By controlling the mind with Kriya yoga or any other Raj yoga practice will not yield the ultimate truth or Brahman.

By controlling   the mind with Kriya yoga or any other Raj yoga practice will not yield the ultimate truth or Brahman.  When the self is not the body what is the use of practicing mind control.

 Those that want Brahman will not practice control of mind (Mandukya page .231).

That is Yoga for those who are not receptive and sharp enough to grasp the truth. Seeker of truth will adopt path of inquiry, reason and discrimination.

Truth has to 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 pursuit of truth. One has to know with certainty not by heresy.  

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.

Each person sees in his own Samadhi whatever is uppermost in his mind. How does he/she or anyone know that what he/she or anyone sees is truth? Similarly each has intuitions agreeable to what is uppermost in his mind.

Believers who are anxious for a mystic or occult experience often get it. But it is only a mental construction of their own, suggested originally from outside.

Mystic may say that the spirit is the source of all good, but the question of questions is how does he know that it is the source? That is mere scholastic dogma until an attempt to show, to analyze and prove that it is the source, is made, then it becomes higher truth.

How is one to know that He is God suppose he sees God?  His mere statement is not enough. He must have proof; he must show that what he saw is God.  How can anyone sees God when whatever seen, known, believed and experienced as person of the world are reality within the waking experience but the  whole waking experience  itself is falsehood.

The orthodox class who criticized rational based non-duality by saying that they will not agree other than their accepted truth shows only hypocritical    attitude. They think what they know is ultimate truth because orthodox way is the only way because their gur said so.  They feel everybody else is in error because they do not follow orthodoxy –priest craft.  They think their cult is more in numbers but they are unaware of the fact that, mere numbers do not make truth.

 One has to inquire, analyze and reason.   No orthodox   knows the ultimate truth or Brahman truth because he bases his- self on birth, life, death and world.  The ultimate truth has to be proved not assumed.

People think what the majority believes must therefore be true." People stop with their imaginations about God, Reality, Truth, and do not go to the ultimate end.

Religious faith creates misconceptions because it is based on the individuality and also it holds the experience of the practical life within the practical world as reality.

Most of the pundits are egoic and they try to snub others who question them.  They think they are unquestionable authority.  They quote the citation from the scriptures as proof without verifying the validity.  All punditry is a great obstacle in realizing the Advaitic truth expounded by the Sri, Sankara and Goudapada. 

One finds lots of differences between Advaita preaching and practice. There is need to bifurcate religion, concept of god and scriptures from Advaitic philosophy to assimilate the essence of Advaita.    

Sri, Sankara says in Brahma Sutras: that Brahman is the cause of the world, whereas in Mandukya he denies it. This is because he says that at the lower stage of understanding, the former teaching must be given, for people will get frightened as they cannot understand how the world can be without a cause, but to those in a higher stage, the truth of non-causality can be revealed. 

Ish upanishds says :-Avidya is Karma and therefore a hindrance. You perform Avidya - i.e., you perform Agnihotra and other sacrifices. This is a roundabout way of purifying the mind, and it is also groping in the dark. But it may not have as heavy a toll on your time and energy as the other.

Ishopanishad "They are steeped in ignorance and sunk into the greatest depth of misery who worships the matter, instead of the All-Pervading God and those who worship things born of matter like trees, animals, man, etc. are sunk deeper in misery."

Religious propagation of good deeds, virtues and leading conduct oriented orthodox life to Moksha is meant for those who are not ripe enough to receive Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. 

Karma is reality only on the base of false self within the false experience, 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 or pain and pleasure 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 or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana  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. 

That is why Sri,Sankara says in Aparokshanubhuti:-

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.

When the whole universe, movable and immovable, is known to be the self, who is in the form of consciousness, and thus the existence of everything else is negated, then consciousness alone is real, all the three states are mere mirage created out of consciousness. 

 If self is not the body, then the karma theory has no meaning.  on the standpoint of the  true self  no second thing exists other than consciousness because the consciousness itself is the true self.

The pursuit of truth is nothing to do with religious rituals. 

That is why in Mundaka Upanishad says: - The rituals and the sacrifices described in the Vedas deal with lower knowledge. The sages ignored these rituals and went in search of higher knowledge. ... Such rituals are unsafe rafts for crossing The sea of samsara, of birth and death. Doomed to shipwreck are those who try to cross The sea of samsara on these poor rafts. Ignorant of their own ignorance, yet wise In their own esteem, these deluded men Proud of their vain learning go round and round Like the blind led by the blind.

And also in Isa Upanishads indicates that: By worshiping gods and goddesses and going to the world of gods after death is of no use.  The time one spends in ritualistic practices is wasted; one can spend same time moving forward towards Self-knowledge, which is the main goal. One cannot reach the non-dual destination by glorifying god and goddesses and by doing that, one goes deeper and deeper into darkness. It surely indicates the fact that, the seeker of truth has to drop the worshiping god and goddess in order to get Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana  .

