By becoming an adept in Advaita Vedanta does not mean that one has become Gnani.+

Sage Sankara says ~ VC-162- There is no liberation for a person of mere book knowledge, howsoever well-read in the philosophy of Vedanta, so long as one does not give up the false identification with the body, sense organs, etc., which are unreal.

Sage Sankara cautioned that study of Upanishad alone would not lead to Moksha.  

Ashtavakra:~There is no wisdom whatsoever in the scriptures-just a collection of words.

People dwelling in ignorance, but thinking themselves wise and erudite, go round and round by various blind beliefs and tortuous paths and practices, like the blind led by the blind.

Swami Vivekananda said:~ "The Vedas teach that the Soul is divine, only held in the bondage of matter; perfection will be reached when this bond will burst, and the word they use for it is, therefore, Mukthi - freedom, freedom from the bonds of imperfection, freedom from death and misery."

The Advaitic truth is very simple, but it is very difficult to grasp because of ignorance. You have to only realize the world in which you exist is created out of single clay. And that single clay is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness

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'

The Upanishad itself says that:~ vacho viglapanam hi, that~ words are only so much of distraction for such minds'.

Someone posing as a Gnani is not a Gnani. If someone poses himself as a direct disciple of some Guru is not a Gnani. Those who pose themselves as a Gnanis are not Gnanis. A Gnani never poses himself as a Guru, a swami, a sadhu or a yogi or some Guru’s disciple.

Sage Sankara himself had often said that his philosophy was based on Sruti, or revealed scripture. This may be because Sage 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 for this idea of divine causality, and can, therefore, dispense with Sruti and arrive at the truth of Advaita by pure reason.

A number of Upanishads are equally dogmatic and self-contradictory because they also begin by assuming Brahman. Few Upanishads prove Brahman at the end of a train of proof but still, they are very confusing and vague.

The Soul, the Self, is God. The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is Infinite. The consciousness is all-pervading. The world in which we exist is nothing but consciousness.

People think by studying Vedanta thoroughly, they are under the delusion and conclude that they have become Gnanis. By becoming adept in Advaita Vedanta does not mean that one has become Gnani. One gains thereby a mere intellectual understanding of the truth. The truth is e beyond the intellect.

Sage 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

Fortunate is the one who does not lose themselves in the labyrinths of philosophy. The conceptual divisions invented by philosophers by their excessive analysis will create more confusion, Fortunately are the seekers who do not lose themselves in the labyrinths of philosophy but realizes the truth which is hidden by the ‘I’.

Till you hold the ‘Self ‘as the ‘I’ you will never be able to get Self-realization. ‘I’ hides the Soul, which is the Self.

‘I’ is ignorance.

‘I’ is the duality.

‘I’ is form, time and space.

‘I’ is the universe.

‘I’ is the waking.

‘I’ is the dream.

‘I’ is the illusion.

‘I’ is the experience of birth, life, death, and the world.

Remember:~

Without the ‘I’ there is no ignorance.

Without the ‘I’ there is no duality.

Without the ‘I’ there is no form, time and space

Without the ‘I’ there is no universe.

Without the ‘I’ there is no waking.

Without the ‘I’ there is no dream.

Without the ‘I’ there is no illusion.

Without the ‘I’ there is no experience of birth, life, death, and the world.

The ‘I’ hides the truth of the whole. The ‘I’ hides the truth.

That is why Ashtavakra Gita 16:10:~ If you desire liberation, but you still say ‘I,’, If you feel the ‘Self’ is the ‘I’, you are not a wise man or a seeker. You are simply a man who suffers.

Bhagavad Gita: ~ The permanent is always there, only the transient ‘I’ comes and goes. (2.18)

It is time to discard the ‘I’. Never use the word the ‘I’ or I AM for the Self.

Among thousands of people, scarcely one strives for perfection; and of those who strive and succeed, scarcely one knows the ‘Self’ in truth. The truth is beyond the form, time, and space. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar