“What is truth?” and “What is untruth?”

Seeker of truth has to know somewhere he is going wrong, and it is for the seeker to go on his own and remove the obstacle.  The greatest hindrance is mixing religion, god, scriptures, and yogic theories. Moreover, attachment to scriptures, personal god and religious code of conduct keeps one permanently in the grip of duality.

For the same reason Sri, Raman Maharshi said:-  fortunate are the one who do not lose themselves in the labyrinths of philosophy. Bhagwan says: Take Vedanta, for instance: it speaks of 15 pranas the names and functions of it   which the student is asked to commit memory. Will it not be sufficient if he thought, only one prana does the whole work of maintaining the body? Again the antakaran is said to think, to desire, to will, to reason etc. Why all these details? Has anyone seen antakarana, or all these pranas? Do they really exist? They are conceptual divisions invented by teachers of philosophy by their excessive analysis. Where do all these concepts end? Why should confusion created and then explained away? Fortunate is the man who does not lose himself in the labyrinths of philosophy, but goes straight to the source from which they all arise. (GURU RAMANA .By S.S Cohen -vii Danger of philosophy-Page -58-59)

Therefore, highlighting the obstacles in pursuit of truth, that helps the fellow seekers, to reach their nondual destination, in lesser time and effort. 

Mundaka Upanishad:- The rituals and the sacrifices described in the Vedas deal with lower knowledge. The sages ignored these rituals and went in search of higher knowledge. ... Such rituals are unsafe rafts for crossing The sea of samsara, of birth and death. Doomed to shipwreck are those who try to cross The sea of samsara on these poor rafts. Ignorant of their own ignorance, yet wise In their own esteem, these deluded men Proud of their vain learning go round and round Like the blind led by the blind.

To do good to the world is to enlighten mankind and bring them out of pain and miseries, rather than leaving them to the grace of God. It is only through the wisdom of God, that man can understand his mistakes. It is imperative to disseminate the Vedic knowledge and assist in liberating souls and at the same time elevate your own soul.

Undoubtedly, India can boast or pride herself in being the most secular nation in the whole world. Refugees of religious persecution in all religions including Charvaka Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, Muslims and Buddhists all took refuge in India. Throughout the ages, religious tolerance has become a universal message. There are thousands or perhaps millions of temples, churches and mosques, an exploitation no other nation in the world can surpass. 

Almost a billion people engage in some form of spiritual worship. This takes place in temples, mosques, synagogues and churches, homes, factories, along riverbanks, in forest or mountains, streets, in trains, buses, wherever they may be. One can easily relate to such profound symbolatry as truly a divine paradise for the seekers of spirituality. But strangely and unfortunately, it was not meant to be so. 

The prevailing conditions of India have cleared the oppugnancies that all religious dogmas do lead ultimately to Salvation. The practices of these doctrines have definitely proved that destitution is a languishing pain for the poor, and happiness, a distant dream for the privileged. The diminished glorious ages of India, once the cradle of civilization, where only one people worshipped one God, is long gone.

[Source:-SATYARATH PRAKASH]

 

Looking at all these facts there is a need to bifurcate whatever is not Vedic to know the pure Vedic essence which is mixed in the sea of mythology, Superstitions and dogmas.  No god can exit without man. Man has to exist first for god to exist. Thus god is dependent on man’s existence.   Therefore, there is a need to unfold the mystery of man’s existence, and then only it is possible accept the god’s existence. 

It looks like the idea of god is adopted from Abrahamic religion and introduced with mythological base.  There is no use of arguing with anyone with all these facts because all these things make one believe the illusion [universe]  as reality.  The main goal of the truth seeker is to acquire self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.   

The belief system preaches that God is one and the ways to God are many. It simply tries to lead them to darkness with its dogma and idea of many gods, which is apart from the self. 

The eternal truth  is within the universe [mind] and it is without the universe [mind]. Direct knowledge of self can be acquired by one through the Self while realizing the Self. Self- realization is the essence of human existence. Where there is unity, one without a second; there is world of non-dual reality. The non-dual truth is ultimate truth. And ultimate truth itself is God. 

"The religion of the Veda knows no idols, then why worship such things as god, which are non -Vedic and enter darkness in to darkness (ignorance).   

"Andhatama pravishanti ye asambhuti mupaste". [Yajurved 40:9]

Translation 1.
They enter darkness, those who worship natural things (for example air, water, sun, moon, animals, fire, stone, etc).

They sink deeper in darkness those who worship sambhuti. (Sambhuti means created things, for example table, chair, idol etc.)
[Yajurved 40:9]

Translation 2.
"Deep into shade of blinding gloom fall asambhuti's worshippers. They sink to darkness deeper yet who on sambhuti are intent."

[Yajurveda Samhita by Ralph T. H. Giffith pg 538]

Translation 3.
"They are enveloped in darkness, in other words, are steeped in ignorance and sunk in the greatest depths of misery who worship the uncreated, eternal prakrti -- the material cause of the world -- in place of the All-pervading God, But those who worship visible things born of the prakrti, such as the earth, trees, bodies (human and the like) in place of God are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time."
[Yajur Veda 40:9.]

