Acquire Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana right here right now.

Religion, belief in God, is an escape from realizing ultimate reality.  Belief in god and belief system blocks one's realization of ultimate truth or Brahman.

People of various walks of life believe in their inherited belief system and its idea of God. People indulge in God and guru glorification to symbolize that they are religious people. 

Religion makes one believe that, the practical life within the practical world as reality.  By believing the practical life within the practical world as reality one is bound to believe, the experience of the birth, life, death and the world as reality.  By believing in the experience of  birth, life, death and the world as reality one is accepting the false self (waking entity or ego) as true self and  the illusory  world(waking) as reality). By accepting the false self as real self and illusory world as reality, one is accepting the experience of the form, time and space as reality. By accepting the experience of the form, time and space as reality one is accepting   illusion or mind or universe or waking as reality. 

Religion and its idea of God make one, more and more egocentric.   Egocentricity makes one feel he is an individual separate from the world and world existed prior to him and he is born in this world afterwards.  Thus this conviction or condition or samskara is so deep rooted therefore it is impossible acquire Self-Knowledge or brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.  

Religion is tool for   giving   samskara or conditioning to be, to behave, to believe, to live according to its code of conduct, in family and society to live peacefully honestly loving the humanity with the fear of GOD.  Thus region is belief centric not truth centric.

 

    

Religion makes one getting stuck with the reality of the practical life within the practical world. Religion is nothing to do with the Self-knowledge or brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana because it is based on the formless soul, which is the innermost self, whereas religion is based on the form or waking entity (ego).   Therefore mixing religion with spirituality or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana and trying to realize the truth is like trying to find snow in the desert.     

The one who thinks religion and yogic path is for moksha or nirvana escapes from realizing the fact that, the self is neither waking entity nor the self is dream entity but the self is formless witness of the three states.   Therefore, one has to realize the existence of the three states, which is apart from the three states.    The waking entity (ego) or waking world (mind or universe) is nothing to do with soul or consciousness, which is the innermost self and it is ever free from experience of form, time and space. 

Every religionists, yogis and theorist (ignorant) are saying their own accepted truth, over and over again. They are merely propagating their truth, but none of them are able to establish it with certainty, which can be verified here and now, not in the next life or next world. 

In dualistic philosophies the imaginary god is made as creator basing on cause and effect theory. Then the doubt natural arises, who is the cause of the creator. The creator is dependent on creation for his existence.  Without the creation the creator ceases to exist. Thus the dualistic theory holds no water, because it is based on mere imagination and speculation, which they try to prove it on citing the mythological stories and doctrine of code of conducts. When the self is not the body then all these dualistic ideologies hold no water.   Therefore the devotional paths, which are based on the human conducts, are not the means for TRUTH –REALIZATION. 

Truth realization is Self-Realization. Self-Realization is God Realization.

Even the religious based non-dualism is not the means for truth realization, because   their preaching is based on the non-duality but their practice is based on dualistic view point.  Therefore, it is difficult to get   TRUTH –REALIZATION from conduct based orthodox non-dualism. Thus it looks like the real essence of non-dualism is lost or destroyed in the past by the orthodox oriented priest craft and propagated and injected only priest-crafted non-dualism, to the mass, the reason best known to the masters of the past.  Therefore, it is impossible to come out of all these priest crafted confusions in one life time. Through orthodox non-dualism it is impossible to get truth realization.     

 There is no need to collect all these baggage of confusions, if one is seeking truth, nothing but truth. The guru is necessary only in religious and yogic paths, but guru is not necessary in pursuit of truth.  Path of truth is a personal path and it is the path of verification. But in religion and yoga the verification is not allowed. Blind faith is main ingredient in belief system and yoga.   Gurudom is playing with words because maybe the meaning is floating somewhere in between the spaces of words...

People who think themselves to be in a position to air their knowledge forget one basic fact, namely that they go by mere appearances. Someone expounds knowledge and the one who receives it begins to ape the person from whom he has received the knowledge.  They never question the validity of that knowledge. 

That is why Sri Sankara, indicated  in Bhaja Govindam says: - [Jnana Viheena Sarva Mathena Bajathi na Muktim janma Shatena] - one without knowledge does not obtain liberation even in a hundred births, no matter which religious faith he follows. 

When Advaita declares Atman is  Brahman then direct realization of truth is possible without the scriptures.  Know the soul to be the true self. And true self is in the form of consciousness and realize consciousness as ultimate truth or Brahman. 

Upanishad says:

  This Ataman cannot be attained by the study of the Vedas, or by intelligence, or by much hearing of sacred books. It is attained by him alone whom It chooses. To such a one Ataman reveals Its own form. [Katha Upanishad Ch-II -23-P-20]

Mundaka Upanishad  :-

This Ataman cannot be attained through study of the Vedas, nor through intelligence, nor through much learning. He who chooses Ataman—by him alone is Ataman attained. It is Ataman that reveals to the seeker Its true nature. [    3 –page-70 Mundaka Upanishad  Upanishads by Nikilanada]

When the Upanishads say:-

It is attained by him alone whom It chooses. To such a one Atman reveals its own form.  Then what is the use of indulging through our intelligence or our accumulated knowledge, when one is not chosen by the self, which is the soul, which is in the form of consciousness.

There is no need for any philosophy in pursuit of truth because they take the seeker nearer to truth but they create more doubts and confusions.

