“What is truth?” and “What is untruth?”

Seeker of truth has to know somewhere he is going wrong, and it is for the seeker to go on his own and remove the obstacle.  The greatest hindrance is mixing religion, god, scriptures, and yogic theories. Moreover, attachment to scriptures, personal god and religious code of conduct keeps one permanently in the grip of duality.

For the same reason Sri, Raman Maharshi said:-  fortunate are the one who do not lose themselves in the labyrinths of philosophy. Bhagwan says: Take Vedanta, for instance: it speaks of 15 pranas the names and functions of it   which the student is asked to commit memory. Will it not be sufficient if he thought, only one prana does the whole work of maintaining the body? Again the antakaran is said to think, to desire, to will, to reason etc. Why all these details? Has anyone seen antakarana, or all these pranas? Do they really exist? They are conceptual divisions invented by teachers of philosophy by their excessive analysis. Where do all these concepts end? Why should confusion created and then explained away? Fortunate is the man who does not lose himself in the labyrinths of philosophy, but goes straight to the source from which they all arise. (GURU RAMANA .By S.S Cohen -vii Danger of philosophy-Page -58-59)

Therefore, highlighting the obstacles in pursuit of truth, that helps the fellow seekers, to reach their nondual destination, in lesser time and effort. 

Mundaka Upanishad:- The rituals and the sacrifices described in the Vedas deal with lower knowledge. The sages ignored these rituals and went in search of higher knowledge. ... Such rituals are unsafe rafts for crossing The sea of samsara, of birth and death. Doomed to shipwreck are those who try to cross The sea of samsara on these poor rafts. Ignorant of their own ignorance, yet wise In their own esteem, these deluded men Proud of their vain learning go round and round Like the blind led by the blind.

To do good to the world is to enlighten mankind and bring them out of pain and miseries, rather than leaving them to the grace of God. It is only through the wisdom of God, that man can understand his mistakes. It is imperative to disseminate the Vedic knowledge and assist in liberating souls and at the same time elevate your own soul.

Undoubtedly, India can boast or pride herself in being the most secular nation in the whole world. Refugees of religious persecution in all religions including Charvaka Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, Muslims and Buddhists all took refuge in India. Throughout the ages, religious tolerance has become a universal message. There are thousands or perhaps millions of temples, churches and mosques, an exploitation no other nation in the world can surpass. 

Almost a billion people engage in some form of spiritual worship. This takes place in temples, mosques, synagogues and churches, homes, factories, along riverbanks, in forest or mountains, streets, in trains, buses, wherever they may be. One can easily relate to such profound symbolatry as truly a divine paradise for the seekers of spirituality. But strangely and unfortunately, it was not meant to be so. 

The prevailing conditions of India have cleared the oppugnancies that all religious dogmas do lead ultimately to Salvation. The practices of these doctrines have definitely proved that destitution is a languishing pain for the poor, and happiness, a distant dream for the privileged. The diminished glorious ages of India, once the cradle of civilization, where only one people worshipped one God, is long gone.

[Source:-SATYARATH PRAKASH]

 

Looking at all these facts there is a need to bifurcate whatever is not Vedic to know the pure Vedic essence which is mixed in the sea of mythology, Superstitions and dogmas.  No god can exit without man. Man has to exist first for god to exist. Thus god is dependent on man’s existence.   Therefore, there is a need to unfold the mystery of man’s existence, and then only it is possible accept the god’s existence. 

It looks like the idea of god is adopted from Abrahamic religion and introduced with mythological base.  There is no use of arguing with anyone with all these facts because all these things make one believe the illusion [universe]  as reality.  The main goal of the truth seeker is to acquire self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.   

The belief system preaches that God is one and the ways to God are many. It simply tries to lead them to darkness with its dogma and idea of many gods, which is apart from the self. 

The eternal truth  is within the universe [mind] and it is without the universe [mind]. Direct knowledge of self can be acquired by one through the Self while realizing the Self. Self- realization is the essence of human existence. Where there is unity, one without a second; there is world of non-dual reality. The non-dual truth is ultimate truth. And ultimate truth itself is God. 

"The religion of the Veda knows no idols, then why worship such things as god, which are non -Vedic and enter darkness in to darkness (ignorance).   

"Andhatama pravishanti ye asambhuti mupaste". [Yajurved 40:9]

Translation 1.
They enter darkness, those who worship natural things (for example air, water, sun, moon, animals, fire, stone, etc).

