According to Advaita Vedanta, the Veda addresses itself to two kinds of audiences - The ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices, and the more advanced seeker who seeks to know Brahman. Thus, the purva mimam.sa, with its emphasis on the karma kanda of the Vedas, is meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. However, the Vedanta, with its emphasis on the jnana kanda, is meant for those who wish to go beyond such transient pleasures.
People who are yearning for spiritual or Brahmic truth will not find it through intellectualism. Intellectual truth is individual truth.
Religious truth is individual truth and it is not universal truth because the religion is based on individuality. Spiritual truth is universal truth. There is no scope for individuality in the realm of ultimate truth or Brahman. In the realm of ultimate truth or Brahman the form, time and space are one in essence. The essence is formless consciousness (soul), the innermost self. Thus consciousness alone is real and eternal and all else is mere illusion.
Most of the intellectuals because of their “hidden superiority complex will not be able to reach the ultimate end of understanding. Most gurus are stuck with their egocentric attitude and an assumption that total knowledge had been reached when in fact it was only a partial knowledge.
Without knowing the mystery of the world confronting them it is impossible to acquire self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. People have no means of knowing the ultimate truth or Brahman because they are living in a realm of self-hallucination believing their experience of birth, life, death and the world as reality.
In pursuit of truth the ultimate truth has to be proved, not assumed. The individual experience bliss is not Brahmic bliss or nondual Self-awareness.
Individual truth is not universal truth. Individual cannot claim that he has experienced the whole. There is no proof he has seen it, because the whole is not individual experience. The man and the world are within the whole. Thus such claims of experiencing the self or Ataman is mere hallucination.
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 mere hallucination because the ultimate truth or Brahman cannot be experienced because the self is not an individual because it is formless.
A Gnani who realized the truth that the formless soul, the innermost self is indestructible will realize the practical life within the practical world is mere illusion created out of consciousness (soul).
As one goes deeper in self-search he see the problem as an inconsistency in the teaching of their gurus and yogis. Most of the teachings are different views of the self. On the one hand, the self is seen as static and unmoving, uninvolved in the world. On the other hand, there is the view of the self as dynamic and participating in the world. All the teachings and path and practices are half cooked food. Therefore, they are inadequate and useless in quenching the thirst if the serious seekers of truth.
From the ultimate standpoint, the individualized God is an illusion. Most people refuse to accept the idea that even God is an illusion because they are stuck with the reality of the practical life within the practical world. Only when one realizes the world is mere illusion then only they become aware of the fact that, their practical life within the practical world is mere illusion. If the practical life within the practical world is mere illusion than whatever they have seen, known believed and experienced within the practical world is mere illusion. Thus their belief of God is part and parcel of that illusion.
It is difficult for most of the seekers to accept that God too was an illusion.one has to take the trouble to know how and why this all was so; he will be convinced from the start. Most people fail to accept the fact that their idea of god is mere an illusion because of his inherited conditioning or samskaras.
Buddha also holds that this world which changes from moment to moment is not real, it is only a reflection and the Thing of which it is the reflection alone is real. Buddha was not an atheist. He never denied reality. There is nothing in his words or teaching to show that he considered truth to be non-existent like horns of a hare. He could not have held the foolish view that something came out of nothing. It is true; some of his disciples misunderstood and misinterpreted him. his idea was that the truth which cannot be designated by a name , or described is words and of which one cannot even say whether it is existent or none extent , is like non-existent. The idea is quiet in agreement with the view of Upanishads.
An object which cannot even be talked about, is, for all practical purposes, as good as non-extent. But it is not non-existent in the sense that the son of barren woman is non-existent. This subtle idea, Buddha's contemporaries and even his disciple fail to catch. In one passage Buddha says clearly: Srmana Guutama was an atheist. It is annihilation of non-existent of truth that he teaches. So will people attribute to me atheism, which is not mine. So will they ascribe me to the theory of non-existent ,which again is not mine.
From these similar statements of Buddha it is clear that he was not an atheist. All philosophers old and new, arrive at the same point.
Orthodox Advaita (monosim) that is inevitable; the people of thoughtful temperament cannot find peace and quietude until they do so. Moksha (liberation) is in the realization of oneness with God. They speak of God Goddesses, devotion and devotee, only in an in accurate way only from the standpoint of dvaithi. After realization oneness with God, there is no distinction between go and devote and the word "devotion" has no meaning.
