The religious truth is the dualistic truth. Advaita is the Spiritual truth based on the Atman, the Spirit.+

Some Gurus give sermons and tell people to surrender to the Guru unconditionally, only then they get Self-realization.

All such claims are empty words. Their falsity speaks louder than words because they are dualistic.

The truth is not religious. The religious truth is the dualistic truth. Advaita is the Spiritual truth based on the Atman, the Spirit.

Religion is based on the false base (ego), whereas the truth is based on the Soul. If you are seeking truth, then whatever is based on a false base has to be discarded.

There are so many Gurus and their organizations that run in the name of the Vedas in indulging in non-Vedic activities.

Only when one goes deeper in Self-search he one will find everything is adulterated with non-Vedic stuff.

That is why Buddha: ~ “Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.

That is why Sage Sankara says:~ (V C):~65. As a treasure hidden underground requires (for its extraction) competent instruction, excavation, the removal of stones and other such things lying above it and (finally) grasping, but never comes out by being (merely) called out by name, so the transparent Truth of the Self, which is hidden by Maya and its effects, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman (Gnani).

If you are seeking truth, then you should disregard such claims. Not by listening to the sermons of the Gurus, nor by the study of books, nor by meritorious deeds, nor by any other means to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Upanishads:~ Fools dwelling in darkness, but thinking they are wise and erudite, go round and round, by various tortuous paths, like the blind led by the blind. (Upanishads Nikilanada - Ch II-5 P-14)

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 a distraction for such minds'

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.

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.

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is attainable only through association with the knower of Brahman and the clear quest of the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

Upanishad: ~ “They alone in this world are endowed with the highest wisdom who are firm in their conviction of the sameness and birthlessness of Atman. The ordinary man does not understand their way. (Chapter IV — Alatasanti Prakarana 95-P-188 in Upanishads by Nikilanada)

Ashtavakra Gita: ~ It is not the absence of Buddhi (reason) that can grasp Advaita, but the man who possesses the highest intellect. Brains are necessary. Such a man, by merely hearing the truth mentioned, will know it. (Page~ 224)

Mundaka Upanishad 1.3:~ “Complete knowledge includes knowledge of the phenomenal world, the spirit behind it, and the source of both of them. When the cause of all causes becomes known, then everything knowable becomes known, and nothing remains unknown is Gnana.”

Intellectually knowing the truth is only an imagination, whereas realizing the truth knows it as such.

"Unless one realizes the Soul as the innermost ‘Self’, as it really is,” it is impossible to realize the non-dualistic or Advaitic truth. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar