The Vedas are the only scriptures in the world which declare:-
It is impossible to find and realize the truth via religion and scriptural study. Even Upanishads conform this.
Katha Upanishad:
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]
When the Upanishad says: the human goal is to acquire Self-Knowledge and they indicate the personal gods, scriptures, worship and rituals are not the means to Self –Knowledge, then why anyone should indulge in it. The religion, concept of individualized god and scriptures are greatest obstacle to realize non-dual truth or self-realization, because they are based on false self. The seeker of truth has to search the ultimate truth without losing himself in the labyrinths of philosophy, through deeper, inquiry, analysis and reasoning and assimilate and realize it.
Many people follow both Bhakti as well as Gnana. Adavitic sages in the past composed numerous hymns for various Gods and Godesses by mixing both dual and nondualistic ideas.
Many sages used to illustruate, the formless (Nirakar God) ocean water under the cold currents of bhakti freezes take a shape as ice (Saakar God). The same ice (Saakar God) under the heat of Gyan dissolves and again becomes the formless ocean (Niraakar God).
All the Adavitins believe in god and goddesses [vidya] and performing rituals and other sacrifices[Avidya] both are hindrance to self-knowledge according to Ish Upanishads, then why the seeker of truth needs worshiping of god and goddesses, when essence of Adavita is Atman is Brahman [soul or self as ultimate reality]. When the self is formless there is no need pada pooja [feet worship] Adavitin 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 Advitic 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.
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 nondual 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 is 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.
For the same reason Raman Maharshi said: fortunate are the one who do not lose themselves in the labyrinths of philosophy. Bhagwan says: Take Vedanta, for instance: it speaks of 15 pranas the names and functions of it which the student is asked to commit memory. Will it not be sufficient if he thought, only one prana does the whole work of maintaining the body? Again the antakaran is said to think, to desire, to will, to reason etc. Why all these details? Has anyone seen antakarana, or all these pranas? Do they really exist? They are conceptual divisions invented by teachers of philosophy by their excessive analysis. Where do all these concepts end? Why should confusion created and then explained away? Fortunate is the man who does not lose him self in the labyrinths of philosophy, but goes straight to the source from which they all arise. (GURU RAMANA .By S.S Cohen -vii Danger of philosophy-Page -58-59)
The most valuable contribution of Sri, Sankar is that he gained general consciousness on the issue that the authoritative explanation of Upanishads, Geeta and Brhma Sutra was the final say in matter of religion. Anything that goes contrary to the trio is not authentic. He also made a clear distinction between Vedas and Upanishads in his commentary on Gita. He stated that the Karma Kand of the Vedas deal with the injunctions relating to the performance of duties and actions. These are for ordinary householders.
The path of religion, path of yoga and the path of wisdom were intended for different classes of people. The wisdom is for the advanced seekers of truth. It deals with the nature of the ultimate Truth and Reality. It is meant for superior aspirants who have inner urge to know the truth and it is not for those who are immersed in earthly desires.
Sri Sankara’s whole teaching can be summed up into one sentence, ‘There is nothing else but Brhma. He says that the Absolute Existence, Absolute Knowledge and Absolute Bliss is Real. The universe is not real. He says that Brahma and Atmana are one. The ultimate and the Absolute Truth is the Self, which is one though appearing as many in different individuals. The individual has no reality. Only the Self is real; the rest, mental and physical are but passing appearances.
In fact Sri, Sankar states a paradox- the world is and is not. It is neither real nor unreal. It leads us to recognize the existence of Maya. He thinks that the world is illusory from one perspective and from the second it is nothing but Brhma, Itself in manifestation. This apparent world is Maya and has its basis in Brahman, the Eternal. It looks as real. It has names and forms and actually, it is not real In the light of true knowledge, it disappears and Self-alone shines as real. However Sri, Sankara’s Mayavad has not been accepted by many preachers and philosophers.
