It is impossible to stop thought for more than a second whilst in the waking experience. If one succeeds in controlling thought and then banishes it, one passes into nirvikalpa samadhi, which is identical with deep sleep. The only difference between ordinary deep sleep and samadhi, therefore is that the ordinary man falls asleep involuntarily whereas the yogi has the satisfaction of knowing that he has passed into sleep by his own effort of will in banishing thoughts.
Yoga can yield only the duality, because everything that one can do or practice becomes a vanishing 'known.' It yields relative truth based on imagination, which is true from a physical viewpoint of view, not the non-dualistic truth, which is ultimate reality.
Yogic truth is the individual truth, not universal. The "Religions place God as the unknown reality” Every religious believer has a different idea of God. Every man has a different idea of reality. Hence the need of definition before the study.
The yogic teachings about six chakras and seven chakras of Raja 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 ego is concentrated on each one a different mystic result would be obtained. But that is mere fancy.
Mandukya Upanishads:~ Those that want Brahman will not practice control of the mind. That is Yoga for duffers. The others will inquire and practice discrimination. (p.231)
Yoga and samadhi are not the goals but a means to an end, i.e. Gnana. Samadhi in itself is useless because the mind is withdrawn and there is no memory of it until after it is over and one returns to waking state. Yogi who attains mind control: it is only sleep. The world must be seen before you can know its true nature in Gnana. The yogi who shuts it out thereby deprives himself of the opportunity to achieve Gnana.
Brih. Upanishad:- "Yoga does not yield truth or liberation."( page 32).
The Gnani sees the essential universal unity and the multiplicity of objects simultaneously. The person in deep sleep or samadhi leaves out the objects and sees the essence; hence he has not the full Gnana. There was no permanent cure however without Gnana, and Yoga does not yield Gnana.
Sage Sri Sankara in the commentary to "Brahma Sutras:~ " "The highest beatitude is not to be attained by Yoga." (Sacred Books of East Series page 298 Vol.1.) And he also says Samadhi is the same as sleep (p.312)
~this indicates that yoga is not the means to self-realization. And yogic Samadhi is not nondualistic self-awareness.
~this indicates that yoga is not the means to self-realization. And yogic Samadhi is not nondualistic self-awareness.
Patanjali warns against sleep as a hindrance to yoga, he means when it occurs in the early stages of the practice before one has obtained the power of control and consequently to banish the thought. This fact that Samadhi is deep sleep is kept secret because people would not be tempted to take up yoga. Then what is the value of it? Why, to sharpen the mind, to enable it to keep away all extraneous thoughts when one gets out to reason in the practice of the next higher stage, i.e. Gnana.
Mandukya Upanishads:~ Yoga can no more succeed than the ocean can be emptied with a blade of grass.
Yoga is thus simply a sharpening-stone for the intellect to enable it to take up Gnana. People think that the yogis can live without thoughts but it is impossible to live without the thoughts. How can he walk from one spot to another without thought? He does not know the Gnanic or Advaitic truth if he says thoughtlessness is the nature of the Self. Yoga has its place rather than its value and that its value is for a certain type of mindset. Yoga will give steadiness of mind, education of mind, but never Truth because it ignores the external world.
Brihad Upanishad:~Even yoga cannot give perfect concentration and that the only way to gain it is philosophical realization. (Page 133 1st para)
Patanjali takes for granted that there is an Iswara--God, gives it to the students for concentration purposes, and then they naturally find God in their meditations. But it is only their imagined God. Mystics see what they are looking for or that whose existence they presuppose. Therefore Patanjali Yoga belongs to religion, not truth. Belief in Yoga is a self-mesmeric condition out of which it is extremely difficult to escape.
Religion and Yoga are useful from utilitarian viewpoints, but from point of view of seeking the truth, they are useless. Religious believers have not proved that there is a God because the religious gods are mere belief. Personal experience which is not universally valid is no proof, neither is ecstatic feeling.
All philosophical, yogic and cosmological teachings but at the end, it finally says "All is imaginative and based on the false self (ego or waking entity) within the false experience(waking)."
