Sage Sri, Sankara says: one must first know what is before him. If he cannot know that, what else can he know or understand?***

Even 1% people will not show interest in the Atmic path. And the Atmic path is for those who found the path of religion, path of yoga and all theoretical philosophy and scriptural studies inadequate and useless in quench their inner thirst.

People are searching for remedies for their problems of practical life within the practical world. The path of love is very valuable in the practical world. A Gnani follows the path of love in the practical world and he loves the whole humanity but he inwardly he is fully aware of the fact that, the practical life within the practical world are part mere mirage. 

Upanishads:~ They alone in this world are endowed with the highest wisdom who are firm in their conviction of the sameness and birthlessness of Atman The ordinary man does not understand their way. (Chapter IV — Alatasanti Prakarana 95-P-188 in Upanishads by Nikilanada)

Thus, Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is meant only for those who have intense urge, and courage to accept the truth with humility and reject the untruth. Since people start comparing with their scriptural knowledge, it becomes impossible to assimilate and realize the non-dual truth. Therefore, there is no need to convince anyone other than our own selves to get the firm conviction. 

Seeing God implies duality. Mind or universe or waking, which appears and disappears is not permanent. There is no use of placing faith in the belief of individualized god, which is part of the falsehood, and it is impermanent. It is better to abide in formless consciousness, which is the innermost self and eternal by realizing the experience of diversity is created out of single stuff, which is consciousness. Consciousness is the ultimate truth and only ultimate truth or Brahman is GOD. Self-awareness is what one should seek, not visions of individualized God. It is only when the Mind is merged in its source, the soul or consciousness that true knowledge of one's identity with ultimate truth or Brahman will dawn.

Sage Sri, Sankara says: one must first know what is before him. If he cannot know that, what else can he know or understand? If he gives up the external world in his inquiry, he cannot get the whole truth.

Sage Sri, Sankara says: - 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.

In Brahma Sutras Sage Sri, Sankara says: Brahman is the cause of the world, whereas in Mandukya he denies it.

This may be because that at the lower stage of understanding, the former teaching must be given, for people will get frightened as they cannot understand how the world can be without a cause, but to those in a higher stage, the truth of non-causality can be revealed.

As one goes deeper investigation he finds:-

Sage Sri, Sankara founded his Advaita Vedanta either on reason independent of Sruti or on Sruti confirmed by reason." 

Sage Sri, Sankara's commentary on the Manduka Upanishad, II, 1: This [the unreality of duality] is borne out by the Srutis ... But it is possible also to show the unreality of the object world even from pure reasoning, and this second chapter is undertaken for that purpose.

Sage Sri, Sankara himself had often said that his philosophy was based on Sruti, or revealed scripture. This may be because Sage Sri, Sankara addressed the ordinary man, who finds security in the idea of causality and thus in the idea of God—and Revelation is indispensable to prove the latter. He believed that those of superior intelligence, have no need of this idea of divine causality, and can, therefore, dispense with Sruti and arrive at the truth of Non-Dualism by pure reason. 

Those who lack the intelligence to discriminate between formless witness [subject] and three states (object) will not be able to grasp what is real and what is unreal. Both subject and object are consciousness, not subject alone.

The truth can never change. The nature of the truth is, it can never be changed under any circumstances. It may be misrepresented. It must apply to the whole of existence, to the whole of the universe. It is in the object [three states] alone that one has all changes, as deeper analysis points out.

The subject [formless witness] remains unchanged. The subject [formless witness], as such remains immortal. It can never die for it never changes. The body and world are an object, and goes, but the subject or knower of the body and the universe can never go. Seeker has to take this principle as his guiding thread and non-dual truth becomes easy to grasp. The formless witness can never be subject to the changes of the object; it is unchanged. The mistake usually made is that subject becomes an object, or that object is subject.

If one wants to have an absence of contradictions, absence of duality, there must be one entity, one being. If one has experience which is an object [mind], there is a contradiction between subject and object, for "mind” is an object.

The duality is a reality on the standpoint of the false self [ego or body as Self]. The duality is the mere an illusion on the base of the true self, which is formless consciousness. This understanding comes only to the serious seeker, who has a real urge to know the ultimate truth, which is beyond the all the teachings and teachers. There is neither teaching, nor a teacher, nor student in the realm of truth. 

