Uttara mImamsa, also called Vedanta, does not consider the Upanishads and brahmanas as arthavada subservient to vidhis. Instead, they are seen to be sources of Brahman knowledge, addressed solely to those who seek moksha or freedom. The rituals enjoined in the Vedas are applicable to the realm of dharma, but the one who seeks liberation does not merely desire a place in heaven; he is in search of ultimate Reality itself. The Upanishads are viewed as those portions of the Sruti that address philosophical questions about Reality, here called Brahman. This tradition of exegesis follows the brahma sutras of badarayana. Within Vedanta, there is considerable difference of opinion on whether the Upanishads enjoin anything at all.
According to Advaita Vedanta, the Veda addresses itself to two kinds of audiences - the ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices, and the more advanced seeker who seeks to know Brahman. Thus, the purva mimam.sa, with its emphasis on the karma kanda of the Vedas, is meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. However, the Vedanta, with its emphasis on the jnana kanda, is meant for those who wish to go beyond such transient pleasures.
An essential identity between Atman and Brahman is upheld in Advaita Vedanta. The personality of sage Sri,Sankara and the force of Advaita teaching is so strong that most post-Sankaran schools of Vedanta consciously define their doctrines against Advaita thought.
When Advaita declares Atman and Brahman then direct realization of the ultimate truth is possible without the scriptures. Know the soul to be the true self. And true self is in the form of consciousness and realize consciousness as ultimate truth or Brahman.
Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana 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.
Nisagadutta said: Millions are in search of the ultimate truth, and only one in million will be able to grasp and realize it. By focusing more attention on Atman by talking, writing, discussing only of Atman, the conviction grows and becomes firmer and the duality will fade away as reality. Atman/spirit which is one’s true identity will prevail as birth-less and deathless, eternal substance and witness of the mirage called duality.
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 ‘waking entity ’or ego as witness, they will not reach the ultimate understanding.
When Upanishad itself declares:- sarvam khalvidam brahma - all this (universe) is verily Brahman. By following back all of the relative appearances in the world, we eventually return to that from which it is all manifest – the non-dual reality [ Chandogya Upanishad].
Then it is no use going roundabout way, trace the Brahman which is the formless substance and witness of the universe, which is in the form of mind. By tracing the source of the mind or universe one will be able to realize the Brahman.
The true Self is not perceptible to the senses. It is perceived by Reason. It is not perceptible as a thing with form and attributes. To those whose attention is fixed on the body and the world, it is very difficult to attain Self-knowledge. It is also very difficult for them to see the consciousness as self. The attention towards the universe (mind) should be lessened by realizing the self is not the body. The attention has to be focused on the formless substance and witness of the universe [mind] should be increased. So long as the attention is directed towards the universe, the experience of birth, life and death will prevail as reality. But when the attention is directed towards the formless witness, the ignorance vanishes and sense of duality will disappear. Then there is unity in diversity.
What is the state of the ego or physical self when it has realized that the self is not the body? Such souls have attained their pristine condition. “Self” is not visible to the physical eyes. “Self” is not to be found in the world as a thing, entity or an object. Self is above these, has neither beginning nor ending.
A visible object has a beginning and an ending. Since Atman, which is in the form of consciousness is invisible to the physical eye; Atman or consciousness is without beginning and ending. Atman is always constant. Just as space is homogeneous everywhere, so is the Atman the same everywhere.
But he who is truly wise Always sees the absolute Self. Celebrated, he is not delighted. Spurned, he is not angry. Pure of heart, He watches his own actions As if they were another's. How can praise or blame disturb him?
- Ashtavakra Gita 3:9-10
They live in freedom who have gone beyond the dualities of life. Competing with no one, they are alike in success and failure and content with whatever comes to them. They are free, without selfish attachments; their minds are fixed in knowledge. They perform all work in the spirit of service, and their karma is dissolved.
- Bhagavad Gita 4:22-23
An intense desire for truth -realization is itself the way to it. The Lord is The Self in Advaita. Therefore, one need not accept anything other than the self, which is consciousness. Thus consciousness alone is ultimate truth or Brahman that is free from falsehood.
