One is so much attached to the 'I' that he do not want to think that 'I' does not exist

The Upanishads are self-contradictory. Every pundit even gives conflicting interpretations of them. The final authority therefore is using one’s own own reason. One should apply his reason to them.

The scriptures are for ignorant masses, who wholly accept the material world as it presents itself. Gnana is for those who have begun to realize that things are not what they seem.

The scriptures are of value only when dealing with persons who are incapable of understanding truth. They have no value as authority for those who use reason. 

Every religionists, yogis and theorist 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. 

Dualist sages could not distinguish between ‘I’ and ‘formless witness.’ The 'I' was the witness. Their highest was the Jiva. One is so much attached to the 'I' that he do not want to think that 'I' does not exist. Again one is unable to detach the ‘I’ from the Real witness. 

Most of the modern Gurus are also stuck with ‘I’ awareness as self-awareness. The ‘I’ awareness is present only when the mind is present. Mind is present only when the universe is present. Universe is present only when the waking or dream is present.   The ‘I’ awareness is absent when the mind is absent. Mind is absent than the universe or waking or dream is absent. Thus ‘I’ awareness is mere illusion.   The self-awareness is ‘I- LESS AWARENESS.

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. 

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 is 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.

The seeker has to understand the fact that whatever is based on the form (mind or universe) is falsehood and whatever is based on the formless (soul or Atman) is the truth. When the subconscious is able to discriminate everything on the base of Atman,   then it will start discriminating everything on the base of formless, and reject whatever is based on the form. Finally nothing exists to reject other then Atman.  Finally, the Atman will prevail as ultimate truth.

The seeker has to establish the truth for himself by verifying himself by reasoning on the true base, not by blindly believing what others say, or what scriptures say.  Once he creates a formless base mentally by replacing the form base which was discriminating good and bad, negative or positive in worldly life will start discriminating truth and untruth or real or unreal and start rejecting the untruth/unreal and starts accepting only truth /real. 

Simply quoting the doctrines and sages will not help true seekers, in their pursuit of truth. Seeker has to use appropriate methodology for one to cognize those truths that are being stated within oneself by oneself. Truth pursuit is not an intellectual pursuit, but a spiritual understanding and realization.

Non-dualistic truth is supreme truth; all dualistic systems hold false self as real self and false experience as reality.  Non- dualistic wisdom is culmination of all systems including theistic non-duality.   The true non-dualist will not quarrel and argue with any theoretical philosophy because he is fully aware of the fact that, this orthodox theistic non-dualistic scholars or pundits like Dualist sages could not distinguish between ‘I’ and ‘formless witness.’ The 'I' was the witness. Their highest was the Jiva. One is so much attached to the 'I' that he do not want to think that 'I' does not exist. Again one is unable to detach the ‘I’ from the Real witness.

The seeker has to grow from the inside out by soul-centric reasoning. None can teach him none can make him to reach the ultimate end. There is no other guru but the formless consciousness, which the innermost self. 

Mind is in the form of universe.  Man is with in the world. Man is the physical entity within the universe. Universe appears as waking or dream. Dream is parallel waking and waking is parallel dream.  The formless witness of the mind or universe or waking is real and eternal. The formless witness itself is the formless substance of the three states.   

Each sect concocts a God to suit its own purposes.  Such concocted Gods have no value in pursuit of truth.  Man himself suggests that there must be a God. It is an auto-suggestion.

 
Prayers and sacrifices belong to a premature stage of development. However when no answers come to prayers, struggle for existence presses man, and doubt arises again.  Faith in religion weakens as man pays more attention to facts of the practical life and practical world.

If the waking entity is not the self and waking experience is mere illusion then the karma performed within the illusion has no value.

 

Truth cannot be got in external world. The truth is hidden within the three states as their formless substance and witness. By Becoming a monk and renouncing the worldly life and running away to mountains to acquire non dual truth or Brahman is a foolish venture.

 CH.2 v.16 where Krishna tells Arjuna to fight is misrepresented by half-Vedantins as an order to kill other human beings, because they are mere Ideas, Illusory, whereas whole Vedanta says these ideas too are Brahman, and yourself and hence no killing really occurs. Only when you see all individuals, especially yourself as imagined ideas, can you rise to see them later as Brahman. Thus there are two stages. You must first see yourself as illusory before you see others as illusory. 

Truth is not something to be sought. It is something that has to be realized.  People start their spiritual practices for accomplishing their needs in the practical  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 , experience of birth, life ,  death and the world  are mere mirage on the standpoint the formless soul or consciousness the innermost self.

