A Gnani is one who attains the self-awareness in the midst of duality. A Gnani is in self –awareness and
he is fully aware of the fact that, the form, time and space are mere mirage
created out of consciousness.
They alone in this world are endowed with the
highest wisdom who are firm in their conviction of the sameness and
birthlessness of Ataman. The ordinary man does not understand their way. [Chapter IV — Alatasanti Prakarana
95-P-188 in Upanishads by Nikilanada]
This passage indicates the fact that
everything is Ataman/spirit. The one who views and judges the worldview on the
base of his birth /body will not realize the fact that, the man including the
world is created sustained and finally dissolves as Ataman. Thus Atman alone
is, and all else is mirage.
Thus self-knowledge
is the aim of every human being. Since everyone thinks the physical body is the
self, their aim is misdirected and they focus their attention on materiality
which makes one feel the duality [waking] as reality.
The ultimate truth or Brahman has to be proved, not assumed. Pundits who take
scriptures for granted are not Gnanis.
Pundits teach
that all is your-self, but none of them can show that this is so, none has
analysed it scientifically, and none can prove it. Rational proof is needed, so
that one arrive at knowing truth i.e. wisdom; punditry is mere dogma,
parrotism, repetition of what they read in scripture. Scripters are not
yardstick and scriptural truth is not proof.
Pundits take scripters as authority.
Authoritarianism merely assumes as true what another says, but what has
yet to be proved.
Pundits have to
test truth in this world not in the next world.
There is no proof other than blind belief based on the scriptures,
belief is not truth. So, doctrines are
not the means to realize the ultimate truth. There is no need to follow them.
Doubts and
Confusions arise when seeker finds the scripters and yoga are inadequate or
useless to quench his spiritual thirst.
Disappointments in religion or yoga or even science imply error or ignorance.
When serious
seeker reaches a stage with all his baggage of accumulate knowledge, then
uncertainty haunts him. Whether he is
right?" Where is the certainty that he is proceeding on right lines?"
Thus doubts arise and the inquiring spirit comes and impels to search elsewhere
for truth where it will not be possible even to have doubt. The test is
therefore in experience. And only in non-duality, where there are no two to
argue about views or to have difference of opinion can such doubtlessness be
possible. Belief depends upon unstable
bases whereas certainty depends on proof.
Sri, Sankara says in Viveka Chudamani indicated that:-
56. Neither by Yoga, nor by Sankhya, nor by work, nor by
learning, but by the realisation of one's identity with Brahman is Liberation
possible, and by no other means.
58. Loud speech consisting of a shower of words, the skill in
expounding the Scriptures, and likewise erudition - these merely bring on a
little personal enjoyment to the scholar, but are no good for Liberation.
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
which 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?
62. A disease does not leave off if one simply utter the name of
the medicine, without taking it; (similarly) without direct realisation one
cannot be liberated by the mere utterance of the word Brahman.
63. Without causing the objective universe to vanish and without
knowing the truth of the Self, how is one to achieve Liberation by the mere
utterance of the word Brahman? — It would result merely in an effort of speech.
64. Without killing one’s enemies, and possessing oneself of the
splendour of the entire surrounding region, one cannot claim to be an emperor
by merely saying, ‘I am an emperor’.
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, is to be attained through the instructions of a
knower of Brahman, followed by reflection, meditation and so forth, but not
through perverted arguments.
66. Therefore the wise should, as in the case of disease and the
like, personally strive by all the means in their power to be free from the
bondage of repeated births and deaths.
Thus Sri Sankara clearly indicated that: - yoga,
intellectualism, scriptural mastery is not the means to self-knowledge. But by the realisation of one's identity with
consciousness, which is ultimate truth or Brahman, freedom from experiencing
the illusion as reality is possible, and by no other means.
Seeker of truth
has to get rid of his doubts through deeper inquiry, analysis and reasoning on
his own, to realize the fact that, the self is not the form but self is formless.
Thus his analysis and reasoning has to be based on the formless not on the
form. By simply go on believing and
accepting whatever said by the punditry will not lead one towards path of
wisdom. All the doubt has to be got rid of "by the sword of Self -
Knowledge." The scriptures, yoga
are not necessary if one follows the inner [formless] path. Religion and yoga are not the means to path
of wisdom.
