There is no need to study Advaita Vedanta or Buddhism to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.+

There is no wisdom whatsoever in any philosophy they are just a collection of words. The seeker should not bother about finding the meaning of what is written in philosophical books. 

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Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana cannot be surmised by merely reading the Vedas and Upanishads or philosophy.

There is no need to study Advaita Vedanta or Buddhism to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.  All accumulated knowledge is of no use to realize the Advaitic truth beyond the form, time, and space. 

There is no need to study Advaita Vedanta to realize the Advaitic truth beyond the form, time, and space. 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 or philosophy or scriptures to acquire self-knowledge. Only a  perfect understanding of ‘what is what’ is needed. 

There is no need to buy books of Sage Sankara in order to acquire Self-knowledge. A perfect understanding of 'what is what' is needed. Nothing else is a need other than realizing the fact that, the form, time, and space are one in essence and that the essence is the soul, which is present in the form of consciousness in order to get the Advaitic Self-awareness.

Self-knowledge cannot be attained by the study of the scriptures and intellectual understanding or by bookish knowledge.  Therefore,  there is no use in studying the scriptures and other scriptures in order to acquire non-dual wisdom.  That is why Buddha rejected the scriptures, and even Sage Sri, Sankara indicated that the ultimate truth lies beyond religion,  the concept of god and scriptures.

Fortunate is the one who does not lose themselves in the labyrinths of philosophy. The conceptual divisions were invented by teachers of philosophy by their excessive analysis. Fortunate is the seeker who does not lose himself in the labyrinths of philosophy but goes straight to the source from the universe arises. 

There is only one Reality to be known, the same for all seekers, but the ways to it, are hidden by religion.  Self-discovery is the only way, towards the non-dualistic absolute without any religious doctrines, which will help the seekers to unfold the mystery of the illusion in which we all are searching for the truth of our true existence.

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

The citations from scriptures are not proofs.  The ultimate truth has to be proved without the scriptures.  The ultimate truth is the universal truth and it does not belong to any religion.  The religion causes diversity in unity, whereas, the ultimate truth brings unity in diversity.  

That is why Sage Sankara himself says ~ VC 59. The study of the Scriptures is useless so long as the highest Truth is unknown, and it is equally useless when the highest Truth has already been known.

60. The Scriptures, consisting of many words are a dense forest that merely causes the mind to ramble. Hence men of wisdom should earnestly set about knowing the true nature of the Self.

61. For one who has been bitten by the serpent of Ignorance, the only remedy is the knowledge of Brahman. Of what avail are the Vedas and (other) Scriptures, Mantras (sacred formulae), and medicines to such a one?

It is not that one should pore over the ancient scriptures.  There is no need to study first, and then realize. One has to realize first, then only he will know ‘what is the truth’ and ‘what is untruth’. One has to make his discoveries through the process of rational thinking. 

That is why Sage Sankara says:~ VC-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 are to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, followed by reflection, meditation, and so forth, but not through perverted arguments.

He who has not rectified his reasoning base from the ‘I’(form) base to soul(formless) base and one who does not have the intense urge to know the non-dualistic or Advaitic truth,  and who is not tranquil and subdued and whose mind is not receptive, cannot acquire Self-Knowledge or brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Remember:~

But once Buddha died, great philosophical schools arose. It had never happened in the whole world as it happened in India after Buddha. The man who for his whole life was against philosophy and philosophizing became the source of the greatest philosophical endeavour ever. Thirty-six schools of philosophy were born when Buddha died. And the people that he had always condemned all gathered together to philosophize about him.

And see the beauty, the irony of it all! They started philosophizing about why Buddha kept silent.

Why he did not say anything about the beyond: that became their philosophy! They started talking about why he kept silent about the beyond. And there were as many answers as possible.

Somebody said, "Because there is no beyond." Now one philosophy has taken roots. Another said, "The beyond is, but it is inexpressible. That's why he kept silent." Now another school, and so on and so forth.

Even the silence of Buddha became a problem, and people started discussing the silence. Nobody tried to become silent; people started talking ABOUT the silence.

Beware of this trap, the mind is very cunning. If I say something about meditation, I am saying it so that you can meditate. But you start thinking about meditation, what meditation is. "How many kinds of meditation are there in existence? What is the difference between them? Why are they antagonistic to each other?

And then you can go on ad infinitum, and there will not be any time when you will ever meditate.

You will become more and more confused. You will become so confused finally that you will not know how to start meditation. because there are so many directions opening. Where to go? What to choose? You will simply be paralyzed.

The mind always does that. And only a few people who are really alert are capable of getting out of these traps of the mind. The mind is a great philosopher. And life is not a philosophy, life is a reality.

Philosophy is an escape from reality; philosophy means thinking. Life is - there is no question of thought. You can simply jump into it.- OSHO