"Na tasya pratima asti"
"There is no image of Him."[Yajurveda 32:3]

"Ekam evadvitiyam"
"He is One only without a second." [Chandogya Upanishad 6:2]

"Na casya kascij janita na cadhipah."
"Of Him there are neither parents nor lord." [Svetasvatara Upanishad 6:9]

"Na tasya pratima asti"
"There is no likeness of Him." [Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:19]

"shudhama poapvidham"
"He is bodiless and pure." [Yajurveda 40:8]
"Na samdrse tisthati rupam asya, na caksusa pasyati kas canainam."
"His form is not to be seen; no one sees Him with the eye." [Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:20]

The religion of the Veda knows no idols

"The religion of the Veda knows no idols," says Max Müller; "the worship of idols in India is a secondary formation, a degradation of the more primitive worship of ideal gods."

Self- knowledge is the highest knowledge. Self is closer to man than his own veins." "With the knowledge of the self, man will begin to know the self is not physical but self is formless consciousness, so as to finally achieve the self-awareness." "With the perfect understanding of the true self, man becomes conscious that self is the consciousness. For Advitin- the self alone is the God or Lord .

 Mysticism gives only temporary peace within the illusion, because it is based on the mystical experience experienced in the unreal world. Only self-knowledge can yield permanent peace.

Krishna is teaching no particular religion, but Religion in general. The Gita nowhere refers to Hindu, Vaishnava or Saiva Matam or Dharma. The entire civilized world's need is now, to lift its viewpoint from particular religions to universal truth. 

In Vedas the God has been described as:-

v  Sakshi (Witness)

v  Chetan (conscious)

v  Nirguna (Without form and properties).

v  Nitya (eternal)

v  Shuddha (pure)

v  Buddha (omniscient)

v   Mukta (unattached).

It indicates clearly all the gods with form and attributes are mere imagination based on the false self.  The true god is self, which Atman.  Therefore Self-Realization is god realization. 

As indicated in ISH Upanishads: - By worshiping 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.

It clearly indicates that:-If the human goal is to acquire Self-Knowledge then why one has to indulge in rituals and glorifying the conceptual gods, goddesses and gurus to go in to deeper darkness. Instead   spend that time moving forward towards Self-knowledge, which is one’s prime goal.  

Since it is eternal and infinite, it comprises the only truth. The goal of Vedic religion, through the various yogas, is to realize that the consciousness (Atman) is actually nothing but Brahman.

Brahman means universal truth. Brahman is considered the all-pervading consciousness, which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material. (brahmano hi pratisthaham, Bhagavad Gita 14.27)

Sri, Sankara’s notion of Maya, the cosmic illusion, which must be transcended in order to realize the truth of Brahman, which means ultimate truth.   

If Brahman is considered the all-pervading consciousness then, it is necessary to realize, the consciousness as self, which pervades all the three states, to realize the fact that, there is no second thing exists other the consciousness. Thus, consciousness [Atman] is ultimate truth [Brahman].   

Yoga also gives temporary peace because yogi considers the body as self and his experience is experienced as body as self.  Thus yogic Samadhi is not wisdom.

 Panchadesi, P.509 v, 109:-  shows the impossibility of yoga arriving at a successful end to its practices.  

As one goes deeper in self-search he will becomes aware all the material in religious annals are mere assumption and imagination based on the false self.   Even if one takes them as reality one has to realize the fact that, the waking experience itself is falsehood. Therefore whatever one sees, knows, believes and experiences as person within the falsehood is bound to be falsehood.   Thus all these religious fables has no value on the ultimate stand point. 

As one verifies one becomes aware of the fact that:-

The Puranas

Acharya Dharamkriti has enumerated five characteristics of ennui and stupefaction. One of them is to consider a scripture on authority. The tendency to consider a book on authority is widely prevalent in India, though most of the contents of these scriptures have been proven fallacious on the basis of reason and reality.

When scientists have proved that the moon is 24,000 miles away from the earth and the sun is 9.30 crore miles away, what is the sense in asserting that according to the Vishnu Puran, the sun is near the earth and the moon is far off.

Nothing is true

The writers of the Puranas say that there are seven seas on the earth. One is full of saltish water; the other contains pure water; the third is full of milk; the fourth is full of ghee and so on. Today everybody knows that all the seas are full of brine. No sea contains milk or ghee. Inspite of this, if somebody cites the puranas as authority and advances the view that the seas are full of sugarcane juice, he will be considered as a fool. The scriptures cannot be taken as authority because man's knowledge increases and changes day by day. Truths of yesterday may not be truths of today, and todays opinion and views may be proved wrong tomorrow. Books only reflect the knowledge of contemporary people.

Everybody knows that the knowledge of the Puraniks about the astronomy and science was very limited, and that of geography almost ridiculous. According to the Markandeya Puran, the area of earth is 50 crore 'yojanas'. There are seven continents on the earth - Jambu, Plaksh, Shalmal, Kush, Kronch, Shak and Pushkar. One of these continents is double the size of others. The continents are surrounded by seas of salt, sugarcane juice, wine, ghee, curd milk and pure water respectively. One sea is double the size of others.

