Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Religion needs a guru to propagate its belief system, whereas in pursuit of truth there is no need for a guru






Religion needs a guru to propagate its belief system, whereas in pursuit of truth there is no need for a guru. The ultimate truth has to be ascertained by seeker alone.  Yoga needs guru to guide its student to practice Samadhi. 

Religion encourages one  who can induce himself to feel convinced that he has realized the Self, or has  an admirer who believes that he has done so, the it  opens up for  him the way for the founding of a new sect based on Guru-worship. People, too, have developed curious credulousness. Often they would install an earnest seeker and devotee, or a pious saint, on the throne of God and begin to offer him worship and homage even if he protested and resisted such acts. They would lay prostrate, sing hymns, wave lights (arati) and burn incense before him, and present to him food which was to be returned by him as prasada, wash his toes and sip the wash. At times the disciple would go to the length of getting food, fruit or a betel-nut leaf chewed by him, and taking the morsel back from it.

They would place his photo in the private temples of their homes and perform all these rites and ceremonies which are usually offered to temple-idols.  In this way there might be at present in our country scores of individuals who are worshipped as living God, with a following varying in numbers.

If one is seeking truth one has to drop all religious based dogmas and blind beliefs ritualistic baggage and move forward in their pursuit of truth.
When Chandogya Upanishads:-


This universe comes forth from Brahman and will return to Brahman. Verily, all is Brahman. A person is what his deep desire is. It is our deepest desire in this life that shapes the life to come. So let us direct our deepest desires to realize the Self. 


If one is seeking truth then it is necessary to bifurcate and drop the traditional Advaitic path which is not the means to self-knowledge and move ahead without the traditional baggage to get direct realization on his own as suggest by the great sages.

Thus seeker of truth has to know what this universe? What is this ultimate truth or Brahman?  in order to realize the non-dualistic or Advaitic truth?   


No one can escape the waking experience which is the very basis of the physical existence. What was the waking experience before it appeared? Was their existence before the appearance of the waking experience?  When the waking perishes, does the soul or consciousness survive alone?  Is there a self or soul?  The seeker has to find answers for all these doubts in order to realize ‘what is truth’ and ‘what is untruth’.  


As one goes deeper in self-search one becomes aware of the fact that,  the self is neither the waking entity not self is the dream entity but the  self is formless substance and witness of the three states. And the formless substance and witness of the three states are one in essence. And that essence is consciousness.  If the formless substance and witness are one in essence, than there is second thing can exist, other than consciousness?  Thus consciousness alone is real and all else is mere illusion created out of consciousness, which is the innermost self.