Advaita(non-duality) and dwaita(duality) is state of the self. It is not some intellectual theory. Religious based Advaitins believe the Atman (soul) is Brahman; and the world is illusion. Religious dwaitins believes the body as self, and they believe world is reality, and they believe in creator and creation theory. In India Advaita and Dwaita is mere a religious tradition, which they inherited from their ancestors. No one questions their validity, because it is considered blasphemy to question any guru and god-men or pundits.
People who are attached to their religious code of conduct and trying to preach Advaita , that is mixing the individual life, and concept of god, and all mixed up hotchpotch religious doctrine and feed the seeking minds, are themselves not aware of the fact that, the individuality, and the worldly life is part of the illusion.
Buddha must have verified religion, Vedas and concept of god and found them inadequate and useless in pursuit of truth and rejected them and he got enlightened without the aid of religion, Vedas and concept of god.
After studying and going through all the rigorous training from the religious scholars in Theosophical Society, J.K was confused about all these, and when he started verifying with deeper introspection, he found everything was priest-crafted hotchpotch ideologies. Thus, he refused to become the world guru, rejected it, and walked out and condemned the priest craft.
In Advaita they accept karma theory. If they accept the karma theory, one will not be able to reach the non-dual destination. If one accepts karma theory then it is impossible to treat the world as illusion. All the pundits’ explanation of karma theory carries no weight on realm of truth because if karma is accepted they are accepting the false self (ego or body)as true self and false experience (universe or waking) as reality.
The birth, life and death are part of the waking experience, which is mere illusion on the standpoint of the true self. It is no use of saying that, we are not born, we do not die because, because we all were born and we all are going to die. However, the birth, life and death are part of the illusion, which comes and goes as waking experience. The formless witness of the three states is real, which is our identity has no birth and death. That is why self-knowledge is nothing to do with the religious based Advaita, which is based on Vedas.
A Gnani will never say we are not born; we are not going to die. Only to the mediocre who nod their head, he will say this to inspire them to think of the formless true identity, which is birth less, deathless. Thus, it is wrong to say we are not born and we do not die by limiting the self to the physical entity. If one limits the self to the physical entity alone, one gets only half-truth. The consciousness, which is the true self, pervades all the three states, as their formless substance and witness. The formless substance and witness, which is our true self (true identity). Without knowing the true self-mere saying, we are not born, we do not die is not the knowledge, which has come from depth, it is mere bookish knowledge.
When Sri,Sankara says: world is unreal . He never said body is unreal. He would have said only birth and death is unreal but he did not say that, he said the world is unreal. He meant the world including the body, because the body and world appear together and disappear together (waking or dream). Then we have to think, what remain without the body and the world as reality. How can the birth, life, death, rebirth, and reincarnation, which take place in unreal world (waking/dream), can be true. The one, which is aware of the birth, life death, rebirth and reincarnation (illusion/unreal), is formless reality, which is the true self/true identity. The formless self is your true identity, which is birthless and deathless but it is the witness of the birth, life and death and rebirth (illusion/unreal).
On the standpoint of identity the birth, life, death, rebirth and reincarnation theory is part of the illusion/unreal. The body cannot reincarnate, the body and the world are created out of the same formless stuff. Until one views and judges on the base of flesh, bone and blood [five elements], he will not be able to grasp the non-dual truth. Thus, one must know on what standpoint we are not born and we do not die thoroughly, just by hearsay views, it will not lead anyone to the non-dual destination.
Seeker has to learn to view and judge on the standpoint of formless witness (FW) or soul. Then he will be never having any confusion. When one thinks deeply then only the inner revelation starts and start burning the dross (confusion/doubts). One has enough material stored in one’s subconscious by reading this massages in FP blogs; all will start yielding fruits and start revealing, when he starts thinking very deeply. This is the inner process every serious seeker experiences. The inner dialogue will start and one will start getting answers from inner core of his existence.
If self has no relation with the three states then the self prevails in its formless non-dual true nature. When wisdom dawns then one becomes aware of the fact that, the self is not physical but the self is consciousness and he becomes fully aware of the fact that, the physical body, ego and universe [mind] and its contents are mere mirage created out of consciousness. Thus, seeker has to first know body, ego, universe are mind. When the mind is present they are present and when the mind is absent they are absent.
