world is created sustained and finally dissolves as Ataman. Thus Ataman alone is, and all else is mirage. 

Thus self-knowledge is the aim of every human being. Since everyone thinks the physical body is the self, their aim is misdirected and they focus their attention on materiality which makes one feel the duality [waking] as reality.

In pursuit of truth the ultimate truth has to be proved, not assumed. Pundits who take scriptures for granted are not Gnanis. 

Pundits teach that all is your-self, but none of them can show that this is so, none has analyzed it scientifically, and none can prove it. Rational proof is needed, so that one arrive at knowing truth i.e. wisdom; punditry is mere dogma, parrotism, repetition of what they read in scripture. Scriptures are not yardstick and scriptural truth is not proof.   Pundits take scriptures as authority.   Authoritarianism merely assumes as true what another says, but what has yet to be proved. 

Pundits have to test truth in this world not in the next world.  There is no proof other than blind belief based on the scriptures, belief is not truth.  So, doctrines are not the means to realize the ultimate truth. There is no need to follow them. 

Doubts and Confusions arise when seeker finds the scriptures and yoga are inadequate or useless to quench his spiritual thirst.   Disappointments in religion or yoga or even science imply error or ignorance. 

When serious seeker reaches a stage with all his baggage of accumulate knowledge, then uncertainty haunts him.  Whether he is right?" Where is the certainty that he is proceeding on right lines?" Thus doubts arise and the inquiring spirit comes and impels to search elsewhere for truth where it will not be possible even to have doubt. The test is therefore in experience. And only in non-duality, where there are no two to argue about views or to have difference of opinion can such doubtlessness be possible.  Belief depends upon unstable bases whereas certainty depends on proof. 

 Sri, Sankara says in Viveka Chudamani indicated that:-
56. Neither by Yoga, nor by Sankhya, nor by work, nor by learning, but by the realization of one's identity with Brahman is Liberation possible, and by no other means

58. Loud speech consisting of a shower of words, the skill in expounding the Scriptures, and likewise erudition - these merely bring on a little personal enjoyment to the scholar, but are no good for Liberation.

59. The study of the Scriptures is useless so long as the highest Truth is unknown, and it is equally useless when the highest Truth has already been known.

60. The Scriptures consisting of many words are a dense forest which merely causes the mind to ramble. Hence men of wisdom should earnestly set about knowing the true nature of the Self.
61. For one who has been bitten by the serpent of Ignorance, the only remedy is the knowledge of Brahman. Of what avail are the Vedas and (other) Scriptures, Mantras (sacred formulae) and medicines to such a one?

62. A disease does not leave off if one simply utter the name of the medicine, without taking it; (similarly) without direct realization one cannot be liberated by the mere utterance of the word Brahman.

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.

64. Without killing one’s enemies, and possessing oneself of the splendour of the entire surrounding region, one cannot claim to be an emperor by merely saying, ‘I am an emperor’.

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.


Thus Sri Sankara clearly indicated that: - yoga, intellectualism, scriptural mastery is not the means to self-knowledge.  But by the realization of one's identity with consciousness, which is ultimate truth or Brahman, freedom from experiencing the illusion as reality is possible, and by no other means. 

Seeker of truth has to get rid of his doubts through deeper inquiry, analysis and reasoning on his own, to realize the fact that, the self is not the form but self is formless. Thus his analysis and reasoning has to be based on the formless not on the form.  By simply go on believing and accepting whatever said by the punditry will not lead one towards path of wisdom. All the doubt has to be got rid of "by the sword of Self - Knowledge."  The scriptures, yoga are not necessary if one follows the inner [formless] path.  Religion and yoga are not the means to path of wisdom. 

The Answer for 'WHO AM 'I' ? is not keeping silence in duality but to trace the source of mind from where it rises and subsides from and into.

Some yogis say:- To the question "Who am I?" the only relevant answer is silence. You need to discard all answers in words, including "I am Nothing" or "I am the Cosmic Self"or "I am the Self" - and just stick to the question "Who am I?". All other answers are just thoughts. Thoughts can never be complete. Only Silence is complete.-  this  is misguided guidance. 
Only by discarding thoughts and words on the physical plane, the the wisdom will not dawn. The thoughts will keep on raising until the false self is considered as true self. How can the false self discard the  thoughts and words it is total impossibility .The thoughts will keep on rising and words are used until one considers the form as self . First, one has to realize, the self is not form but self is formless consciousness,  only than he will be able to understand and assimilate what is truth and what is not truth. 

That is why Sri, Sankara says in VivekaChudamani   :- 

61. For one who has been bitten by the serpent of Ignorance, the only remedy is the knowledge of Brahman. Of what avail are the Vedas and (other) Scriptures, Mantras (sacred formulae) and medicines to such a one?