It also indicates that, Religious Rituals [Avidya] is Karma [action] and therefore a hindrance. By performing Agnihotra and other sacrifices [Avidya] is a roundabout way of purifying the mind, and it is also groping in the dark.

In addition, it indicates the karma is limited only to the religious rituals, not on the whole human life. This karma theory based on the human conduct must have been adopted from Buddhism and other theories based on human conducts. 

When it says: Perform the obligatory karmas without any attachment to the fruits, and at the same time worship gods and goddesses, again without any desire to go to heaven - then you can get the benefit of both, liberation and bliss. For those who are not yet ready to renounce, this path is recommended, it mean that the religion and its  idea of god and goddesses and code of conducts, and its rituals are meant for the mass who are incapable of thinking of the beyond.

In addition, it also speaks of heaven the abode of gods, where one goes after death, and it speaks of rebirth, this contradiction, seeker has to conclude that religion, rituals god and its code of conducts are meant for the mass that is not receptive to Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana . 

As 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 , the innermost 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 consciousness  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 or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

      

 Essence of Astvakara Gita is: - Realizing Atman(soul) as self, the liberation is possible in this very life right here and right now, not in the next life  or next world. 

Religion, theories scriptures and concept of god are created as tool for conditioning the mass mind set, to control their individualized mind, to self-judge, what is good and what is evil, with the fear of conceptual god, who will in turn punish them, or reward them with good or bad life, in life after life which is only illusion.  And this fear helps to maintain peace and harmony in the society to some extent. But man and world exist within the mind and mind is myth on the standpoint of the soul as self, thus all the theories based on the false hood, have no relevance in the realm of the non-dual truth.   Therefore, individual actions and conducts are not the means to acquire Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. 

There cannot be delusion when oneness is realized.  One cannot know Truth if one has not mastered the analysis of the three states of consciousness.

By reading and reflecting, constantly on the subject matter, one understands assimilates the hidden reality. Consciousness, the Supreme Reality, is the undifferentiated One. Everything, in the final analysis, is reducible to the ultimate essence, Consciousness. 

Each sect concocts a God to suit its own purposes. Such concocted Gods are mere belief.

Katha Upanisad (1.2.5) says; -  "Caught in the grip of ignorance, self-proclaimed experts consider themselves learned authorities. They wander about this world befooled, like the blind leading the blind."

Each sect concocts a God to suit its own purposes. Such concocted Gods are mere belief. Faith in religion weakens as man pays more attention to facts of life and this world. People, who argue that truth is only in their religion, are vain logicians, depending on mere ideas, imaginations.

One must make an effort to know the ultimate truth. Self, which is in the form of consciousness, is there always. One has got it, there is nothing new to be acquired, only have the sharp enough to see and understand and assimilate it, when told about it. But there is a difference between understanding and realization.

Only Mental Effort is required for this understanding and assimilation only, whereas once understood and assimilated than no special effort is needed to remember one’s understanding and assimilation: until then he only has an idea of the ‘Self’, which is consciousness , , he only partially understands it. But once he thoroughly grasps what it is and that all these things are consciousness, he will then constantly find its present everywhere without further effort, because he  will perceive consciousness, which is ultimate truth  by understanding, even in the midst of worldly existence.

When there is only one thing [consciousness] known, there is nothing to change, nothing to appear or disappear; when one speaks of remembering or forgetting ‘consciousness ‘[ true Self] that implies one  believes in the existence of something else, i.e. a second thing, which is to be remembered. That would show one has not known that all is one. But knowing it, there is no second, consequently no intermittent perception of self or consciousness, but a permanent effortless understanding that it alone is.

When one gets a glimpse of truth mentally he has to try to reflect on it a constantly in order to establish it. The self must raise itself by the Self.

One need not renounce the world by taking sanyasa To remove doubts we ought not to one has  to wrestle with them until he conquers.

If one says that he knows God exists always implies he must also exist always. It would be correct to say on this point, I do not know.

The inner revelation flash without any process of thought to mark the intervening stages; still they are ideas, mental phenomena in their full nature. When they project themselves into the mind or universe as an object then one becomes aware of the subject object relation and also the fact that the object is mere mirage created out of the formless subject, which is consciousness.

Arjuna says in Verse 63, Chap.18, Gita: - that all his doubts are cleared, he means his doubts on every question. But this happy state could not have been reached if he had not begun by having doubts and asking questions and demanding proofs.

Krishna tells Arjuna: - to overcome doubt by the sword of wisdom, he does not mean that Arjuna should give up his doubt and believe, as the Pundits interpret it, but that he should keep on thinking about his doubts until they are solved; that he should not stop until this point is reached.