Everyone is aware of the three states. There is a need to analyze the three states and realize the fact that, the mind is not limited to the physical body but mind appears as whole waking or dream experience and disappears as deep sleep. Therefore there is a need to understand “what is mind? And what is the substance of the mind in order to unfold the truth hidden within the three states. Therefore, anyone who sleeps dreams and wakes up can sit and examine this process logically, without any prior exposure to any scriptures or teachings. Such an independent analysis will lead seeker of truth towards perfect understanding, assimilation of non-dual truth.
It is absolutely not possible to examine the three states logically if one is not aware of the existence of formless witness. The formless witness is within the three states, but it is without this three states. Formless witness is nothing to do with three states, because it is not an entity or identity within the three states. It pervades everywhere and in everything as formless substance and witness of the three states. The three states are an object to the formless witness, which is in the form of consciousness. Thus consciousness is the subject and the mind, which is in the form of universe, is an object. Therefore mind is an object to the subject, which is consciousness.
The waking, dream and the deep sleep states do not have a sequence as one really thinks and believe. Since everyone is habituated to view and judge the three states on the base of the waking entity, which is not the self. Thus viewing and judging the three states on the base of the false witness (“ego or waking entity”) is erroneous. Therefore perfect understanding is necessary in order understand and assimilate the existence of the formless witness, which exists apart and beyond the three states.
In all the three states, the formless witness remains unchanged. One who has not analyzed the three states deeply will never be able to grasp the existence of the formless witness, which is the soul or consciousness. He will just wake up, dreams and goes to deep sleep without this analysis. Everyone thinks the three states are their physical experience whereas the physical experience is limited to the waking or dream. In deep sleep there is no experience of any sort.
In the deep sleep state the formless witness prevails in its formless non-dual true nature. It is without the waking or dream experience. Consciously becoming aware of the formless non-dual true nature of the witness, which is soul or consciousness in the midst of the waking experience, is realization of the self or truth.
The soul, which is in the form of consciousness, is the source of the mind which in the form of universe. The universe appears as waking or dream (duality) and disappears as deep sleep non-duality. The source, which is consciousness is the true self and the on the standpoint of consciousness as self the three states are mere mirage thus there is nothing exists other than consciousness. Therefore, there is no forth state because the three states are itself is mere mirage created out of consciousness. Thus
An ignorant person may identify the cotton with the cloth and gold with an ornament, forgetting that the cloth and the ornament are not cotton and gold, respectively; rather, they are only manifestations of cotton and gold. Similarly, one may identify the empirical ego with Self or Soul, ignorantly without knowing the real nature of Self or Soul.
A person walking in a desert may perceive water in a mirage by wrong perception. Likewise, in semi-darkness one can perceive a human figure in a post. All such perceptions are illusory. So also the perception of Self or soul as identical with the elements of this universe is illusory. Just as perceptions of a castle in the air and a second moon in the sky are illusory, so also the perception of Soul or Self as identical with the universe is unreal.
All these illustrations point to the basic and absolute nature of Self or Soul. The Self is that which is imperishable, the unseen witness, the unheard hearer, the unthoughtful thinker, the understood understander. Other than it, there is naught that hears; other than it, there is naught that thinks; other than it, there is naught that understands." Thus, Self is the absolute consciousness, the source of all experience and knowledge.
The ignorant thinks his body is the self. And all is accumulated knowledge is based on the body as self. The more learned thinks, "Self is his personality and all his knowledge is theories based on his intellectual speculations. But the Gnani knows the true Self is consciousness." He is fully aware of the fact that his body and his experience of the world also as consciousness. He has dissolved the "mind or universe” in the Self, which is in the form of Consciousness.
When non-dual truth is deeply assimilated, a permanent weakening of illusory experience follows, and one finds freedom from experiencing duality as reality. The ego ceases to be prey to compulsions. And one becomes capable - How to be in the illusion, which is in the form of universe but not of it? One has to adopt the formless Witness point of view i.e. to dis-identify with the three states mentally in the midst of waking experience and remain consciously as the formless witness of the illusory three states which comes and goes.