 

The scriptures and theories and teaching based on the ego are not the yardstick. Using them as yardstick to understand and assimilate the truth will lead one towards pursuit of arguments. Seeker of truth has to discover on his own, the truth of his true existence by inquiring “what is mind?” and “what is substance of the mind?” and move forward.  

Religion promises moksha in next world or next life whereas the moksha or nirvana is possible right now (in this very life) and right here (in this very life).  Simply repeating or reading or hearing what scriptures say or whatever god men or guru says does not make one to understand, assimilate and realize the nondual truth. Seeker should not accept anything as truth without verification. 

 That why Buddha said:-  

Do not believe a spiritual teaching just because:- 

1. It is repeatedly recited,
2. It is written in a scripture,
3. It was handed from guru to disciple,
4. Everyone around you believes it,
5. It has supernatural qualities,
6. It fits my beliefs anyway,
7. It sounds rational to me,
8. It is taught by a respectable person,
9. It was said to be the truth by the teacher,
10. One must defend it or fight for it.

However, only when it agrees with your experience and reason, and when it is conducive to the good and gain of oneself and all others, then one should accept the teachings, and live up to them."
....Buddha.

Buddhism says: all things are illusory and noting exists.  However, Advaita avers that it is not so.  It says that the universe of course is illusory, but there is Brahman, that exists forming the very substratum of all things.

That is why Sri, Sankara (VC) indicated that:-

 

56. Neither by Yoga, nor by Sankhya, nor by work, nor by learning, but by the realisation of one's identity with Brahman is Liberation possible, and by no other means. 

58. Loud speech consisting of a shower of words, the skill in expounding the Scriptures, and likewise erudition - these merely bring on a little personal enjoyment to the scholar, but are no good for Liberation.

59. The study of the Scriptures is useless so long as the highest Truth is unknown, and it is equally useless when the highest Truth has already been known.

60. The Scriptures consisting of many words are a dense forest which merely causes the mind to ramble. Hence men of wisdom should earnestly set about knowing the true nature of the Self.

61. For one who has been bitten by the serpent of Ignorance, the only remedy is the knowledge of Brahman. Of what avail are the Vedas and (other) Scriptures, Mantras (sacred formulae) and medicines to such a one?

62. A disease does not leave off if one simply utter the name of the medicine, without taking it; (similarly) without direct realisation one cannot be liberated by the mere utterance of the word Brahman.

Holding some teacher or teaching as yardstick and trying to prove that he is right and others are wrong and indulging in perverse argument will help to unfold the mystery of the mind. Seeker has to learn to view and judge on the standpoint of formless witness (soul, the innermost self). Then he will be never having any doubts and confusion.  When one thinks deeply then only the inner revelation starts and start burning the dross (confusion and doubts).

Luke 17

20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, 'Lo here! or, lo there!' for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you."

This means that the "kingdom of God" (heaven) is within - it is not a place to be reached, rather the truth of one’s true existence, which is beyond form, time and space. 

The formless soul or consciousness is the innermost self   and it is the cause of the form, time and space and it itself is uncaused. Thus soul or spirit is the ultimate truth or Brahman or Christ or Buddha’s nature.    

Corinthians 3:17:  Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

 According to the New Testament, Jesus said to his disciples: ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand’ (Luke, 8:10). While speaking to the multitude in a veiled manner, ‘privately to his own disciples he explained everything’ (Mark, 4:34), and advised them not to ‘throw your pearls before swine’ (Matthew, 7:6).

Therefore Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is necessary to realize the ultimate truth. Self –Knowledge or Brahma Gnana it is only for those who has intense urge to know the ultimate truth or Brahman or Inner Buddha or Christ.   

Raman Maharshi said fortunate are the one who do not lose themselves in the labyrinths of philosophy. Bhagwan says: Take Vedanta, for instance: it speaks of 15 pranas the names and functions of it   which the student is asked to commit memory. Will it not be sufficient if he thought only one prana does the whole work of maintaining the body? Again the antakaran is said to think, to desire, to will, to reason etc. Why all these details? Has anyone seen antakarana, or all these pranas? Do they really exist? They are conceptual divisions invented by teachers of philosophy by their excessive analysis. Where do all these concepts end? Why should confusion created and then explained away? Fortunate is the man who does not lose himself in the labyrinths of philosophy, but goes straight to the source from which they all arise. (GURU RAMANA .By S.S Cohen -vii Danger of philosophy-Page -58-59)

The above passages further prove that: Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana cannot be attained by study of the Vedas and intellectual understanding or by bookish knowledge.  Therefore there is no use of studying the Vedas and other scriptures in order to acquire the non-dual wisdom.  That is why Buddha rejected the scriptures, and even Sri, Sankara indicated that, the ultimate truth lies beyond religion, concept of god and scriptures. 

Therefore, there is no use of taking strain to understand assimilate the conceptual divisions invented by teachers of philosophy by their excessive analysis. There are more and more doubts and confusions, if one tries to understand and assimilate the ultimate truth through scriptures. 

The innermost self or formless soul or consciousness is nothing to do with the three states because it is not an entity or identity within the three states. Consciousness pervades in everything and everywhere in all the three states as their formless substance and it is apart from the three states as their formless witness. The formless substance and witness are one in essence. Thus all the three states are mere mirage created out of consciousness.  Therefore, no second thing exists, other than consciousness, the innermost self. By Realizing the soul or consciousness as innermost self, leads to nondual Self-Awareness or Brahmic awareness or Atmic awareness. 

 Acquire Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana right here right now.