The real journey begins inwardly when you find all the outer journeys are inadequate and useless in quenching one’s spiritual thirst

Yoga and meditation is beginning of one’s spiritual journey.  The real journey begins inwardly when one  finds all the outer journeys are inadequate and useless in quenching his spiritual thirst.  The real renunciation is renouncing the ignorance.  Ignorance is the cause of experiencing illusory duality as reality. Yoga and meditation and god and guru glorification are not the means to acquire non dual wisdom. Without wisdom, freedom from duality is impossible.  

 A real spiritual retreat is where there is no compulsion of any sort: no set programme to be followed, no meetings of saints, no god glorification and prayers or worship so that the seeker is spared from the unnecessary strain, which is of any use in the pursuit of truth.

In pursuit of truth there is no need to frame rules and regulation and code of conduct to control the mind of the seeker, because these rules and regulations and code of conducts are useful only in worldly life, not in the pursuit of truth. The seeker can attain the highest wisdom without common enforced discipline and discover the self evident truth, through soul-centric reasoning. The realization surges up by a free impulse when the seeking mind becomes receptive enough to accept the truth.

While it is true that not all the seekers are not  ripe enough thus need for constant reflection on the true self ,which is  Atman or soul ,through deeper self-search and  soul-centric reasoning until the one  is capable and receptive to receive the knowledge of true self, which is the formless soul.  formless  Soul is present in the form of consciousness.

The religious theory that : This seemingly boundless universe stretching far beyond human imagination and consisting billions of stars, planet, solar systems and galaxies has not come to existence all by itself. It has to have a creator, and that creator is god.

Every nook and corner of this entire universe is governed by identical laws of nature. Hence there is no many gods but only one god. This creation and creator theory seems to be true when man is unaware of the true self and views and judges the worldview as `I' as self which is false self within the illusory Waking experience.

Man goes on spinning yarn of his imagination on religious base and imagines that the universe has brought into existence by all-wise god with some definite purpose and a set programme. Each atom of this universe be speak of order, discipline organization and balance-testifying to some great mind that has shaped it. Moreover, man was not born result of some accident. He was created as superior to all other creatures, to act as the vice-gerent of god upon the earth, blessed with intelligent and rational thinking. He has been given the power to choose between good and evil deeds. This freedom makes answerable to god and his fellow creatures both for his deeds. His conscience guides his steps to discriminate between what is good and what is bad. He may commit sins and mistakes but is also repentance and ability to correct himself. All man's imagination seems to be true until man is unaware of the fact that `I' is not the self but `I' is the whole Waking experience. The invisible substance and witness of the `I' or Waking experience which is Atman or spirit is the true self.

It is necessary for the  seeker to verify  the facts about his true  existence through inquiry and reasoning in order to realize the fact that `I' is not the self, but Atman or soul or consciousness  , the innermost self ,and learn to view and judge the worldview on the standpoint of formless soul as self to unfold the mystery of the mind which is present as universe. universe is present as  Waking experience.

When one is able to view and judge the worldview on the standpoint Atman then he will realize there is neither the creation nor the creator but only non-dual Atman or spirit will prevail as ultimate reality of the existence. Therefore, it is erroneous to conclude the truth on the base of religion and God. 

All religious and yogic practices are based on the `I' as self, which is false identity, and consider the Waking experience as reality, which is mere illusion. Hence, it is very much necessary to verify one's own identity before indulging in truth pursuit.

“Soul or Self or Consciousness is not different from God"

"The formless soul is in itself a most lovely and perfect image of God".

“ formless Soul or Self  or Spirit or Consciousness  is not different from God"because they are one and the same thing.

“The restless search for ultimate truth ends with the understanding of the  formless Soul , the innermost self

The duality is in the non-duality and the non-duality is in the duality” 


The mind  and soul  are one in essence.

" formless Soul is in ‘universe’, and ‘universe’ is in the  formless Soul "


People would ask the question as to who created the soul.   They may get the reply that God creates the soul.  Again, there will be a question as to who created God.   This chain of questions shall continue and the discussion shall be unending.

This understanding of soul becomes and is converted into the Self- knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, with further inquiry into soul with the inner guidance, which is so powerful that it can induce the Self- Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana to chosen seeker by it.

