The ignorance prevents one from knowing,
which is beyond form, time and space. The form, time and space are the product
of ignorance. The form, time and space are present in the form of the mind. The
mind is present in the form of the universe. The universe appears as the waking
or dream. Till one holds the self as ‘I’ he is in the grip of the ignorance. If
the ignorance is present than the duality is present. If duality is present than
the illusion is experienced as reality. If illusion is experienced as reality
than one is stuck with the reality of the practical life within the practical
world.
It is
not the human memory is the cause of the ignorance. The human memory is limited
to form, time and space. The one which is in ignorance is not the waking entity
but the formless soul. It is foolish to think you are in ignorance because you
and your experience of the world are the product of ignorance. Thus without deeper self-search it is impossible
to realize ‘what is truth’ and ‘what is untruth’. Without knowing ‘what is
truth’ it is impossible to know ‘what is untruth’. People are stuck with some
teaching or some teacher and hold them as yard stick which is the greatest hindrance
is pursuit of truth. People believe that guru or mystic or priest has got so many followers and
therefore there must be some truth in their teaching, is a common fallacy
accepted by the mass due to their inherited samskara or conditioning. It proves
only an ignorant can find a number of greater ignorant to follow him.
That
is why Buddha said: - Believe nothing because a wise man
said it. Believe
nothing because it is generally held.
Believe nothing because it is written. Believe nothing because it is said to be divine. Believe nothing because someone else said it. But believe only what you yourself judge to be true.
A true seeker is not content with the knowledge of spiritual realities based on hearsay... he insists on the direct knowledge."
Katha Upanishad 1:2:23:- The Soul cannot be
realized through hearing scholarly explanation of the discourses, not even by
the intellect.
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.
The soul is the formless substance and
witness of the three states. If the formless witness witnesses the waking
experience and its attention is fixed to the waking experience than the
waking experience is experienced as reality. If the formless
witness witnesses the dream and its attention is fixed to the dream than
the dream is experienced as reality. If the attention of
the soul is on itself than it is called deep sleep in waking experience,
which is the states of ignorance. If the
soul consciously remains in its formless non-dual true
nature in the midst of waking experience through wisdom it is called
self-awareness.
The three states
are an object to the formless soul, is the subject. The three states
are state of ignorance. In all the three states the soul, the
innermost self is in ignorance of its own formless non-dual true
nature. This forgetfulness is cause of the ignorance. Ignorance is
cause of experiencing the three states as reality. The three states
are cause of experiencing the individuality as reality.
Individuality is cause of experiencing the birth, life,
death and the world as reality. The three states are one in essence. In
the realm of truth the three states are non-existent.
In self-awareness, the three states are non-existent because
they are one in essence.
The
seeker has to pursue this quest until his questions will be answered, until his
problems will disappear and his doubts will be solved.
Doubt
is the beginning of knowledge. One must verify his own ideas and concepts. He
must put his imagination aside, and let the truth be verifiable by others.
The scholastic like all believers have to start with an assumption that there is
some unseen Being or Power or World, and then they start to interpret this
assumption. Whereas deeper self-search starts with the world, going up from the
objective world to truth by inquiry and soul-centric reasoning.
No assumption, no faith, is needed in
pursuit of truth, the ultimate truth demands deeper thinking. People do not
want to think: it is too troublesome. Why worry about the ultimate truth, they
say. This is their excuse, an alibi for being too lazy or incompetent to think.
They do not want to be bothered to inquire and reason.
Reasoning
is interpretable in two ways. The egocentric interpretation is to apply it only
to waking experience. The soul-centric interpretation is to apply it to the
three states. The latter leads to final settlement of the problems because it
takes all data into consideration.
When the
ultimate truth is rightly known and one attains eternal life thereby. Through
soul, the innermost self he gains strength and through its knowledge
immortality.
Not by intellectual speculation but only by an awakening to the
reality of his true existence he gets soul-centric vision. Soul, the innermost
self’s nature is like state of deep sleep.
Religion,
yoga and intellectualism are not the means to acquire self-knowledge or Brahma
Gnana or Atma Gnana. Without getting rid
of the ignorance and trying to get self-awareness through religion and yoga is
like a sleeping man trying to know what he is about, without waking up. As
sleep is to waking, so is ordinary life to the state of realization.
