Essence of scriptures: - Dehum- Nahum-Kohum –Sohum – which indicates the body is not the self – the self is that. Which clearly indicates the self is without the body. Therefore, the self is the formless knower of the body and the world. Without the body and the world, the self is free from birth life and death. Therefore, karma theory, which is based on the idea of birth, life, death and rebirth, is a mere religious fable
Karma is universal principle only on
the base of false self (waking entity or ego), within the illusion. The cause and effect is
reality, only on the base of false self.
The fact is Atman or the soul is the true self, which is in the form of
consciousness and Atman or soul is uncaused.
Buddhism says, there is nothing - nonentity. Advaita says there is some
reality, even though things are not what they appear to be.
When the self is neither the waking entity nor the dream entity but the self is the formless seer of the three states and is apart. Thus the karma done is the dream becomes unreal when waking takes place so its effect also is unreal. Similarly, the waking experience also becomes unreal after self - Realization, then how the karma theory, which is based on false self within the false experience, will affect anyone. When the true self is birthless and deathless then the question of rebirth does not arise.
Brahman is considered the all-pervading consciousness,
which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material. (brahmano hi pratisthaham,
Bhagavad Gita 14.27)
Atman is Brahman:- the self is
Atman ,which is in the form of consciousness is ultimate reality or Brahman. Thus on the base of formless self or
consciousness the Karma theory is mere illusory theory created within the false
experience on the base of the false entity.
Thus karma which is done within false experience with false identity is
bound to be falsehood. Thus the karma theory is mere imagined theory created by
the sages in the past for the general mass who are unable to think beyond
physicality to judge their own action to indulge in good karma, which in turn
helps the society in live in peace and harmony.
Desire of getting good life and benefits in next world and next life
people indulge in doing good deeds and by fear of going to hell and bad life in
next life and next world they avoid indulging in bad deeds in this practical
world.
Karma,
Bhakti, Raj yoga are not the means to path of wisdom. And mixing them up and
trying to assimilate ultimate truth is impossibility.
There is no need to practice to devotion, karma and
raja yoga because they are not the means to acquire non-dual
wisdom. There is no practice as such but perfect understanding is
needed. Deeper inquiry, analysis and reasoning revels the fact
that, the self is not physical but the self is formless consciousness. Therefore,
all the accumulated knowledge, experiences and understanding based on physical
self (ego or waking entity as Self) are falsehood based on the false self, within the
false experience (waking). Thus, whatever is based on the waking
entity is bound to be falsehood because waking experience itself is false
hood. Since many teachers and teachings are based on the false self (ego or waking entity as Self) and they consider the false experience (three states) as
reality, they are incapable of grasping the witness, which is within the three states,
but it is without the three states.
As per the scriptures the three "Ashrams" or
stages in life were originally intended for three grades of intelligence thus:-
Religion:
low intellects had to do 'karmas' works, ritual actions, chanting of mantras
and indulging in bajans and prayers etc.
Middle
intellects: Yoga: taking yellow robes,
going to caves, ashrams etc.
High
intellects: Philosophy: who wanted truth are concerned with no external rites
or sanyas but depend solely on intelligent inquiry for their path.
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.
This clearly indicates that religion, which is based on
individual conduct, prescribes karma and Upaasana to people of lower and
middling intellect, therefore religion is for the lower intellect. And wisdom
is for those are capable of inquiring into their own existence to know and
realize the ultimate truth, which is Brahman.
As indicated in ISH Upanishads: - By worshiping 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.
It clearly indicates that:-If the human goal is to acquire
Self-Knowledge then why one has to indulge in rituals and glorifying the
conceptual gods, goddesses and gurus[which is karma] to go in to deeper darkness. Instead spend that time moving forward towards
Self-knowledge, which is one’s prime goal.
Since it is eternal and infinite, it comprises the only
truth. The goal of Vedic religion, through the various yogas, is to realize
that the consciousness (Atman) is actually nothing but Brahman.
If one knows the ultimate truth, then
he will know there is neither cause nor effect. Non-dual Wisdom is to know, what is it, that
is real, and base the reasoning on that real.
When reasoning is done on true base,
then one has the yardstick to know what is truth, and what is untruth, and he
will be able to reject the unreal or untruth mentally. Therefore, one has to make sure whether the
true self is body/ego/I, or the true self is soul/Atman, which is in the form
of consciousness.
If one accepts the self as body, then the
karma becomes universal principal. If one accepts the soul/consciousness as
self, then the physical body, ego, world and whatever one has seen known and
believed and experienced as a person becomes unreal[mirage] on the standpoint
of the soul as self.
By accepting karma theory, one is accepting
the unreal as real, and permanently remains in the clutches of duality thinking
the cycle of birth, life and death as reality.
Therefore, to overcome the illusory cycle of birth, life and death, one
has to know the fact that, the body/ego /I is not the self, but the formless
soul is the true self. Thus the self is within the mind [universe] but it is
without the mind [universe]. Thus the self is within the ‘I’ but it is
without the ‘I’.
Thus karma theory is a hindrance in
the path of truth because one accepts the false self as real self and false
experience as real experience and he thinks all his action will yield fruits.
Thus he will remain permanently in the realm of unreality or ignorance. Without getting rid of ignorance truth
realization or Self-realization is impossibility.