 One has to know: whether physical body and the world are within the mind or the mind is within the physical body? The mind, physical body, ego and the world are present only, when the whole experience of the waking or dream is present. And mind is absent, when the waking/dream experience is absent. Thus one has to conclude the mind as the whole waking or dream experience. Thus the mind appears and disappears as waking or dream experience. All your arguments are truth only on the base of the ego, which is the false self, within the false experience (waking). The individual experiences within the waking are as real as dream.

 Suppose the same subject, if we are discussing in the dream and one asks me the same questions in the dream, then whatever he said in dream becomes unreal, when the waking takes place. Whatever one saying now, he is saying within the waking experience. The waking is unreal on the base of the formless witness, which is Atman. Atman is in the form consciousness.

How does one see various objects, scenes and persons during dreams? If the dream is experienced without the physical body, then what is it that experiences the dream? Therefore, there must be a formless witness of the dream world. This formless witness is the same witness that is witnessed this Waking experience also. Therefore the Waking experience and dream both are witnessed by one and only formless witness of which the seeker is not aware of. Since he considers the physical body(waking entity or ego) as the self or witness and views and judges the world-view on the standpoint of false self, within the false experience. The formless witness can exist with or without the waking or dream. But waking  or dream cease to exist, without the formless witness.

The gross Waking experience is merged into the mental experience in the sense that, when it is analyzed, it is found to exist inseparably in and as the mind alone. All "spiritual" planes are really mental: those who regard them as different or higher are deceiving themselves. The dream becomes unreal when the waking takes place; similarly the waking becomes unreal when the wisdom dawns. Therefore everything has to be grasped mentally, not argued on the intellectual point of view, which is limited to the false physical entity within the false experience.

The unreal is created out of real, and when one views and judges on the standpoint unreal (waking entity or ego) then there is duality. When one is able to view and judge on the standpoint of real (soul or consciousness)then there is only non -duality. Therefore, when the wisdom dawns then there is neither duality, nor non duality, only reality. This is my views and conviction.

All these confusion will go on, until man thinks, he is an individual and apart from the world, and the world existed prior to him and he is born in it afterwards. Therefore, it is necessary to know the fact the true self is not ego, but the true self is the soul, and stop viewing and judging the world-view on the standpoint of the physical self [ego], and one has to view and judge on the true self (soul or consciousness)to realize the fact that, the world along with man is illusion. The formless substance from which the illusion is created is Atman. Thus Atman is Brahman or ultimate reality. Thus no second thing exists on the standpoint of Atman or consciousness as self. thus there is no experience nor the experiencer in non-dual reality but only self-awareness.

Truth cannot be got in external world.

People start their spiritual practices for accomplishing their needs in the worldly life as they think fulfilling such needs will give them peace of mind. But gradually they come to know that actual spiritual practices are for realizing the fact that, birth, life and death are mere mirage on the standpoint the true self which is the soul.  

Truth cannot be got in external world. The truth is hidden within the three states as their formless substance and witness. Running away from worldly life to Himalayas to acquire non dual truth is a foolish venture. The true self is not an entity or identity within the waking experience but it is the source of the three states from where the three states erupt and subsides.

 The intellectuals say only children or idiots make no distinction between waking and dreaming. The point is when one analyzes the three states neither the dream is real, nor the waking is real. Waking is parallel dream.  Dream is parallel waking experience.

People say they had flashes at moments of the truth. When one is old, he finds his childhood and youth are like shadows. The runs he scored that in his youth years are unreal.  His dating with his teenage girlfriend is mere memories. He cannot touch them. What has become of them? It looks like a dream to him now. Thus even experience teaches a man that many things that he looks upon as real are mere ideas.

"Illustration" here means that having seen the individual experiences within the dream then all having proved unreal, one draw the general conclusion that they are all unreal. One cannot have referred to the dream if one had not seen the objects.

 

All the confusion and doubts arise because one does not know what is seeking. He thinks “I” is self and he is trying to acquire self-knowledge on the base of ‘I’, which is false self. He thinks truth is something accomplished from the external experiences. So instead of verifying it through deeper inquiry, analysis and reasoning tries one tries to regulate his human attributes and tries to acquire the self-knowledge. However, the action and deeds are not the means to acquire non-dual wisdom. Truth is not something to be sought. It is something that has to be realized.

Gnani do not want anything, not even God or Heaven, because he knows that even Heaven and God are reality only on the base of waking entity

Gnani do not want anything, not even God or Heaven, because he knows that even Heaven and God are reality only on the base of waking entity,which is the false self within the false experience. 