Brahman is within. The formless soul, which is in the form of consciousness, is ultimate truth or Brahman. The formless soul is the innermost self and it is not an entity or identity within the waking or dream, but it is the formless substance, witness and source of the three states. Formless soul is the source of the three states, from where the mind or universe (waking or dream) erupt and subsides.

All the confusion and doubts arise because one doesn’t know what he is seeking. He thinks “ego or waking entity” is self and he is trying to acquire self-knowledge on the base of ‘ego or waking entity’ which is false self within the false experience. He thinks truth is some thing accomplished from the external experiences. So instead of verifying it through deeper self-search he tries to regulate his human attributes through yoga and devotion and religious code of conduct and tries to acquire the self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana .

Karma (Conducts, action, deeds) are not the means to acquire non dual wisdom because they are based on the false self within the false experience. How karma can yields fruit when it is practiced on the base of false self within the illusion. Karma done in the dream will not yield fruit because the dream becomes unreal when waking takes place. Similarly the waking becomes unreal when waking entity realizes it itself is not self in the midst waking experience. If the waking entity is not the self and waking experience is mere illusion then the karma performed within the illusion has no value.

All the orthodox Advaitins indulge and immersed themselves in ritualistic oriented life style and follow the path of karma and upasana which is meant for lower and middling intellect   and not for realizing the Advaitic truth.  Many chose these orthodox scholars as their gurus. But these gurus are good to learn the conceptual Adavaita meant for those orthodox who believe their conduct oriented life style leads to Moksha [liberation].  But religious based Adavaita is not   the means to acquire self –knowledge or non-dual wisdom.  Those who are seeking truth have to do their own homework in order to acquire self-knowledge. 

When everything is consciousness, where is the room to say the thinker, thought, words, body and the universe are not consciousness? The consciousness alone is real and eternal and the thinker, thoughts, words body and universe are mere mirage created out of consciousness.

Sri, Sankar says in Aparokshanubhuti:-

   88. When the whole universe, movable and immovable, is known to be Atman, and thus the existence of everything else is negated, where is then any room to say that the body is Atman?

 

  89. O enlightened one; pass your time always contemplating on Atman while you are experiencing all the results of Prarabdha; for it ill becomes you to feel distressed.

90. The theory one hears of from the scripture, that Prarabdha does not lose its hold upon one even after the origination of the knowledge of Atman, is now being refuted.

91. After the origination of the knowledge of Reality, Prarabdha verily ceases to exist, inasmuch as the body and the like become non-existent; just as a dream does not exist on waking.

92. That Karma which is done in a previous life is known as Prarabdha (which produces the present life). But such Karma cannot take the place of Prarabdha (for a man of knowledge), as he has no other birth (being free from ego).

93. Just as the body in a dream is superimposed (and therefore illusory), so is also this body. How could there be any birth of the superimposed (body), and in the absence of birth (of the body) where is the room for that (i.e., Prarabdha) at all?

94. The Vedanta texts declare ignorance to be verily the material (cause) of the phenomenal world just as earth is of a jar. That (ignorance) being destroyed, where can the universe subsist?

 95. Just as a person out of confusion perceives only the snake leaving aside the rope, so does an ignorant person see only the phenomenal world without knowing the reality?

    96. The real nature of the rope being known, the appearance of the snake no longer persists; so the substratum being known, the phenomenal world disappears completely.

     97. The body also being within the phenomenal world (and therefore unreal), how could Prarabdha exist? It is, therefore, for the understanding of the ignorant alone that the Shruti speaks of Prarabdha.

     98. “And all the actions of a man perish when he realizes that (Atman) which is both the higher and the lower”. Here the clear use of the plural by the Shruti is to negate Prarabdha as well.

   99. If the ignorant still arbitrarily maintain this, they will not only involve themselves into two absurdities but will also run the risk of forgoing the Vedantic conclusion. So one should accept those Shrutis alone from which proceeds true knowledge.

The above proves that the karma is reality only on the base of false self, where one thinks body and the universe as reality. When one becomes aware of the fact that, the true self is formless soul, then the karma becomes part and parcel of illusion.   My point is that, if one accepts the karma theory as reality, he will never be able to come out of the ignorance. And ignorance makes him believe the cycle of birth, life and death or pain and pleasure as reality.  Thus the freedom which one is seeking will remain distant dream. For the one who accepts the birth life and death as reality, Self-knowledge is impossible.

