Monday, November 14, 2011

The seeker of truth has to drop all the inferior knowledge based on the attributes and go beyond Vedas to understand assimilate and realize the ultimate truth or Brahman.



Sruti is made the final or exclusive authority in apara Vidya and that for supporting the tenet of the CAUSAL relation or creatorship of Brahman, Nirguna Brahman = the "Absolute beyond qualities," which can be defined only in a negative way. For the Shankarian school = the Ultimate Reality, higher than the Lord. i.e. of Saguna or apara Brahman ... The support of Scriptural Revelation is, therefore, absolutely necessary for this hypothesis of cosmology, this Saguna or apara (= inferior) Brahman, but not for the absolute truth of Nirguna Brahman.  The Sruti itself says: "This Atma is NOT to be attained by a study of the Vedas(Katha Upanishad I, 2, 23.)

Therefore, all the add-ons and attribute based knowledge, which are inferior, have to be bifurcated and excluded to know the ultimate truth.  The seeker of truth has to drop all the inferior knowledge based on the attributes and go beyond Vedas to understand assimilate and realize the ultimate truth or Brahman. 

One has to go beyond Vedas means go beyond religion. Go beyond religion means, go beyond concept of god.  Thus, going beyond Veda, religion and conceptual god means going beyond illusion.   That is end of Vedas (Veda –antha)

When one goes into the annals of the history it looks like the true Advaita expounded by Sage  Sri Sankara and his param guru, Goudpada was lost or mutilated by the orthodox, because the preaching and practice does not match.

It is necessary for the seeker to do his homework, and verify the validity of all the claims, rather than blindly believe, what others expound as knowledge, till, the un-contradicted truth is obtained.

The seeker must have the courage of Buddha to accept the truth and reject the untruth. Since Buddha rejected religion, idea of god and scriptures, therefore, it is evident that, he has gone through every aspect and verified and found them to be inadequate and useless for the pursuit of truth.

Even Buddhism is mixed up with regional culture and traditions of the local religion, wherever it existed. Thus to get the full essence from Buddhism is very difficult.

The scriptures are for ignorant masses, who wholly accept the material world as it presents itself. Wisdom is for those who have begun to realize that things are not what they seem.

Each sect concocts a God to suit its own purposes.  Such concocted Gods have no value in pursuit of truth.  Man himself suggests that there must be a God. It is an auto-suggestion.

But as one goes deeper in self-search one becomes aware of the fact that, Vedas including Upanishads considered being supremely authoritative, as revealed truth.  But Upanishads clearly declares that:-

Katha Upanishad delares: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 page70upanhsds by Nikilananda)

It means the truth is beyond scriptures and egocentric intelligence.  Thus in order to grasp, assimilate and realize the non-dualistic truth the seeker to employ soul-centric reasoning faculty.  

That is why Sri, Sankara says in commentary in Vedanta sutra that what is accepted without proper inquiry will not lead a person to the final goal. On the contrary, such acceptance will result only in evil, in something which is detrimental to our spiritual progress.   Seeker of truth should not believe blindly in traditional orthodox non-duality without verifying all the facts from every angle. One has to reflect through reasoning over and over again without getting tired of the process. 

That is why  Sage Sri, Sankara indicated  in VivekaChudamani   :- 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.

There is nothing more rational, more intelligible and more un-dogmatic insights of  Sage Sri, Sankara, is to drop all the theistic non-duality or Advaita which is meant for those who are incapable and not receptive to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman.

If one merely theorises, tries to understand through his intellect and there contended he cannot become a Gnani but he becomes a scholar or pundit.   Seeker of truth must make what he has understood and assimilated has to be  realized, to get firm conviction of the non- dualistic truth or ultimate truth or Brahman,   than only it is possible for him to transcend all the limitations of the experience of form, time and space.    

The existence beyond limitations of form, time and space is known as Moksha or Nirvana. Spiritual freedom or self-realization is the goal of every seeker of truth.