Ish Upanishad declares:- Those people who have neglected the attainment of Self-knowledge and have thus committed suicide

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 or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana  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 Atman, 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.

Even in Mundaka Upanishad:- The rituals and the sacrifices described in the Vedas deal with lower knowledge. The sages ignored these rituals and went in search of higher knowledge. ... Such rituals are unsafe rafts for crossing The sea of samsara, of birth and death. Doomed to shipwreck are those who try to cross The sea of samsara on these poor rafts. Ignorant of their own ignorance, yet wise In their own esteem, these deluded men Proud of their vain learning go round and round Like the blind led by the blind.

Sri, Gaudapada’s rational exposition of Advaita: - that whatever is seen, whether external or internal, whether by the ordinary persons or yogis, is unreal.

The essence of Mandukya's is: Do not be satisfied with rituals, yoga etc. which are good in their own way, but inquire. Inquire in to the nature of the mind. ? Brahman and Atman are things one can never see. So seeker should not inquire into them.  He has to inquire into the world around him, which he can see. Analysis   tells him it is passing away every second. Everything is dying repeatedly. Where is it going? Thus he follows up his investigation into what he can lay hands on. How can he inquire into Atman which he cannot see? So first he must deal with the known and seen, this inquiry leads up to the unknown in the end.

Mediocre minds waste their time on arguing about unimportant matters. Accumulation of scriptural knowledge is dangerous in pursuit of truth. Seeker has to establish in the truth of Non-duality by sheer reasoning alone. Seeker has to begin by defining "What is real?" "What is unreal?" etc, because that is the right way to discuss, understand and assimilate Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana . 

Thus seeker has to remove all the hindrance in order to acquire Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana .  

Religion and yoga and scriptural knowledge does not free one from ignorance

In olden days men were primitive in their thought, so that a man having little knowledge was considered a genius. Now-a-days our knowledge is so advanced that the genius of those days would be an ordinary man of today. Therefore if one finds truth, free his -self from the tyranny of environment and tradition, not by condemning them but by examining and testing them by deeper inquiry, analysis and reasoning to find out  whether they be true or not. Accept nothing on the authority of a god men or genius of the past or present but only if it prove true after examination.

The people with the same  mindsets  is always willing to examine facts and judge them calmly whereas the religious scholars and intellectuals  will be immune to all facts and hold hard to their delusions. Such people do not want truth but only what pleases them. This is because the ego in them is so strong.  Their attitude is “What pleases them is truth, what they dislike is false.

The worship or glorifying gurus does not free one from ignorance. The rewards are none to them, the reward achieved in their lives are of consequence and not the result of worshiping and glorifying the gurus.

People always need some sort of hope when their minds are not yet enlightened. "Self is closer to man than his own veins." "With the Self- Knowledge, one will begin to know the ultimate truth, so as to finally realize the fact that, self is not physical and becomes conscious that the true self is the Spirit."

Most people lack the patience and perseverance in investigating and collecting all the data  before judging: hence they assume guru are god men  are great because other people  say so, or that he is wise because he himself says so, or that what he teaches is true because it attracts them. Such an   attitude and easy assumptions becomes obstacle to fold the truth and it requires some trouble to put into effect.

When Yogi comes out of Samadhi and immediately duality confronts him again. His peace goes, it was depended Samadhi-sleep. Hence no yogi attains true peace, but he imagines it. 

It is not possible know that a Yogi is self-realized because the yogic Samadhi is not self-realization.  One must first find out that what he has got is Samadhi or wisdom. Only through non-dual wisdom one gets Self-Realization.  The yogic Samadhi cannot be considered as non-dual wisdom. Therefore there is need to verify the facts. .

Religion and scholasticism is for general mass. Most of the scriptures propagated by pundits are from a religious standpoint to help those who cannot rise up to higher truth. Pundits hold scriptures as yard stick whereas scriptures itself declares:-

  This Atman cannot be attained by the study of the Vedas, or by intelligence, or by much hearing of sacred books. It is attained by him alone whom It chooses. To such a one Atman reveals Its own form. [Katha Upanishad Ch-II -23-P-20]

Mundaka Upanishad  :-

This Atman cannot be attained through study of the Vedas, nor through intelligence, nor through much learning. He who chooses Atman—by him alone is Atman attained. It is Atman that reveals to the seeker Its true nature. [    3 –page-70 Mundaka Upanishad  Upanishads by Nikilanada]

Mundaka Upanishad:- The rituals and the sacrifices described in the Vedas deal with lower knowledge. The sages ignored these rituals and went in search of higher knowledge. ... Such rituals are unsafe rafts for crossing The sea of samsara, of birth and death. Doomed to shipwreck are those who try to cross The sea of samsara on these poor rafts. Ignorant of their own ignorance, yet wise In their own esteem, these deluded men Proud of their vain learning go round and round Like the blind led by the blind.

For those who are incapable of inquiring and not yet ready for Self-Knowledge, the worship and glorifying of god and gurus is recommended.

If god, guru and self are one -- it means the self is Ataman and Ataman is god and guru, not the body.

