The orthodox Advaitins Gurus argue:-
The rituals mentioned in the
karmakanda of the Vedas are sought to be negated in the jnanakanda which is
also part of the same scripture. While the karmakanda enjoins upon you the
worship of various deities and lays down rules for the same, the jnanakanda
constituted by the Upanisads ridicules the worshipper of deities as a
dim-witted person no better than a beast.
This seems strange, the latter part
of the Vedas contradicting the former part. The first part deals throughout
with karma, while the second or concluding part is all about jnana. Owing to this
difference, people have gone so far as to divide our scripture into two
sections: the Vedas (that is the first part) to mean the karmakanda and the
Upanisads (Vedanta) to mean the jnanakanda.
Vedanta it is that Lord teaches us in
the Gita and in it he lashes out against the karmakanda. It is generally
believed that the Buddha and Mahavira were the first to attack the Vedas.
It is not so. Sir Krsna Paramatman
himself spoke against them long before these two religious leaders. At one
place in the Gita he says to Arjuna :"The Vedas are
associated with the three qualities of sattva, rajas and tamas.
You must transcend these three
qualities. Full of desire, they (the practitioners of Vedic rituals) long for
paradise and keep thinking of pleasures and material prosperity. They are born
again and again and their minds are never fixed in Samadhi, these men clinging
to Vedic rituals. “In another passage Krishna declares : "Not by the Vedas
am I to be realised, nor by sacrifices nor by much study. . . . "
Does not such talk contradict all that
I have spoken so far about the Vedas, that they are the source of all our
dharma?
With some thinking we will realise
that there is in fact no contradiction. Would it be possible for us, in our
present condition, to go beyond the three gunas even to the slightest extent
and realise the true state of the Self spoken of in the Upanisads? The purpose
of the Vedic rituals is to take us, by degrees, to this state. So long as we
believe that the world is real we worship the deities so as to be vouchsafed
happiness. And this world, which we think is real, is also benefited by such
worship.
Thinking the deities to be
real, we help them and in return we are helped by them. Living happily on this
earth we long to go to the world of the celestials and enjoy the pleasures of
paradise. So far so good. But if we stopped at this stage would it not mean
losing sight of our supreme objective? Is not this objective, this goal, our
becoming one with the Paramatman? Would it not be foolish to ignore this great
ideal of ours and still cling to mundane happiness?
In our present state of immaturity it
is not possible to think of the world being unreal. Recognising this, the Vedas
provide us the rituals to be performed for happiness in this world. Because of
our inadequacies we are unable to devote ourselves to a formless Paramatman
from whom we are not different.
So the Vedas have devised a system in
which a number of deities are worshipped. But, in course of time, as we perform
the rituals and worship the deities, we must make efforts to advance to the
state of wisdom and enlightenment in which the world will be seen to be unreal
and the rites will become unnecessary. Instead of worshipping many deities, we
must reach the state in which we will recognise that we have no existence other
than that of our being dissolved in the Paramatman. We must perform Vedic
sacraments with the knowledge that they prepare us to go to this state by
making our mind pure and one-pointed.
If we perform rituals with the sole
idea of worldly happiness and carry on trade with the celestials by conducting
sacrifices (offering them oblations and receiving benefits from them in
return), we will never come face to face with the Truth. Even if we go to the
world of the celestials, we will not be blessed with Self-realisation. Our
residence in paradise is commensurate with the merit we earn here and is not
permanent.
Sooner or later we will have to
return to this world and be in the womb of a mother. The ritual worship and
other sacraments of the Vedas are to some extent the result of making an
adjustment to our present immature state of mind. But their real purpose is to
take us forward gradually from this very immature state and illumine us within.
It would be wrong to refuse to go beyond the stage of ritual worship.
If, to begin with, it is not right to
refuse all at once to perform Vedic rites, it would be equally not right,
subsequently, to refuse to give them up. Nowadays, people are averse to ritual
to start with itself. "What? " they exclaim. "Who wants to
perform sacrifices? Why should we chant the Vedas? Let us go directly to the
Upanisads. “Some of them can speak eloquently about the Upanisads from a mere
intellectual understanding of them. But none has the inward experience of the
truths propounded in them and we do not see them emerging as men of detachment
with a true awareness of the Self. The reason for this is that they have not
prepared themselves for this higher state of perception through the performance
of rituals. If this is wrong in one sense, refusal to take the path of jnana
from that of karma is equally not justifiable.
but
Ish Upanishad declares: - Those people who have neglected the
attainment of Self-knowledge and have thus committed suicide
10/11/12
Those people who have neglected the attainment of Self-knowledge
and have thus committed suicide, as it were, are doomed to enter those worlds
after death.
This is a
condemnation of people who do not try to attain Self-knowledge. They are, in a
real sense, committing suicide, for what can be worse than being a slave to
sense enjoyment, completely oblivious of the real purpose of life, which is to
be your own master? In order to be your own master you have to realize that you
are identical with Ataman, the true Self, that you are Pure Consciousness, ever
free, without name and form, and unconditioned.
