The Gnani views and judges the worldview from
of both side, that is as an individual on the standpoint of ‘ego[waking entity] ’, for worldly
activities, and he views and judges the worldview on the base of the soul,
which is the true self, for his spiritual endeavor. Thus, he is fully aware of
the fact that, his physical side of existence [duality/waking/dream] is
falsehood, and his spiritual side of existence [non duality] is reality.
He does not stop seeing others with physical body
with name. But with all that he knows the Atman,which is in the form of consciousness, from which physical body with
the name is inseparable. This is difficult to grasp, it is done by constant reflecting on the true self for long time. Wisdom will not dawn with intellectual spoon feeding or by reading books or by arguing or trying to provoke others with perverse arguments. It becomes
difficult because one has to discard all his inherited conditioning which is
the cause of viewing and judging the worldview on the base of ‘I’. the 'I' is inborn conditioning or Samskara. One has to get rid of the 'I' by realizing what is this 'I'. without realizing this 'I' is cause of the ignorance, it becomes very difficult to understand and assimilate and realize the non dual truth or ultimate truth or Brahman or Christ. If one
is trained in a young age it becomes easier to assimilate.
Every seeker finds the THE KINGDOM OF NON DUAL HEAVEN when he crosses the 'I' . by realizing the self is not form but formless Spirit , one enters the stillness,which the true nature of the spirit, and realizes the spirit ,which is the innermost self is God.
Since everyone has been inherited a belief
system and they are sentimentally and emotionally involved with their belief it
becomes very difficult for them to accept anything other than there accepted
truth.
For one second or one minute one may attain glimpse
of formless witness mentally, but only he who has the firm conviction of the truth can
make it a permanent part of his nature.
One may know knowledge of the Atman intellectually
but they may still have their weaknesses, they still need to become fully
convinced to the utmost to get firm conviction: therefore realization of its
truth comes gradually.
It is not enough to grasp the intellectual truth of
non-dual Atman; one must next fix his focus of attention mentally and
constantly in it. He will get in glimpses at first, but he must not rest there;
he should stabilize them through constant reminder that the three states are
not separate from the Formless Witness [consciousness or true self,] in
order to become a Gnani. Knowing the Atman to be non-dual is first stage,
realizing it as such is second stage.
The higher tranquility comes at the stage after
deeper reflecting on the nature of the soul has been practiced and mastered.
Then this is given up for self-recollectedness to be done for long time, then
only the non-dual wisdom dawns.
Gnani does not set up any position of his own
because he knows non-duality to be truth and hence cannot differ from others
whom he regards as part of the soul which is the source of all the three
states, but shows the inconsistencies of all other positions. He sees the three
states in the soul which is the formless source.
When one dissolves all the three states into
experience, and then the experience into the consciousness, knowing they are
ultimately in the soul /self, that is Atman.
When one actually see the universe before him
he unaware of the fact that he and his universe exist within the waking
experience. And the three states are witnessed by the formless witness
[consciousness].
The source of the three is the soul / self that is
Atman. Atman is the formless substance and witness of the three states.
Therefore the three states [object] and the soul/self [subject] are one in
essence.
After the dream disappears one becomes aware of the
fact that the dream entity and the dream world were within the dream itself.
Similarly the waking entity and waking world are within the waking world. The
question is who or what witnessed the dream or waking, when the dream and
waking entity were within the dream or waking.
There has to be a witness, which is aware of the
appearance and disappearance of the dream, waking and deep sleep apart from the
dream and waking entity. Therefore, one has to become aware of the formless
witness of the three states which is aware of its appearance and
disappearance. This has to be grasped mentally since it is not an object
or entity within the waking and dream.
All the contents of the dream and waking such as
cities, friends, cars, families’ animals and whatever they contain is created
out of the soul/spirit which is the true self.
Seeker has to first to pass through the stage of
discovering Atman and then only he can attain the stage of discovering Atman.
The Atman and Brahman is one and the same thing.
The nature of the non-dual truth is to be free from
contradictions. As one approaches nearer and nearer to understanding of the
non-dual truth he finds less and less contradictions. The only thing which is
so free is non-duality.
But he who is truly wise always
sees the absolute Self. Celebrated, he is not delighted. Spurned, he is not
angry. Pure of heart, He watches his own actions As if they were another's. How
can praise or blame disturb him?
