If one wants self-realization he has to first discard all inherited belief and stop going after the gurus or any teaching. If one is not after self-realization then he must follow what makes him happy and contended. Self-knowledge is only for those who are in quest of ultimate truth or Brahman.
People who think by worshiping their gurus as God in human form in order to get self-realization are unaware of the fact that, accepting someone as guru and himself as disciple is greatest obstacle in the path of truth. The person who accepts himself as guru is not a Gnani, because he has already accepted self as body whereas the self is not the body. The person who accepts himself as disciple of some guru also considers his self as body thus; it becomes a great hindrance in path of truth. Guru is essential in religious and yogic path but not for Self-Realization.
One must study the wisdom propagated by Gnanis like Ramana Maharishi very deeply and try to attain the same realization which he had, rather than spend their energies by indulging in glorifying and worship his form. As per the scripters worshiping human form leads on to darkness. The main aim of human life is to acquire self-knowledge.
Religious literature of Hinduism one finds many 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 scores of similar others. They abound both in Sanskrit and in modern Indian languages. Some celebrated philosopher-saints also like Jnandev, Eknath and so many others all over India have offered their first salutations and importance to the Guru in their various books.
GURUR BRAHMD GURUR VISHNU
GURUR DEVO MAHESHVARAH,
GURUH SAKASHATH PARAM BRAHMA
TASMAI SRI GURAVE NAMAH.
Sri Ramana Maharishi never claimed himself as guru nor did he accept anyone as his disciple. He was eminent sage, well respected, and the world regarded him as a great and noble seer.
My views in my blogs derived from deeper self-search are general and irrespective of any particular person or person beliefs.
Mundaka Upanishad says: 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.
When sages themselves found rituals are unsafe rafts for crossing The sea of samsara, of birth and death and ignored them and they the Mundaka Upanishad further suggest that, such rituals are unsafe rafts for crossing the realm of duality those who try to cross The realm of duality on these poor rafts are Doomed to shipwreck are. Ignorant of their own ignorance, yet wise in their own esteem, these deluded people [pundits] proud of their vain learning go round and round like the blind led by the blind.
Therefore, if one wants to acquire Atma Jnana or Bramha Jnana or Self- Knowledge or knowledge of consciousness one has to drop all ritualistic and orthodox baggage to move forward in their pursuit of truth.
Until and unless one overcomes physical shackle it is impossible to understand and assimilate the nondual truth, which is beyond the physical existence or the universe. Consciousness itself is lord of itself though not of the universe. And having nothing it has all.
Sri, Sankara says in VivekaChudamani :-
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.
67. The question that thou hast asked today is excellent, approved by those versed in the Scriptures, aphoristic, pregnant with meaning and fit to be known by the seekers after Liberation.
Thus Sankara clearly suggests direct realization of truth is not possible through punditry or orthodoxy. Why to follow the traditional path, which does not yield any fruit. Therefore, Seeker of truth has to take the direct path and avoid losing precious time and effort loosing himself in philosophical studies and traditional path.
All the religionists believe in god and goddesses [vidya] and performing rituals and other sacrifices[Avidya] both are hindrance to self-knowledge according to Ish Upanishds, then why the seeker of truth needs worshiping of god and goddesses, when essence of Adavita is Ataman is Brahman [soul or self as ultimate reality].
When Sri,Sankara declares:- the world is myth and Brahman alone is real the why worships the guru and gods of this unreal world . That is why Veda bars such worships and people who indulge in such activities will suffer and sink into darkness. And Upanishads says self-realization is the human goal. Therefore, one has to strive only for self-realization or truth realization.
When the self is formless there is no need for pada pooja [feet worship] of Advitin gurus to get freedom. A guru who preaches conduct as the means to freedom, believes in birth, life death and the world as reality, whereas the Advaitic sage Sri, Sankara declares the world as unreal. Therefore, how actions performed in unreal world can get moksha or freedom. Therefore there is need to know the fact that, the self is not physical in order to understand and assimilate and realize the truth beyond physicality.
That is why Gaudapada says that: - The merciful Veda teaches karma and Upaasana to people of lower and middling intellect, while Jnana is taught to those of higher intellect.
Thus Goudapada suggest that the religious paths and worship of guru and conceptual god are lower and middling intellect. But in this modern world people are sharp enough to understand and assimilate ultimate truth or Brahman or god. Thus people who wants higher truth then it is high time to discard the lower knowledge and move ahead to realize the ultimate truth, which is Brahman or God.