62. A disease does not leave off if one simply utter the name of the medicine, without taking it; (similarly) without direct realisation one cannot be liberated by the mere utterance of the word Brahman.

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.

64. Without killing one’s enemies, and possessing oneself of the splendour of the entire surrounding region, one cannot claim to be an emperor by merely saying, ‘I am an emperor’.

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.

People who are yearning for spiritual truth will not find it through intellectual speculation and assumption. Intellectual truth is individual truth. Love implies duality and love is individual feelings within the falsehood. Love is necessary and valuable in the stated of ignorance but it is not the means to acquire wisdom.  Love is religious tool to lead life in practical world.  And Religious truth is individual truth and it is not universal truth because the religion is based on individuality. 

The Answer for 'WHO AM 'I' ? is not keeping silence in duality but to trace the source of mind from where it rises and subsides from and into. By knowing the source of the mind one becomes aware of the fact that, the source is the soul,which is in form of consciousness,which is the innermost  self. The nature of the soul is formless non-dual silence. The WHO AM 'I' ? and I AM THAT are most important stages in pursuit of truth. 


Wisdom will not dawn in these stages. Seeker has to go much deeper in their self search to understand ,assimilate and realize the non dual truth. Seeker by deeper thinking and reasoning  realize the  ultimate truth or  Brahman. Since it is very personal journey one has to drop all the accumulated knowledge and without mental spoon feeding , he has to use his own discrimination and reach the inner core of his true existence. 

That is why Upanishads itself declares:- sarvam khalvidam brahma - all this (universe) is verily Brahman. By following back all of the relative appearances in the world, we eventually return to that from which it is all manifest – the non-dual reality [ Chandogya Upanishad].

By adopting WHO AM I and I AM that only half journey is completed,which is only intellectual understanding based on physicality. 

That is why Upanishds say :- They alone in this world are endowed with the highest wisdom who are firm in their conviction of the sameness and birthlessness of Atman. The ordinary man does not understand their way. [Chapter IV — Alatasanti Prakarana 95-P-188 in Upanishads by Nikilanada]. 

COMMON people and primitive minds fall into faulty thinking through their inherited conditioning , such faulty thinking and reasoning makes them accept the experience of birth, life and death as reality ; taking what one sees through the senses as real, taking what is apparent obvious and superficial as true because it is less troublesome.

Many People adopt the attitude that what they know is truth. And what others say is false. This attitude makes them not to verify anything other then what they know. One needs to be rational, not merely logical. Logic is has its value only in physical plane.

As one advances towards spiritual plane he sees the logic underlying experience and becomes more rational. His reasoning is two-fold--implicit and explicit.

There is a need of facts of physical proof in scientific invention, whereas in pursuit of truth the proof has to be grasped mentally and realized. Therefore, the truth is realized only by few who take this mental pursuit. “Whatever facts revealed, which is un-contradictable has to be accepted as truth.

The truth based on the formless soul/self is worthwhile; without it, one has something else, not truth. Most people refuse to venture into pursuit of truth; because they do not want to go into the root of things.

Until one gets firm conviction of the ultimate truth he has to constantly reflect on the nature of the true self, till he achieves the equilibrium. Thus renouncing the worldly life is not necessary in order to acquire non-dual wisdom. 

This universe is but a state of ignorance. In reality universe is nothing but illusion created out of consciousness. The existent and non-existent of forms, name and things do not lose their inherent nature. The consciousness self-existing, which knows both existence and non-existence, never ceases to be because it is cause of the illusion and it itself is uncaused. 

The nature of the consciousness, which is the true self, is free from mental contents [three states], effortless, immutable, and spotless is neither far way nor near but ever present in all the three states as their formless substance and witness. When the formless substance and witness are one in essence the three states are mere mirage created out of that formless essence. 

The universe exists because of consciousness. The moment the ignorance vanishes the universe with all its contents becomes unreal. Thus realizing the unreal nature of the universe or waking experience in the midst waking experience leads to self-awareness. Self-awareness frees one from experiencing the waking experience as reality. The non-dual silence is found only in self awareness.

The people in path of yoga think observing silence in waking experience[duality] is the answer for WHO AM I ? . but that answer is erroneous because the waking experience itself is mere mirage from the ultimate standpoint. Thus whatever seen ,known and believed and experienced as a person of the world within the waking experience is bound to be falsehood. the wisdom will not  dawn by mere intellectual speculation or arguments provocation.      by deeper self-search and sound discrimination through reason based on the true self the wisdom dawns.

The gross universe is merged into the mental universe in the sense that when it is analyzed, it is found to exist inseparably in and as the mind alone.