You are not
subject to any modification, without beginning and end, beyond thought and
speech. You are Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute. When
you know this you are free. You no longer swing between birth and death. If you
do not try to know who you really are, you are indeed committing suicide. You
are inviting the ignominy of a slave's life in this world and a similarly
unfortunate fate after death. The Self, is one without a second, complete in
itself.
It never moves. It is always still, always the
same, yet it moves faster than the mind. It is the power that moves everything,
and it makes the whole world go the way it does. It gives those who
mechanically perform sacrifices [avidya] go into darkness that is like being
blind. But those who merely worship gods and goddesses [vidya] go into a deeper
darkness. [IX]
"Blinding
darkness' here implies ignorance. And those who worship gods and goddesses go
into a deeper darkness because they seek rewards for their worship. As long as
there is the sense of "I' and "mine' within us, there can be no
Self-knowledge. When you say "me' and "mine' you automatically
identify yourself with your body-mind complex. This shows that you are ignorant
of your real Self, which is Pure Consciousness and which is also the Self of
all. The sign of an ignorant person is
in the way he uses the words "I' and "mine'. He says: "I am so
and so. I own this much property,' and so on.
An ignorant
person has many desires in his mind, and because of these desires he is born
again and again. He has to have a body; otherwise he cannot satisfy his
desires. But the more he tries to satisfy them, the more they grip his mind.
This goes on endlessly. But it is given to a human being to think, reason, and
discriminate. Thus he soon comes to realize that the path he has been following
cannot give him peace of mind. He understands that he has to choose another
path the path of renunciation. As long as he does not practice renunciation, he
gropes in the dark like a blind man and he suffers.
There are two
types of such people who grope in the dark. One type worships avidya
(ignorance) that is, they mechanically perform the prescribed sacrifices
without any thought as to why they are doing them. No wonder they grope in the
dark. They are doomed unless someday the truth dawns on them that to save
themselves they must seek Self-knowledge.
Worse, however,
is the situation of the other type those who worship vidya. The word vidya ¸
usually means "knowledge', but here it is used to mean "gods and
goddesses'. Some people worship gods and goddesses so that they may someday
attain the same status. They may get their desire fulfilled, but this will only
delay their liberation. That is why the Upanisad says that they will be in
deeper darkness.
Scholars say that
the path of avidya [performing aganihotra and other sacrifices] and the path of
vidya [worshipping gods and goddesses] produce different results. Wise men
confirm this. [X]
Vidya and avidya
both are hindrances to Self-knowledge, but vidya is even worse than avidya. The
word vidya is used here in a special sense; here it means worshipping gods and
goddesses. By worshipping 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.
Avidya is karma
and therefore a hindrance. You perform avidya - i.e., you perform Agnihotra and
other sacrifices. This is a roundabout way of purifying the mind, and it is
also groping in the dark. But it may not have as heavy a toll on your time and
energy as the other.
A Gnani is free
from experiencing the illusion [body + universe] as reality, he is fully aware
of the fact that, his body and his experience of the world as consciousness,
which is ultimate truth.
People who are
incapable to inquire and reason are tending to follow some philosophy without
verification. Therefore the more ignorant they are the easier to get them into
a religious fold. Religion is so strong and popular because it makes no demand
on the intelligent; it simply requires belief in guru and his teachings.
It never strikes
believer to doubt whether his inherited belief system is true. They never use
their reason because they start and conclude that their belief system alone is true, because they never question
the validity of their inherited belief.
For religion one
can interpret texts as he likes, in whatever way that pleases him, he simply
imagine away. The idea of god injected
in the past and inherited by people and they refuse to verify the facts,
because they think it blasphemy even to question their inherited belief
system.
In pursuit of
truth the ultimate truth 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.
Gaudapada says: - the merciful Veda teaches karma and upaasana to people of lower
and middling intellect, while jnana is taught to those of higher intellect.
So they clearly indicate rituals and theories are not meant for
those who are searching for the higher knowledge or wisdom. The path of wisdom is the only means.
All the orthodox Advaitins indulge and immersed themselves in
ritualistic oriented life style and follow the path of karma and upasana which
is meant for lower and middling intellect
and not for realizing the Advaitic truth. Many chose these orthodox scholars as their
gurus. But these gurus are good to learn the conceptual Adavaita meant for
those orthodox who believe their conduct oriented life style leads to Moksha
[liberation]. But religious based Adavaita
is not the means to acquire self –knowledge
or nondual wisdom. Those who are seeking
truth have to do their own homework in order to acquire self-knowledge.
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.
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.
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 Ataman 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.
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.
Therefore there is no need to study
scriptures, or indulge in god and guru glorification or performing religious
rituals. Since, they are not the means
to acquire non-dual wisdom. It is only waste of time and effort to indulge in
those things.
The individual self is not real, is not accepted by many. The nondual wisdom is based not on the
individual self [ego]. Until people hold
the ‘I’ [ego] as witness, they will not reach the ultimate understanding.
The orthodoxy has to be dropped if one has chosen
the path of wisdom.