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]
Therefore, if one is seeking truth he has to know his true self is not physical but it is the Atman, which is in the form of consciousness.
Isa Upanishads indicates that: By worshipping gods and goddesses and going to the world of gods after death is of no use. The time one spends in ritualistic practices is wasted; one can spend same time moving forward towards Self-knowledge, which is the main goal. One cannot reach the non-dual destination by glorifying god and goddesses and by doing that, one goes deeper and deeper into darkness. It surely indicates the fact that, the seeker of truth has to drop the worshiping god and goddess in order to get self-knowledge.
It also indicates that, Religious Rituals [Avidya] is Karma [action] and therefore a hindrance. By performing Agnihotra and other sacrifices [Avidya] is a roundabout way of purifying the mind, and it is also groping in the dark.
In addition, it indicates the karma is limited only to the religious rituals, not on the whole human life. This karma theory based on the human conduct must have been adopted from Buddhism and other theories based on human conducts.
When it says: Perform the obligatory karmas without any attachment to the fruits, and at the same time worship gods and goddesses, again without any desire to go to heaven - then you can get the benefit of both, liberation and bliss. For those who are not yet ready to renounce, this path is recommended, it mean that the religion and its idea of god and goddesses and code of conducts, and its rituals are meant for the mass who are incapable of thinking of the beyond.
In addition, it also speaks of heaven the abode of gods, where one goes after death, and it speaks of rebirth, this contradiction, seeker has to conclude that religion, rituals god and its code of conducts are meant for the mass that is not receptive to self-knowledge.
When the self is not the body [‘I’] whatever one sees, knows, believes, experiences and feels on the base of the body [‘I’] as self is bound to be illusion. Thus, the karma performed in illusion is bound to be illusion. The birth, life and death is happening within the illusion, therefore it is bound to be illusion. Thus, rebirth and reincarnation theories based on the false self within the false experience are bound to be illusion on the base of the true self. Only the witness of the illusion is real [Brahman]. Therefore, everything has to be viewed and judged, on the base of the Formless Witness [soul] in order to overcome the illusion/duality.
Seeker of truth has to know somewhere he is going wrong, and it is for the seeker to go on his own and remove the obstacle. The greatest hindrance is mixing religion, god, scriptures, and yogic theories. Moreover, attachment to scriptures, personal god and religious code of conduct keeps one permanently in the grip of duality.
Seeker has to have courage to accept the truth and reject the untruth. Most people will not be able to subscribe to path of truth because they sentimentally and emotionally involved with their inherited belief system and even if one does he has to overcome all his doubts confusion and despair. These are problem for the seekers who are from religious back ground because of their conditioning and they are made to accept their blind belief as truth and their interest or insight is not deep. Thus all my blogs are useful analyze these problems because they highlight the what is not truth according to their own religious scriptures and make them to accept the truth and reject all the false conditioning and move ahead in pursuit of truth.
It becomes difficult for the orthodox cult to accept anything else as truth other than their accepted belief, which they hold as truth. Although all religious followers are participants alike in the spiritual endeavor of the world, overzealous followers of each religion are not prepared to accord equal status to other faiths and assert the superiority of their own. Thus universal brother hood is total impossibility because it is difficult to accept anything other than their inherited belief system.
Most of the pundits are egoic and they try to snub others who question them. They think they are unquestionable authority. They quote the citation from the scriptures as proof without verifying the validity. All punditry is a great obstacle in realizing the Advaitic truth expounded by the Sri, Sankara and Goudapada.
The foreign disciple come to India to study scriptures and write great books to feed the seeking crowd but all this bookish knowledge of ornamental worlds can satisfy only the emotions and feeling. The truth is beyond emotions and feelings. The religious path is emotional path and it is for the worldly people. Considering the traditional path as path of truth is great mistake. There is no need to condemn the traditional paths but seekers of truth have to realize the fact that, they are not the means for Self-Realization. Thus it is necessary to realize the fact that, traditional path which are based on the scriptural authority cannot transport the seeker to their non-dual destination as declared by the Upanishads. Self-Realization cannot be bought in spiritual super market because truth cannot be patented as individual property because it is universal. Thus if one is seeking non-dual or Advaitic truth he need not go anywhere because it is within his mind and it is without his mind. Thus perfect understanding is necessary to assimilate and realize it.
Seeker of truth has to avoid getting involved with the guru or teaching if wants acquire Self-Knowledge because emotionally getting involved with guru or teaching becomes great hindrance and one will permanently remain in the prison of physicality or duality.