Non-dual truth is ultimate truth.  Yogis, mystics and religious teachers do not accept the path of wisdom because it pries into the truth, the source and the validity of the knowledge they claim. Therefore it is the most difficult part of the study of nonduality.

Ashtavakra Gita page 224:- It is not the absence of buddhi that can grasp Advaita but the man who possesses the highest intellect. Brains are necessary. Such a man, by merely hearing the truth mentioned will know it.

The action, love and   virtue are very much necessary in practical life within the practical world. But they are not qualification for self-realization.   The freedom arises only when one becomes aware of the true existence, which is beyond form, time and space. Thus whatever is based on the form is illusion from the ultimate standpoint. 

The one which is aware of the form, time and space is not the form but formless.  The intellectuality based on the form is not wisdom. Thus one has to use his reason and base it on the formless self to understand, assimilate and realize the nondual truth, which is ultimate truth. Thus all intellectual theories based on the form, time and space are mere imagination based on the form, which is false self [ego] within the false experience [universe or waking].  

 Thus, there would be no freedom   without understanding facts about the Mind or universe.   Intellectuality is limited to form, time and space. Thus reason based on the formless self has to be used to grasp the truth, which is beyond birth, life, death and the world.

Thus belief, actions, conducts, love, virtue, scriptural mastery, religion, rituals, prayers which are mere theories based on the false self are great hindrance in realizing the non-dual truth, which is ultimate truth.  

   

  All religious theories are meant for those who believe in the practical life within the practical world as reality because they are not verified the truth of their true existence. When one verifies the fact  about his true existence through deeper self-search than he becomes aware of the fact that, the self is no form but self is formless consciousness than he becomes aware of the fact that the practical life within the practical world is mere illusion created out of consciousness. 

The practical knowledge within the practical world is meant is not wisdom but it is knowledge based on ignorance. The real wisdom is nondual wisdom, which arise only when ignorance vanishes. 

By holding the blind belief of conceptual God and trying to get freedom by observing religious code of conduct and leading the orthodox oriented life within the waking experience  trying to get Moksha is like building the air castle in the sky because the waking experience itself is unreal. Same way as the dream becomes unreal when waking takes place the waking experience becomes unreal when wisdom dawns.   

  

Thus experience of birth, life, death and the world, pleasure and pain and all actions good deeds, ritual, faith, good or bad conducts, worships, prayers , belief in conceptual Gods, ancestor worship and yogic  Samadhi and practices    are not the qualification for moksha, because the waking experience itself  is as false from the ultimate standpoint .     

People take to the belief system or of authoritarianism merely because they are the easiest ways. To seek for proof is troublesome and time-taking.

Belief system and mysticism are so much preferred to wisdom because one has only to imagine, not to inquire and reason. The first is easy, the second is hard.

Belief system and mysticism is a species of mesmerism affecting weaker or impressionable people. Thus the panoply of a religious guru's religious robes and religious oriented life style creates unconscious suggestion in weaker minds of a superior power or magical knowledge. Similarly visitors to ashrams are suggested into thinking they experience great peace because they are unconsciously hypnotized into believing that will happen. But when a strong disciplined rationalistic mind meets a yogi, religious guru or visits an ashram, he is entirely unaffected.

Scriptures are being added to from time to time. This process will go on. There is the final authority among them? One contradicts the other: duality reigns supreme. 

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says: - In that unitive state there is neither father nor mother, neither worlds nor gods nor even Scriptures. In that state there is neither thief nor slayer, neither low caste nor high, neither Monk nor ascetic. The Self is beyond good and evil, beyond all the suffering of the human Heart.

Belief system is Successful in propagating the life after death theory: -   what happens after death-- nobody can deny it because nobody has seen what happens after death it is mere assumption. When the self is formless than it is  birth less and deathless. This theory based on the physical self is false theory because true self is not physical.

 Nobody can disprove when some mystics even claim that they have seen God by intuition. But the onus of proof is on those who make an assertion. Mystics are required to prove; the burden to disprove is not on their critics.

Mystical experience is ancient psychology and it is mind game. And its reality is limited to the physical existence or duality.    The duality is mere illusion from the ultimate standpoint.  Mystics experience is based on the false self therefore it reveals no truth. A mystic, touching people forehead and thus putting them into mystic trance is purely a physical or at best a psychological one; based on the power of suggestions it has nothing to do with formless self, with the question of truth. It is just a higher variation of the effect produced by patting a person on the shoulder to encourage him.  The truth is not based on the individuality and individual experiences because the self is not an individual but it pervades in everything and everywhere in the universe as its formless substance and witness.

One mystic, experience can be overthrown by another mystic’s experience of another thus there is no universality in their experience. Any experience implies duality and duality is not reality from ultimate standpoint.   Mysticism charms people but reason does not. Faith, feeling or experience is on everyone's lips.

