The ego is the false self within the false experience. The ego is product of ignorance. The ignorance is cause of experiencing duality as reality. Without the ego one cannot perceive the world as a person because the person itself is ego. People mistake the ego will vanish by being humble loving to others but one cannot be humble and loving without the ego. Ego is cause of ignorance, mistakes and misunderstanding miscalculations.
Every man thinks "he knows the truth because he has read it in the books and he has heard it from his guru. But he himself is unaware of the fact that he and his experience of the world cease to exist in the realm of truth. Thus whatever he has seen, known, believed and experienced as a person within the waking experience is bound to be false hood because the waking experience itself is mere illusion.
People say they know the ultimate truth because they have experienced it. How can anyone experience the truth when there is neither the body nor the world in the realm of truth? But still they claim they have experienced it." They never try to doubt or to understand, or to inquire as to what is a fact, or what is the definition of experience. The unwise takes the simplest path, that of the uninquiring mind, because the other way, the search for truth, is hard and difficult and laborious. Such questions do not worry the religionists, the yogis or the ordinary people.
I also get visions and experiences. But experience implies duality. Duality is not reality because the substance of the duality is formless and non-dual. Thus any type of experience is mere illusion from ultimate standpoint. Many times we get guidance from such visions and experiences, which are helpful to reach the non-dual destination.
People cultivated slavish mentality, and they accept statements as merely because they are uttered by some guru or swami or God men. They never bothered to inquire the truth of their true existence.
That is why Buddha said:~ Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true.
Upanishad's say:- "He who thinks he knows, does not know." This means that to know anything implies a second, an object of knowledge, hence duality, i.e. no Gnana.
In olden times people simply sought some knowledge of the sun and stars; in modern era, people are sharp enough to investigate whatever they have inherited as knowledge whether it is true or not. They begin their quest with a doubt. In the confusing multiplicity of doctrines, each has their own theory, they do not have time to think and inquire if it be true. Yet doubt is the first step to knowledge for the thoughtful.
Seeker should never be satisfied with mere skepticism, have the hope that his every doubt will be solved, and go forward and deeper. Reason tells one what is good and what is bad, what should be followed and what let alone.
Seeker has to pursue this quest until his questions will be answered, until his problems will disappear and his doubts will be solved. There is no doubt many masters have given valuable contribution to seeking world but none of them take one to the ultimate end . Thus seeker has to verify on his own remove the entire obstacle, which is blocking his realization on his own. There is no need to criticize any teacher or Guru and waste time instead seeker has to utilize the same time to acquire self-knowledge through deeper self-search.
People speak the supra-mental consciousness, who or what is there, to discover it because the mind is not there? It is an absurd statement.
The psychological writings of mystics and the pseudo-scientific explanations are not inferences from the facts of their mystic experiences but mere imaginations.
The mystic who says he has cosmic consciousness implies that he has astral traveled and seen that this consciousness was also there in the astral world; even if we take his experiences as reality there is no truth in it because it is also mirage within the mirage. Until the duality persists as reality the non-dual reality will not be revealed.
Truth means certainty. If there is any uncertainty it is not truth. It does not deal with imaginations. People do not have the scientific attitude because they take things as presented to them. They have rather the emotional and sentimental attitude. The correct attitude is to verify all the facts, to see a problem in them, something to investigate and inquire into them.
Truth must be verifiable; unless it is verifiable it is of no value. Those who lack the capacity to doubt are not fit for the pursuit of truth.
Analogical, inductive and deductive reasoning are good only within the physical existence; none are absolutely and universally infallible because they are based on the physical self.
Upanishads says:- Atman the innermost self is known by Reason alone, by sharpened and purified intellect. Yet still people worship Yoga and mysticism as the sole means of attaining Atman.
Self-Knowledge is necessary to realize the fact that, the universe, which appears is in the form of waking (duality) and disappears as deep sleep (nonduality)is merely an illusion created out of nothingness, which is consciousness. Thus, the consciousness is the source and witness of the universe or mind, which comes and goes. Thus it is necessary to know the formless witness of the three states in order to know the fact that, the true self is apart and free from the mirage ,which is in the form of birth, life, death and the universe. Therefore, it is necessary for the seeker to make sure how the three states are mirage.
The body and the world are reality within the waking experience but the waking experience is mere illusion, same way as the dream body and the dream world were reality within the dream. The dream becomes unreal when the waking takes place; similarly the waking experience becomes unreal when the non-dual wisdom dawns.