A 'yojana' is equivalent to 8 miles. According to the Puranas, the area of the earth is 50 crore'yojanas' or 4000 million miles. Scientists and geographers have proved that the diameter of the earth is 8000 miles and its circumfrence is 25,000 miles. The Puraniks say that the 'extent' of earth is 4,000 million miles, whereas it is actually only 25,000 miles. In case they meant area by the word 'extent', even then it comes out to be 62 crore square miles, after multiplying its length (25,000) and breadth (25,000) miles.

Ocean of cane juice

Students of geography know it too well that there are only six continents on this earth - Asia,Europe, North America, South America, Africa and Australia. According to the Puraniks, the Jambu continent or Asia extends to one lakh 'yojanas'. According to them the Plaksh continent (presumably Europe) extends to two lakh 'yojanas' or 16 lakh miles and the sea surrounding it extends eight lakh miles and is full of cane juice.

It is known fact that no sea seperates Asia and Europe, and when there is no sea it is sheer imagination to say that it extends 16 lakh miles and is full of cane juice. In case the sea surrounding Europe was full of cane juice, the European would have exported sugar to Asia, America, Africa and Australia. 

According to the Markandeya Puran, the Shalmal continent (perhaps Africa) extends to 32 lakh miles. It is surrounded by a sea which extends to 32 lakh miles and is full of wine. Readers know that Maditerranien Sea and the Red sea seperate Africa from Europe and they extend only a few hundred miles. They are full of brine like the Indian Ocean. The Puraniks say that Africa is four times bigger than Asia, whereas it is almost equal to latter.

The Puraniks say that the Kush continent (perhaps North America) extends to 64 lakh miles and is surrounded by a sea which extends to 64 lakhs miles and is full of ghee. Similarly the Kronch continent (perhaps South America) extends to 128 lakh miles and is surrounded by sea of equal area and is full of curd.

In fact no sea separates North and South America. On one side there is the Atlantic Ocean and on the other there is the Pacific Ocean and both are full of Brine. These continents are smaller than Asia.

Imaginary geographical knowledge 

It is surprising that the Puraniks imagined only 'rivers' of ghee and milk in India and 'seas' of ghee and and milk preety far off. The Shak continent(presumably Australia) is said to be 32 times bigger than the Jambu continent(Asia).What to talk of 32 times, it is not even one fourth. 

The imaginary geographical knowledge of the Puraniks does not end here. Their observations about the Jambu Continent (Asia) and India are rather strange. 

In the middle of the Jambu continent, there is a golden Meru mountain which is 84,000 'yojanas' high. It is rooted in the deep earth and its depth is 16,000 'yojanas' the width of its top is 32,000 'yojanas' and that of base is 16,000 'yojanas'. 

The Himalayas are situated in the middle of Asia and are covered with snow. It is fantastic to say that its height is 84,000 'yojanas' when it is actually 29,000 feet high. According to the Puraniks, it is 256,000 miles wide, whereas the width of asia from Kanyakumari to North pole is hardly 7,000 miles. The length of himalayas is not 128,000 miles, it is about 1500 miles. According to the Puraniks, the depth of Sumeru mountain inside the earth is 128,000 miles. When the diameter of the earth is hardly 8,000 miles what about the rest of the milage, which comes to 120,000 miles ? 

According to the Devi Bhagwat puran, there are four mountains in the four directions of the Sumeru mountain - Mandar in the east, Merumandar in the South, Suparshv in the west and Kumund in the north. All these mountains are like the legs of the main mountain. The area of each is described as 80,000 miles. Each of them has a tree on the top - mango, rose-apple, neulea orientalis and banyan. They serve as their flags are 1,100 yojanas' high. All four trees extend like the mountain on which they are growing. These four mountains are further beutifies by their four tanks which contain milk honey, sugarcane juice and so on.

All these prove the fact that, religion is based on the physical self and physical existence itself is falsehood from ultimate standpoint.  Therefore, Self-knowledge is necessary to realize the fact that, the birth, life death and the world are part of the falsehood. 

Therefore until one bifurcate the religion from spirituality one will not be able to grasp and realize the non-dual truth.   The people who are stuck with religious based non-dual teachings will find it difficult to realize the non-dual truth.   

Self is 'that which is at first known as the soul in the human experience, but which, in the end, is found to be identical with the supreme Reality.

The pursuit of truth or spirituality is discovering the truth of the true existence   as its goal the realization of one's identity with the Ultimate Truth.

 Seekers goal is always a spiritual one. In fact, a true knowledge is said to be a science which shows the way of approach, or rather of return, to the spirit, which is the true Self.

There are no other paths other than the formless path by which a seeker may realize the ultimate truth.

 When one is in the realm of inner equilibrium - that is, perfect co-ordination between the Spirit [soul] and the Matter [mind]. In this balance lies the secret.  When the seeker of truth has learnt to view and judge the three states, on the standpoint of the soul as self, so to say, and does not allow himself to be imprisoned in the grip of ignorance. This is a very difficult thing to achieve, but it is an important aspect of pursuit of truth, inasmuch as it paves the way to detachment and gives freedom from the burden of experiencing the duality as reality.

The three states are external to the formless soul or consciousness is the innermost self.  The three states are dependent and the soul or consciousness, the innermost self is independent. 