When the self is genderless then it is impossible to get
enlightenment through sexual intercourse or tantric sex. It is impossible to get freedom by taking
sanyasa or renouncing the worldly life which is mere body based theories. When
the self is not physical then what value is there to take sanyasa or renouncing
the worldly life? One has to renounce the ignorance, which is the cause of
experiencing the illusion [body+ universe] as reality.
If one thinks non-dual truth is the ultimate truth, then one
has to drop all theories based on the physical body [I] as self, because non-dual truth is based on the consciousness [soul], which is the true
self.
By accepting karma theory one is accepting the false self, as real self, and
world as reality, therefore there is no need for Self-inquiry “Who am ‘I’ “,
because one has accepted the present
physical identity and world as reality.
Self-inquiry makes one realize the fact that self is not the body. After
knowing the fact that self is not the body, then it is erroneous to think again
as the body as self, and holding the body based theories as reality. Thus karma theory becomes a biggest obstacle
in the path of inquiry and truth, because it does not allow the seeker to cross
the threshold of duality.
The physical body and
the world which exist only in waking/dream/duality are impermanent and illusory
in nature, because they appear and disappear as mind. The soul which is the
formless substance and witness of the duality is permanent. Therefore, whatever
is seen known and believed and experienced as real within the waking also is as
real as dream.
Sage Sri Sankara declares in
Aparokshanubhuti:-
88. When the whole
universe, movable and immovable, is known to be Atman, and thus the existence
of everything else is negated, where is then any room to say that the body is
Atman?
89. O enlightened
one; pass your time always contemplating on Atman while you are experiencing
all the results of Prarabdha; for it ill becomes you to feel distressed.
90. The theory one hears of from the scripture, that
Prarabdha does not lose its hold upon one even after the origination of the
knowledge of Atman, is now being refuted.
91. After the origination of the knowledge of Reality,
Prarabdha verily ceases to exist, inasmuch as the body and the like become
non-existent; just as a dream does not exist on waking.
92. That Karma which is done in a previous life is known as
Prarabdha (which produces the present life). But such Karma cannot take the
place of Prarabdha (for a man of knowledge), as he has no other birth (being
free from ego).
93. Just as the body in a dream is superimposed (and
therefore illusory), so is also this body. How could there be any birth of the
superimposed (body), and in the absence of birth (of the body) where is the
room for that (i.e., Prarabdha) at all?
94. The Vedanta texts declare ignorance to be verily the
material (cause) of the phenomenal world just as earth is of a jar. That
(ignorance) being destroyed, where can the universe subsist?
95. Just as a person
out of confusion perceives only the snake leaving aside the rope, so does an
ignorant person see only the phenomenal world without knowing the reality?
96. The real
nature of the rope being known, the appearance of the snake no longer persists;
so the substratum being known, the phenomenal world disappears completely.
97. The body
also being within the phenomenal world (and therefore unreal), how could
Prarabdha exist? It is, therefore, for the understanding of the ignorant alone
that the Shruti speaks of Prarabdha.
98. “And all the
actions of a man perish when he realizes that (Atman) which is both the higher
and the lower”. Here the clear use of the plural by the Shruti is to negate
Prarabdha as well.
99. If the
ignorant still arbitrarily maintain this, they will not only involve themselves
into two absurdities but will also run the risk of forgoing the Vedantic
conclusion. So one should accept those Shrutis alone from which proceeds true
knowledge.
The above proves that the Karma theory is reality only on the base
of false self, where one thinks body and the universe as reality. When one
becomes aware of the fact that, the true self is formless soul, then the karma
becomes part and parcel of illusion. My
point is that, if one accepts the karma theory as reality, he will never be
able to come out of the ignorance. And ignorance makes him believe the cycle of
birth, life and death as reality. Thus
the freedom which one is seeking will remain distant dream. For the one who
accepts the birth life and death as reality, Self-knowledge is impossible.
Thus it is necessary for the seeker of truth to know the
fact that, the body which is born, lives and dies is not the self. Since he is
taking the body to be the self, he is experiencing the duality as reality.
As Sage Sri, Sankara says:- When the whole
universe, movable and immovable, is known to be Atman, and thus the existence
of everything else is negated, where is then any room to say that the body is
Atman.
If body is not the Atman/self, then the karma theory has no meaning on the standpoint of the
truth. Thus no second thing exists other than Atman, therefore why to view the
worldview on the standpoint of the body as self (ego or waking entity) when the body(ego or waking entity) is the
false self, and the soul or Atman is the true self.
If body is not the
self, then the birth, life, death and the universe are bound to be
illusion. If birth, life and death are
illusion then all conducts actions and their fruits are mere illusion. If body
is not the self, then the existence of god, heaven and hell is mere
illusion. If body is not the self then
all religious beliefs of god is mere illusion.
If body is not the self but the Atman (soul) which is in the form of
consciousness is the true self, then there is no scope for second thing other
than consciousness, therefore
consciousness, which is Atman is Brahman or ultimate truth. The Brahman alone is real and eternal. Thus whatever is real eternal has to be
identified as god. To identify the real and eternal, one has to overcome the
ignorance caused by the illusion. To overcome the ignorance one has to acquire
the Self-Knowledge.