Sage Sankara says:~ Yoga is not the means of liberation. (P -132-133 of his commentary on Brihadaranyakopanishad).
One need not doubt that mystics saw God or Goddesses in their vision. That they saw visions may be an undeniable fact. But the question is “Was what they saw the Truth? They no doubt had such vision but they never stopped to inquire if their visions be true. One has to take all the facts and then find out which is the truth through deeper self-search. The seeker of truth has to collect as much evidence as possible, even contradictory, and then proceed to examine all of it and Analyze, how far is it true.
What happens when thoughts are stilled? It is not the Self that is found. Rubbish. It is only the mind. Patanjali has not reached Gnana and therefore does not know the highest truth. His yoga is good to give peace and concentration, but only in order to start reasoning, i.e. thinking again to find the truth.
Thoughts arise to the person within the waking or dream. The thinker is the form. Without the form, the thinking is an impossibility. Thus thinker and the thoughts are part of the known. The witness of the knower and the known including the world is the formless soul.
People think they taken Diksha or initiation and they are practiced under some guru or yogi and they are experiencing the bliss and now they are capable of transforming that bliss to others and they start hallucinating that what they experienced as bliss is reality without realizing the fact that their own existence within the universe is mere illusion because the universe is mere illusion from ultimate standpoint. It is very difficult for those who are caught up in the understanding based on the false self to realize the fact that, whatever they have experienced as bliss is a mere hallucination because the ultimate truth or Brahman cannot be experienced because the self is not an individual because it is formless.
Yogi shuts its eyes to the world then he declares that he knows the world to be Brahman because he has not inquired into it, he knows nothing of Brahman.
If one feels ecstatic or exalted peace in the presence of Yogi’s or Godmen or Guru is not wisdom. People with disturbed and troubled or unhappy find tranquillity in Ashrams or in presence gurus or yogis, because there are in uneasy disturbance of the mind, probably over their practical life within the practical world.
This is because they do not know what truth is, and they mistake this physicalized peace as Atamic peace. Non-dualistic peace is the nature of the soul, the innermost self.
Practicing yogic Samadhi up to the limit and extent of getting a strong and concentrative mind, and to be able to think of particular subjects, it is good; beyond that if they begin to weaken their mind and accept what they imagine as real, they begin to get hallucinated.
Yogi limit the mind to the physical entity, thus they fail to realize the non-dualistic or Advaitic truth. They stick up to their accepted truth and they remain stagnant with their belief.
The individual experience is merely an illusion. Thus without first examining them and inquiring into them thoroughly is to delude oneself. The three states common to all; therefore, one must begin his inquiry analysis and reasoning on the true base. It is only after it has inquired into the nature of the three states that he should inquire into who is the knower/witness. If, however, one inquiries into the knower before the analysis of the three states, then it is mere mysticism. What are these three states? Must precede what is ‘I’?
Thoughts and thinker are present only when the world is present. The world is present only when the waking experience is present. Waking experience is merely an illusion from ultimate standpoint. If the waking experience is merely an illusion then the thought, thinker, and the world are mere illusion. Thought, thinker, and the world are nothing to do with the formless witness. The witness is that witnesses the thoughts, the thinker and the world together. The thoughts, thinker, and the world are one in essence. And also the three states are one in essence. That essence is consciousness. The consciousness (soul) is the innermost self. The consciousness is the ultimate reality or Brahman or God.
Man and his experience of the world is the product of ignorance. Ignorance is the cause of experiencing the duality as reality. The duality is merely an illusion from ultimate standpoint. All the thoughts, words, feelings, attachment including the man and his experience of the world are part of the illusion. The illusion (universe) is created out of single stuff. That single stuff is consciousness (soul or Atman), the innermost self. On the standpoint of the soul, the innermost self no second thing exists other than consciousness.
The Upanishad says:~ Atman the innermost self is known by Reason alone, by sharpened and purified intellect. Yet still, people worship Yoga and mysticism as the sole means of attaining Atman.
