People dip into meditation but they do not understand that that is only one half of the truth and that this dipping is also a mental discipline to for them to understand the true nature of the external universe, which understanding they must next get if they are to become Gnanis.
Thus in the Gita, Chap.XII Krishna tells Arjuna that knowledge of both matter and spirit is the True knowledge. One is living in the body, which is the world, and he has to eat and move and work in the external environment. One cannot get away from it. It is his life.
Therefore he ought to know, understand and grasp its meaning. A person who refuses to do so is refusing to face the whole of reality.
Sankara definitely says that Yoga is not the means of liberation [page 132-133 of his commentary on Brihadaranyakopanishad].
Meditation is not the means to Self –Knowledge. Meditation is not the goal itself. It is an important and useful tool to quiet the body, mind and emotions and allow one to enter a deep and quiet state of mind. Once the turbulent tendencies of the body or ego and emotions are brought into harmony, clarity and renewed strength are available to meet and overcome each life challenge as it presents itself. Meditation will not eliminate our life challenges but can enable us to harmonize our body, mind, emotions and spirit and to focus that energy like a powerful beam of light on the challenges that lie ahead in worldly life.
When one sits down to meditate, he is thinking first of sitting, i.e. his body; then he tries to have only have the thoughts of getting rid of the thoughts, with the thoughts of getting rid of the thought. Thus, he is thinking as a person within the world. Thus he remains as person practicing meditation, thinking the ego alone is illusory and rest [universe] is reality within the illusion. He only thinks of the object, within the object, as an object. But he is never aware of the formless subject.
Ashtavakra says: - "This is your bondage, that you practice Samadhi meditation.”
When one puts aside the imagination and has the thinker-- what does he get with thinking—he can get only a thoughts. Meditation is only an effort; it is imagination, an idea; the soul/consciousness remaining the same with or without ideas.
As a person perceiving the world one is unaware of the fact that, he and his experience of the world are within the object. He as a person is completely unaware of the fact that, he is not the subject at all. The subject is formless and it is apart from the three states. The subject is not an entity or identity within the three states. Therefore, judging the truth on the base of the object as self is erroneous. Such judgment leads to all sorts of speculation, doubts and confusions.
When one is absorbed in thinking of anything, he is thinking within the object (mind) that which witnesses all these three states is within but always apart.
As a thinker he gets only thoughts. The thinker and thoughts are part of the illusion. Whenever there is thoughts and experiences, there is duality [mind]. Where there is duality [mind] there is always ignorance. Where there is ignorance there is illusion. The duality, mind and ignorance illusion are one and the same thing and they appear together and disappear. The ignorance vanishes when the wisdom dawns.
The knower of the three states is within the three states but it is formless and apart from the three states.
The whole universe and people and all its contents are within the mind. The truth is hidden within the mind but it is without the mind. As a Man one thinks the mind is within the physical body but the truth is the body and the universe are within the mind. Until this mistake is rectified to get the non -dual truth is impossibility. Man thinks he is an individual separate from the world within the mind which appears as waking or dream and disappears as deep sleep. Therefore, one has to analyze the three states in order to realize the witness of the three states is formless and apart from the three states. Thus the man is not the witness of the three states. Realizing this fact, it is erroneous to judge the truth on the waking entity.
It is impossible to trace the mind within the physical body, because the physical body and the world are within the mind. The idea of multiplicity of mind cannot be accepted. The dream appears as a whole with the dream entity, with people and dream world. The dream is witnessed as whole without the physical apparatus. The same witness witnesses the waking and deep sleep as a whole. This truth has to be grasped to realize the fact that, the waking entity is not the witness of the three states. Only when this truth is grasped, then it becomes easier to assimilate the Self-Knowledge.
Therefore, how the meditation or Samadhi or any other practice can yield the fruit, when the waking entity is not the self and the true self is the witness of the three states, not waking experience alone. This truth has to be grasped to rectify the mistake, which keeps one in the grip of duality makes him experience the duality as reality.
Only when become aware of the fact that, the waking entity is not the self, it becomes easier to understand the illusion. The form, time and space are within the mind. The knower of the form, time and space, is formless, timeless and space less existence. Therefore, when the meditator comes out of meditation, he again confronts the form, time and space. But for a Gnani without meditation, he is aware of the fact that, the form, time and space as consciousness and he is conscious of consciousness within the realm of form, time and space.
All the actions and moments are happening within the mind. In the realm of truth there is neither action nor the moment. When the mind itself is illusion on the standpoint of its formless substance, which is consciousness, then all the contents of the mind is bound to be illusion.
