All those whose intelligence has been stolen by ignorance worship and pray to religious Gods, which are not God in truth because the religious Gods are based on blind belief.
As indicated in ISH Upanishads: ~ “By
worshipping Gods and Goddesses you will go after death to the world of Gods and
Goddesses. But will that help you? The time you spend there is wasted because
if you were not there you could have spent that time moving forward towards Self-knowledge,
which is your goal. In the world of Gods and Goddesses, you cannot do that, and
thus you go deeper and deeper into darkness.
Self-knowledge is knowledge of Atman. Atman (God) alone exists~ everything is Atman, there exists nothing except Atman.
Sage Sankara
Sage Sankara's Advaitic Gnana does not deal with
Sage Sankara gives insight into the nature of the Self which Atman, which is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God.
According
to Advaita Vedanta, the Veda addresses itself to two kinds of audiences - the
ordinary ones who follow religion and religious Gods obtained as
a result of ritual sacrifices, and the more advanced seeker who seeks to know the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth. 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 Gnana kanda, is meant for
those who wish to go beyond such religion and religious rituals and sacrifices.
The Advaitic orthodoxy is based on
personal God whereas Sage Sankara’s Supreme Brahman (God) is impersonal, Nirguna (without Gunas or
attributes), Nirakara (formless), Nirvisesha (without special characteristics),
immutable, eternal, and Akarta (non-agent). God is above all needs and desires.
God is always the Witnessing Subject. God can never become an object as God is
beyond the reach of the senses. God is non-dual, one without a second. God has
no other besides it. God is destitute of difference, either external or
internal. God cannot be described because the description implies a distinction.
God cannot be distinguished from any other than God. In God, there is not a distinction between substance and attribute. Sat-Chit-Ananda constituted
the very essence or Svarupa of God, and not just God's attributes. The Nirguna
Brahman of Sage Sankara is impersonal.
Advaitic
orthodoxy accepts the experience of birth, life, death, and the world as the reality, whereas Sage Sankara declares the world is unreal Brahman alone
is real.
Thus
the experience of birth, life, death happening within the unreal world is bound
to be a falsehood. Thus, religion and religious belief and its ritual based
on the birth entity are bound to be a falsehood. Thus, the seeker has to realize
‘what is that is real and eternal?
Sage Sankara: ~ ‘Reality can be realized
only with the eye of understanding, not just by a scholar. What the moon is
like must be seen with one's own eyes. How can others do it for
you?"~Vivekachoodamani
Advaitic Orthodoxy misinterpreted Sage Sankara and presented only the religious
side of his teaching as the highest doctrine. Thus, people are misled. The orthodoxy based on rituals and mythical
Gods and Karma. Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara
is nothing to with Advaitic orthodoxy.
Let Advaitic wisdom annihilate ignorance (I) and reveal Soul,
the Self the God in truth. Let your ears
become deaf to the untruth propagated by the religion as a reality; enable you
to realize the truth hidden by the ignorance (I). Let your eyes become blind to illusion to
receive the Soul as the Self as it is in the midst of the dualistic illusion or Maya.
All the orthodox ideas were rejected by Sage Sankara. There is no need to indulge in rituals, in
order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman. There is no need to study
philosophy, in order to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman then why you
indulge in studying philosophy.
Sage Sankara pokes fun at ascetics and points out that all
their austerities do not cause desires to go (Altar
Flowers" Page 205, v.2 P.207 v.4)
Sage Sankara pointed out those rituals could in
no way bring about wisdom, much less moksha.
Sage Sankara says the rewards of the rituals
are not a matter of direct realization. Advaitic wisdom is based on personal
realization.
The orthodox Advaitin believes
that rituals alone would lead one to higher levels of attainment. Further, the
deities would reward only those entitled to perform the rituals alone. The
entitlement involved the caste, creed, and other parameters.
The scriptural authority and
value of rituals are part of the Advaitic orthodoxy, which is meant for
ignorant people.
The Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sri, Sankara is nothing to do with religion, caste, rituals, worships, yoga, and other practices. Therefore an
obvious disparity between Sage Sankara‘s path of Gnana and the path of
Karma. Path of Gnana is meant for the advanced seeker of truth and the path of
Karma is meant for the ignorant populace.
Even Sage Sri, Sankara appear and tell the orthodox people the path of orthodoxy is the path of
ignorance they will not be able to drop their inherited samskara or
conditioning, which they think is the only way to reach heaven and reap the happy
life in the next life.
First
Mundaka - Chapter 2 (10) - Ignorant fools, regarding sacrifices and humanitarian works as
the highest, do not know any higher good. Having enjoyed their reward on the
heights of heaven, gained by good works, they still remain in ignorance of the
Atman the real God.
As a religious person, one performs rituals throughout his life. The person who performs rituals and aspires
for rewards will view the world in which he exists as a reality. However, the
Soul, the Self unborn eternal hidden by the world in which he exists. From the standpoint of the Soul, the world in
which he exists is merely an illusion or Maya.
First
Mundaka - Chapter 2 (9) - Children, immersed in ignorance in various ways, flatter themselves,
saying: We have accomplished life's purpose. Because these performers of karma
do not know the Truth owing to their attachment, they fall from heaven,
misery-stricken when the fruit of their work is exhausted.
First
Mundaka - Chapter 2 (8) - Fools, dwelling in darkness, but wise in their own conceit and
puffed up with vain scholarship, wander about, being afflicted by many ills,
like blind men led by the blind.
Ish Upanishad
declares:~ Those people who have neglected the attainment
of Self-knowledge and have thus committed suicide 10/11/12
The religious
orthodox people who have neglected the attainment of Self-knowledge and have
thus committed suicide, as it were, are doomed to enter those worlds after
death.
This is a condemnation
of people who do not try to attain Self-knowledge. They are, in a real sense,
committing suicide, for what can be worse than being a slave to sense
enjoyment, completely oblivious of the real purpose of life, which is to be one’s, own master?
Remember:~
The Soul, the ‘Self itself is the
Infinite God.
The Soul is the Self. God
is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. God is the
fullness of the consciousness without the illusory division of form, time, and
space. Therefore, there is nothing apart
from it.
God is Self-evident. God is
not established by extraneous proofs. It is not possible to deny God
because God is the very essence of the one who denies it. God is the basis
of all kinds of knowledge, presuppositions, and proofs. God is within the universe
in which you exist, God is without the universe in which you exist.
God is the Supreme Being
the One eternal homogeneous essence, indivisible consciousness and
intelligence, which is beyond the form, time, and space. To which the Sages
describe in a variety of ways through diverse words.
Bhagavad Gita: ~ ‘All those
whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires, they worship many God
s. (7- Verse -20)
Only the path of
wisdom leads the seeker of truth on his journey to the ultimate realization of
the true nature of the Universal Essence, which is the Soul. The Soul is
present in the form of consciousness.
Bhagavad Gita: 7: 19:
~ "Such a man who has attained true
knowledge, the knowledge of Self, the knowledge of Atman, worships ‘Self’ as~
Atman (God) alone exists~ everything is Atman, there exists nothing except
Atman. Such a man is extremely rare."
Bhagavad Gita: ~ 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 as God other than consciousness.
Lord Krishna Says Ch ~V: ~ “Those who know me in
truth.". The last two words (tattvataha) are usually ignored by pundits,
but they make all the difference between the ordinary concept of God and the
truth about God. The dualistic worship of "God” is only for the ignorant populace. The God in truth is only Atman, the innermost Self. In reality, there is no duality, no differentiation. Only Atman exists.
