The one which believes itself as body is not the body.

Everyone’s individual experiences are not the same.   Some are so much immersed in materiality, religion, duty bound towards their family and society, and they will not be attracted to the non-dual wisdom or understand and assimilate the non-dual truth, because they accepted the practical life within the practical world as reality  thus they have accepted the duality as reality. Therefore they will remain unaware of the fact that the duality is mere illusion from ultimate standpoint.  Thus they remain in the inborn conditioning or samskara or conditioning, which is present as ‘I’ or ‘I AM’. This inborn conditioning is cause of ignorance. And ignorance is cause of experiencing the illusory experience of birth, life, death and world as reality.  Thus basing oneself on birth entity trying for self-realization is to find fishes in desert sand.

The one which believes itself as body is not the body.  Only after this belief all other beliefs will arise. Thus the basic belief “I am the body” has to be there before any belief. After this basic belief, the belief of name is accepted. After the belief of body with the name, the belief of person is born. Thus, the belief of birth becomes belief of ignorance, without realizing the fact that, the believer is formless soul, which is the true self.

 

On the base of ignorance of the true self, the belief of the man and his experience of the world are based. Thus, the truth is hidden within the belief, which is cause by the ignorance. Thus, the whole experience of diversity is caused by the ignorance.

Without the experience of diversity there is no belief, because the belief rises within the experience of diversity. When one knows the source of the experience the ignorance vanishes and one realizes the fact that, there is neither belief nor experience. The diversity is mere mirage. Thus individuality, which is based on the belief is part and parcel of the mirage.   

Thus, it is necessary to realize the fact that, the belief and experience are part of the illusion created out of the soul, which is in the form of consciousness.

Many are good at acrobatics with words, but their knowledge is limited to the waking entity, which is ego.  When the inner work is at progress then the realization will happen as conviction of the soul as self, grow than it leads to non-dual self-awareness. Only the chosen one by the soul the innermost self will be able to realize the truth.  

If one has understood 'I’ or ‘I AM ‘is not the self and what really is ‘I’ or ‘I AM’, there is no necessity for pursuit of truth.  When in deeper self-search one becomes aware neither the body nor the ‘I’ is self than one has to base the self on whatever prevails without the body and without the ‘I’. Passing the opinion   and judgment even after knowing the self is not ‘I’, itself is erroneous.  Thus holding the ‘I’ as self and passing judgement and opinion based on the ‘I’ or ‘I AM’ is only a hallucinated judgment based on the false self. This because they have taken the false self as real self and false experience as real experience.   

To love god as he ought to be loved, we must love for god and die for god, knowing that the goal of life is to know God, and find him as our own self.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, which is a part of Vedas, Declares that:-Brahman is the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself.

Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is the innermost self. 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 (waking or universe)?  The waking and the dream cease to exist without consciousness.  The seeker, seeking and his destination   all are one in essence.

There is only need to realize the whole universe in which we exist is created out of consciousness (soul or Atman), the innermost self.  On the standpoint innermost self, the universe is mere illusion created out of consciousness.  Thus on the ultimate standpoint no second thing exists other than consciousness. Thus consciousness is ultimate truth or Brahman or Go.

 MEHER BABA:- When the reality appears this ignorance  which one thinks as reality becomes unreal.

Meher Baba said: - To love god as he ought to be loved, we must love for god and die for god, knowing that the goal of life is to know God, and find him as our own self.

To realize God is to attain liberation from the bondage of illusion. 

Live only to find and realize your true identity with your beloved God.

The energy which is expended in mere thinking, taking or writing is like steam which escapes through the whistle of railway engine …

That is why the sages have always insisted on practice rather than theory. This applies particularly to those who want to know and realize God.  

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-----It means one has to one has to know and realize his inner most self is god and identify it has his true identity to find liberation from the bondage of  the illusion of birth, life, death and world[duality].   The goal of our life is to find and realize our identity with our beloved God, which is our innermost self. 

Blinded with the illusion very few grasp the non-dualistic or Advaitic truth

Blinded with the illusion very few grasp the non-dualistic or Advaitic  truth. Only few escape from the web of illusion, only few will be  able to acquire non-dual wisdom.