Thoughts arise to the person within the waking or dream. Thinker is the form. Without the form the thinking is impossibility. Thus thinker and the thoughts are part of the known. The knower of the known is formless. 

Thoughts and thinker is nothing to do with the formless witness. The witness is that witnesses the thoughts and thinker together and remains always in the within the waking or dream as their formless substance.

People think that, more they think, the more they will get; but it is really an error. It remains only a thought and gives them back only thoughts.  Anything seen, observed, cannot be the Self or the Witness. 

The good and evil is part of the falsehood; pure and impure is part of the falsehood.  No one can purify another because the duality is itself is impure and duality is created, sustained and finally dissolves as purity, which is the soul/spirit.

When one starts exploring the mystery of the self, he is still mired in habituated patterns. Limited in perception to a world projected by these patterns, he does not and cannot see things as they are because his understanding is based on the false self/ego, whereas the truth is based on the formless soul.   He needs a guide, who can show how to proceed in pursuit of truth.

The soul   is the subject, and mind is an object. When the understanding is based on the object as subject the realizing the truth is impossibility.  Object is unreal created out of the formless subject, which is real. 

Mind means ignorance. Overcoming the ignorance through wisdom is the aim of the truth seeker.    The Gnani is the one who is fully aware of “What is truth?” and “What is untruth?” in the midst of experience of diversity/illusion. 

Gnani is fully aware of the fact that the birth, life and death are mere illusion and views all the pain and pleasure of the life as mere illusion. 

The Mind[waking]  rises then only  man and his experience of the world comes into existence and dissolves into nothing in deep sleep.  To the Gnani there is no world, no body, and no ego because for him, the form,name ,thoughts,words and experience   are mere mirage created out of consciousness . Thus,   everything is consciousness 

The truth is beyond all philosophies.

The truth is beyond all philosophies. When we realize all our accumulation of knowledge from outer sources is inadequate and useless in quenching our spiritual thirst,than  we will start our inner [mental] journey on our own.  The journey is full of obstacles because we have to drop all the accumulated dross and all the conditioning [samskaras] to cross the ocean of duality or samsara. 

As one indulges in deeper self-search he will know somewhere he is going wrong, and it is for him to   overcome the entire obstacle on his own by knowing what is obstructing his realization.  The greatest hindrance is mixing religion, god, scriptures, and yogic theories and intellectual speculations and logical conclusions. Moreover, attachment to scriptures, personal god and religious code of conduct keeps one permanently in the grip of duality.

The Upanishads declare:- 

Katha Upanishad 1:2:23 The Soul cannot be realized through hearing scholarly explanation of the discourses, not even by the intellect.

Katha Upanishad 1:3:6 “Through the knowledge of the Soul, God, one is pure and clean constantly.” Neither by reading the book, nor by taking a bath at holy place has one become pure. Inner purity is possible when one remains in constant touch with the Soul. Constant Soul-Consciousness is the real purity.

Kena Upanishad 2:4 When it is known through every state of cognition, it is rightly known, for (by such knowledge) one attains life eternal. Through one's own self one gains power and through wisdom one gains immortality.

Kena Upanishad 2:5

 

If here one knows it, then there is truth, and if here one knows it not, there is a great loss. Hence, seeing the Real in all beings, wise men become immortal on departing from this world.

Mundaka Upanishad 1:2:8:- 

  “Remaining in the fold of ignorance and thinking “we are extremely wise and learned,” the fools with boastful nature ramble about like the blind led by the blind alone.”

Mundaka Upanishad 3:2:3:-
 

“The weak and timid cannot realize the Self. Self-Realization is not possible through intellect or hearing spiritual discourse. One who welcomes God in every activity, through a thorough controlled and disciplined life, to him also the Soul is revealed."

Mundaka Upanishad 3:2:3:- 
 

The Soul cannot be realized by the weak and timid.

RIG VEDA: - The famous utterance of Upanishad that Brahman cannot be attained by duality is in RV (5.12.2). The idea that Brahman cannot be attained by mere action or effort is in RV (8.70.3) and (5.48.5); Brahman cannot be approached by thought (RV.1.170.1 or Kena U., 1.3). [RV=RIG VEDA].

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.

It clearly indicates that:-If the human goal is to acquire Self-Knowledge then why one has to indulge in rituals and glorifying the conceptual gods, goddesses and gurus to go in to deeper darkness. Instead   spend that time moving forward towards Self-knowledge, which is one’s prime goal.  

  The scriptures and theories and teaching based on the ego are not the yardstick. Using them as yardstick to understand and assimilate the truth will lead one towards pursuit of arguments. Seeker of truth has to discover on his own, the truth of his true existence by inquiring “what is mind?” and “what is substance of the mind?” and move forward.  

That is why Sri, Sankara says in Viveka Chudamani:- 

56. Neither by Yoga, nor by Sankhya, nor by work, nor by learning, but by the realisation of one's identity with Brahman is Liberation possible, and by no other means. 

58. Loud speech consisting of a shower of words, the skill in expounding the Scriptures, and likewise erudition - these merely bring on a little personal enjoyment to the scholar, but are no good for Liberation.

59. The study of the Scriptures is useless so long as the highest Truth is unknown, and it is equally useless when the highest Truth has already been known.