Remember:~
Mundaka Upanishad condemns rituals:~ The Para or Higher knowledge is the knowledge of the Supreme Being while the
**
Physical & mental discipline such as Karma, Mantra Yoga, and Yajna, Puja Japa Blind devotion to deity or Guru is not the tool for liberation or freedom from experiencing the dualistic illusion as a reality. It is the dualistic cult including Advaitic orthodoxy propagates these disciplines . Such disciplines and codes of conduct have no value if one is seeking ultimate truth or Brahman to get Nondualistic Self-awareness.
Mysticism, scriptural knowledge, penance based Scholasticism are a great hindrance to Self–realization. Inherited blind belief with corresponding actions based on scriptures, worship, ritual faith that imply certain mental and physical discipline, or scripture supporting belief, faith, creed, ritual, theological knowledge personal or opinion leads to hallucinated knowledge. All these become a great hindrance in grasping understanding, assimilating, and realizing the Advaitic or nondualistic or Advaitic truth.
The Scriptural mastery including ancient Sastras, Tarka, and Samkhya disciplines to support Karmas & belief Bhakti Argument & interpretation with the help of logic, grammar, etc. to support beliefs, revelations, prayers, etc. Also, dogmas, theological or other based on authorities.
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says: "He who worships the deities as entities entirely separate from the 'Self' does not know the truth. For the Gods, he is like a pasu (beast)". (1. 4. 10)
That is why Sage Sankara said: - ~ Neither by the practice of yoga nor philosophy, nor by good works nor by learning, does liberation come, but only through the realization that Atman and Brahman are one in no other way. (1) Vivekachoodamani v 56, pg~25
Sage Sankara says: ~ The scriptures dealing with rituals, rewards are therefore addressed to an ignorant person. -Adhyasa Bhashya
Sage Sankara: ~ (11) As regards the rituals, Sage Sri, Sankara says, the person who performs rituals and aspires for rewards will view himself in terms of the caste into which he is born, his age, the stage of his life, his standing in society, etc. Also, he is required to perform rituals all through his life. However, the Self has none of those attributes or tags. Hence, the person who superimposes all those attributes on the changeless, eternal Self and identifies Self with the body is confusing one for the other and is, therefore, an ignorant person. The scriptures dealing with rituals, rewards, etc. are therefore addressed to an ignorant person. -Adhyasa Bhashya
Sage Sankara: ~ (11.1) This ignorance (mistaking the body for Self) brings in its wake a desire for the well-being of the body, aversion for its disease or discomfort, fear of its destruction, and thus a host of miseries( anartha ). This anartha is caused by projecting karthvya ( “doer” sense) and bhokthavya (object) on the Atman. Sankara calls this adhyasa . The scriptures dealing with rituals, rewards, etc. are, therefore, he says, addressed to an ignorant person.-Adhyasa Bhashya
Sage Sri, Sankara: ~ (11.2) In short, a person who engages in rituals with the notion “I am an agent, doer, thinker”, according to Sage Sankara, is ignorant, as his behavior implies a distinct, separate doer/agent/knower; and an object that is to be done/achieved/known. That duality is avidya , an error that can be removed by vidya .-Adhyasa Bhashya
Sage Sankara: ~ (12) Sage Sankara affirming his belief in one eternal unchanging reality (Brahman) and the illusion of plurality, drives home the point that Upanishads deal not with rituals but with the knowledge of the Absolute (Brahma vidya ) and the Upanishads give us an insight into the essential nature of the Self which is identical with the Absolute, the Brahman.-Adhyasa Bhashya
Sage Sankara: ~ Atman, the innermost Self is verily Brahman (God), being equanimous , quiescent, and by nature absolute Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss. Atman is not the body that is non-existence itself. This is called true Knowledge by the wise.
Everyone’s inner work is on . The Soul is the innermost Self. The Soul the inner Guru guides us all till we get the stillness of its Advaitic true nature. It is the Soul which is in ignorance it is the Soul that has to wakes from the sleep of ignorance.:~Santthosh Kumaar