The non-duality has to be grasped in the midst of the waking experience (duality or mind or universe).  That is, being aware of the truth and untruth, reality and unreality. And able establish himself in the truth and able to view and judge, the three states, on the base of the soul, which is ultimate truth or Brahman.

It is unfortunate people are stuck with their accumulated ideas based on the false self, and imagine about non duality and say nothing exist other than the source. But a Gnani says everything exists (illusion) but everything is created out of the soul (spirit or consciousness).  Everything rises from the soul (spirit or consciousness), and subsides as soul (spirit or consciousness). Thus, the whole diversity has no relevance, on the standpoint of the soul as self. 

Everything (illusion or matter) is nothingness (spirit or consciousness) realizing the three states are created out nothingness (soul or spirit or consciousness). Nothingness is the nature of the soul (spirit or consciousness), because there is no second thing exist other than the soul (spirit or consciousness), the innermost self.   Thus consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman. 

Where there is no ignorance there is no burden and bondage of duality/illusion. Most of the people cannot understand this because they are egocentric. 

 

People quote the authorities from the scriptures and famous people to prove their point. The formless soul/self, which is free never, becomes bond. No bondage non liberation from the ultimate point of view. 

Only by analyzing the mind and its substance helps to get of bondage or illusion.  In the nature of the consciousness there is no division as internal and external. 

Seeker has to be steady in the pursuit of truth, and then alone it is possible to understand and assimilate the ultimate truth.  Those who accepted the illusion as reality will not be able to understand assimilate the ultimate truth.

The disentangling of cause and effect is huge problem in mental thinking. Reason functions only where there is duality. 

What is the first thought of the child? The child does not think until it is three years old. It does not think of ‘I’ or me because the ego is not formed yet. When it starts identifying itself with name then the ego is formed.

 

A permanent view of world as unreal can come only after soul centric reasoning; such knowledge cannot change. Were the seeker who is sufficiently sharpness he could grasp the unreal nature of the world by soul-centric reasoning alone.  To know whole truth, one must know the whole universe, otherwise he gets only half-truth. 

Renouncing the worldly life and accepting sanyasa or monk-hood means incapacity to think deeper, an impotency to inquire and reason. 

People speak of getting rid of conditioning or samskara but they themselves are unaware of the fact that, the universe in which they exist is product of the inborn samskara or conditioning.  The ignorance is cause of the inborn samskara or conditioning which present as ‘I’ or ‘I AM’. 

 The real Moksha or freedom is   to realize the fact that ‘I’ consciousness is mere physical awareness. Physical awareness is not self-awareness. The self –awareness is  when the formless soul or consciousness remains aware of its own non-dual   true nature.

Universe (mind or form) becomes oneness in deep sleep and Oneness (soul or consciousness, the innermost self) becomes universe in waking or dream.

God is Consciousness that pervades the entire universe of the living and the non-living.

- Ramakrishna

Universe (mind or form) becomes oneness in deep sleep and Oneness (soul or consciousness, the innermost self) becomes universe in waking or dream. The one that appears as mind (universe or waking or dream) and that becomes deep sleep is not our physical entity, because the physical entity is present only within waking and dream.

The one, which witnesses   coming and going of all the three states, is consciousness, which is formless, apart and eternal.  Consciousness is the inner most self.   All the three states are created out of single stuff, which is consciousness.  Thus the witness and witnessed are one in essence.  Thus there is no second thing exists other than consciousness. Thus the consciousness alone is real all else is mere illusion. Thus consciousness is ultimate truth or Brahman or Christ or Buddha’s nature.    On the standpoint of consciousness as self the three states are falsehood. 

The Soul (consciousness), the innermost self is neither the body, nor the mind, nor the intellect, nor the world. The Soul (consciousness), the innermost self is neither the breath, nor the heart. 

The experience of duality is mere mirage created out of the consciousness.  Thus there is no second thing other than the consciousness the innermost self. Therefore, holding anything else other than the soul (consciousness) as god is ignorance caused by illusion.   The one which powers the illusion is the soul (consciousness). Thus consciousness   is real and eternal.  Thus whatever prevails eternally is God. 

We are talking of truth or god in illusion. We argue discuss about the ultimate truth or Christ or Brahman within the illusion. In reality there is nothing to argue, nothing to judge, because there is nothing exists other than Christ or Brahman or Buddha’s nature. 