When Sri, Sankara says clearly, the universe is not real. He says that Brahman and Atman are one. The ultimate and the Absolute Truth is the Self, which is one though appearing as many in different individuals. The individual has no reality. Only the Self is Real; the rest, mental and physical are but passing appearances, then it indicates the form [waking/duality/mind] is unreal the formless is real [soul/spirit/self/FW]. Therefore, only Atman is real because there is no second thing other than Atman.
He also clearly mentions that:
The path of religion, path of yoga and the path of wisdom were intended for different classes of people. The wisdom is for the advanced seekers of truth. It deals with the nature of the ultimate Truth and Reality. It is meant for superior aspirants who have inner urge to know the truth and it is not for those who are immersed in earthly desires.
The scientists now concluded that you are not the brain [body]. Consciousness requires the joint operation of brain, body and world. "You are not your brain. The brain, rather, is part of what you are."
The Biology of Consciousness
by Alva Noë. Hill and Wang, 2009
Alva Noe, a University of California, Berkeley, philosopher and cognitive scientist, argues that after decades of concerted effort on the part of neuroscientists, psychologists and philosophers "only one proposition about how the brain makes us conscious ... has emerged unchallenged: we don't have a clue." The reason we have been unable to explain the neural basis of consciousness, he says, is that it does not take place in the brain. Consciousness is not something that happens inside us but something we achieve it is more like dancing than it is like the digestive process. To understand consciousness the fact that we think and feel and that a world shows up for us we need to look at a larger system of which the brain is only one element. Consciousness requires the joint operation of brain, body and world. "You are not your brain. The brain, rather, is part of what you are."
Thus, science is going in the right direction in its invention and one day it will declare that everything is consciousness, which Sri, Sankara declared 1200 years back –everything is Atman- because Atman is in the form of consciousness.
Thus we have to know the fact that Buddha, Goudpada and Sri,Sankara are not only reformers but also the greatest scientists. Since there original thesis have been lost in the labyrinths of philosophy and mutilated by pundits and priest craft, it becomes very difficult understand and assimilate the wisdom expounded by the great masters. In addition, the conservativeness of the orthodox scholars will not allow any research other than playing with the words, which suits the mass mind sets, because of their egocentric outlook.
All the add-ons have to be deleted, in order to understand and assimilate the real fragrance of the wisdom expounded by the great masters of Advith, but it is hurricane task. Thus, it is no use going through all the scriptures, when there is direct path to non-dual truth. The same time and effort can be used to reach the non-dual destination, in lesser time and effort.
Yajurved says: not to worship the things which are part of the falsehood.
Translation 1.
They enter darkness, those who worship natural things (for example air, water, sun, moon, animals, fire, stone, etc).
They sink deeper in darkness those who worship sambhuti. (Sambhuti means created things, for example table, chair, idol etc.)
[Yajurved 40:9]
Translation 2.
"Deep into shade of blinding gloom fall asambhuti's worshippers. They sink to darkness deeper yet who on sambhuti are intent."
[Yajurveda Samhita by Ralph T. H. Giffith pg 538]
Translation 3.
"They are enveloped in darkness, in other words, are steeped in ignorance and sunk in the greatest depths of misery who worship the uncreated, eternal prakrti -- the material cause of the world -- in place of the All-pervading God, But those who worship visible things born of the prakrti, such as the earth, trees, bodies (human and the like) in place of God are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time."
[Yajur Veda 40:9.]
So, Yajur Veda indicates that:-
They sink deeper in darkness those who worship sambhuti. (Sambhuti means created things, for example table, chair, idol etc [Yajurved 40:9]
Those who worship visible things born of the prakrti, such as the earth, trees, bodies (human and the like) in place of God are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time." [Yajur Veda 40:9.]
The religion of the Veda knows no idols
Max Müller says:- "The religion of the Veda knows no idols; the worship of idols in India is a secondary formation, a degradation of the more primitive worship of ideal gods."
Therefore, there was no individual god or temples and worships in Vedic religion, which existed prior to Buddhism. Thus the individualized gods and temples must have been built later on, when the worships of idol were introduced. Thus the Vedic religion which existed in the past was free from idol and nature worship and idol worshiping rituals.
