Meher Baba said: ~ Give no importance to creed, dogma, caste or the performance of religious ceremonies and rites.
The only Real Existence is that of the One and only God Who is the Self in every (finite) Self.
The only Real Love is the Love for this Infinity (God), which arouses an intense longing to see, know and become one with its Truth (God)
The only Real Sacrifice is that in which, in pursuance of this Love, all things—body, mind, position, welfare and even life itSelf—are sacrificed.
The only Real Renunciation is that which abandons, even in the midst of worldly duties, all Selfish thoughts and desires.
The only Real Knowledge is the Knowledge that God is the inner dweller in good people and in so-called bad, in saint and in so-called sinner. This Knowledge requires you to help all equally as circumstances demand without expectation of reward, and when compelled to take part in a dispute, to act without the slightest trace of enmity or hatred; to try to make.
The real love is the love for the innermost Self. Thus ‘Love Thy Self'.
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says: - In that unitive state there is neither father nor mother, neither worlds nor Gods nor even the 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.
Rig Veda: 1.164.46:~ Ekam Sat Vipra Bahudha Vadanti” "The Reality (Truth) is One: The Wise Call It by Various Names."
A Gnani will easily appreciate the high flights of Sage Sri, Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom is one of the 'most majestic structures and valuable products of the Genius of man in his search for Truth.
In India people think that religion as a stepping stone to higher truth, but it is not so because the religion is based on the false Self (waking entity or ego) within the false experience (waking or the world).
One must go beyond form, time, and space. The theistic tradition has been kept alive by the orthodoxy. The orthodoxy is the path of ignorance because it is based on the ignorance. The orthodoxy is nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman. Thus, it is not the path of ultimate truth or Brahman. People who stuck to orthodoxy never will be able to cross the prison of duality. Without crossing the prison of the duality, Self-awareness is an impossibility. Thus Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana is necessary to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman.
Each sect concocts a God to suit its own purposes. Such concocted Gods are mere a belief.
Faith in religion weakens as the man pays more attention to the facts of life and this world. People, who argue that truth is only in their religion, are vain logicians, depending on mere ideas, imaginations based on inherited samskaras and conditioning.
To know the ultimate truth. There is nothing new to be acquired. The truth is always there, but it is hidden by the ‘I’, which is the dualistic illusion. The seeker has to be sharp enough to grasp and understand, assimilate and realize it when told about it. But there is a difference between understanding and realization.
Only mental effort is required for this understanding and assimilation of the truth, which is beyond the form, time and space. Once the truth is realized then no special effort is needed to remember the realized truth.
To overcome all your doubt and confusion by the sword of self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. The pundits say you should give up your doubts and blindly believe in God and the Saints words.
You should keep on thinking and reasoning about your doubts until they are solved, that you should not stop until this point is reached.
When all your doubts are cleared, that is the doubts on every question. But this happy state could not have been reached if he had not begun by having doubts and asking himself the questions and demanding proof.
Ashtavakra Gita (page 224):~ It is not the absence of buddhi (Reason) 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 Advaitic truth is the 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.
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."