Many believe spirituality and religion are considered inter connected but it is not so. Religion is based on the false self-[ego or body] and it is limited to the false experience [universe], while spirituality transcends race, religion, gender, language and nationality and universe.  Spirituality is pursuit of truth.
There are many paths have come into existence in the name of Self-Realization.  Every belief system believes that each human being embodies a spark of the divine, and that fanning into the shining fire spiritual realization is the meaning and purpose of human life. But spirituality is not based on the belief but discovering the truth of the whole universe and man’s existence.   Religious and Yogic truth and scientific truth are individual truth based on the false self-[ego] within the false experience. Individuality has no value in the realm of ultimate point of view.  Therefore, realization of true self is necessary in order to realize the ultimate truth, which is free from all the diversity, which is present in the form of universe.  The universe ceases to be real from the ultimate point of view. The ignorance is the cause of experiencing the unreality as reality. Therefore truth realization is necessary to unfold the mystery of the universe, which appears to be real from the physical point of view.  

Universe is reality on the base of ego, which is the false self.  Universe  is unreal on the stand point of the consciousness, which is the true self. Universe is mere mirage from the ultimate point of view.  Man perceives the world within the universe; therefore his existence is limited to the universe, which is in the form of mind.  Consciousness is real because it is permanent, but universe, which is in the form of mind, appears as waking or dream [duality] and disappears as deep sleep is impermanent [non-duality].   Thus mind is not absolute and eternal like consciousness itself. People stuck with the reality of the world, so they take it as real. Once they take their physical existence to be real then they have accepted the false self as real self and false universe as reality.  Thus their judgment is based in the false self, will keep them within the threshold of duality. Thus the ultimate truth lies beyond duality.     

People take the universe confronting them as real, the experience of birth, life and death, which happens within the universe, which they experienced as reality.  When the self is not physical but self is formless, then whatever seen, known, believed, experienced as person within the universe is falsehood, on the base of the formless self [witness].  

The gross universe is merged into the mental universe in the sense that when it is analyzed, it is found to exist inseparably in and as the mind alone. All "spiritual" planes are really mental: those who regard them as different or higher will remain ignorant. 

A Gnani is free from experiencing the illusion [body + universe] as reality, he is fully aware of the fact that, his body and his experience of the world as consciousness, which is ultimate truth.  

People who are incapable to inquire and reason are tending to follow some philosophy without verification. Therefore the more ignorant they are the easier to get them into a religious fold. Religion is so strong and popular because it makes no demand on the intelligent, It simply requires belief in guru and his teachings. 

It never strikes believer to doubt whether his inherited belief system is true. They never use their reason because they start and conclude that their belief system   alone is true, because they never question the validity of their inherited belief.  

For religion one can interpret texts as he likes, in whatever way that pleases him, he simply imagine away.  The idea of god injected in the past and inherited by people and they refuse to verify the facts, because they think it blasphemy even to question their inherited belief system. 
In pursuit of truth the ultimate truth has to be proved, not assumed. Pundits who take scriptures for granted are not Gnanis. 

Pundits teach that all is your-self, but none of them can show that this is so, none has analyzed it scientifically, and none can prove it. Rational proof is needed, so that one arrive at knowing truth i.e. wisdom; punditry is mere dogma, parrotism, repetition of what they read in scripture. Scriptures are not yardstick and scriptural truth is not proof.   Pundits take scriptures as authority.   Authoritarianism merely assumes as true what another says, but what has yet to be proved. 

Pundits have to test truth in this world not in the next world.  There is no proof other than blind belief based on the scriptures, belief is not truth.  So, doctrines are not the means to realize the ultimate truth. There is no need to follow them. 

Doubts and Confusions arise when seeker finds the scriptures and yoga are inadequate or useless to quench his spiritual thirst.   Disappointments in religion or yoga or even science imply error or ignorance. 

When serious seeker reaches a stage with all his baggage of accumulate knowledge, then uncertainty haunts him.  Whether he is right?" Where is the certainty that he is proceeding on right lines?" Thus doubts arise and the inquiring spirit comes and impels to search elsewhere for truth where it will not be possible even to have doubt. The test is therefore in experience. And only in non-duality, where there are no two to argue about views or to have difference of opinion can such doubtlessness be possible.  Belief depends upon unstable bases whereas certainty depends on proof. 

Seeker of truth has to get rid of his doubts through deeper inquiry, analysis and reasoning on his own, to realize the fact that, the self is not the form but self is formless. Thus his analysis and reasoning has to be based on the formless not on the form.  By simply go on believing and accepting whatever said by the punditry will not lead one towards path of wisdom. All the doubt has to be got rid of "by the sword of Self - Knowledge."  The scriptures, yoga are not necessary if one follows the inner [formless] path.  Religion and yoga are not the means to path of wisdom.