-
Ashtavakra Gita 3:9-10
Non-duality means literally not two.
They could have said one, but the scripters never use the word ‘one.’ They say
non-duality not two. And this is very significant, because if one says one, the
two is implied, it becomes a positive statement. If one says there is only one,
he is asserting something positive.
The moment one says one, the two is implied;
because one can exist only by the side of two. The truth is one. Secondly,
about the total one cannot assert anything positive, he cannot say what it is.
At the most he can say what it is not, he can negate. One cannot say directly,
because once he say something directly, it becomes defining, it becomes a
limitation. When one simply says it is not two there is no boundary – the
implication is infinite.
Just as salt is generated in seawater
is fully pervades by the seawater, so the universe produced in consciousness is
permeated by consciousness through and through.
One cannot point to the Brahman with
a finger, because his finger will become a limitation. Then Brahman will be
where his finger is pointing and nowhere else.
Gnani is free from all attachment
of the duality even though he is in the midst of duality because he is fully
aware of the fact that the experience of duality is created out of non-dual
material. He directs the serious seekers towards the ultimate end. The ultimate truth which cannot be
expressed by words but one has to grasp it mentally.
In the transcendental truth there is no origination, and in fact, there is no
destruction. The inner most self is in the form of consciousness. Consciousness is
like the sky, which has neither origination nor cessation, and mind, which is
in the form of universe, is like it, and therefore they are of the same nature.
The one who knows the one which
has name & form is not the self, for him there’s no sense of me and mine,
and he is fully aware of the fact that birth, life and death are attached to
the name and the form, thus the pleasure and misery is reality is for the name and form. Thus one who is fully aware of the fact that,
the self has no form and name and all the name and form are mere mirage created
out of it, is deservedly called a
Gnani.
How does one attain wisdom? and how does liberation happen? What is
truth and what is untruth? How the universe is illusion? Seekers of truth are trying to find answers these basic questions the seeker of truth.
What is the
use of knowing about everything else when one do not yet know the true fact
that the self is not ‘I’ or ‘I AM’. The ‘I’ or ‘I AM’ is the main hindrance in
pursuit of truth.
If one wants liberation then he has
to renounces the experience of duality,
which he is experiencing it as reality, by realizing the true “Self” is
not physical but the true self is soul, which is in the form of
consciousness. One has to realize that
fact that, the three states are mere mirage created out of consciousness. Thus one has to accept the untruth as poison,
and take truth as nectar. Self is neither the person nor universe. To attain
liberation, one has to know the “self” as the witness, conscious of all three
states.
"If one can separate the “self’
mentally from the three states, and rest in consciousness, then that very
moment he will be free from experiencing the duality as reality.
Self is does not belong to any
religion because it is formless, holding the self as physical, is cause of the
ignorance. Self is not perceived by the
eyes or other senses. Self is unattached and without form, it is the witness of
the whole universe, which is in the form of mind.
Religion and atheism, happiness and
misery -- all are of the mind, which is in the form universe. Universe or mind
is mere an object to the formless Self. Self is not the doer nor the enjoyer it
is have always been liberated because it is formless.
Seeker of truth is embarking on a
rare journey. It is inner journey or mental journey. It is a journey from form
to formless or objects to the subject or from ignorance to wisdom or from
illusion to reality, a journey without the body and the world. Purely mental
journey with deeper thinking and reasoning to teach the core of the true
existence to realize the true ‘SELF’ is not from [body or ego] but the true
‘SELF’ is formless Atman or consciousness. The consciousness is our innermost self,
and it is not an individual because it pervades in everything and everywhere in
all the three states. When ‘SELF’ is not
an individual it is erroneous to inquire “Who am ‘I’? “, because the question
is limited individuality.
There is no need for guru. There is
no need for god because the truth has to be ascertained by seeker himself.
The most important thing is that
neither society nor politics nor any religion has anything to do with the truth.
Self –Knowledge helps the seeker transcending emotion, transcending form, time
and space. Perhaps this is why pursuit of truth, has not had much impact.
Religion has been very influential. Mythology
is a synthesis. They are more concerned with synthesis than with truth. The attraction
for synthesis is so strong that people accept it blindly without verifying
their validity.
