A Gnani is not a Guru or disciple of any Guru. A Gnani does not belong to any religion, caste or sect.+

A Gnani is not a Guru or disciple of any Guru. A Gnani does not belong to any religion, caste, or sect. Only in the religious and yogic path, Gurudom is applicable.

The religious Guru has nothing to do with Gnana he is more concerned with serving humanity.

Seekers of truth must path alone because he has to mentally transcend the illusory world in which he exists. Holding anything of the world as reality blocks him from realizing the truth hidden by the illusory world in which he exists.

Sage Sankara clearly indicates in Viveka Chudamani (2) that the Knower of the Atman (A Gnani) "bears no outward mark of a holy man" (Stanza 539).

A Gnani wears no signs which means he does not identify himself as Guru or teacher or swami or yogi.

~ It means the one who wears the robes is not a Gnani because he identifies himself with his birth entity and his inherited religion. Thus he accepts the birth entity as the Self and the world as reality, whereas the Self is birthless and deathless because it is a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

The one who identifies himself as swami, Guru, or yogi is not a Gnani. A Gnani never identifies himself as a swami, Guru, pundit, or yogi. Swami, Guru, pundit, or yogi belongs to the religious and yogic path, not to the path of truth or wisdom.

Sage Sankara: ~ "Though I wear these robes of a Sanyasin, it is only for the sake of bread."

Sage Sankara: ~ A Gnani "bears no outward mark of a holy man" (Stanza 539).

Thus, it proves that the religious Gurus and yogis are not Gnanis because they identified themselves as holy people.

A Gnani never claims himself as a Gnani, he guides the seekers, not posing himself as a Guru, and he does not force his wisdom on others.

Advaita is not a theory or a philosophy. Advaita is the nature of the Soul the innermost Self. There is no need for any theory, philosophy, or scriptures to acquire Self-knowledge. Only a perfect understanding of ‘what is what’ is needed.

Sage Sankara:~ 'Like a servant who carries a lamp in front of you to find your way, and you have found it, so becomes the Veda to that person. What is the Veda? ~ utterances of those who have known the Truth. Here is one who has known the Truth; why should he or she depend upon the Veda further? Actual realization takes you beyond books. At a certain stage, books become a botheration. The Upanishad itself says that the 'words are only so much of distraction for such minds'

Bhagavan Buddha: ~ Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.

You need not become a Guru or a monk to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. You have not to renounce the world or to leave anything ~ your wife, children, job, responsibilities. You do not have to renounce anything! The only thing you have to realize is the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space by realizing that form, time, and space are the product of ignorance. When ignorance vanishes, the unreality of the form, time, and space is exposed.

Upanishad says:~ "He who thinks he knows, does not know." This means that to know anything implies a second, an object of knowledge, hence duality, i.e. no Gnana.

Tripura Rahasya: ~ Second-hand knowledge of the Self-gathered from books or Gurus can never emancipate a man until its truth is rightly investigated and applied; only direct realization will do that. Realize yourself, turning the mind inward. (18: 89) : ~ Santthosh Kumaar