The great mystic who claims to have experienced non-dualistic ecstasy must still come back to normal state and see the external world, after his ecstasy. And then he will find that world separates from him because he has ignored it and not tried to understand it. Only the Gnani can say of the external world, "This whole universe is Brahman." and prove his statement, and that it is none other than the Soul, the innermost Self.
The yogis are largely self-deluded. Otherwise, they would not set themselves up as different from others. They seek influence over others, or money, by thus differentiating themselves. The Gnani never does this. The yogis promise blessings etc. to those who surrender their wealth or person to them.
The easiest thing is the physical action. Who is better off--the man that digs the well or the man who calculates? Sitting still is a bodily act. Hence true yoga has been lost through it being in the hands of the mentally weak.
When a yogi says "I feel Bliss" who is having the experience? His 'I' is the ego. Hence that is not the highest Gnana.
The ‘I’ is inborn samskara or conditioning, because of this inborn samskara or conditioning one has accepted the ‘I’ as ‘self, he is ignorant of the fact that, he has accepted illusion as reality. The ‘I’ itself is an illusion. And whatever is connected to the ‘I’ is bound to be an illusion. The self is not an individual because it is birthless because it is formless. The self is not limited to waking experience alone because it pervades all the three states. Thus identifying the self without the form alone is erroneous. The self is without the form, without the time and without space.
The thought is nothing to do with the innermost self, which is ever formless because without the form, time and space the thought will not be formed. The thought rises only to the waking entity or dream entity. Without the waking entity or dream entity, the thoughts will not rise. Deeper self-search reveals the fact that the self is neither the waking entity nor the self is the dream entity but the self is the formless soul or consciousness, which witnesses the coming and going of the three states. The three states are nothing to do with the self because they are mere illusion.
Swami Vivekananda:~The idea that you are Mr. So-and-so can never be true; it is a daydream. Know this and be free. This is the non-dualistic conclusion. "Self is neither the body, nor the organs, nor self is the mind; the Self is Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss absolute; the Self is the soul." This is true knowledge; all reason and intellect, and everything else is ignorance. Where is knowledge for the soul, the innermost self, for self is knowledge itself! Where is life for the soul, for self is life itself! The Self is sure it the live, for self is life, the One Being, and nothing exists except through the soul, and in the soul, and as me.
If one carefully examines the experiences of mystics, he finds that they do differ. It is superficial to say that yogis and mystics all have the same experience.
Avadhuta Gita:~“The Atman cannot be purified through the practice of the six limbs of the yoga, or through the annihilation of the mind, or through the instruction of a teacher. The Atman is the Reality Itself and It is Purity Itself."
Whatever idea of God one familiar with through upbringing or teaching, that he will see in his visions i.e. imagination.
Mystics who promise a Garden of Eden, a joyous outlook on life, do not see that this must be duality, an object which is seen and must inevitably vanish. How long can it last? A Gnani regards the Self-awareness as higher, because it is apart from joy or sorrow, ecstasy or pain, and because it belongs to the Atman, the innermost Self and is therefore unbroken, permanent.
In the dream, one knows that the dream figures are also mind, not different from it; similarly, when he knows that everything is Brahman, there is no need for yogic control of the mind.
Manduka Upanishad:~ Control presupposes second, a duality. Hence yoga is in the sphere of duality and is unnecessary to one who knows non-duality. ( P.153 ).
The Upanishad says - Atman the innermost self is known by Reason alone, by sharpened and purified intellect. Yet still, people worship Yoga and mysticism as the sole means of attaining Atman.
The seeker of the truth has to be active in order to examine the world and discriminate. Hence non- dualistic self-awareness means knowing that the form, time and space are one in essence. That essence is consciousness. The three states and the formless witness of the three states are one in essence.
The three states and their formless witness is the Atman, which presents in the form of consciousness. The Atman is the innermost self. Realizing the Atman as self, the non- dualistic self-awareness arises in the midst of the duality. This is different from Patanjali Yogic Nirvikalpa samadhi, which is only deep sleep.