One finds lots of differences between traditional Adavitic preaching and practice. There is need to bifurcate religion, concept of god and scriptures from Adavitic philosophy to assimilate the essence of Adavita.
Sri, Sankara says in Brahma Sutras: that Brahman is the cause of the world, whereas in Mandukya he denies it. This is because he says that at the lower stage of understanding, the former teaching must be given, for people will get frightened as they cannot understand how the world can be without a cause, but to those in a higher stage, the truth of non-causality can be revealed.
Sri, Sankara himself has warned us not to use ambiguous words, and to practice semantic analysis in his book "Definition of one's own Self. [" Page 199, v.24 of "Sankara's Selected Works]
Sri, Sankara founded his Advaita Vedanta either on reason independent of sruti or on sruti confirmed by reason." Sri, Sankara's commentary on the Mandukya Upanishad, II, 1: This [the unreality of duality] is borne out by the Srutis ... But it is possible also to show the unreality of the object world even from pure reasoning, and this second chapter is undertaken for that purpose.
Sri, Sankara himself had often said that his philosophy was based on Sruti, or revealed scripture. This may be because Sri, Sankara addressed the ordinary man, who finds security in the idea of causality and thus in the idea of God—and Revelation is indispensable to prove the latter. He believed that those of superior intelligence, have no need of this idea of divine causality, and can therefore dispense with Sruti and arrive at the truth of Non-Dualism by pure reason.
Sri, Sankara, in debates with Buddhists and others who did not recognize the authority of the Vedas, had been obliged to prove the truth of Advaita by means of reason alone. Mandukya Upanishad, a scripture which appealed to reason to the exclusion of Revelation.
Nonduality does not need the support of any Scripture or Revelation like the Veda. For it is based, not upon the varying theological fancies, which are as numerous as the sands of the sea, but upon reason, the common heritage of all mankind, irrespective of colour or creed or clime.
Thus, self-knowledge is meant only for those who have intense urge, and courage to accept the truth with humility and reject the untruth. Since people start comparing with their scriptural knowledge, it becomes impossible to assimilate and realize the non-dual truth. Therefore, there is no need to convince anyone other than our own-selves to get the firm conviction.
I am not trying to prove my views, but it is for every seeker who is in the path of truth to prove himself to know “What is truth, “and “What is untruth?” to assimilate the self -knowledge.
When one is unable to quench his spiritual thirst from his guru or teaching he has to look elsewhere to clear the cobwebs of his understanding and to move forward in his spiritual quest.
It is difficult for tradition-bound people to accept anything as truth other than what they inherited from then parental grooming. Only intense urge to know the truth and courage to accept the truth after verification with better understanding one will be able to drop all his accumulated dross, which is the main obstacle in self-realization.
Religion needs a guru to propagate its belief system, whereas in pursuit of truth there is no need for a guru. The ultimate truth has to be ascertained by him alone. Yoga needs guru to guide its student to practice Samadhi.
Religion encourages one who can induce himself to feel convinced that he has realized the Self, or has an admirer who believes that he has done so, the it opens up for him the way for the founding of a new sect based on Guru-worship. People, too, have developed curious credulousness. Often they would install an earnest seeker and devotee, or a pious saint, on the throne of God and begin to offer him worship and homage even if he protested and resisted such acts. They would lay prostrate, sing hymns, wave lights (arati) and burn incense before him, and present to him food which was to be returned by him as prasdda, wash his toes and sip the wash. At times the disciple would go to the length of getting food, fruit or a betel-nut leaf chewed by him, and taking the morsel back from it.
They would place his photo in the private temples of their homes and perform all these rites and ceremonies which are usually offered to temple-idols. In this way there might be at present in our country scores of individuals who are worshipped as living God, with a following varying in numbers.
If one is seeking truth one has to drop religious baggage and move forward in their pursuit of truth.
When Chandogya Upanishads :-
This universe comes forth from Brahman and will return to Brahman. Verily, all is Brahman. A person is what his deep desire is. It is our deepest desire in this life that shapes the life to come. So let us direct our deepest desires to realize the Self.
If one is seeking truth then it is necessary to bifurcate and drop the traditional Advaitic path which is not the means to self-knowledge and move ahead without the traditional baggage to get direct realization on his own as suggest by the great sages.
Thus seeker of truth has to know what this universe is. What is this Brahman in order to realize the nondual or Advaitic truth?