The mystic experience  like divine light,  divine sound , divine vibration, divine smell of perfume  etc. are felt interiorly in meditation is mere hallucination created by suggestions  and  unproved  because the self is not the form but self is formless.

When a seeker sees all this diversity and contradiction of beliefs and opinions, he should reflect that there is some foolishness somewhere. This doubt is the beginning of inquiry into truth.

 Chakras in  yoga are based on fact and fiction. It was noted that there were nervous plexuses and nodules at intervals in the spine and other parts of the body. Upon this basis the yogis started imagining that if the mind is concentrated on each one a different mystic result would be obtained. But that is mere fancy. When self is formless the question chakras not arise. It is foolish to practice yoga after one becomes aware of the fact that self is not the body but the self is formless consciousness. The body based yogic or mystical theories are not the means for self-realization. 

Without having firm Inner conviction that the self is not the form but the self is formless consciousness it is difficult to acquire self-knowledge.  It is useless to argue on the standpoint form as self because self is not form but self is formless consciousness.

Man and his experience of the universe is the product of ignorance.  Therefore, everyone is in ignorance of their true existence. Everyone knows about their birth, life, death and the universe but they are unaware of the fact that their experience of the birth, life, death and the universe is mere illusion form ultimate standpoint.  

Illusion disappears in deep sleep, death or one gets the awareness of the true self through non-dual wisdom.  If ignorance were permanent nothing could be known. Pursuit of truth is removal of ignorance by self - knowledge.

In all interpretation based on the “I” leads to hallucination.  Scriptural tenets may be accepted as authoritative only after one has shown the reality and proved the truth, for then he can point out that the texts teach the same thing. If one quotes them before having demonstrated truth, then it is scholasticism or punditry.

There have been so many conflicting belief systems, or so many changes, divisions and subdivisions of religion, therefore religious truth is individual not universal.

Only when one meets with suffering and disappointments, than the doubts arises about his inherited belief system. Doubts are absolutely necessary to make men inquire. Thus when man gets doubts than only he begins to question whether his inherited belief system is true or false. Pursuit of truth is the getting rid of all doubts.  Pursuit of truth begins with doubt.  That is, doubting one’s own self, one’s own beliefs.

Doubts are  an essential tool in pursuit of truth.

Perhaps because of people’s inherited religious background, they have a tendency to regard doubt as almost as an enemy because religion is based on blind belief. People feel that if they have doubts, it means that they are denying the teachings and that they should really have unquestioning faith. In organized religion, unquestioning faith is considered a desirable quality.

In pursuit of truth is pursuit of verification of facts. One has to   Investigate,” not “blindly believe.” An inquiring mind is not regarded as a drawback in pursuit of truth. However, one who says, “This is not part of my mental framework, therefore I don’t believe it,” is not a receptive to self-knowledge, and such an attitude is a great disadvantage for those who aspire to follow any spiritual path. But one who is receptive, and questions and doesn’t accept things simply because they are said, but he uses his own reason and investigates on his own till he finds the un-contradictable truth. .

Many teachers have their own doctrine. Each claims that his particular philosophy and practice is the truth, but they all contradict each other. Thus they put everyone in total confusion. Many people are confused. This confusing situation is the starting point of pursuit of truth. One should not take anything on trust merely because it has passed down through tradition, or because his teachers say it, or because his elders have taught him, or because it’s written in some famous scripture. When he has verified the validity of his belief on his own and found to be right and true, then he can accept it.”

All through the ages it has been understood that the doctrine is there to be investigated and experienced by each individual. So one should not be afraid to doubt, it is right for one to inquire. But he needs to inquire with all receptiveness, not with the idea that everything that fits our preconceived notions is right and anything that does not is automatically wrong. One must have courage to accept the truth and reject untruth in pursuit of truth. If one has a set pattern in place, and everything he comes across must either be stretched out or cut down to fit it. This just distorts everything and prevents from grasping and assimilating the truth. Thus, noting has to be accepted as truth without verification of the facts. 

If we come across certain things that we find difficult to accept even after careful investigation, that doesn’t mean the whole investigation has to be thrown overboard.  Even after many years of investigation, one may still find certain things that they are not sure about it. People to go to some guru and ask him about some of these unsolved queries which they did not find proper answers, and he may say some answers based on the some doctrine, which also is inadequate and not satisfying answer.  

Seeker has to get all his doubts are cleared, it means his doubts on every question. But the doubts cannot be cleared without inquiring and demanding proofs of certainty. 

One has to overcome doubt by the sword of wisdom, it  does not mean that seeker should give up his doubt and believe, as the Pundits or intellectuals  interpret it, but that he should keep on thinking about his doubts until they are solved; that he should not stop until this point is reached.