Saturday, November 5, 2011

The scriptures indicate that Atman is Brahman, and Brahman is ultimate truth



 Quotation may be quoted to show  as authoritative only after one have shown the reality and proved the truth, for then one can point out that the texts teach the same thing. If one quote them before having demonstrated truth, then it is scholasticism. 

Everyone is holding some teaching or teacher or their accepted truth as a yardstick. All that accumulated knowledge is of no use in pursuit of truth. 
 
That is why Buddha said:-     
                                                                                     
Do not believe a spiritual teaching just because:-

1. it is repeatedly recited,
2. it is written in a scripture,
3. it was handed from guru to disciple,
4. everyone around you believes it,
5. it has supernatural qualities,
6. it fits my beliefs anyway,
7. it sounds rational to me,
8. it is taught by a respectable person,
9. it was said to be the truth by the teacher,
10. one must defend it or fight for it.


However, only when it agrees with your experience and reason, and when it is conducive to the good and gain of oneself and all others, then one should accept the teachings, and live up to them."
....Buddha.
 
The seeker of truth is one who is ready verify and has courage to accept and reject the truth when he finds out what is truth and what is untruth. The meek will stick to their inherited conditioning remain experiencing duality as reality.

Doubts and confusion arise to one when he meets setbacks suffering and disappointment in life. Why have there been so many conflicting religions, or so many changes, divisions and subdivisions of religion, if it is true?

Doubts are absolutely necessary to make men inquire. Thus when man gets an internal pain he begins to question whether he has eaten something bad. Spirituality is the getting rid of all doubts. Spirituality begins with doubt, it mean doubting one’s self, one’s own beliefs. 

To quote religious and yogic masters to makes one their slaves. Seeker has to test one to test what they say for its truth as much as any one else. They are not to be used as authorities, therefore.  Those that want truth will not practice control of mind. That is Yoga for duffers. The seeker of truth will inquire and practice discrimination.

Truth can be attained not by intuition but by reason, which is superior to it. Not even a combination of intellect and intuition will find truth.  Proof is the first thing in Spirituality, "How do I know that one is God" spiritualists would ask Him, if He appeared. 
 
All the egocentric paths propagate that to be non-observant and to withdraw: keen powers of observation are desirable and will help, not hinder one’s pursuit of truth. Seeker should not do not run away from the world in ascetic fear or shyness of them. To simply accept the world to be Maya or illusion   without first verifying   and realizing   in what way the world is Maya or illusion, and inquiring into them thoroughly is to delude one own self.

Ramana Maharishi:-No. Do you need all that to see yourself? All that is intellectual wealth, useful in explain doubts and difficulties if others rise them or if you yourself encounter them in the course of thinking. But to attain realization, all that is not necessary. You want fresh water to drink, but you do not require all the water of the river Ganges to quench your thirst. [Page 111/112 of Practical guide to know yourself c/e by A.R.N].
This surely indicates Sri, Ramana Maharishi’s path is independent path nothing to with the religion and scriptures.
Even Upanishad say:
  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)

The scriptures indicate that Atman is Brahman, and Brahman is ultimate truth. Therefore the soul, which is in the form of consciousness, is ultimate truth.  Thus to realize the ultimate truth is the prime goal.   A well-directed inquiry, analysis and reasoning will lead one to his non-dual destination. 
Self-Realization is direct realization of the ultimate truth or real god, in contrast with traditional paths, which are indirect. And the other paths cannot lead to the ultimate destination because they are based on the false self, which they hold as real self and false experience as reality. 
Until and unless one overcomes physical shackle it is impossible to understand and assimilate the non-dual 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.

Gaudapada quotes from the Upanishads: "There's no plurality here"; "The Lord [Atman] through his powers appears to be many"; "those who are attached to creation or production or origination go to utter darkness"; "the unborn is never reborn, for who can produce him [Atman]?”
It is only who base on ‘I’ or ‘I AM’ as self, argue and quarrel amongst themselves. The people who are fully aware of the fact that, the form, time and space are mere mirage created out of consciousness have no reason to quarrel, because for them everything is consciousness and no second thing exist other than consciousness.
This world is common to every living creature; therefore one must begin his inquiry with the world that confronts him. . It is only after one has inquired into the nature of the objective world, that he should inquire into who is the knower or witness. If, however one inquires into the knower before the inquiry into the universe, then it is mere mysticism. What is the world? must precede Who  is  this ego  or physical entity ? in in pursuit of truth.

