It is not you who is in ignorance because the world in which you exist is the product ignorance. It is the Soul that has to wake up from its sleep ignorance. All the nondualistic teachings of the modern authors are based on the dualistic perspective and intellectual speculations and logical conclusions.
One must keep in mind only Sage Sri Sankar and Sage Sri, Goudpada, are the finality in Atmic path. All other Gurus and teachings have stopped in the preliminary stages of Advaitic teaching ‘Who Am ‘I’? and ‘I AM THAT’.
So many centuries have passed since Sage Sri, Sankara appeared; yet it is very hard to find his true wisdom is understood anywhere in the world today. It is because so few could rise to his level.
Sage Sri, Sankara‘s doctrines spread after his lifetime. Very few were capable of understanding his wisdom. The orthodox pundit’s followers are not Gnanis or have grasped the Advaitic wisdom.
The Advaitic orthodoxy is meant for the ignorant populace. According to Advaita Vedanta, the Veda addresses itself to two kinds of audiences - the ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices.
The advanced seeker who seeks to know the ultimate truth or Brahman. Thus, the purva mimam.sa, with its emphasis on the KARMA KANDA of the Vedas, is meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. However, the Vedanta, with its emphasis on the JNANA KANDA, is meant for those who wish to go beyond such transient pleasures.
Sage Sri, Sankara said:- Neither by the practice of yoga nor philosophy, nor by good works nor by learning, does liberation come, but only through the realization that Atman and Brahman are one in no other way.(1) VivekaChudamani v 56, pg 25
The seeker should never stick to any Guru or his teaching if he is seeking the ultimate truth. Scriptural knowledge is conceptual divisions invented by some past and modern authors of Advaita by their excessive imaginary analysis. All these imaginary analysis are the great obstacle in Atmic path. They create more confusion and try to satisfy with their imaginary explanation based on the dualistic perspective. Fortunate are people who do not lose themselves in the labyrinths of such bookish knowledge, but they will never be satisfied until they find what they are seeking for.
Most thinkers hold views of Maya (illusion) which are entirely incorrect and untenable because they do not know Sage Sri, Sankara's Upanishad Bashyas, but only the Brahma Sutra Bashya.
When one is unaware of what illusion is, then there is ignorance. On the standpoint of the Soul, the innermost Self, The duality is mere an illusion. The illusion is a reality only on the standpoint of you (ego). The world in which you exist is the product of ignorance. Till the ignorance is there, the world in which you exist prevails as a reality.
"One may recognize a fool by the fact that he talks too freely"…Sunyavadins Buddhists say everything is non-existence, but their judgment is based on dualistic perspective.
As one goes deeper and deeper he realizes; how can one see, hear, and think? …All these differences, all this multiplicity, all this ignorance which regards the multiplicity as real, is caused by ignorance of the Soul, the innermost Self.
The Soul is the witness of the world in which you exist. Your youth, maturity and old are happening within the dualistic world. The Soul remains unchanged amid these changes.
All these experiences as the father, son, owner, and pupil and all the contents of the world were one and the same the Soul or consciousness appearing differently. All these distinctions disappear in the Soul wakes up from its sleep of ignorance.
Dream the mountain which is apparently insentient and material, is nevertheless still the Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness alone. Whether living or dead, conscious or unconscious thought or matter; all things are appearances of one and the same consciousness. All these distinctions are seen by Gnani as only the Soul or the consciousness.