60. The Scriptures consisting of many words are a dense forest which merely causes the mind to ramble. Hence men of wisdom should earnestly set about knowing the true nature of the Self.

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?

62. A disease does not leave off if one simply utter the name of the medicine, without taking it; (similarly) without direct realisation one cannot be liberated by the mere utterance of the word Brahman.

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.

64. Without killing one’s enemies, and possessing oneself of the splendor of the entire surrounding region, one cannot claim to be an emperor by merely saying, ‘I am an emperor’.

The wisdom consists in knowing the truth, that everything [mind or physical existence] is consciousness. Freedom [truth] is always there yet one does not know it.  But to those whose reason is turned away from physicality and who have attained the serenity of the soul/self [consciousness] are quite near to the ultimate truth. 

The belief system preaches that God is one and the ways to God are many. It simply tries to lead them to darkness with its dogma and idea of many gods, which is apart from the self. 

The eternal truth within the universe [mind] and it is without the universe [mind]. Direct knowledge of self can be acquired by one through the Self while realizing the Self. Self- realization is the essence of human existence. Where there is unity, one without a second; there is world of non-dual reality. The non-dual truth is ultimate truth. And ultimate truth itself is God. 

The god and guru are part of the illusory world; therefore the devotee and disciple also are also part of the illusion. Accepting the birth, life and death as reality, is accepting the illusion as reality. Accepting illusion as reality is the cause of the ignorance. Ignorance makes one feel the duality as reality. The duality makes one feel he is an individual separate from the world.  This separation makes one feel the birth, life and death as reality.  The person who bases on the birth, life and death is trying to find the meaning of life. There is no meaning or purpose of the life, because the life is mere happening within the illusion.  Thus the karma based on the physical entity is based on the birth, life and death, which is part and parcel of the illusion. 

 All appearance has not appeared to the physical entity, but to the soul. Man and the world are mere appearance.  That is, the illusion is mere appearance. Thus man cannot be considered as witness, since man and his experience of the world are within the illusion.  Thus the witness of the illusion is within the illusion but it is apart from the illusion.  It is with is within the illusion as its formless substance and it is apart from the illusion as its formless witness.  The formless substance and witness is the soul/spirit. The soul/spirit is the true self. Realizing the soul as self is Self -Realization.  Therefore, the soul alone is real and all else is mere illusion. By Learning to view and judge the truth on the base of soul as self will lead one to realize the fact that the man and the world are mere illusion.  

Therefore, it is necessary to learn to view and judge the truth on the base of soul, to understand and assimilate the self-knowledge.  It is the though the soul one knows himself as a person and perceives the world.  It is the soul, which is the author/knower of the three states, not the person who is limited to waking/dream.  

A well-directed  self- search will lead one to find his non-dual destination. Trying to discover the truth on the false self [ego] is going round and round not reaching anywhere. 

One is ignorant and he asserts the blissful, ever-existent consciousness, which exits in all the three states as its formless substance and witness.   And it is also apart from the three states.  The witness is formless and it is not an entity and identity within the waking or dream. 

 Once the seeker accepts the fact that, the self is neither the ‘I’, nor the body then realizes the fact that, the consciousness is the true self, and he establishes himself in that conviction.  Once this conviction is established the then the waking experience is absolutely non-existent as reality.

Seeker has to try to know the fact that, with the help of inquiry, analysis and reasoning, the true self is not ‘ego’, but the soul, which is in the form of consciousness.  Holding the ego [waking entity] as self is cause of ignorance. The consciousness is knower of the   body and the universe.

It is very difficult for those who strongly believe the ‘I’, as self to realize the truth. Most of the spiritual paths hold the ‘I’, as self and spin their imagination on the base of ‘I’, which leads them to hallucination.  People mistake that self as “I” whereas the gross bodies are many. So ‘I’ cannot be self.

By sentimentally and emotionally getting involved with some teachings or teacher is great hindrance in pursuit of truth. People hold their guru as ultimate authority and drop their pursuit of truth and indulge in their glorifying and worshiping the gurus, which keeps them in the permanently in ignorance. 

Self-knowledge is the destroyer of ignorance.  The self is the inner guru, god, the all-pervading principle and the cause of all three states.

The serious seeker should constantly reflect on the true self constantly through inquiry, analysis and reasoning, which is in the form of consciousness because it is the only means to acquire Self-knowledge. Self-knowledge is the only tool for the acquisition of final freedom from experiencing the illusory duality as reality. 

Seeker has to have the indifference mentally to all the three states because the three states are mere mirage created out of consciousness. Holding the three states as reality is great hindrance in pursuit of truth. Thus one has to remove all the obstacles and mental barricade one by one by realizing the self is not the form but the self is formless.  

  The   three states are perishable in their nature because they are   mere mirage created out of consciousness. The consciousness, which is the formless substance and witness of the mirage, is real and eternal.  Thus the consciousness is the inner most self. And knowing and realizing consciousness as self is the means to the attainment of Self- Realization or Truth Realization.  

Consciousness is the true self is the formless substance and witness of the three states is alone real and permanent. The three states are an object opposed to it, which is transient – such a settled conviction is truly known as discrimination.