The idea of multiple souls is unproven hypothesis. To say that each mind is different is unproved because no one has ever seen mind. No one can say where it starts and stops, no one can measure its thickness, and all claims are mere supposition, not proof.
Yoga is practiced on the base of false self therefore; yoga cannot yield the non-dual truth. Everything that one practices on the false self is part of the illusion. It yields only relative truth, i.e. true from a particular viewpoint, not ultimate truth.
The ego sees all the objects within the world. The ego, man and his experience of the world is within the mind, which is passing away every moment, hence unreal. Limiting the mind to the physical entity is the cause of the ignorance. Therefore, one has to realize the mind is not limited the physical entity alone but to the whole waking or dream experiences.
One has to realize the fact the mind and the matter is one and the same thing. If the mind is there the matter is present. One has to analyze mind and taking away the three states which are ever changing or passing, he gets at soul/self.
When one is able to make the distinction between formless witness and the three states then he will understand that, the formless substance of the three states itself is the witness of the three states. In this sense only, he will come to understand that, the consciousness is present everywhere in everything in all the three states. And no second thing exist other then consciousness. Hence, it is non-dual. Once this truth is grasped then all the theories speculated or assumed on the false self becomes meaningless.
In all mental operations there are two factors--the knowing capacity [consciousness] and that which is known. The known things [three states] are all passing away and are therefore unreal. Without the knowing capacity i.e. the knower [consciousness] in existence there could have been no such thing as knowing the three states.
Know means: - Knowing implies two factors, the knower or the knowing capacity, or that which becomes aware; and the known. Without these two factors one cannot use the word know.
One finds the known [the three states] always passes away. When one is distinguishing between knower and known, the word ego is used. When these disappear the word soul is used just to show that there is something which has not disappeared, as thoughts and objects are seen to disappear. No one can see soul appearing or disappearing. One can only say that it must have been there.
It is not the physical body alone that constitutes mind, but body plus world constitutes the mind. Mind is created out of consciousness. This one find from his deeper study on this subject.
The whole universe which contains everything is within mind. Every thought, feeling, and emotion is only "mind" and mind will pass away; it is only the "known. Deeper analysis shows the contents of mind are passing phenomena and not the knower or witness.
Soul is seeing or knowing the changes not that mind which changes. The word change is not applicable to the soul. Therefore soul is “immortal". Soul is seeing the mortal; in this sense it is called soul immortal. There cannot be two self. It is impossible. Change can have a meaning only when there is more than one. Soul being unchanging must be only One.
The changes occur because of the existence of something unchanging. The changing and the unchanging are always present. Man exists within the mind which changes every moment. Man is unaware of unchanging because he is part of the changing.
One has to base his analysis on the experience as a whole, not the individual experiences happening with in the waking or dream. Man perceives the world within the waking or dream experience. Thus, the individual experiences are within the waking or dream experience is noting to with the soul the innermost self. Deep sleep also is an experience. Thus one has to take the three states for his analysis, not what is happening within the three states. Waking entity is noting to with the soul, the innermost self. One has to trace the witness of the three states in order to realize the fact that, the three states or mere illusion. Once the formless witness is mentally traced then it becomes easier to grasp the non-dual truth. Once the formless witness is traced and realized to be the true self, then all the logical and theoretical arguments, based on false self or ego, lose their value.
One has to value experience because but the three states and its changes, he could not possibly think of the Unchangeable or realize it. One should not attach the soul/self to all that changes which constitutes the three states. The very fact that, one is constantly experiencing dream and deep sleep shows that experiences keeps on changing. But he is unaware of the fact that the self is not physical but it is formless spirit. Therefore, he is taking the authorship of the three states on the physical entity of the waking experience. Therefore, it is necessary to realize the fact that, the witness of the three states is not the waking entity but the formless soul, which is the true self. Therefore the meditation or Samadhi practiced on the base of waking entity will not yield wisdom, because it is practiced on the base of false self.
People are not ready to distinguish between formless witness and three states. If they knew that, their body, world everything is known, even the gods, is only illusion, and then they might perceive truth, not otherwise.
When one thinks of the individuality he is unaware of the fact that the experiences of birth, life and death are illusion. He has to know illusion as consciousness. Then only unity in diversity is possible.
Thought is only an illusion, no matter how exalted it is. Thought never touches the truth, but remains always within the illusion. One foolishly believes that the more he thinks, the more he will get; but it is really an error. It remains only a thought and gives him back only a thought. Anything known, observed, cannot be the soul, the subject.
