Chandogya Upanishad: ~ One who meditates upon and realizes the Self discovers that everything in the cosmos-- energy and space, fire and water, name and form, birth and death, mind and will, word and deed, mantrams and meditation--all come from the Self.
The moon reflecting on the water and appearing as many, the Self is just like the reflection of the moon on the water which increases with the volume of water and decreases with its reduction, which moves when the water moves, and which differs as the water differs. The moon seems to conform to the characteristics of water, but in reality, the moon never has these increasing or decreasing qualities. So also, from the highest point of view, the consciousness always retains its sameness; it seems to conform to such characteristics as an increase and decrease of the limiting adjunct, owing to its entry into such an adjunct as a universe.
Sage Sri, Sankara says you must first know what is before you. If you cannot know that, what else can you know or understand? If you give up the external world in your inquiry, you cannot get the whole truth.
Emptiness is the nature of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Emptiness is the fullness of consciousness without the division of the form, time, and space.
Thread is drawn from cotton and is woven into cloth. But the reality of cotton is in both of these forms, viz., thread and cloth. Similarly, the projections of names and forms of this material universe on the consciousness do not alter the nature of the consciousness. It remains as it is without any change.
One can also illustrate the uniqueness of consciousness by analyzing the phenomenon of dreams. The dream is a parallel waking experience. And the waking experience is parallel. The three states are an object to the subject, which is formless consciousness. The consciousness is the formless substance and witness of the three states one is unaware of the subject because he considers the waking entity as the Self and views and judges the three states, which is erroneous. The waking entity is limited to the waking experience, and the dream entity is limited to the dream experience. In deep sleep the waking or dream experiences are absent, thus the witness remains in its formless nondual true nature, but due to ignorance of the true Self, which is the substance and witness of the three states, one experiences the three states as reality. When one becomes aware of the formless witness of the three states then one becomes aware of the fact that the three states are merely an illusion on the standpoint of the true Self, which is the consciousness.
Thus whatever seen, known, believed and experienced within the waking experience is a falsehood. Thus the experience of universe and birth, life and death are a myth. Thus the belief of God, heaven, hell, paradise, sin, karma, rebirth, and reincarnation is a myth.
Thus by worshiping individualized God and following religion studying scripters are for those who are incapable of realizing the truth of their true existence. :~Santthosh Kumaar