Turning attention completely from all the three states and concentrating only on consciousness which is the formless substance and the witness of the three states is the only means to acquire non-dual wisdom.

Intense urge to become free from the bonds of this birth, life deaths and world, leads one to indulge in pursuit of truth.

Only serious seekers who have an intense urge to acquire Self- Knowledge should have courage to discard the false-knowledge with a view to attaining non-dualistic wisdom. 

Self- Knowledge is not brought about by any other means than inquiry, analysis and reasoning on the true base. Trying to attain self-knowledge through other means is like trying to find fish in the desert sand.

If god is creator then it is foolish to worship anything as god from his creation

All the penances are external because they are based on the individuality. Investigating the mind, alone leads to self-realization. To know what is mind, profits much rather than searching the truth in external world moving from one ashram to another and one guru to another and one mountain to another.  When one starts investigating the universe that confronts him than he will mentally move inwards and will be able to  reach the ultimate end. And  he will become fully aware “What is truth?”  and “What is untruth?” in his own home or city without disturbing his family life.  and he will be able to  establish in  the truth by realizing what is untruth. 

Man is like caged animal. He cannot get out of the inherited conditioning very easily. Ignorance makes him experience duality as reality. The religion makes him to accept blind belief as truth pushes him in the prison of slavery to belief based ideas or theories. Scriptures and scholars of every belief system differ widely on every point and there is no universality in religion. Thus religion is a useless raft to cross the ocean of ignorance because the religion is based on individuality and it can yield only individual truth. individuality is falsehood from ultimate standpoint.   

When one is not aware of the fact that that, the true self is not waking entity but the formless knower of the three state than  how Can he  say  he  know the existence of  God which is mere assumption based on the false self within the false experience.  Thus whatever one see, knows, believes and experiences as a person of the world within the waking experience is bound to be false hood.   

Without the knowing the fact that self is not the form but the self is formless it is foolish to argue, judge and conclude on the base of the form [waking entity] , which is not the self. 

Without knowing what is Self, holding ‘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 inquiry, analysis and sound reasoning is mere assumption or speculation. Such assumptions and speculation blocks one from realizing the non dual truth fueling the egocentricity.  

  

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

If there is Brahman-—prove it. If there is Atman--prove it right here right now. Religious so-called philosophy dogmatically assumes both. 

The god who appears to the mystic in meditation or penance is mere hallucination because whatever is known, seen, believed and experienced as a person within the waking experience is falsehood because waking experience itself is falsehood. From ultimate standpoint there is no value for such claim.   

When one does not know truth, than he can only guess, imagine, hence doubts and questions and discussions arise.

One says God is Light.  Again the light may take different colors, then which color is correct? Some people contend that God is sound and say one hears the Aum sound, sound inside in meditation, still others say God is in the form of fragrant smell and that beautiful scent comes in meditation as the presence of God. All these differences of opinion, they can be endless, show mutual contradiction and general error, i.e. lack of certain truth. Moreover if one sees a light he is seeing a second thing, or duality.  Where there is duality there is no reality. 

God is impotent, incompetent or lacking in intelligence--if he exists! But all god propagated by belief systems are nothing but imaginations.

There is nothing so absurd which men have not worshiped in religion, every imaginable face has been given to God.  If god is creator then it is foolish to worship anything as god from his creation because the creation is apart from the god.  

One has to know ‘What is truth?’ One cannot get rid of it by shutting his eyes to it. It is only by inquiry, analysis and reasoning one becomes aware of ‘what is truth?’ and “what is not truth’.  

Every belief system has its own idea and conviction of god.  Thus every belief system is based on the false self.  Therefore, whatever is based on the false self has to be falsehood? Thus the idea of god of any belief system has is mere assumption and speculation based on the false self.

It is foolish say I know god and he is everywhere because he has read it or heard from someone.  How does he know God and how does he know that he is everywhere?  Appearances and quotations have nothing to do with ultimate truth. 

The difference between knowledge: - that knowledge will be determined by the nature of the object to be known, whereas meditation will be determined by the nature of the meditator.

Rest in consciousness by recognizing it as our inner most self, which is god.

One does not find reflection of his self when he is standing in front  of a mirror but he finds his body and the background world in the mirror.  The one which is conscious of the body and the experience of the world is not the body but the consciousness, which is the inner most self. 

The relationship and love, hate happiness and misery of the practical life within the practical world are not connected to the soul [formless consciousness] which is his true identity. The true identity  is beyond form, time and space and beyond birth, life, death and world.  

Thus rest in consciousness by recognizing it as our inner most self, which is god.  And realize the practical life within the practical world is mere mirage created out of consciousness. Consciousness is ultimate truth and ultimate truth is God. 

Getting rid of the physical shackle is necessary to overcome the burden and bondage of the illusory samsara. Love and relationship seems reality in practical life within the practical world but they are mere illusion from ultimate standpoint.   Thus the game of life is mere passing show. 

It is not possible to get rid of the ignorance  through religious or yogic path. 

Katha Upanishad 1:2:23 The Soul cannot be realized through hearing scholarly explanation of the discourses, not even by the intellect.