Blinded with the illusion very few grasp the non-dual truth. Only few escape from the web of illusion, only few seekers are able to acquire non-dual wisdom.

They alone in this world are endowed with the highest wisdom who are firm in their conviction of the sameness and birthlessness of Atman.

Non-dualistic orthodoxy is based on the form. Thus it is conduct oriented and trying to prove the truth on the base of scriptural authorities, whereas the ultimate truth is based on the soul, the innermost self.  Ultimate truth has to be proved on the base of soul-centric reasoning without the scriptures.

Orthodoxy holds the caste, religious rites, god and guru glorification, scriptural studies, virtues, good deeds and physical conducts as the means to acquire the self-knowledge, whereas in pursuit of truth, only intense urge to know the truth, receptive mind, sharpness to grasp, courage to accept the truth and reject the untruth are necessary.

The guru is needed in only in religion and yoga.  In pursuit of truth there is no need for the guru. Gnani will never accept himself as guru nor does he claim himself as a Gnani.   One who accepts himself as guru does not know the truth. When one inquires in to the nature of the mind or universe    than the truth will start revealing on its own.

That is why Swami Vivekananda said: - “You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.”

 

There is nothing more rational, more intelligible and more un-dogmatic insights of Sri, Sankara, is to drop all the theistic non-duality or Advaita which is meant for those who are incapable and not receptive to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman

Gaudapada says: - the merciful Veda teaches karma and upaasana to people of lowerand middling intellect, while jnana is taught to those of higher intellect.

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. 

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

Sage Sri, Sankara himself has warned us not to use ambiguous words, and to practice semantic analysis in his book "Definition of one's own Self. [" Page 199, v.24 of "Sankara's Selected Works]

Sri, Sankara founded his Advaita Vedanta either on reason independent of sruti or on sruti confirmed by reason."   Sri, Sankara's commentary on the Mandukya 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.

 Sri, Sankara himself had often said that his philosophy was based on Sruti, or revealed scripture.  This may be because 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. 

Sri, Sankara, in debates with Buddhists and others who did not recognize the authority of the Vedas, had been obliged to prove the truth of Advaita by means of reason alone.  Mandukya Upanishad, a scripture which appealed to reason to the exclusion of Revelation. 

Non-duality does not need the support of any Scripture or Revelation like the Veda. For it is based, not upon the varying theological fancies, which are as numerous as the sands of the sea, but upon reason, the common heritage of all mankind, irrespective of colour or creed or clime.

Upanishad says:

  This Atman cannot be attained by the study of the Vedas, or by intelligence, or by much hearing of sacred books. It is attained by him alone whom It chooses. To such a one Atman reveals Its own form. [Katha Upanishad Ch-II -23-P-20]

Mundaka Upanishad  :-

This Atman cannot be attained through study of the Vedas, nor through intelligence, nor through much learning. He who chooses Atman—by him alone is Atman attained. It is Atman that reveals to the seeker Its true nature. [3 –page-70 Mundaka Upanishad  Upanishads by Nikilanada]

When the Upanishads say:-

It is attained by him alone whom It chooses. To such a one Atman reveals its own form.  Then what is the use of indulging through our intelligence or our accumulated knowledge, when one is not chosen by the self, which is the soul, which is in the form of consciousness.

There is no need for any philosophy in pursuit of truth because they take the seeker nearer to truth but they create more doubts and confusions.

 

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.  

The ultimate truth is one without the second, the one is not in the sense half or two, but the one that remain forever One, without the second.  The consciousness is all pervading. There is no place where consciousness is not.

Consciousness is in everyone, consciousness is in everything .consciousness is one behind many. Consciousness alone is. It means the universe and its contents are the visible form of consciousness. And consciousness in turn is invisible form of the universe, which appears as mind.   

 

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)

Therefore, if one is seeking truth he has to know his true self is not physical but is the consciousness, which is in the form of consciousness.  

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana cannot be attained by study of the Vedas and intellectual understanding or by bookish knowledge.  Therefore there is no use of studying the Vedas and other scriptures in order to acquire the non-dual wisdom.  That is why Buddha rejected the scriptures, and even Sri, Sankara indicated that, the ultimate truth lies beyond religion, concept of god and scriptures. 

Thus it is necessary to follow the formless path dropping all the accumulated baggage and move forward to reach the destination in lesser time and effort.