Mythology is a hodgepodge containing
everything; hence it suits everyone, because there is something in it for
everyone. It is difficult to find any tradition whose voice is not found in the
mythology. It is difficult to find anyone who does not take solace from the mythology.
But for such people Self-Realization will prove very difficult.
Non-dual truth is not for synthesis – it
is an un-contradictable truth and it is ultimate truth. Non-dual truth just as
it is, without any artifice or coloring.
The knower of non-dual truth is not
concerned about the listener, he does not care whether his listener will
understand or not. The pure expression of truth comes from the source of his
existence.
People love scriptures because it is
very easy to extract one's own meaning from it. Reading mythological stories a
devotee extracts something of which he can make a belief, because he has
accepted bhakti or devotion to individual God.
The karma yogi extracts his belief because sages
in the past have spoken on karma yoga, the Yoga of action. The believer in
knowledge finds what he wants because sages of the past have spoken on wisdom
as well. Some sage calls bhakti the ultimate, some sages say wisdom as ultimate,
again they say Gnana yoga and karma yoga the both are necessary.
Religionists are not concerned with truth
because they accepted the belief as truth. To accept the ultimate truth or
Brahman they have to drop their belief -- unconditionally. One cannot bring false
knowledge along in pursuit of truth because it obstructs the realization of
truth.
Religion makes one accept what it
preaches. In religion there is no need to know the truth. There is no need for religion in pursuit of
truth because it is not the means to true or self-realization. With religion there is no need to verify ‘What
truth’ is and ‘What is not truth’ because one can fit just as he is.
It is difficult extract certainty in any scriptures. Only if one drop all
accumulated knowledge as he moves into it, will the truth become clear to him.
One thing one need to remember for a
Gnani ... there is no clouds of doubts in his sight; he cannot see any forms
even though he is in the midst of duality. He drops all forms mentally, becomes
disidentified with all things, forms and names and gets connected with the
formless consciousness, which is the innermost self. By identifying the consciousness as the true
self he realizes the three states as
illusion created out of consciousness. Thus for a Gnani the whole waking experience
or universe is mere mirage created out of consciousness.
If one really wants to understand assimilate
and realize the ultimate truth or Brahman
he will have to indulge in deeper
self-search. No physical based practice such as yoga, religious rituals will help
or no commentary, no interpretation will be of any help.
There is no need for chant "I AM
THAT or I AM BRAHMAN." Anything you do will not get self-awareness. How
can there be self-awareness when there is a doer? As long as there is doing,
there is illusion. As long as the doer is present, the ego is present. As long
as the ego is present the duality will prevail as reality. Until duality
prevails as reality there is no wisdom.
Yantra, mantra and tantra are
for the ignorant mass. In this modern
age people are capable of thinking deeply and assimilating and realizing
ultimate truth or Brahman. Thus we have
to focus our attention on acquiring self-knowledge. By dropping all this
accumulated dross, which is hindrance in realizing the ultimate truth or
Brahman.
Consciousness is
the innermost self. The inner most self is god, which is everyone’s true
identity. By identifying with the inner
most self-everything becomes
consciousness or Brahman.
In Vedas the God has been described as:-
Sakshi (Witness)
Chetan (conscious)
Nirguna (Without form and properties).
Nitya (eternal)
Shuddha (pure)
Buddha (omniscient)
Mukta (unattached).
It indicates clearly all the gods with form and attributes are
mere imagination based on the false self.
And also in Yajurved says:
Translation 1.
They enter darkness, those who worship natural things (for
example air, water, sun, moon, animals, fire, stone, etc).
They sink deeper in darkness those who worship sambhuti.
(Sambhuti means created things, for example table, chair, idol etc.)
[Yajurved 40:9]
Translation 2.
"Deep into shade of blinding gloom fall asambhuti's
worshippers. They sink to darkness deeper yet who on sambhuti are intent."
[Yajurveda Samhita by Ralph T. H. Giffith pg 538]
Translation 3.
"They are enveloped in darkness, in other words, are
steeped in ignorance and sunk in the greatest depths of misery who worship the
uncreated, eternal prakrti -- the material cause of the world -- in place of
the All-pervading God, But those who worship visible things born of the
prakrti, such as the earth, trees, bodies (human and the like) in place of God
are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely
foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a
long time."
[Yajur Veda 40:9.]