They sink deeper in darkness those who worship sambhuti. (Sambhuti means created things, for example table, chair, idol etc.)
[Yajurved 40:9]

Translation 2.
"Deep into shade of blinding gloom fall asambhuti's worshippers. They sink to darkness deeper yet who on sambhuti are intent."

[Yajurveda Samhita by Ralph T. H. Giffith pg 538]

Translation 3.
"They are enveloped in darkness, in other words, are steeped in ignorance and sunk in the greatest depths of misery who worship the uncreated, eternal prakrti -- the material cause of the world -- in place of the All-pervading God, But those who worship visible things born of the prakrti, such as the earth, trees, bodies (human and the like) in place of God are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time."
[Yajur Veda 40:9.]

"Na tasya pratima asti"
"There is no image of Him."[Yajurveda 32:3]

"Ekam evadvitiyam"
"He is One only without a second." [Chandogya Upanishad 6:2]

"Na casya kascij janita na cadhipah."
"Of Him there are neither parents nor lord." [Svetasvatara Upanishad 6:9]

"Na tasya pratima asti"
"There is no likeness of Him." [Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:19]

"shudhama poapvidham"
"He is bodiless and pure." [Yajurveda 40:8]
"Na samdrse tisthati rupam asya, na caksusa pasyati kas canainam."
"His form is not to be seen; no one sees Him with the eye." [Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:20]

The religion of the Veda knows no idols

"The religion of the Veda knows no idols," says Max Müller; "the worship of idols in India is a secondary formation, a degradation of the more primitive worship of ideal gods."

Self- knowledge is the highest knowledge. Self is closer to man than his own veins." "With the knowledge of the self, man will begin to know the self is not physical but self is formless consciousness, so as to finally achieve the self-awareness." "With the perfect understanding of the true self, man becomes conscious that self is the consciousness. For Advitin- the self alone is the God or Lord .

 Mysticism gives only temporary peace within the illusion, because it is based on the mystical experience experienced in the unreal world. Only self-knowledge can yield permanent peace.

Krishna is teaching no particular religion, but Religion in general. The Gita nowhere refers to Hindu, Vaishnava or Saiva Matam or Dharma. The entire civilized world's need is now, to lift its viewpoint from particular religions to universal truth. 

In Vedas the God has been described as:-

v  Sakshi (Witness)

v  Chetan (conscious)

v  Nirguna (Without form and properties).

v  Nitya (eternal)

v  Shuddha (pure)

v  Buddha (omniscient)

v   Mukta (unattached).

It indicates clearly all the gods with form and attributes are mere imagination based on the false self.  The true god is self, which Atman.  Therefore Self-Realization is god realization. 

As indicated in ISH Upanishads: - By worshiping gods and goddesses you will go after death to the world of gods and goddesses. But will that help you? The time you spend there is wasted, because if you were not there you could have spent that time moving forward towards Self-knowledge, which is your goal. In the world of gods and goddesses you cannot do that, and thus you go deeper and deeper into darkness.

It clearly indicates that:-If the human goal is to acquire Self-Knowledge then why one has to indulge in rituals and glorifying the conceptual gods, goddesses and gurus to go in to deeper darkness. Instead   spend that time moving forward towards Self-knowledge, which is one’s prime goal.  

Since it is eternal and infinite, it comprises the only truth. The goal of Vedic religion, through the various yogas, is to realize that the consciousness (Atman) is actually nothing but Brahman.

Brahman means universal truth. Brahman is considered the all-pervading consciousness, which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material. (brahmano hi pratisthaham, Bhagavad Gita 14.27)

Sri, Sankara’s notion of Maya, the cosmic illusion, which must be transcended in order to realize the truth of Brahman, which means ultimate truth.   

If Brahman is considered the all-pervading consciousness then, it is necessary to realize, the consciousness as self, which pervades all the three states, to realize the fact that, there is no second thing exists other the consciousness. Thus, consciousness [Atman] is ultimate truth [Brahman].   

Yoga also gives temporary peace because yogi considers the body as self and his experience is experienced as body as self.  Thus yogic Samadhi is not wisdom.

 Panchadesi, P.509 v, 109:-  shows the impossibility of yoga arriving at a successful end to its practices.  