The orthodoxy is
greatest hindrance in pursuit of truth because it makes the inborn samskara or
conditioning more and stronger. Until this conditioning prevails it is
impossible to grasp, assimilate and realize the non-dual truth. The orthodoxy
is egocentric and egocentricity is greatest obstacle in path of truth.
The orthodoxy is indulging non-Vedic rituals because of
add-ons and adulteration and such rituals leads one nowhere and it is waste of
time and effort. Thus orthodoxy is not for those who are seeking
truth nothing but truth. Mixing orthodoxy and preaching non-duality is
foolish venture.
Adi Sankaracharya says in Aparokshanubhuti:-
88. When the whole universe, movable and
immovable, is known to be Atman, and thus the existence of everything else is
negated, where is then any room to say that the body is Atman?
89. O enlightened one;
pass your time always contemplating on Atman while you are experiencing all the
results of Prarabdha; for it ill becomes you to feel distressed.
90. The theory one hears of from the scripture, that Prarabdha
does not lose its hold upon one even after the origination of the knowledge of
Atman, is now being refuted.
91. After the origination of the knowledge of Reality, Prarabdha
verily ceases to exist, inasmuch as the body and the like become non-existent;
just as a dream does not exist on waking.
92. That Karma which is done in a previous life is known as
Prarabdha (which produces the present life). But such Karma cannot take the
place of Prarabdha (for a man of knowledge), as he has no other birth (being
free from ego).
93. Just as the body in a dream is superimposed (and therefore
illusory), so is also this body. How could there be any birth of the
superimposed (body), and in the absence of birth (of the body) where is the
room for that (i.e., Prarabdha) at all?
94. The Vedanta texts declare ignorance to be verily the
material (cause) of the phenomenal world just as earth is of a jar. That
(ignorance) being destroyed, where can the universe subsist?
95. Just as a person out of
confusion perceives only the snake leaving aside the rope, so does an ignorant
person see only the phenomenal world without knowing the reality?
96. The real nature of
the rope being known, the appearance of the snake no longer persists; so the
substratum being known, the phenomenal world disappears completely.
97. The body also
being within the phenomenal world (and therefore unreal), how could Prarabdha
exist? It is, therefore, for the understanding of the ignorant alone that the
Shruti speaks of Prarabdha.
98. “And all the
actions of a man perish when he realizes that (Atman) which is both the higher
and the lower”. Here the clear use of the plural by the Shruti is to negate
Prarabdha as well.
99. If the ignorant
still arbitrarily maintain this, they will not only involve themselves into two
absurdities but will also run the risk of forgoing the Vedantic conclusion. So
one should accept those Shrutis alone from which proceeds true knowledge.
The above proves
that the karma is reality only on the base of false self, where one thinks body
and the universe as reality. When one becomes aware of the fact that, the true
self is formless soul, then the karma becomes part and parcel of illusion. My point is that, if one accepts the karma
theory as reality, he will never be able to come out of the ignorance. And
ignorance makes him believe the cycle of birth, life and death or pain and
pleasure as reality. Thus the freedom
which one is seeking will remain distant dream. For the one who accepts the birth
life and death as reality, Self-knowledge is impossible.
Thus it is
necessary for the seeker of truth to know the fact that, the body which is
born, lives and dies is not the self. Since he is taking the body to be the
self, he is experiencing the duality as reality.
As Sri, Sankara says: When the whole universe, movable and immovable, is known to be
Atman, and thus the existence of everything else is negated, where is then any
room to say that the body is Atman.
If body is not the Ataman/self, then the karma
theory has no meaning on the standpoint of the truth. Thus no second thing
exists other than Ataman, therefore why to view the worldview on the standpoint
of the body as self [ego ] when the body [ego ] is the false self, and the
soul/Ataman is the true self.
If body is not the self, then the birth, life,
death and the universe are bound to be illusion. If birth, life and death are illusion then
all conducts actions and their fruits are mere illusion. If body is not the
self, then the existence of god, heaven and hell is mere illusion. If body is not the self then all religious
beliefs of god is mere illusion. If body
is not the self but the Ataman [soul] which is in the form of consciousness is
the true self, then there is no scope for second thing other than
consciousness, therefore
consciousness, which is Ataman is Brahman or ultimate truth. The Brahman alone is real and eternal. Thus whatever is real eternal has to be
identified as god. To identify the real and eternal, one has to overcome the
ignorance caused by the illusion. To overcome the ignorance one has to acquire
the Self-Knowledge.
The
individual experience within the dream is reality with in the dream. Therefore
waking reality is also is reality within the waking. This waking is parallel
dream and dream is parallel waking. Only when self-wakes up in waking the dream
becomes unreal. When the self-consciously wakes up in its formless nondual true
nature in the midst of waking experience
then all the three states are
mere mirage created out of its formless nondual true nature.
The form
time and space within the dream are falsehood when waking takes place.
Similarly the form, time and space of the waking are also falsehood when wisdom
dawns. The wisdom dawns only when one realize the self is neither the waking
entity nor the dream entity. Thus it is erroneous to judge and reason and
conclude the ultimate truth on the base of waking entity and waking world
because waking experience itself is illusion.