As one goes deeper in research one finds the fact that - Celibacy and living in a monastery was always strange to Vedic religion. In fact almost all the great sages of Puranas and Vedas were householders. Observing celibacy and the monastery system in Vedic religion is influence of Buddhism and Jainism. The Hinduism is mixture of Vedic, Jain and Buddhist and many other ideologies.  The pure essence of Santana Dharma is lost by adopting ideology of many other ideologies.   

Sage Sri, Sankara who wanted to drive away these religions was the first great sage who recommended celibacy to sanyasis and also established monasteries. Later saints followed this trend. People think that to be a Hindu sage has to observe celibacy but this concept was not there in Vedic religion.  Thus the Hindu religion has become hotchpotch of many ideologies. 

People believes that if a Swamiji, indulges in sex activity he is doing a sin. And they also believe that a Swamiji and gurus should never marry and observe celibacy. If they fail to do so they are not fit to continue as Sanyasis.

 Sex is human instinct like hunger. The Swamiji’s are forced to observe celibacy, which is against human nature. Only few will succeed in this venture and others carry on secretly indulge in their sexual venture until it comes to limelight.  

  

Many Swamijis in the past got married after resigning from swamis’ order. Many times this became public debate but these people were soon forgotten. There are many self declared Swamijis with religious robes and indulge in accumulation of wealth and indulging in sex and all sorts of immoral and criminal activities happenings in their Ashrams and retreats.  Many Swamijis indulge in sex with their disciples. Once this is brought to the knowledge of people, people start reacting negatively.  Public memory is very short. People talk about all scandals for some time and later they forget about it.

There is a need to do deeper research on Vedic religion and bifurcate the present Hindu religion, which is mixed-up with Buddhism, Jainism and also idea adopted from other ideologies to know the pure essence of Vedas. It is also necessary to verify validity of dual and non-dual ideologies, which are based on Vedas to know they are mere add-ons. The original Sanatan Dharma was without all these ideologies.     

Swamis or gurus who claim themselves to be God and people worship and glorify them as God in human form.  They are trying to establish a regular religious sect of their own by  taking advantage of the mass mind set, which accept to believe any one who are propagating about their religion and god as avatars.  This is an unhappy development of the Hindu religious movement. Even Gandhiji resisted such deification of himself.

There can be no correct exposition in the Upanishads unless the guru has had experience of the truth. Otherwise it is merely adding words to words.  The sage will not do immoral things that are impossible.

It is difficult for people to understand such texts as, “God, Guru and the Self are one." No on rises   voice against the practice of  deifying the Guru they think it is against their religion and tradition.

 If god, guru and self are one -- it means the self is Atman and Atman is god and guru, not the body.  Thus, one who thinks himself as guru is   considers the  self as body and allows people to worship his body as god , thus he is not God because he  is not aware of the fact that, the self is the formless  Atman or consciousness or spirit. 

There are few people who are able to think beyond physicality voice against the practice of deifying the Guru.

The traditional Hindu attitude towards the Guru is glorifying him as god. It is necessary to verify the facts on this subject at some length. This not referred to anyone in particular.  The present verification of facts is general and irrespective of any particular person and their beliefs.

Hindu religious literature is full of such aphorisms as :-

There is no higher deity than the Guru'

The Guru is the ultimate Truth and Deity

God and Avatars (incarnations) are secondary to the Guru in importance

There is no higher refuge, no higher target, no higher destination than the Guru

The Guru is God Himself

God and the Guru are one

He who makes a distinction between the Guru and God is ignorant and stupid and scores of similar others.  Some celebrated philosopher-saints like Jnandev, Eknath and so many others all over India have offered their first salutations to the Guru in their various books.

A good deal of chaos prevails in Hinduism. It has an ever increasing number of Avatar as and Gurus installed as God Himself, with the support and sanction of scriptures and teachings of saints and sages in the past.  The crooks take advantage of the innocence of the masses and pretend to be god or god men.

Denunciation of practice of glorifying the guru as god is impossibility because people are sentimentally and emotionally involved with their inherited religious belief.

Brahmacarya, monastic celibacy, is the complete abstinence from sex, which is only incumbent upon monastics. Householders practice monogamy as a way to uphold Brahmacarya in spirit.

"Non-possession", is the renunciation of property and wealth, before initiation into sanyasa, without entertaining thoughts of the things renounced. This is done so one understands how to detach oneself from things and possessions, including home and family, so one may reach moksa.

 For householders, non-possession is owning without attachment, because the notion of possession is illusory. The reality of life is that change is constant; thus, objects owned by someone today will be property of someone else in future days. The householder is encouraged to discharge his or her duties to related people and objects as a trustee, without excessive attachment.

Since, the guru is bound to follow by some ethics and code of conducts prescribed in scriptures; the immoral acts of gurus are harmful, as it might cause doubt and confusion in the minds of many people, who strive with simple faith and earnestness to practice the discipline for enlightenment and self- development. Thus, gurus have to be accountable to all his acts and actions because they are bound by religion and their religious code of conducts.