People are unaware of the fact that, Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is nothing to
do with religion, yoga, and belief of God . people believe in their belief system because of their inherited samskara or conditioning. There is a need to bifurcate spirituality from
religion/yoga/paths. Spirituality is
path of truth or wisdom. Thus it is necessary
to bifurcate religion/yoga to acquire the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana in lesser time
and effort.
People are not aware of the fact that, no God can exist,
apart from the self. The soul is the innermost self. The soul is present in the form of consciousness. If there is no consciousness
, then there is a body, the world and their belief of God. People imagine that there must be a creator of this universe.
If one thinks waking entity as self, then
there is a creator but if one thinks the formless soul as the Self, then there
is nothing exists other than the soul,which is present in the form of consciousness. And there is no second thing exist other than consciousness because the whole universe along with all its contents are created out of consciousness. Thus everything is consciousness. Thus consciousnesses is ultimate truth or Brahman. Discovering and realizing the soul or consciousness as
self is truth realization.
If one objectifies and
sees a universe, then he is bound to see many things beside himself and
postulate a God, the creator. Body, God and world rise and set together from,
and into, the soul, the innermost self. If God is apart from the soul, the innermost
self , then He would be selfless, that is, outside existence, that is,
non-existent.
All the Advaitins
believe in god and goddesses (vidya) and performing
rituals and other sacrifices (Avidya)
both are hindrance to Self-knowledge according to Ish Upanishds,
then why the seeker of truth needs worshiping of god and goddesses, when
Advaitins believe Atman is Brahman .
Isa Upanishads indicates that: By worshiping gods and goddesses
and going to the world of gods after death is of no use. The time one spends in ritualistic practices
is wasted; one can spend same time moving forward towards Self-knowledge, which
is the main goal. One cannot reach the nondual destination by glorifying god
and goddesses and by doing that, one goes deeper and deeper into darkness. It
surely indicates the fact that, the seeker of truth has to drop the worshiping
god and goddess in order to get self-knowledge.
It also indicates that, Religious Rituals (Avidya) is Karma(action) and
therefore a hindrance. By performing Agnihotra and other sacrifices [Avidya]
is a roundabout way of purifying the mind, and it is also groping in the dark.
In addition, it indicates the karma is limited only to the religious rituals,
not on the whole human life. This karma theory based on the human conduct must
have been adopted from Buddhism and other theories based on human conducts.
When it says: Perform the obligatory karmas without any attachment to the
fruits, and at the same time worship gods and goddesses, again without any
desire to go to heaven - then you can get the benefit of both, liberation and
bliss. For those who are not yet ready to renounce, this path is recommended,
it mean that the religion and its idea
of god and goddesses and code of conducts, and its rituals are meant for the
mass who are incapable of thinking of the beyond.
In addition, it also speaks of heaven the abode of gods, where one goes
after death, and it speaks of rebirth, this contradiction, seeker has to
conclude that religion, rituals god and its code of conducts is meant for the
mass that is not receptive to self-knowledge.
When the self
is not the body (waking entity) whatever one sees, knows, believes, experiences
and feels on the base of the body (waking entity) as self is bound to be an illusion.
Thus, the karma performed in illusion is
bound to be illusion. The birth, life and death is happening within the
illusion, therefore it is bound to be illusion. Thus, rebirth and reincarnation
theories based on the false self within the false experience are bound to be
illusion on the base of the true self. Only the witness of the illusion is real
(Brahman). Therefore, everything has to
be viewed and judged, on the base of the Formless Witness (soul) in order to
overcome the illusion/duality.
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 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 him self 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)
Sage Sri, Sankara made a clear distinction between the Vedas and
Upanishads in his commentary on Gita. He stated that the Karma Kand of the
Vedas deal with the injunctions relating to the performance of duties and
actions. These are for ordinary householders.
The path of religion, path of yoga and the
path of wisdom were intended for different classes of people. The wisdom is for
the advanced seekers of truth. It deals with the nature of the ultimate Truth
and Reality. It is meant for superior aspirants who have an inner urge to know
the truth and it is not for those who are immersed in earthly desires.
A permanent view of world
as unreal can come only after soul centric reasoning; such knowledge cannot
change. Were the seeker who is sufficiently sharpness he could grasp the unreal
nature of the world by soul-centric reasoning alone. To know whole
truth, one must know the whole universe, otherwise he gets only
half-truth.
Renouncing the worldly
life and accepting sanyasa or monk-hood means incapacity to think deeper, an
impotency to inquire and reason.
People speak of getting
rid of conditioning or samskara but they themselves are unaware of the fact that,
the universe in which they exist is product of the inborn samskara or
conditioning. The ignorance is cause of the inborn samskara or
conditioning which present as ‘I’ or ‘I AM’.
The
real Moksha or freedom is to realize the fact that ‘I’
consciousness is mere physical awareness. Physical awareness is not
self-awareness. The self –awareness is when the formless soul or
consciousness remains aware of its own non-dual true nature. –
FORMLESS PATH