Katha Upanishad 1:3:6 “Through the knowledge of the Soul, God, one is pure and clean constantly.” Neither by reading the book, nor by taking a bath at holy place has one become pure. Inner purity is possible when one remains in constant touch with the Soul. Constant Soul-Consciousness is the real purity.

Kena Upanishad 2:4 When it is known through every state of cognition, it is rightly known, for (by such knowledge) one attains life eternal. Through one's own self one gains power and through wisdom one gains immortality.

 

Kena Upanishad 2:5

If here one knows it, then there is truth, and if here one knows it not, there is a great loss. Hence, seeing the Real in all beings, wise men become immortal on departing from this world.

 

Mundaka Upanishad 1:2:8

“Remaining in the fold of ignorance and thinking “we are extremely wise and learned,” the fools with boastful nature ramble about like the blind led by the blind alone.”

 

Mundaka Upanishad 3:2:3

“The weak and timid cannot realize the Self. Self-Realization is not possible through intellect or hearing spiritual discourse. One who welcomes God in every activity, through a thorough controlled and disciplined life, to him also the Soul is revealed." 

Mundaka Upanishad 3:2:3

The Soul cannot be realized by the weak and timid.

 

That is why Sri, Sankara says in Viveka Chudamani:- 

56. Neither by Yoga, nor by Sankhya, nor by work, nor by learning, but by the realisation of one's identity with Brahman is Liberation possible, and by no other means. 

58. Loud speech consisting of a shower of words, the skill in expounding the Scriptures, and likewise erudition - these merely bring on a little personal enjoyment to the scholar, but are no good for Liberation.

59. The study of the Scriptures is useless so long as the highest Truth is unknown, and it is equally useless when the highest Truth has already been known.

60. The Scriptures consisting of many words are a dense forest which merely causes the mind to ramble. Hence men of wisdom should earnestly set about knowing the true nature of the Self.

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?

62. A disease does not leave off if one simply utter the name of the medicine, without taking it; (similarly) without direct realisation one cannot be liberated by the mere utterance of the word Brahman.

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.

64. Without killing one’s enemies, and possessing oneself of the splendor of the entire surrounding region, one cannot claim to be an emperor by merely saying, ‘I am an emperor’.

Until one knows the truth of his true existence, whatever he knows about god is mere belief. Belief   is individual whereas the ultimate truth is universal every belief system has its own idea of god thus there is no universality in the belief system.

“True Self” is neither five elements, nor any of the organs individually, nor all the elements or organs together as a whole. The body and universe exists within the waking or dream. Thus the body and the universe are limited to the waking or dream.  The self is within the universe, which appears as waking or dream and disappears as deep sleep. It is within the waking or dream as their formless substance and it is without the waking or dream as their formless witness.  If is within because the waking or dream are mere mirage created out of the self, which is in the form of consciousness. Thus forms and names within waking or dream have no value, because the waking or dreams are mere mirage created out of the consciousness.  The waking or dreams are impermanent whereas the formless substance and witness of the waking or dream are permanent. 

 True Self is   beyond the waking or dream because it is neither the waking entity nor it is the dream entity.  The self exists by itself only in deep sleep without the limitation of sense of form, time and space.  The self is attribute- less, non-dual entity which alone prevails when all the three states are negated mentally. 

The view of materialists that there is no self or soul different from the body has to be rejected, because the consciousness itself is the soul, which pervades all the three states.  Materialists do not accept the existence of a soul different from the body but how can they find the soul within the body when it pervades in everything and everywhere in all the three states.   

All the confusion is because some thinkers  hold   the physical body itself is the self, another that the sense organs are the self, yet another that the mind is the self. All these are rejected when one becomes aware of the fact that the soul, which is in the form of consciousness as true self.  Many people hold on to the concept that there is no such thing as soul because their teacher said so or some teaching said so or some scriptures say so.  Thus they get stuck with the idea of no soul and remain as stagnant water dropping all the further investigation and trying to find answers for their shortcomings in their worldly life.    

Deeper investigation reveals the fact that, the individual self is limited to the waking entity or dream entity, is not the self, because the waking experience is also falsehood. Therefore, the self is the formless knower [witness] of the coming and going of the three states.  And also it is the formless substance of the three states. Thus, the soul is in the form of consciousness, is the true self.  

Consciousness is devoid of all qualities and is neither a doer nor an experiencer. In ignorance it appears as waking experience or dream. And in deep sleep it remains in its formless non-dual true nature.  Thus the one that appears as waking or dream and disappears as deep sleep is consciousness. Thus all the three states are consciousness because there is no second thing exists, other than consciousness.      

 In the deep sleep there is neither waking nor dream experience.  The dream is parallel waking and waking is parallel dream. In the deep sleep experience the waking or dream too is dormant and consciousness alone is there. In deep sleep there is only non-dual tranquility and total ignorance of everything, as is proved by the fact that, when a person wakes up from sleep he or she says, “I slept deeply, I did not know anything”. This proves that the soul, which is in the form consciousness, exists in the deep sleep in its formless non-dual true nature. In deep sleep there is nothing but the consciousness. The waking or dream is only a mirage created out of consciousness. 