As one goes deeper in self-search he will becomes aware all the material in religious annals are mere assumption and imagination based on the false self.   Even if one takes them as reality one has to realize the fact that, the waking experience itself is falsehood. Therefore whatever one sees, knows, believes and experiences as person within the falsehood is bound to be falsehood.   Thus all these religious fables has no value on the ultimate stand point. 

As one verifies one becomes aware of the fact that:-

The Puranas

Acharya Dharamkriti has enumerated five characteristics of ennui and stupefaction. One of them is to consider a scripture on authority. The tendency to consider a book on authority is widely prevalent in India, though most of the contents of these scriptures have been proven fallacious on the basis of reason and reality.

When scientists have proved that the moon is 24,000 miles away from the earth and the sun is 9.30 crore miles away, what is the sense in asserting that according to the Vishnu Puran, the sun is near the earth and the moon is far off.

Nothing is true

The writers of the Puranas say that there are seven seas on the earth. One is full of saltish water; the other contains pure water; the third is full of milk; the fourth is full of ghee and so on. Today everybody knows that all the seas are full of brine. No sea contains milk or ghee. Inspite of this, if somebody cites the puranas as authority and advances the view that the seas are full of sugarcane juice, he will be considered as a fool. The scriptures cannot be taken as authority because man's knowledge increases and changes day by day. Truths of yesterday may not be truths of today, and todays opinion and views may be proved wrong tomorrow. Books only reflect the knowledge of contemporary people.

Everybody knows that the knowledge of the Puraniks about the astronomy and science was very limited, and that of geography almost ridiculous. According to the Markandeya Puran, the area of earth is 50 crore 'yojanas'. There are seven continents on the earth - Jambu, Plaksh, Shalmal, Kush, Kronch, Shak and Pushkar. One of these continents is double the size of others. The continents are surrounded by seas of salt, sugarcane juice, wine, ghee, curd milk and pure water respectively. One sea is double the size of others.

A 'yojana' is equivalent to 8 miles. According to the Puranas, the area of the earth is 50 crore'yojanas' or 4000 million miles. Scientists and geographers have proved that the diameter of the earth is 8000 miles and its circumfrence is 25,000 miles. The Puraniks say that the 'extent' of earth is 4,000 million miles, whereas it is actually only 25,000 miles. In case they meant area by the word 'extent', even then it comes out to be 62 crore square miles, after multiplying its length (25,000) and breadth (25,000) miles.

Ocean of cane juice

Students of geography know it too well that there are only six continents on this earth - Asia,Europe, North America, South America, Africa and Australia. According to the Puraniks, the Jambu continent or Asia extends to one lakh 'yojanas'. According to them the Plaksh continent (presumably Europe) extends to two lakh 'yojanas' or 16 lakh miles and the sea surrounding it extends eight lakh miles and is full of cane juice.

It is known fact that no sea seperates Asia and Europe, and when there is no sea it is sheer imagination to say that it extends 16 lakh miles and is full of cane juice. In case the sea surrounding Europe was full of cane juice, the European would have exported sugar to Asia, America, Africa and Australia. 

According to the Markandeya Puran, the Shalmal continent (perhaps Africa) extends to 32 lakh miles. It is surrounded by a sea which extends to 32 lakh miles and is full of wine. Readers know that Maditerranien Sea and the Red sea seperate Africa from Europe and they extend only a few hundred miles. They are full of brine like the Indian Ocean. The Puraniks say that Africa is four times bigger than Asia, whereas it is almost equal to latter.

The Puraniks say that the Kush continent (perhaps North America) extends to 64 lakh miles and is surrounded by a sea which extends to 64 lakhs miles and is full of ghee. Similarly the Kronch continent (perhaps South America) extends to 128 lakh miles and is surrounded by sea of equal area and is full of curd.

In fact no sea separates North and South America. On one side there is the Atlantic Ocean and on the other there is the Pacific Ocean and both are full of Brine. These continents are smaller than Asia.

Imaginary geographical knowledge 

It is surprising that the Puraniks imagined only 'rivers' of ghee and milk in India and 'seas' of ghee and and milk preety far off. The Shak continent(presumably Australia) is said to be 32 times bigger than the Jambu continent(Asia).What to talk of 32 times, it is not even one fourth. 

The imaginary geographical knowledge of the Puraniks does not end here. Their observations about the Jambu Continent (Asia) and India are rather strange. 

In the middle of the Jambu continent, there is a golden Meru mountain which is 84,000 'yojanas' high. It is rooted in the deep earth and its depth is 16,000 'yojanas' the width of its top is 32,000 'yojanas' and that of base is 16,000 'yojanas'. 