The Yogis and Mystics want meditation, sitting still, etc. only because it gives them pleasure: the satisfaction is for their own selves only, which is something sought by the ego and cannot get non-dualistic Self-awareness in consequence.
There is nothing to drive out. Even the yogi's ecstasies may be retained, provided one does not let himself be deceived about them and accept them like everything else, as part of Brahman.
The Yogi wants to do something, some action, even that of sitting still, to control this or concentrate that. This means he is still attached to the body. He wants his body to be quiet. He is still thinking of illusory body. He does not start with that the body and the world are but an illusion a. On the contrary, he takes them for a reality.
To be desireless means to feel that he everything in him; that there is nothing outside him; therefore, what has one to desire? The populace misunderstands and thinks desirelessness means refraining from worldly pleasures. A Gnani has nothing to give up when all is Brahman.
Those who say that Brahman is unity, that he can get it only by intuition, that he should not reason, he should not question or argue or inquire, are deluding him. Verification must come by thought.
The world must be seen before one can know its true nature in Gnana. The yogi who shuts it out thereby deprives himself of the opportunity to achieve Gnana.
Sage Sri, Sankara: -VC-63. Without causing the objective universe to vanish and without knowing the truth of the Self, how is one to achieve Liberation by the mere utterance of the word Brahman? — It would result merely in an effort of speech.
Manduka Upanishad:- Those that want ultimate truth Brahman will not practice control of the mind. (p.231)
If a man gets Moksha after undergoing any discipline, his Moksha is only temporary: it will go again. Atman (consciousness) cannot be got because it is already there. The witness(Atman) has never been in bondage because it is always apart from, untouched by witnessed (three states). This argument cannot be turned against A Gnani by yogis and religious believers , because they regard ignorance as an integral part of the soul to be got rid of by their practices, whereas a Gnani says the witness ( Atman) is ever pure, ever free from ignorance, being Knowledge itself, and that even all Gnana practice is within the realm of the witnessed (duality), never the witness (Atman).
People talk of liberation. They are forming an idea. The idea is duality. Many thinkers who are so confused as to be unable to separate the witness , talk of gaining liberation. But all such ideas are only within the duality (witnessed) which come and go, the witness (Atman) needs no liberation.
The final state is that God is Everything, the All, there is nothing but God, whereas to say "God is in me" is mysticism.
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad:~ Brahman is the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself.
DVI" means two. DVI" connotes the dual existence and the non-dual. Which of these two is non-existence? People think that there is a God and that the jivas--souls-- like them form the second, other than them. There is no such duality at all.
The "Soul”, which is present in the form of consciousness, is the only reality and there is nothing other than this soul or consciousness, which is the innermost self. On the standpoint the formless soul or consciousness, innermost self, there is no second thing exists other than consciousness. Because the whole universe, in which we all exist is created out of consciousness. There is no second thing exist other than consciousness. Hence it is nondual (non-duality). The soul or consciousness is ultimate truth or Brahman or God.
Non-dualistic self-awareness is Brahmic bliss. In Self-awareness, there is neither enjoyer nor enjoyment, not the world. Self-awareness is possible only in the midst of duality. The mystic revels only in 'bliss' that is experienced i.e. that comes and goes, but his is not Non-dualistic Self-awareness.
The peace will be disturbed only if one recognizes a second. Hence the mystic's peace is temporary: the only enduring peace belongs to the Gnani for it is non-dual.
Mystics claim that their ego disappears in the mystic experience: we say it is not so. It is the ego that sees and enjoys the experience, otherwise, they would not say afterward "I had this great ecstasy, I felt such peace."
When the ultimate truth is rightly known and one attains eternal life thereby. Through soul, the innermost self he gains strength and through its knowledge immortality.
Not by intellectual speculation but only by an awakening to the reality of his true existence he gets the soul-centric vision. Soul, the innermost self’s nature is like the state of deep sleep.
Religion, yoga, and intellectualism are not the means to acquire self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. Without getting rid of the ignorance and trying to get self-awareness through religion and yoga is like a sleeping man trying to know what he is about, without waking up. As sleep is to waking, so is ordinary life to the state of realization.