Thus, the present day’s worship of individual gods, created things, nature and human are against Vedic teachings, and it looks like it has been fabricated and introduced by priest craft. Since it, has passed on from one generation to the next it is hard for the people to believe the truth of their own religion, because they have sentimentally and emotionally involved in it and they refuse to accept anything else other than their inherited beliefs.
The Vedas are the only scriptures in the world which declare:-
It is impossible to find and realize the truth via religion and scriptural study. Even Upanishads conform this.
Just because we can't see the soul it doesn’t mean it doesn't exist, although this is a common way in which people deny the existence of the soul, which is in the form of consciousness. People think the soul does not exist because their master say so or some teaching say so or some scriptures say so. First they must know the fact that, the soul is not individual but it is universal it pervades the whole universe as its formless substance.
However, one can attest to the fact that, it does exist, because the whole physical existence is dependent on it. Even though one can't see it but he cannot exist without it. Without it nothing can exists and nothing can be known or seen or experienced. Until one thinks his body or ego as self, he will remain ignorant of the soul, which is in the form of consciousness. Thus he is remains unaware of the consciousness because he is in duality. He identifies the self with the physical body and becomes ignorant of the soul and experiences the duality as reality.
Man remains as the part of the objective world and tries to discover the ultimate truth not realizing the fact that, he and his experience of the universe is an object to the formless subject. He applies it to things seen as an individual. This is because he is ignorant of the relation between the formless subject [soul] and the object [mind or universe]. He judges everything on the base of the object as subject and trying to know and realize the ultimate truth on the base of objectified subject. Whatever objects are known by the ego, are objects within the object [universe].
Thoughts are also objects because it is the part of the objective universe. The thoughts will not rise without the form, which is an object. Whether the objects are there or not, consciousness will always be there, even in deep sleep.
Psychologists say that if the object is not there to draw ones attention, then there is no consciousness. The latter, therefore insist on consciousness being a relation between one who is aware and an object of which he is aware. It is obvious that we differ in the meaning of the term consciousness.
Ultimate truth means the knowledge of the non-relation, and relation whereas psychology as well as in religious or pseudo-Vedanta Consciousness is only Witnessing.
Psychologists have analyzed much as far as subject-object relation i.e. mind plus object equals consciousness and then stopped. But they have to analyze still further in the direction of noting that all objects are constantly changing, illusion, which implies that there is a constant standard of reference, something that notes the changes because it keeps unchanged itself. That something is Consciousness.
The idea of change presupposes existence of something unchanging, how does one distinguish this change from changelessness? By what means do one has to know that change has occurred? There is, there must be a changeless knower of the ever-changing; whilst all changes the consciousness remains unchanged.
Thoughts are arising within the mirage and pass away every moment. Every object is an idea within the mirage. Hence every object has no more value than that of a thought because both are part of the mirage.
The moment is time. The time creates division in consciousness, which is the true self. The past, present and future exists within the myth and so also this and that.
Therefore Self-Realization is necessary to know what truth is and what is untruth.
The mind cannot be described as both real and unreal, because these two contradictory qualities cannot exist in the same substance. It must therefore be said that the mind is neither real nor unreal because it is mere mirage.
Mind is myth because it is mere mirage. ‘Universe appears to exist as real because of our ignorance of consciousness. Thus the mind, which is in the form of universe, is reality on the base of the physical self, which perceives the world as a person, within the mind.
Man and universe exist as real because of ignorance of consciousness, which is the true self. This ignorance not only covers consciousness, but it projects the universe as a reality. The universe has no reality apart from consciousness. When the knowledge of consciousness arises, the universe is seen as a mere appearance of consciousness.
Another illustration may be taken to explain this. Ornaments of different sizes and shapes are made out of one metal. Their appearance and the use for which they are meant vary, but the fact that they are all really only metal, in spite of the different appearances and uses, cannot be denied. The appearance may change, a bangle may be converted into rings, but the metal always remains as metal. Similarly, on the dawn of the knowledge of the true Self which is consciousness, though the different forms of shapes of beings, creatures, animals and things , etc., continue to be seen by the Gnani, he sees them all only as appearances of the Consciousness. Thus the perception of difference and the consequences of such perception, such as looking upon some as favourable and others as the opposite, and the consequent efforts to retain or get what is favourable and to get rid of or avoid what is not favourable, come to an end.