Thus it is necessary for the seeker of truth to know the fact that, the body which is born, lives and dies is not the self. Since he is taking the body to be the self, he is experiencing the duality as reality within the waking experience.

 

Bhagavad Gita does not have the majesty found in the Ashtavakra Samhita - it is simply unparalleled.*****

There are hundreds of commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads and other doctrines by different authors. Each one goes on spinning yarns imagining as he likes what the meaning may be. 

Through soul-centric reasoning, one becomes aware of what they really meant and able to see that there is only one possible interpretation, irrespective of others opinion or imagination. 

There is no need for studying Bhagavad Gita or any other doctrines in order to acquire Self-Knowledge, Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.  

No. Do you need all that to see yourself? All that is intellectual wealth, useful in explaining doubts and difficulties if others rise them or if you yourself encounter them in the course of thinking. But to attain realization, all that is not necessary. You want fresh water to drink, but you do not require all the water of the river Ganges to quench your thirst.

The path of wisdom is independent path nothing to with the religion and scriptures. 

From  Maha Gita –OSHO -- We are embarking on a rare journey. The man has many scriptures, but none comparable to the Gita of Ashtavakra. Before it the Vedas pale, the Upanishads speak with a weak voice. Even the Bhagavad Gita does not have the majesty found in the Ashtavakra Samhita - it is simply unparalleled. 

The most important thing is that neither society nor politics nor any other institution of human life have had any influence on the sayings of Ashtavakra. They are such a pure expression - transcending emotion, transcending time and death - there is nothing comparable. Perhaps this is why Ashtavakra's Gita, the ASHTAVAKRA SAMHITA, has not had much impact. 

Krishna's Bhagavad Gita has been very influential. The first reason is that Krishna's Gita is a synthesis. He is more concerned with synthesis than with truth. The desire for synthesis is so strong that if necessary Krishna doesn't mind sacrificing the truth a little. 

Krishna's Gita 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 Gita. It is difficult to find anyone who does not take solace from the Gita. But for such people, Ashtavakra's Gita will prove very difficult. 

Ashtavakra is not for synthesis - he is a man of truth. He speaks the truth just as it is, without any artifice or coloring. He is not concerned about the listener, he does not care whether his listener will understand or not. Such a pure expression of truth has never happened anywhere before, nor has it ever happened again. 

People love Krishna's Gita because it is very easy to extract one's own meaning from it. Krishna's Gita is poetic: in it two plus two can equal five, two plus two can also equal three. No such tricks are possible with Ashtavakra. With him, two plus two are exactly four. Ashtavakra's statements are statements of pure mathematics. There isn't the least possibility for poetic license here. He says things as they are, without any sort of compromise. 

Reading Krishna's Gita a devotee extracts something of which he can make a belief because Krishna spoke on bhakti, devotion. The karma yogi extracts his belief because Krishna has spoken on karma yoga, the Yoga of action. The believer in knowledge finds what he wants because Krishna has spoken on knowledge as well. Somewhere Krishna calls bhakti the ultimate, somewhere else he calls knowledge the ultimate, again elsewhere he calls karma yoga the ultimate. 

Krishna's statements are very political. He was a politician, a perfect politician. Just to say he was a politician is not right; he was a shrewd politician, a real diplomat. In his statements, he considered and included many things. This is why the Gita suits everyone, why there are thousands of commentaries on the Gita. No one is concerned with Ashtavakra because to accept Ashtavakra you are going to have to drop yourself - unconditionally. You cannot bring yourself along. Only if you stay behind can you come near him? With Krishna, you can bring yourself along. With Krishna, there is no need to transform yourself. With Krishna you can fit just as you are. 

Hence the founders of each tradition have written commentaries on Krishna's Gita - Shankara, Ramanuja, Nimbarak, Vallabha - everyone. Each has extracted his own meaning. Krishna has said things in such a way as to allow multiple meanings; hence I call his Gita poetic. You can draw out any meaning you like from a poem. 

Krishna's statements are like clouds surrounding you in the rainy season: you see in them whatever you want. Someone may see an elephant's trunk, someone sees the whole body of Ganesha, the elephant god. Someone may not see anything. He will say, "What nonsense you talk! They are clouds, vapor - how is it you see forms in them?" 

In the West, psychoanalysts use the ink blot test: just pour an ink stain onto blotting paper and ask the person to say what he sees in it. The person looks carefully and sees something or other. There is nothing there, only an ink stain on blotting paper - randomly thrown, not thrown with any design, just poured from the bottle. But the person looking at it finds something or other. What he finds is in his mind, he has projected it. 