The Himalayas are situated in the middle of Asia and are covered with snow. It is fantastic to say that its height is 84,000 'yojanas' when it is actually 29,000 feet high. According to the Puraniks, it is 256,000 miles wide, whereas the width of asia from Kanyakumari to North pole is hardly 7,000 miles. The length of himalayas is not 128,000 miles, it is about 1500 miles. According to the Puraniks, the depth of Sumeru mountain inside the earth is 128,000 miles. When the diameter of the earth is hardly 8,000 miles what about the rest of the milage, which comes to 120,000 miles ? 

According to the Devi Bhagwat puran, there are four mountains in the four directions of the Sumeru mountain - Mandar in the east, Merumandar in the South, Suparshv in the west and Kumund in the north. All these mountains are like the legs of the main mountain. The area of each is described as 80,000 miles. Each of them has a tree on the top - mango, rose-apple, neulea orientalis and banyan. They serve as their flags are 1,100 yojanas' high. All four trees extend like the mountain on which they are growing. These four mountains are further beutifies by their four tanks which contain milk honey, sugarcane juice and so on.

All these prove the fact that, religion is based on the physical self and physical existence itself is falsehood from ultimate standpoint.  Therefore, Self-knowledge is necessary to realize the fact that, the birth, life death and the world are part of the falsehood. 

Therefore until one bifurcate the religion from spirituality one will not be able to grasp and realize the non-dual truth.   The people who are stuck with religious based non-dual teachings will find it difficult to realize the non-dual truth.   

Self is 'that which is at first known as the soul in the human experience, but which, in the end, is found to be identical with the supreme Reality.

The pursuit of truth or spirituality is discovering the truth of the true existence   as its goal the realization of one's identity with the Ultimate Truth.

 Seekers goal is always a spiritual one. In fact, a true knowledge is said to be a science which shows the way of approach, or rather of return, to the spirit, which is the true Self.

There are no other paths other than the formless path by which a seeker may realize the ultimate truth.

 When one is in the realm of inner equilibrium - that is, perfect co-ordination between the Spirit [soul] and the Matter [mind]. In this balance lies the secret.  When the seeker of truth has learnt to view and judge the three states, on the standpoint of the soul as self, so to say, and does not allow himself to be imprisoned in the grip of ignorance. This is a very difficult thing to achieve, but it is an important aspect of pursuit of truth, inasmuch as it paves the way to detachment and gives freedom from the burden of experiencing the duality as reality.

The three states are external to the formless soul or consciousness is the innermost self.  The three states are dependent and the soul or consciousness, the innermost self is independent. 

Thoughts arise to the person within the waking or dream. Thinker is the form. Without the form the thinking is impossibility. Thus thinker and the thoughts are part of the known. The knower of the known is formless. 

Thoughts and thinker is nothing to do with the formless witness. The witness is that witnesses the thoughts and thinker together and remains always in the within the waking or dream as their formless substance.

People think that, more they think, the more they will get; but it is really an error. It remains only a thought and gives them back only thoughts.  Anything seen, observed, cannot be the Self or the Witness. 

The good and evil is part of the falsehood; pure and impure is part of the falsehood.  No one can purify another because the duality is itself is impure and duality is created, sustained and finally dissolves as purity, which is the soul/spirit.

When one starts exploring the mystery of the self, he is still mired in habituated patterns. Limited in perception to a world projected by these patterns, he does not and cannot see things as they are because his understanding is based on the false self/ego, whereas the truth is based on the formless soul.   He needs a guide, who can show how to proceed in pursuit of truth.

The soul   is the subject, and mind is an object. When the understanding is based on the object as subject the realizing the truth is impossibility.  Object is unreal created out of the formless subject, which is real. 

Mind means ignorance. Overcoming the ignorance through wisdom is the aim of the truth seeker.    The Gnani is the one who is fully aware of “What is truth?” and “What is untruth?” in the midst of experience of diversity/illusion. 

Gnani is fully aware of the fact that the birth, life and death are mere illusion and views all the pain and pleasure of the life as mere illusion. 

The Mind[waking]  rises then only  man and his experience of the world comes into existence and dissolves into nothing in deep sleep.  To the Gnani there is no world, no body, and no ego because for him, the form,name ,thoughts,words and experience   are mere mirage created out of consciousness . Thus,   everything is consciousness