This is the state of freedom even in the midst of waking experience, which is freedom from experiencing duality as reality. Similarly, bondage has no real existence at all. Even when we are ignorant of consciousness and think of ourselves as limited by the body, we are really none but the infinite consciousness. Freedom is thus only the removal of the wrong identification with the body, and the world. The attainment of the state of freedom from ignorance is the goal of seeker of truth.
Ignorance or illusion is what conceals consciousness and projects the universe. It is because of this that everyone identifies himself with physical self or waking or dream and is ignorant of the truth that “self” is none other than consciousness. Illusion may be looked upon from few different standpoints.
For the ordinary worldly individual who looks upon the world as real, illusion which is the cause of the appearance of the universe is real.
For the enlightened person the self is consciousness. It is possible to discriminate between truth and untruth, if the reasoning base is rectified from waking or dream [form] to soul [formless], for the easy understanding, assimilation and realization.
Consciousness’ means ultimate truth, and ‘Mind’ stands for the universe or illusion. The purpose of pursuit of truth is the destruction of primal ignorance, which leads to the attainment of the ultimate truth. Man and universe exits within the waking or dream. Waking has waking entity and waking universe. Similarly the dream has dream entity and dream universe. And deep in sleep has neither the waking entity nor waking universe nor dream entity nor dream universe.
The freedom arises even in the midst of waking experience, which is freedom from experiencing duality as reality.
Similarly, bondage has no real existence at all. Even when we are ignorant of consciousness and think of ourselves as limited by the body, we are really none but the infinite consciousness. Freedom is thus only the removal of the wrong identification with the body, and the world. The attainment of the state of freedom from ignorance is the goal of seeker of truth. Ignorance or illusion is what conceals consciousness and projects the universe. It is because of this that everyone identifies himself with physical self or waking or dream and is ignorant of the truth that “self” is none other than consciousness. Illusion may be looked upon from few different standpoints.
For the ordinary worldly individual who looks upon the world as real, illusion which is the cause of the appearance of the universe is real.
For the enlightened person the self is consciousness. It is possible to discriminate between truth and untruth, if the reasoning base is rectified from waking or dream [form] to soul [formless], for the easy understanding, assimilation and realization.
The breath, the body, the name, all the forms and shapes the universe, “It’s all the same like branches of a tree just as one goes deeper and deeper one becomes aware of the fact that the self is consciousness and diversity is mere mirage. The one who realizes the consciousness is the true self he shall be free from experiencing the mirage as reality.
One has lost himself in the game of form, time and space. When one is able to lift the veil of form, time and space mentally the truth will shine as non-dual existence.
Self-Knowledge is nothing but just dissolution of the mind into consciousness. One has to go beyond, emotions, sensations and thoughts and feelings by perfect understand it can be achieved.
One should not get stuck with accumulated knowledge but to flow towards non-dual reality, which is ultimate truth. Non dual Silence which is not loneliness…
Inquiry, analysis and reasoning is the path, process as well as the goal. So the inner journey reaches towards the nondual destination to become one with the “WHOLE”
Consciousness, which is the Self, is the only reality. 'Reality' is defined as that which does not undergo any change at any time. Consciousness, which is absolutely changeless and eternal, is alone real.
The mind, which is in the form of universe, keeps on changing all the time and so it cannot be considered as real. People cannot dismiss it as unreal, because they are unaware of the fact that, their existence is dependent on something unknown to them.
The mirage is being mistaken for real. The mirage so seen produces the effect of reality. Thus universe seen is in the form of mirage therefore its reality is limited to the mirage alone. On verification through deeper inquiry, analysis and reasoning it is found that the universe or mind never existed and that the consciousness alone was there all the time.