It is important for one to know “what is truth” to realize “what is the untruth to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana***

Even in Christianity the Self-knowledge or truth was hidden.  And it is imparted only to few. 

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).

Long before Socrates’ injunction: - “Know Thyself”, Indian sages of truth have been exploring for long the question of the truth of the man and his experience of the universe. Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is fundamental since all other knowledge is dependent upon this knowledge. It is important for one to know “what is truth” to realize “what is the untruth.

Without first knowing the true Self, one can never understand truly where he stands in the cosmic scheme of things. Ignorance of the innermost Self is seen as the root cause of experiencing the birth, life, death and the world as  a reality.

The ignorant is always egocentric. He thinks what he knows is the  truth. He always indulges in an argument. The Ignorant is sentimentalized to his belief system. An ignorant person just to prove that he is correct and others are wrong because the ignorant presumes he already knows and wants to see whether others know or not.

The ignorant person provokes others to snub them. Ignorant accumulates knowledge and try to show his intellectual wealth. Such intellectual’s sharing of knowledge is mere garbage. It is of no use in pursuit of truth. Because they are egocentric based on ignorance thus they will not yield any truth.

Thus, the belief, actions, conducts, love, virtue, scriptural mastery, religion, rituals, prayers which are mere theories based on the false Self are great hindrances in realizing the non-dual truth, which is the ultimate truth.

All religious theories are meant for those who believe in the practical life within the practical world as a reality because they are unable to verify the truth of their true existence.

The religion is based on the birth entity (you).  The birth entity is the false self within the false experience (waking). Thus, the religion is based on the falsehood, because the religion accepts the experience of the birth, life, death and the world as a reality.  It is very much necessary to realize the self is the formless Soul, which is birthless and deathless because it is ever formless. The Soul, the innermost Self has no religion.  All religious theories are based on the birth entity is bound to be a  falsehood. 

The seeker has to verify the fact about his true existence through deeper Self-search to realize, the Self is not the form, but the Self is formless Soul (consciousness).

When he realizes the Self is the Soul, then he becomes aware of the fact that, the practical life within the practical world is mere an illusion created out of the Soul or the consciousness.

The practical life within the practical world is nothing to do with the formless Soul, the innermost Self. The practical knowledge within the practical world is not wisdom, but it is knowledge based on ignorance. The real wisdom is non-dual wisdom, which arise only when ignorance vanishes.

All are seeing the world that confronts them due to ignorance.  When ignorance vanishes there is neither the seer nor the seen because they have become one in essence. That essence is  the consciousness (Soul). 

That is why Jesus said: ~ “Know what is in front of your face and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you.

It means one has to know the world which confronts him confronts to realize his body and world are made of the same essence and that essence is Spirit or consciousness (father). 

Sage Sri, Sankara says: ~ one must first know what is before him. If he cannot know that, what else can he know or understand? If he gives up the external world in his inquiry, he cannot get the whole truth.

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.

In Self-awareness,  the Soul will as objectless –awareness in the midst of the duality and then the duality will cease to exist as reality.

The mind is nothing but objective existence.   The seeker has to eliminate such all the objective knowledge through wisdom and then objectless knowledge will alone remain. This is the nature of the Soul, the innermost Self.

As for the well-known example of the hallucination of a snake in a coil of rope, the rope is real and the snake is unreal. There is neither the snake nor the rope in Self-awareness.  Even after the truth of the snake is realized and   the hallucination of a snake dismissed, there is still the reality of the rope persists.  Until the rope is recognized to be the Self, the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is an  impossibility. The universe is like the snake because it mere an illusion.  Deeper Self-search reveals the fact that, the universe is neither the snake nor the rope but is the Soul, which is present in the form of  the consciousness. The true nature of the Soul is objectless awareness.

People are comfortable with religious path or of authoritarianism merely because they are the easiest ways.***

People are comfortable with religious path or of authoritarianism merely because they are the easiest ways. To seek for proof is troublesome and time-taking.  Religion and mysticism are so much preferred to philosophy because you have only to imagine, not to inquire. The first is easy, the second is hard.

Religion and mysticism are  a species of mesmerism affecting weaker or impressionable minds.  The complete and impressive array of a Guru’s religious robes lifestyle creates unconscious suggestion in weaker mindset of a superior power or magical knowledge.

Both poetry and religion are based on imagination.  The imagination implies duality. Theology, religion, poetry all belong to the same class~ appeal to belief, fancy, imagination, not the ultimate truth or Brahman.

