Śaṅkara

Keep the mind steady through meditation and constant remembrance of the Self, so that ignorance and distraction diminish.

Lead a simple, disciplined life oriented toward contemplation, study, and inner freedom rather than accumulation or display.

Understand that liberation is attained here and now through knowledge, not merely after death or through external ritual alone.

Avoid sectarian narrowness; different forms of worship and doctrine can serve as aids, but non-dual knowledge is the culmination.

See all beings as expressions of the same underlying reality; cultivate universal vision and non-dual compassion.

Use devotion as a support for realization; worship and prayer can purify the mind and prepare it for knowledge.

Honor the role of a qualified teacher and traditional instruction; spiritual understanding is deepened through guidance from a realized guru.

Develop faith in the authority of the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, and Brahma Sutras as guides to ultimate truth.

Maintain inner composure in pleasure and pain, gain and loss, praise and blame, seeing all dualities as temporary.

Recognize that bondage is produced by mistaken knowledge, and that right knowledge is the direct means to freedom.

Seek liberation from ignorance rather than mere worldly success; freedom from avidya is the cure for suffering.

Act with renunciation of the fruits of action, offering all works to the divine and relinquishing personal ownership of outcomes.

Treat action as a means of purification, not as the final goal; perform duties without attachment to results.

Live a life of ethical discipline, self-control, and purity as the foundation for spiritual realization.

Follow the threefold path of hearing, reflection, and deep contemplation on the Upanishadic teaching of non-duality.

Practice disciplined inquiry into truth; use reasoned reflection and scriptural study to discern reality clearly.

Cultivate dispassion toward sensory enjoyment; reduce craving so the mind becomes fit for liberation.

Renounce ego-centered identification with body, mind, and possessions; see them as non-self and not the basis of your true identity.

Discriminate between the eternal and the transient; do not attach ultimate value to changing worldly objects, status, or pleasures.

Pursue self-knowledge above all else; realize the true Self (Atman) as identical with Brahman, and treat this realization as the highest human goal.