Unreality has different meanings, that which does not exist and that which is mistaken for something else. In pursuit of truth the meaning is the three states which appear in succession, which seem to exist as reality. Hence the first work in pursuit of truth is to learn to analyze the three states which appear and disappear. After analyzing the dream, one knows that it could not have been inside the small space of his physical body during sleep; hence it must have been a dream. The physical body would not have contained the dream world; hence the dream is unreal, because of its inconsistency. Hence on further analyses and examination he realizes it is only an idea. It is the fact of inconsistency which is emphasized here.

Seeker of truth is neither he is an atheist nor religionists; he sticks to God as non dual Truth and not to God as imagined by every religionists. He does not accept an unreal God. When he is dreaming he does not regard the objects as unreal; only after awakening. Many yogis are under the delusion that if world disappears in meditation they are having Brahmic wisdom. They shut their eyes to the non dual truth.

The three divisions of time--past present and future--are within the waking or dream or illusion.+

Just as a stone, a tree, a straw, grain, a mat, a cloth, a pot, and so on, when burned, are reduced to earth (from which they came), so the body and its sense organs, on being burned in the fire of Knowledge, become Knowledge and are absorbed in Brahman, like darkness in the light of the sun.

All three states are made of the same substance, whether it is dreams, deep sleep, or waking. All the objects and sense perception are of the same substance. This is a great lesson to be learned by the seekers of truth.

The three divisions of time--past present and future--are within the waking or dream or illusion.  It becomes necessary to analyze the three states. Whatever may come in the future, whatever objects existed in the past, whatever thing one can think of in the present--all these are possible only in waking experience. Waking or dream consists of names and forms.” All names are but words.  The waking is a parallel dream and the dream is parallel waking.  The formless knower of the three states, which comes and goes, is within the three states but it is apart from the three states. It is within the three states as their formless substance and it is apart from the three states as their formless witness.  Thus judging and reasoning the truth on the waking entity is erroneous because the self is neither the waking entity nor the dream entity. Thus the Self is not the form but formless consciousness, which pervades all the three states. 

All the three states are got from the Consciousness[soul], corresponding to formlessness. One has to mentally merge waking into dreams, then merge dream into a deep sleep. And finally, he has to merge into consciousness.

Any experience is part of the mirage, and hence a superimposition. Consciousness is the substratum of the experience of all three states. :~Santthosh Kumaar 

By Gazing at nose-tip one cannot acquire non dual wisdom because a man is false entity within the false experience

The goal of the seeker after truth is not the same of the yogi. The truth  seekers   goal is to acquire non dual wisdom, where as the yogis goal is to attain Samadhi. This non dual wisdom is to know all the three states are erupted out of the soul, which is in the form of Consciousness sustained by Consciousness finally they, dissolve as Consciousness.

All the three states are an object to the Consciousness, which is the witness of the three states.  When one has no idea of being separated from the three states, then there is no idea of space, time and form. 

By Gazing at nose-tip one cannot acquire non dual wisdom because a man is false entity within the false experience. When the self is not the form but the self is formless then what is the use of doing practice on the base of the form, which is the false entity. Pursuit of truth is to know what truth is and what is false and realize and establish in the truth.  If one wants wisdom then he must look on everything as consciousness.  He must have firm conviction that, —everything is Consciousness. 

All the three states disappear back to the soul.  All the three states are mere mirage created out of consciousness. All the names and forms are part of the mirage. The mirage appears as waking or dream [duality] and disappears as deep sleep [non-duality] thus the universe, appears as Mind. And mind appears as waking or dream. Thus mind is also Consciousness because it is created out of consciousness. If one knows whole world is dream, or is mental, when all the states go, it becomes Consciousness [soul]. Hence he who becomes a sage is able to know his- self as Consciousness. This is the meaning of non-causality. Mind seemed to be the cause of duality, but its elimination shows clearly that they are non-different from it.

Those that want to prove existence of formless witness; it is only in its presence, for it is awareness, that proof can be given.

Those that want to prove existence of formless witness; it is only in its presence, for it is awareness, that proof can be given. It is a pre-condition without which one cannot talk of proof.  The formless witness is the substance and witness of the waking experience, which contains man, and his experience of the world.  Without the waking experience man and his experience are absent. The three states are transient in nature.  Thus there must be a knower of the three states which appear and disappear in succession.

 Only through deeper analysis the three states, one becomes aware of the formless witness. 

v  How does one see the dream?