When one cannot fully know other person, how can he hope ever to know God, who is not universal, because each religion has its own idea of God? Then why bring such God in?

"Religions place God as the unknown reality” some people places it as the unknown reality. Every religion has a different idea of God. Every man has a different idea of reality. Hence, there is a need of definition before study.

Mystics claim that, God really were in every particle, then every man will be able to create universe, because he will be God.

Suppose one see God. How is he to know that He is God? His mere statement is not enough. He must have proof; He must show that He is God. How do the religious believers know God and how do they know that he is everywhere when their God is an individual.

Even if one performs Japam on the name of the religious God and meditate on the religious God he will not be able to realize ultimate truth   or Brahman. Brahman is God.  The Soul, the innermost ‘Self’ is ultimate truth or Brahman. So, the Soul, which is present in the form of the spirit (consciousness), is God. 

Even The Bhagavad Gita says: ~ Brahmano hi pratisthaham ~ Brahman (God) is considered the all-pervading consciousness, which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material. (14.27).

When Bhagavad Gita says, God is considered the all-pervading consciousness which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material  then  nothing has to be accepted  other than consciousness a God. 

Even Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~ Brahman (God) is the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself.

Religious  Gods are mere belief. Religious God  cannot be considered as the  center because the Soul,  the innermost ‘Self’ is the center of all that exists. Without the Soul the world in which you exist ceases to exist, it means the religious God is dependent on the Soul for his existence.

Even Rig Veda: ~ The Atman is the cause; Atman is the support of all that exists in this universe. May ye never turn away from the Atman the innermost self. May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?" (10:48, 5)

The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad declares: "He who worships the deities as entities entirely separate from him does not know the truth. For the Gods, he is like a pasu (beast)". (1. 4. 10)

 No mantras help to get rid of ignorance. All the mantras and rituals are meant for the ignorant populace, which strongly believes, the world in which he exists as a reality.  For one who wants to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana the mantas will not help to realize the truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space.

That is why Sage Sri, Sankara VC~.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?

VC-  v6~ Let erudite scholars quote all the scripture, let Gods be invoked through sacrifices, let elaborate rituals be performed, let personal Gods be propitiated---yet, without the realization of one‘s identity With the Self, there shall be no liberation for the individual, not  even in the lifetimes of a hundred Brahmas put together 

Upanishad says: ~ The human goal is to acquire Self-Knowledge and they indicate that belief in the personal Gods, yoga scriptures, worship and rituals are not the means to Self –Knowledge, then why anyone should indulge in it. The religion, concept of individualized God and scriptures are  a great obstacle to  Self-realization because they are based on false Self.  The seeker of truth has to search the ultimate truth without losing himself in the labyrinths of philosophy, through deeper Self-search and assimilate and realize it.

That is why Sage 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.

Thus, the path of the wisdom is the only means. Then it is no use going the roundabout way, trace the Brahman which is the formless substance and the witness of the universe (mind).  By tracing the source of the mind or the universe, one will be able to realize the Brahman.

When the yogi enters this highest Nirvikalpa (effort-less) Samadhi, he will at once enter deep sleep***.

Sage Sri, Goudpada: ~ To establish the truth of Non-duality by sheer reasoning alone. He begins by defining "What is real?" "What is unreal?" etc, because that is the right way to discuss or teach. People must first know what they are talking about. (Mandukya Karika)

Reasoning is interpretable in two ways. The egocentric interpretation is to apply it only to the waking experience. The Soulcentric interpretation is to apply it to the three states. The latter leads to  a final settlement of the problems because it considers all data.

As we keep digging deeper and deeper, the truth will shine  as pure awareness in the midst of the duality (waking).

The Soul, the innermost Self is our ultimate teacher. It is only our inner teacher that will walk with us to the goal, for the Soul is the goal. From the ultimate standpoint, there is no teacher, there is no teaching and there is no student.  Millions are searching the form truth, but one in a  million will realize it.

Sage Sri, Sankara definitely says that yoga is not the means of liberation (page 132-133 of his commentary on Brihadaranyakopanishad). 

Buddha gave up his austerities of yoga as impossible and useless. (Page.70/71 "Buddhism in Translation” by Warren)

Buddha got enlightenment only after he gave up Yoga. Unless one exercises his reason--there is no chance of getting the  truth.

