Advaita is very different from Buddhism. Advaita regards consciousness as permanent and all-pervading while Buddhists regard it as momentary. Madhyamikas regard that a non-existent entity can appear in perception like it does in the snake in the rope illusion.
You cannot live without the physical world; it is the basis of your life, so it must be the starting point of your inquiry. Things, not imaginations, must be the truth seekers material.
Without knowing the nature of the world in which you exist, it is impossible to know the truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space. What is the use of trying to find our inner Self before we understand the world, which confronts you? You have to realize the fact that, this world which confronts you is also consciousness.
If you do not make his induction from facts from the world before you, then you are only drawing on your imaginations. By saying the ‘Self’ is like this, or like that." but it will be only your imagination.
You must inquire into the nature of the ‘I’ i.e. matter. Second he must inquire into the nature of the Soul, the innermost Self. To say the world in which you exist as an illusion without first examining them and inquiring into them thoroughly is to delude yourSelf.
This world is common to all of us, therefore you must begin our inquiry with it and not avoid it. It is only after you have inquired into the nature of the objective world, that you should inquire into who is the knower. If, however, you inquire into the knower before the inquiry into the world in which you exist, then it is mere mysticism.
‘What is this world?’ must precede ‘What is this I? in Atmic path.
Look at everything in its essence because in everything there is consciousness. You should not avoid them, do not shut your eyes to the world in which you exist; do not shut yourSelf away from the world which is as much consciousness, as anywhere else.
Those who are weak and those who are not sharp enough to grasp the truth beyond the form, time and space advice others to be non-observant and to withdraw. Soulcentric reasoning will help, not hinder your pursuit of truth. There is no need run away from the worldly life in ascetic fear or shyness of them.
The yogi shuts his eyes against the world and then has the temerity to declare that he knows the world to be Brahman! Because he has not inquired into the world in which he exists, he knows nothing. Yoga cannot remove ignorance. It is only a step. It removes obstructions.
Sage Sri, Sankara definitely says: ~ Yoga is not the means of liberation (page 132-133 of his commentary on Brihadaranyakopanishad).
In Sutra Bashya and Manduka: ~ Samadhi and sleep are identical.
Brihad Upanishad does not advocate Samadhi.
Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana cannot come if anything is left out. The whole universe must be included. For only when all is known can all be known to be but ideation. Hence, yogis blotting all out in Samadhi cannot lead to Gnana.
