Adi Shankaracharya. Vivekachudamani

 To one who is bitten

by the serpent of ignorance,

salvation can come only from the elixir of Self-knowledge and not from the Vedas, scriptures, incantations, or any other

remedies.

Just as a person’s sickness is not removed without taking medicine,

so too his state of bondage is not removed

by scriptural texts such as ‘I am Brahman’ without his own direct experience of the Self.

One does not become a king by merely saying, ‘I am a king’, without destroying one’s enemies and obtaining the reality of power.

Similarly, one does not obtain liberation as Brahman itself by merely repeating the

scriptural text ‘I am Brahman’, without destroying the duality caused by ignorance and directly experiencing the Self. ,

A treasure trove hidden under the ground is not obtained by merely hearing about it, but only by being told by a friend who knows it, and then digging and removing the slab that hides it and taking it out from below the ground.

Similarly,

one must hear about one’s true state from a Guru who knows Brahman, and then meditate upon it and experience it directly

through constant meditation.

Without this, the true form of one’s own Self, that is hidden by maya, cannot be realized through mere argumentation.

Therefore, those who are wise themselves make every effort to remove the bondage of individual existence and obtain liberation, just as they would to get rid of some disease.