When the yogi enters this highest Nirvikalpa (effort-less) Samadhi, he will at once enter deep sleep. This will make plain to him after he wakes, that the inner self he sought and found, the Atman, is reached only when all his ideas are refunded into it, when there is then all the features of non-duality, one without a second. However,  the yogi must later wake up, emerge from Samadhi and there is duality again, for  the world of objects confronts him. So now he has to work on the next stage which is to find consciously in the waking experience the same non-duality that he unconsciously knew in sleep. This is done by learning that the universe is or  idea or an  object for the formless subject, and then refunding the universe,  ~idea back into its source, which is the Soul, which is present in the form of the  consciousness. Only at this final stage dare he says: "Atman, which is present in the form of the consciousness is the same as the Brahman. The Brahman is the  ultimate truth.  " Now he is fully aware of it.

All yogic visions, however, wonderful will pass away; they go as they come. They have the value of dreams. They are not truth which is un-passing and beyond change.

One can’t shut his eye to the universe, which confronts him as in Samadhi of yoga and see supreme reality. One can know it only by keeping himself clear and open.  Sage Sri, Sankara says :-   The yogi must add discrimination to his quest.

Nirvikalpa Samadhi and deep sleep are the same from the nondualistic perspective,  the absence of the known. The knower was there. How does Samadhi give Gnana? Only by preparing the mind to see that the world disappears and re-appears and, that non-duality is here and duality there, to convince the man that in non-duality one  won’t disappear as he  do disappear in Samadhi or deep sleep. Another advantage of Samadhi is one gets the capacity to forget the external world and to treat it as an idea.

Yoga can never give you the fundamental thing, that the world is an illusion. Only Gnana can give it. Nirvikalpa Samadhi is unquestionably the same as deep sleep, and all ideas are refunded back there too. One must learn what ideas are when all the ideas of the universe existence go back into one’s mind through Yoga. Then one learns this. How has he to learn that entire universe is consciousness or Brahman if he stops at Nirvikalpa Samadhi? Without perceiving the universe, and having a duality before him, it is impossible.

Nirvikalpa has no duality, hence it cannot tell you about the universe. The yogi who emerging from Samadhi and says he found Gnana there, says it to a second person, hence there is duality again. If he were a real Gnani, there would be nobody for him to tell that he had experienced Gnana.

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana  will interest only a few people; the rest are interested in Religion, yoga other paths, and pleasure hunting.  

Sage Sri Ramana Maharishi:~ Correcting oneself is correcting the whole world.***

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

Self- Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana cannot be attained by reasoning based on the ‘I’ (physical based). Self- Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana becomes easy of comprehension through Soulcentric reasoning. One has to attain Self- Knowledge right now in this very life not in the next world or the next life.

Without knowing what is Self, holding ‘I’ or ‘I AM’ as Self is erroneous. People say ‘I’ or ‘I AM’ as Self because they have read it or someone has told them or they think it is ultimate truth without verification through deeper Self-search. Accepting truth without verification is mere assumption or speculation. Such assumptions and speculation blocks one from realizing the nondualistic Advaitic truth. Holding ‘I’ or ‘I AM ‘as Self,   fuels the egocentricity.    

No one can honestly say that he knows the ultimate truth unless he is Soul centric. Yet mystics’ Godmen glibly say, "I know God."  And “I AM GOD”.   

If the ‘I’ is there, then the mind is there. If the mind is there, then the universe is there. And the universe is present only when waking or dream is present.

One sees differences between things because of the ignorance; all these differences would vanish when one gets wisdom and the various thoughts arise because one considers ‘I’ as the Self.

There is a need to dismantle the inherited physical structure mentally to overcome the duality. The whole physical structure is built on the foundation of the ‘I’. Since they think the ‘I’ as the Self, it becomes difficult to grasp and assimilate and realize the non-dualistic or Advaitic truth.

The ‘I’, appears and disappears as mind (waking or dream) is impermanent, hence it is not the Self. The formless knower of the ‘I’ (waking or dream) is the true Self. Since, people think whatever is propagated by any Guru or a yogi as ultimate truth and blindly accept it as truth, without verifying the validity of their preaching. This blind acceptance becomes a big hindrance in pursuit of truth. If one is seeking  the truth, one has to verify the validity of any claim through inquiry, analysis and reasoning on the true base, and accept only the uncontradictable truth.