 The dream is witnessed without the physical eyes.  So it was not the waking entity, which witnessed the dream. The waking entity and the waking world was absent in the dream. If the dream world were without the witness, it is impossible to witness the dream. Therefore there must be a witness of the dream. This same witness is witnesses the waking experience as a whole. And also the deep sleep.  Thus the formless witness has to be mentally grasped by constant reflecting on the subject.

The gross waking experience is merged into the mental experience in the sense that when it is analyzed, it is found to exist inseparably in and as the mind alone.  All "spiritual" planes are really mental.

The existence of the three states is the proof of the Formless witness. The moment one becomes aware of the witness of the dream is not the waking entity, then he becomes aware of the formless witness of the three states, which is apart from the three states.

The "three states" is the totality of man's experience, which gives one the dual and non dual experiences.

Anyone puts their hand in fire it is the universal experience that,  the nature of the fire is hot, and that even if a man says it is cold, the fact of heat remains. Same way the one who is aware of the three states in waking is aware of the awareness of the three states.

The "three states" is the totality of man's experience, which gives one the dual and non dual experiences. Waking experience is converted into idea. People do not want to go deeper.  They do not want to know what an idea is. Where has the deep sleep gone? It disappears as Consciousness when waking takes place.  The whole experience of diversity [waking experience] disappears as Consciousness. That is the point. That Consciousness is what the seeker of truth has to get at.

v  What is experience?

 It implies a second thing, i.e. duality. Unless one rise to a unity, he has no peace.

v  Why does man have wants, peace?

Because, he has sense of duality.

 Absence of experience, then whole experience of duality is converted into feeling of non-duality. When one knows that all the three states is merged into the soul/self, and then there is noting to experience because there is no second thing other then Consciousness.  

Consciousness creates and in which the creator is dissolved. "Awareness is self”. The three states are dissolved in Consciousness. The waking/dream is a mirage; the waking/dream gets merged in Consciousness in sleep.

The whole waking/dream is merged in Consciousness in sleep, and then one gets the same position as soul/self unconsciously in deep sleep.  But consciously becoming aware of the Consciousness in the midst of the waking experience is non dual wisdom.

This doubt and confusion exists only for those who believe external world exists as real and who think their physical body also exists as real

The mind rises from the formless soul, which is in the form of consciousness. The sense of ‘I’ rises as mind. The mind is in the form of universe. Thus ‘I’ is the mind or universe. Universe appears as waking or dream and disappears as deep sleep.  Holding sense of ‘I’ limited to the ego is cause of separation. It makes one feel, he is an individual separate from the world and world existed prior to him, and he is born in it afterwards. Until one has this conviction, it is very difficult to grasp the nondual truth. 

Thus it is necessary to realize the self is neither the ego nor the world but is the witness of the ego, body and world together.  The true self is formless witness of the three states.  And it is also the formless substance of the three states, because without self the three states are non-existent. 

v  How to think the world ceases to exist when asleep?

 This doubt and confusion exists only for those who believe  external world  exists as real and who think their physical body also exists as real.  For person who is aware of the fact that he and his world exists only in waking experience, and waking is unreal. When one sees their unreality the problem collapses. 

v  What is grief or suffering due to?

 One not being able to get what is wanted or to lose what is had. But if he knows that the waking experience is mere mirage, and that all the wealth, women and luxuries he had, and which was lost has gone back to Consciousness, the true self, therefore how can he feel sorry. If one grieves it is because he wrongly felt it has gone into somebody else. 

The idea of loss, the object or person lost, all go back into the soul. Hence a Gnani does not grieve. This is foolishly applied to practical life, when people have an idea, that I am a separate being from others; only for a Gnani is loss not real loss. Unless one has realized, one should be practical in viewing loss. When one forgets everything, he doesn’t grieve over it. When one know that memory is an idea, and then the misery it may bring him is nullified. 

All unhappiness brought by the memory of the past, is found in the mind; Gnani evacuates it as idea and is not moved.  When one knows  Soul or Consciousness  to be all-pervading, he becomes aware of the fact that consciousness  alone is real all else is mirage.

So long as there is waking, there is thinking. Think always of the fact that everything in past, present and future is created out of Consciousness. Imagination of past and future appears as real to unenlightened until they awaken.  Then they see it is all imagination. To ignorant waking experience seems real, to Gnani the waking is mere mirage.