In olden times, religious and Yogic and mystic discipline, which were not an end in itself, considered to be a means for Self-Realization or truth realization. But such discipline is almost impossible task for the modern man to adopt. Day by day modern man is becoming aware of the fact that, religion and yoga are nothing to do with pursuit of truth.

 The religious truth is individual truth. Every religion has its own idea of god, heaven, hell paradise, sin karma, code of conducts thus they are not universal truth. Religion is based on the false self and false experience thus religious truth cannot be accepted as ultimate truth or Brahman. Thus religious oriented Self-Realization is not the means to acquire Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.  The religion is the greatest obstacle in the path of wisdom or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

The modern mindset is pre-eminently scientific owing to the great progress that science has made. And the best method of freeing the mind from its inaccurate ways of thinking is to imbue it as fully as possible with the scientific spirit. It is therefore only one who possesses a clear knowledge of its methods and results i.e., who is able to make reason the highest means of enquiry that would be fit for Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Vedanta itself admits its highest Truth that is, Atman or Brahman cannot be reached by any path other than that of reason and unless the reason is sharper than the ‘Edge of a razor'.

That is why Sri Sankara, in Bhaja Govindam says: - [Jnana Viheena Sarva Mathena Bajathi na Muktim janma Shatena] - one without knowledge does not obtain liberation even in a hundred births, no matter which religious faith he follows.

Thus it proves that wisdom is universal irrespective of any religion of faith one belongs.  Thus religion is not the means to self-knowledge.  Thus Sri, Sankara’s Advaita minus orthodoxy is true Advaita.

Soul-centric Reason  is the highest means of attaining Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.  Religion, theology, mystic practice and yoga are not the means to acquire Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.  Absence of reason is absence of wisdom.




Yoga and religion are only for beginners; for the more advanced there is reason.  Yoga kills the ability to know intelligently, so that when one believe or are told by Guru that one has seen Atman, there is no means of his understanding whether this is so. This is because Yoga suppresses thinking.

Ultimate truth will interest only few people; the rest will say "they have a religion, why do they have to bother about wisdom?" Religion is that teaching which pleases minds which lack vigor. 

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

When religionists say that God has sent him his needs through human instruments, how does he know? It is only his imagination.

What is meant by sacred? Cow-dung is treated as sacred in India, but despised by rest of the world where therefore there is a standard of sacredness. Everyone thinks what is sacred according to his own standpoint.

How can the atheist prove the god does not exist, unless one is a fool, he will never be an atheist.  Each sect concocts a God to suit its own purposes:  F.S does not value for such concocted Gods.

Yoga belief is a self-mesmeric condition out of which it is extremely difficult to escape. Man himself suggests that there must be a God. It is an auto-suggestion.

Prayers and sacrifices belong to a premature stage of development.  As Time passes when no answers come to prayers, then priests say that the answers come in the next world.  As Time passes again Struggle for existence presses man, and doubt arises again.  Faith in religion weakens as man pays more attention to facts of life and this world. 

The scriptures have been passed down by hearing from one generation to the next. They were written down only relatively late. So, no one would know whether to rely on the times they give. Also, a lot depends on the translation. Each 'Shloka' (sanskrit verse) is open to many layers of interpretation.

Reason is the common ground for everyone  in modern times, whereas the appeal to scriptural relations reaches only groups. F.S says one day the world would throw up scriptures, hence they provided for the appeal to reason and met the objections of skeptics in their literature, no less than those of religious believers.

Those who argue that truth is only in their religion are vain logicians, depending on mere ideas, imaginations.  first one has to prove his standpoint true before it can accept the criticism or objection made from it.

If God is everywhere, then he is in dead bodies. Why then do one burn or bury one’s God? One can't get rid of him.  Seeker of truth need avoid the subject to remove doubts, as the yogis and mystics do: seeker ought to wrestle with them until he conquer.

To say that God exists always implies one must also exist always to say he exists. Without a man his experience of the world and belief of god cease to exist.

Intuitions exist. But although they flash into the mind without any process of thought to mark the intervening stages; still they are ideas, mental phenomena in their full nature. They must project themselves into the mind as ideas.  Thus the intuition is part of the illusion not wisdom.

Yogic and mystic experiences are imaginations projected outwards as the dreamer projects his dream visions.


Intuitions exist. But although they flash into the mind without any process of thought to mark the intervening stages; still they are ideas, mental phenomena in their full nature. They must project themselves into the mind as ideas.  Thus the intuition is part of the illusion not wisdom.

Yogic and mystic experiences are imaginations projected outwards as the dreamer projects his dream visions.