Self- Knowledge  or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is not brought about by any other means than  Soulcentric  reasoning. Trying to acquire  Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana through other means is like trying to find fish in the desert sand.

 The seeker has to know :~

v  What is ‘I’?

v   

v  How this universe is created?

v   

v  Of what material is this universe made?

Deeper self-search reveals the fact that:~ The  Self is neither the body, nor the ‘I’.  The Self is within the universe, but it is apart from the universe and its contents. The seeker must proceed  deeper self-search to realize the truth which is beyond the form, time, and  space.

Sage Sri Ramana Maharishi:~  Correcting oneself is correcting the whole world. The sun is simply bright. it does not correct anyone. Because it shines the whole world is full of light.  Transforming yourself is the means of giving light to the whole world. (TOI-P-125-912) 

The ‘I’ is the clue and study the nature of the ‘I’ and discover its source.***

Sage Sankara says: ~ there is no need to study the Scriptures, in order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman

~ then why you indulge in studying the scriptures.

 Sage Sankara says: ~ there is no need to study philosophy, in order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman

~then why you indulge in studying the philosophy.

Sage Sankara says: ~ there is no need to indulge rituals, in order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman

~then why you indulge in rituals.

Sage Sankara says: ~ there is no need to indulge yoga, in order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman

~then why you indulge in yoga.

Sage Sri, Sankara says the transparent Truth of the Self, which is hidden by the illusion, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, (Gnani)

~ then why you are sticking a Guru who is not a Gnani.

Sage Sri, Sankara says: ~ “The exercise in discrimination between real and unreal and renunciation of the false is real meditation, then  why you are indulging in other types of meditation.

Only your intense urge to know the truth will take you to the ultimate end,  but your accumulated knowledge will block you from realizing the truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space.

It is impossible the seeker to discard the ‘I’ because they are stuck up with the idea that ‘I’ itself is the Self.  In the past,  some famous Gurus and their teachings   glorified the ‘I’ people take it as a final and accepted it as the ultimate truth. Such acceptance without verifying the fact about the ‘I’, their journey is incomplete.  Blind acceptance and reverence to the guru will not help the seeker to get rid of the ignorance.

Firstly, doubt about this ‘I’, how it came into existence.   There are no other means to the final goal is  the realization of the source of the ‘I’.  There is a need to understand, assimilate and realize the nature of this ‘I’, which appears and disappears. 

It is erroneous to use word ‘I’ for the Self, because ‘I’ represents the form, time and space whereas the Soul, the innermost Self is formless, timeless and spaceless existence. 

Bhagavad Gita: ~ “The permanent is always there, only the transient ‘I’ comes and goes.” (2.18)

To understand the false nature of the ‘I’, the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is necessary. 

 The Self is not ‘I’, but the Self is the Soul which is the witness of the ‘I’. By holding the’ Self’  ‘I' leads to hallucination based on the imagination.

Those who are stuck with the ‘I’ based teaching never be able to cross the domain of the form, time, and space.  

All the Gurus glorified the ‘I’. Thus, it becomes very difficult to discard the ‘I’. Those who have accepted the ‘I’ based teaching refuse to accept anything other than their accepted truth.Till you hold the ‘Self’ as the ‘I’, your knowledge remains skin deep.

The world in which you exist came into existence because of the ‘I’. The world, in which you exist cease to exist without the ‘I’.

Sage Sri Sankara: ~ “VC~ All this universe which through ignorance appears as of diverse forms, is nothing else but Brahman which is absolutely free from all the limitations of human thought”.

The ‘I’ is what the seeker begin his investigation. Perfect understanding of ‘what is what’ will help the seeker to reach the Soul, which is the Self.

Sage Sri, Sankara: ~ "VC~ if the universe be true, let it then be perceived in the state of deep sleep also. As it is not at all perceived, it must be unreal and false like dreams. 

 This universe is nothing but the Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness.  From the Soul, the universe appears and when the universe disappears from the consciousness, the consciousness still remains without any division of the form, time, and space.

Ashtavakra Gita: ~ The universe rises from the Soul, the innermost Self like bubbles from the sea. Thus know the Self to be One and in this way enter into the state of dissolution."

To enable the seeker to steer clear of any possible doubt, the seeker should take the Atmic path.  The ‘I’ is the clue and study the nature of the ‘I’ and discover its source.