So, Yajur Veda indicates that:-
They sink deeper in darkness those who worship sambhuti.
(Sambhuti means created things, for example table, chair, idol etc [Yajurved 40:9]
Those who worship visible things born of the prakrti, such as
the earth, trees, bodies (human and the like) in place of God are enveloped in
still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into
an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time." [Yajur Veda 40:9.]
When the religion of the
Veda knows no idols then why so many gods and goddesses with different form and
name are being propagated as Vedic gods. Why these conceptual gods are
introduced when Vedic concept of god is free from form and attributes.
Who introduced concept of god with attributes and attributeless
gods, when Yajur Veda says: - those who
worship visible things, born of the prakrti, such as the earth, trees, bodies
(human and the like), in place of God are enveloped in still greater darkness.
Therefore, all these add-ons proves that the form and attribute based concepts
are introduced by some sages of the past with new belief system and code of
conducts in the name of Vedas.
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. The ultimate truth or Brahman itself is god.
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 Advith expounded by 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.
Tracing the existence of the formless
substance and witness of the three states leads to self-awareness. Becoming a
witness of three states is becoming one with the consciousness, which is the
true self. . Then the doer disappears; one remains only as witness, nothing but
the observer. When one is nothing but the observer then only is there darshan or
seeing; then only is there meditation, then only is there wisdom.
Gaudapada’s rational
exposition of Advaita: - that whatever is seen,
whether external or internal, whether by the ordinary persons or yogis, is
unreal.
The essence of Mandukya's is: Do not be
satisfied with rituals, yoga etc. which are good in their own way, but inquiry.
Inquire in to the nature of the mind. ? Brahman and Atman are things one can
never see. So seeker should not inquire into them. He has to inquire into the world around him,
which he can see. Analysis tells him it is passing away every second.
Everything is dying repeatedly. Where is it going? Thus he follows up his
investigation into what he can lay hands on. How can he inquire into Atman
which he cannot see? So first he must deal with the known and seen, this
inquiry leads up to the unknown in the end.
Mediocre minds waste their time on
arguing about unimportant matters. Accumulation of scriptural knowledge is
dangerous in pursuit of truth. Seeker has to establish in the truth of
Non-duality by sheer reasoning alone. Seeker has to begin by defining
"What is real?" "What is unreal?" etc, because that is the
right way to discuss, understand and assimilate self-knowledge.
Thus seeker has to remove all the hindrance in
order to acquire Self-knowledge.
In deeper
self-search one becomes aware of the fact that, many things what we consider as
truth and hold on to it, becomes meaningless. We have to hold on to the
formless witness of the three states, not the three states which are mere
illusion. Mentally holding on the formless witness and by negating the three
states as illusion, then the witness alone will prevail.
Truth which has
no basis is usually religion or a mere catalogue of ignorant opinions; people
prefer it because it can be got more easily. A religious philosophy based on
the physical self/ego is worthless from the standpoint of truth.
Truth is
incomplete and inaccurate without reasoning. Truth means certain and exact
knowledge. The science which limits it to its practical applications such
modern machines, are wrong because science is only physical based wisdom. There
is no need to learn any practical science in order to get the ultimate truth.
Science is very helpful to give more comforts for mankind. But the ultimate
truth is beyond physical based science.
But one has to have certain knowledge of the fact that, the self is not physical
before indulging in pursuit of truth.
Only through
reason based on the formless consciousness as self, one gets the exactness and
certitude of knowledge therefore he acquires the Self-Knowledge/Non-dual
wisdom. When one has an exact and certain knowledge of un-contradictable truth
he can utilize it for the guiding the fellow seekers. The people who assume without any proof, have
untrained reason.
What is it that makes the body and
the world exists for you? It is awareness. Mind is this whole universe in which
you, me and others and everything that you, me and others know they exists. The
whole universe which contains you, me and others is mental; therefore it is
mind.
The universe [mind] is mere mirage or
illusion created out of the self, which is the soul. One has to analyze the
mind through deeper thinking. Then only he becomes aware of the fact that, the
mind is not confined to the body; because the mind is the whole universe. The universe appears as mind and the mind
appears as waking or dream. And waking
or dream disappears as deep sleep. This fact has to be investigated and
assimilated first.