Due to ignorance the mirage is experienced as reality by the false self within the false experience. When self-knowledge arises, this ignorance is destroyed then the self, which is in the form of consciousness alone remains, which can never be negated. 

The division into castes and neither stages of life, nor the rules of conduct and duties of the various castes and stages of life apply to the false self within the false experience. Religion meditation or yoga rituals, scriptural studies and follow the spiritual laws are greatest obstacles in realizing the ultimate truth. Since the notions of ‘I’, ‘I Am’ and ‘Me’, ‘mine’ are of the false self within the false experience. If one is able to drop the identification with the ‘I’ or ‘I am’ then, the consciousness [true self] will remain free from experiencing the illusory duality as reality. 

In deep sleep there is neither birth, nor life, nor death, nor world, nor gods, nor is there total void, since consciousness alone   exists as free from experience of waking or dream.

The experience of birth, life, death and the world are based on the false self within the false experience.  On the base of the false self and the false knowledge, the waking experience is experienced as reality. But when that false knowledge is not there, such notions also do not exist, as in the state of deep sleep.

When the wisdom dawns than waking experience cease to be a reality, the dream ceases to be a reality; deep sleep ceases to be reality because there is no division in consciousness, because everything is consciousness. Thus three states are mere mirage created out of consciousness.  Thus consciousness alone is all else is illusion.  

 Neither the religious view, nor the yogic, nor the scientific view, nor the atheistic nor the intellectual view, etc., are tenable. Because of the realization of the part- less consciousness, ultimate truth is absolutely free from diversity. It always remains as the one self, free from all diversities when one is able to view from ultimate standpoint.

Consciousness  has no such thing as upper or lower (part), it has no inside or outside, it has no middle or any ‘across’, and it has no eastern or western direction, because it is all-pervading like space or pervades space also. It is one and without parts. It remains as the one self, free from all diversities.

Consciousness is formless and colorless; it is not tiny, nor big. It is neither short nor long. It is not knowable since it is of the nature of effulgence. It remains as the one self, free from dualities.

There is neither teacher nor teaching, neither student nor instruction, neither “Me” nor “you”, nor this universe. The knowledge of real nature of consciousness does not admit of different perceptions. It remains as the one auspicious self, free from all attributes.

Consciousness, which is the true self, does not have the state of waking, nor of dream, nor of deep sleep. These three states are only the products of ignorance. Consciousness is beyond these three states and it remains as the one self, free from all states.

Consciousness is all-pervading, is the desired goal, is self-existent, and is not dependent on anything else, while the entire universe which is different from it is unreal. Consciousness remains as the one self-free from all divisions.

 It is not one; how can there be a second different from it? It has neither absoluteness nor non-absoluteness. It is neither void nor non-void since it is devoid of duality.  It cannot be described that which is the formless essence of the all the three states.  

It is impossible to get rid of ignorance through path of karma or bhakti

Consciousness is ultimate truth. Without consciousness the mind, which is in the form of universe ceases to exist.  It is impossible to obtain self- knowledge without knowing the universe that confronts one. only after deeper self-search  it is possible to realize, the illusory nature of the mind which appears as universe.

Mind or universe is non-different from the soul, which is in the form consciousness. One should get wisdom to realize the fact  that, the self is free from experience of the birth, life, death and world.  and they are mere illusion created out of consciousness, which is the innermost self, which is God. Man alone cannot be god,  because the whole universe is god because it is created out of consciousness, which is god. Thus self-minus illusion is god.  Therefore man and his experience of the world are  mere illusion. Whatever exists without the illusion is ultimate truth or Brahman. Ultimate truth is God.

The release from illusion is possible only when seeker indulges in deeper self-search. The illusion appears in the form of the mind. And mind appears in the  form of universe. And universe appears in the form of waking or dream. The absolute merging of the mind in consciousness mentally is possible only through wisdom not by any other means.

For seekers of truth, the soul, which is consciousness, is ultimate truth or God. When one becomes aware of the fact that the self is not the form but formless consciousness, then he becomes aware  of the fact that , the universe creates  veil of ignorance, and the consciousness  is devoid of qualities, so it is impossible to get rid of ignorance through path of   Karma or Bhakti

Dream is parallel Waking experience and waking is parallel dream. Both are parallel illusory Reality, the one who is in illusion is neither the waking entity nor the dream entity but the formless witness of the three states.  

If ultimate truth is perceived then waking or dream would be like any insentient object like a rock”.  from the ultimate stand point the subject and object are one in essence.

Since wisdom is already present but is obstructed due to the veil of ignorance. If ignorance vanishes then   the veil also will vanish."

One which has the wisdom and which has the ignorance is not the waking entity but the formless witness of the three states.

Only through self-knowledge the veil ignorance vanishes. Consciousness is the ultimate truth and ignorance makes one experience the illusion as reality.

Universe is reality within the waking experience .But the waking is unreal from ultimate standpoint. Three states exist as reality only in ignorance of the true self. From the ultimate standpoint all the three states are mere mirage created out of consciousness.

They are mirage; it means they don’t even exist. Only in ignorance they are experienced as real but when the wisdom dawns they are unreal, because the substance and witness are one in essence.  That is the substance and witness both are one [consciousness]. Thus no second thing exist other than consciousness.