As one moves deeper he realizes from a personal to an impersonal Absolute he realizes the universe is mere an illusion.
Most of the teachings are hotchpotch mixture of different view of different Sages of the past, thus lack of originality.
Sage Sri, Sankara’s supreme Brahman is Nirguna (without the Gunas), Nirakara (formless), Nirvisesha (without attributes) and Akarta (non-agent). He is above all needs and desires. Sankara says, "This Atman is self-evident. This Atman or Self is not established by proofs of the existence of the Self. It is not possible to deny this Atman, for it is the very essence of he who denies it. The Atman is the basis of all kinds of knowledge. The Self is within, the Self is without, the Self is before and the Self is behind. The Self is on the right hand, the Self is on the left, the Self is above and the Self is below".
Satyam-Jnanam-Anantam-Anandam are not separate attributes. They form the very essence of Brahman. Brahman cannot be described, because description implies distinction. Brahman cannot be distinguished from any other than He.
The objective world-the world of names and forms-has no independent existence. The Atman alone has real existence. The world is only phenomenal.
Sage Sri, Sankara was the exponent of the Advaita philosophy. His teachings can be summed up in the following words:-
Brahma Satyam Jagat Mithya,
Jeevo Brahmaiva Na Aparah
Brahman alone is real, this world is unreal; the Jiva is identical with Brahman.
Sage Sri, Sankara said :- Just as the snake is superimposed on the rope, this world and this body are superimposed on Brahman or the soul, the innermost self. If one gets knowledge of the rope, the illusion of the snake will vanish. Even so, if he gets knowledge of Brahman, the illusion of the body and the world will vanish.
That is why 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.
65. As a treasure hidden underground requires (for its extraction) competent instruction, excavation, the removal of stones and other such things lying above it and (finally) grasping, but never comes out by being (merely) called out by name, so the transparent Truth of the self, which is hidden by Maya and its effects, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, followed by reflection, meditation and so forth, but not through perverted arguments.
Most think Consciousness usually implies something, thoughts or things, but it is the formless nondual nature of the Atman or the soul. The soul is present in the form consciousness.
The consciousness exists with or without the matter because without the consciousness the matter ceases to exist because the matter is created out of consciousness. It exists as matter in waking or dream. And when wisdom dawns it is consciously aware of its formless nondual true nature in the midst of matter, as in deep sleep.
Proof is the main thing in pursuit of truth, "How can God exists without man’s existence?” how can the world exist without man’s existence. Thus man has to exist first to say god and world exists. Thus seeker has to verify about his own existence to realize the fact that, all the three states are unreal, on the standpoint of the formless witness, which is the soul, the innermost self.
Whatever have appeared (birth, life, death and world) has appeared on its own and it disappears on its own. Whether a person takes it as reality or illusion it all depends on his mental and intellectual conditions will determine the phenomenal world observed and experienced. The look of an object will depend upon the medium through which the observer views it. A Gnani viewing the universe (practical life within the practical world) different from the ignorant is viewing the same universe (practical life within the practical world). Each one of them interprets the universe he sees in term of his existing knowledge. The Gnani sees his body, his ego and his experience of the world as mere mirage created out of consciousness whereas the ignorant sees his body as body, his ego as ego and his experience of the world as world.
Thus experiencing the pain and pleasure within the illusion with the illusory self, within the illusory experience, has to be illusion. The illusion is created, and sustained, and finally dissolves as consciousness, which is the innermost Self. Since, there is no second thing other than the consciousness (soul); the consciousness itself is ultimate truth or Brahman. The one who has realized this truth for him this illusion is passing show because he is fully aware of the fact that his body, his ego and his experience of the world to be consciousness. Practical peoples approach is more practical, and they are stuck with the reality of the practical life within the practical world, they take it as real whereas for Gnani has the firm conviction that:-
Formless soul or Consciousness is the witness that experiences the action, the actor, and the world of separate things. It is like a light that illuminates everything in a theatre, revealing the master of ceremonies, the guests, and the dancers with complete impartiality. Even when they all depart, the light shines to reveal their absence.
What is not consciousness (formless) in the experience of diversity (universe or waking)? The waking and the dream cease to exist without consciousness. The seeker, seeking and his destination all are one in essence.