If the mind is whole universe and the
universe is in the soul, which is the true self; what is there to claim as mine
when there is nothing beside the soul, which is in the form of consciousness;
when whatever is, is the true self or the consciousness. Consciousness
converted in to waking or dream. And
waking or dream is converted into deep sleep.
Thus the substance of the three states is one and the same. Thus the
substance itself is witness of the three states. Therefore, the substance and
witness are one in essence. The
essence is consciousness. The consciousness is the ultimate truth.
Thus, whatever is claimed as me and
mine is meaningless from the ultimate point of view because there is no second
thing exist other than consciousness.
Consciousness is everything, then
there is nothing exist other than consciousness. Lectures limit
consciousness. If one wants to overcome
the physical conditioning of consciousness, then he has to realize the fact
that, self is not physical but it is formless soul, which is in the form of
consciousness. So there is room for duality in reality, therefore the birth,
life, death and world are mere illusion created out of consciousness.
Having renounced the three states
[illusion] mentally, one perceives the ultimate truth, through non-dual
wisdom. Whatever prevails without the
three states is the ultimate truth.
Man thinks he is apart from the
universe. It is not so. He and his
experience of the universe appear together and disappear together. Man exists
within the universe. For the universe
to exist man have to exist first. For
god to exist man has to exist first.
Therefore, it is necessary to verify the facts about your own existence
first, to unfold the mystery.
Name is given to the body. The name
is not the self. One did not have this
name before christening. Only when one
started identifying with his name and form, all these burden and bondage of the
duality arises. Man and his experience
of the universe exist only in waking experience. Same way as the dream entity
and the dream universe exists in dream. The dream becomes unreal when waking
takes place. Similarly, the waking becomes unreal, when you realize the self is
not the body with name, but the self is the formless knower of the body with
the name. Thinking the universe as
something separate from the body is cause of the individuality.
Seeker has to become aware of the fact that, his individuality and his
individual experience of the universe are reality within the waking experience.
Thus all his fear desire and ups and downs of life are reality within the
waking experience. Waking experience appears and disappears same way as the
dream appears as disappears. One doesn’t
consider the dream as reality when it disappears, because he is in waking experience. one has
to realize the fact that, waking experience is also as unreal as the
dream, because the witness of the three states is formless and apart.
This is possible only when one
mentally trace the knower [formless witness] of his body and his experience of
the universe together. Therefore, the
one which knows one’s body with the name, and his experience of the universe is
apart from the knower, which is formless. The knower has to exist prior to
knowing. Therefore, your body with name
and its experience of the universe is something known. Therefore, the knower is
not the name, but the formless knower of the name and his experience of the
universe. Therefore, it is erroneous to
view and judge and conclude the truth on the base of the name, because the one
which knows and his experience of universe is formless and apart. If one thinks as a person then it leads to intellectuality and
imagination.
If one try to verify the facts of his
true existence through deeper enquiry by peeling the known [mind] from the
knower [soul] then he will realize self is not body with the name but self is
formless consciousness.
One has to renounce the ignorance of
accepting the body with the name as self.
By accepting himself as person is the cause of experiencing the birth,
life, death and the world as reality.
Now what is body with the name and
the experience of the universe? Body with the name and her experience of the
universe is too consciousness [soul]. Therefore, the whole experience of
diversity is created out of single clay and that clay is consciousness, which
is formless. When everything is
consciousness, then there is no second thing exists, other than consciousness
[soul]. Hence it is non-dual.
Thinking the self as body with the
name is the cause of the ignorance. By realizing self is not body with the
name but self is formless consciousness
the physical structure built on the false base of body with the name will become a mere mirage created out of
consciousness.
Therefore it is necessary to learn to
view and judge the worldview not on the base of body with the name as self but
on the base of consciousness [soul] as self to realize our physical existence
which is full of pleasure or pain is mere illusion.
It takes a long time because you have
conditioned to view and judge the worldview as a person within the world. To overcome physical conditioning you have to
renounce the ignorance and realize the self is not body with the name but it is
formless soul, which is in the form of consciousness. Only by perfect understanding one will become
aware of the ultimate reality. Thus all
your fear and anxiety are reality within the illusion, because man and his
experience of the universe are reality within the illusion.
One has to learn to think on the base
the formless knower [soul] of the three states, not as waking entity, then all
his doubts and confusion will get cleared.