You must have seen lines made by rain falling on a wall. Sometimes a man's face is seen, sometimes a horse's face is seen. You project onto it what you want to see. In the dark of night, clothes hanging on a line seem like ghosts. 

Krishna's Gita is just like this - you will be able to see whatever is in your mind. So Shankara sees knowledge, Ramanuja sees bhakti, Tilak sees action - and each returns home in a cheerful mood thinking that what Krishna says is the same as his belief. 

Emerson has written that once a neighbor came and borrowed the works of Plato from him. Plato lived two thousand years ago and is one of the world's rare, unique thinkers. Weeks later Emerson reminded him, "If you've read the books please return them." When the neighbor returned them Emerson asked, "How did you like them?" 

The man said, "This man Plato's thoughts are in complete agreement with mine. I felt many times: how has this man come to know my thoughts?" Plato lived two thousand years earlier and this fellow suspects that Plato has stolen his thoughts! 

This kind of suspicion often arises with Krishna too. Centuries have passed and commentaries on Krishna keep on coming. Each century finds its own meaning, each person finds his own meaning. 

Krishna's Gita is like an ink blot... it is the statement of the perfect politician. 

You cannot extract any beliefs from Ashtavakra's Gita. Only if you drop yourself as you move into it, will Ashtavakra's Gita become clear to you? 

Ashtavakra's message is crystal clear. You won't be able to add even a small bit of your own interpretation to it. Hence people have not written commentaries on Ashtavakra's Gita. There is no scope for writing a commentary; there is no way to distort or twist it. Your mind has no chance to add anything. Ashtavakra has given such an expression that no one has been able to add or take anything from it, even though centuries have passed. It is not easy to give such a perfect expression. 

Such skill with words is very difficult to come by.

All dualistic experiences are reality within the duality but the duality is mere mirage from the ultimate standpoint

Breath, body and the world are one in essence. That essence is formless consciousness.   Consciousness (soul) is the innermost self.  Breath, body and the world are part and parcel of the illusion. By holding the breath (vital force) as self, one cannot get rid of the  ignorance. Without getting rid of the ignorance wisdom will not dawn. Wisdom dawns only when one realizes the form, time and space are one in essence.  –FORMLESS PATH

 Consciousness (soul)  is the ultimate cause of the duality. The spirit and the matter seem to be opposed to each other in duality, but in reality there is no duality because the matter is mere mirage (mind or universe or waking)  created out of the spirit (soul or consciousness) .

All the forms and names are   nothing but spirit. The sense of form, time and space are within the duality. All dualistic experiences are reality within the duality but the duality is mere mirage from the ultimate standpoint.  Thus nothing is born, nothing lives and nothing dies in non-dual reality.  Thus the universe, where the birth, life and death takes place is mere mirage created out of consciousness. The consciousness alone is real without the mirage. 

The thought of the witness (soul) comes only when one inquires in to witnessed (mind or universe). A person sees the world within the waking or dream. The witness is not the person who sees the objects and things within the waking or dream.  The witness is that which witnesses the coming and going of the three states, without the physical apparatus.   This has to be grasped mentally. 

Religions place God as the unknown reality. Everyone has a different idea of God. Every man has a different idea of truth. Hence there is need of definition before study. 

The fallacy of religionists appeal to scripture lies in the varying and conflicting interpretations of the same scripture which different men feel entitled to give or hold. 

The yogi or mystic who sees or experiences something in his meditation which he takes as the highest, but he is fully unaware of the fact that , the waking  experience itself is falsehood from the ultimate standpoint.   Thus all his experiences are part and parcel of that falsehood.  Thus how his visions and experiences and Samadhi based on the false entity within the false experience can be ultimate truth.  When the self is not the form but the self is formless consciousness then all the theories and experiences and visions based on form as self is bound to be falsehood.  Thus whatever based on the form as self has to be negated mentally. Whatever prevails without the form, name and experiences is ultimate truth.   

Only in duality one imagines the existence of god. When the duality is not reality then whatever one imagines and experiences within the duality is falsehood because the duality is reality only when one considers the self as form but deeper inquiry revels the fact that the self is not the form but the self is formless.  Thus imagining and accepting the theories based on the form as self is cause of ignorance. And ignorance is cause of experiencing the duality as reality. Duality is cause of accepting the birth, life, death and the world as reality.   Thus getting rid of the ignorance with deeper introspection and realizing the fact that, the self is not form but self is formless consciousness, is the only way to overcome the illusory experience of duality, in the midst of duality.