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.
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 (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 enter again this world or a lower one.
Blind faith is the greatest obstacle in the pursuit of truth. Pursuit of truth demands deeper self-search
People do not want to think deeply because it is too troublesome. They say why
Worry about the to know the truth they have enough problem in practical world. Such mindsets are not fit for pursuit of
Truth. Without the inner urge one should not venture into pursuit of truth.
Reasoning is
interpretable in two ways. The defective interpretation is to apply it only to
waking state, which is egocentric. The correct interpretation is to apply it to
the three states, which is soul-centric. The latter leads to final settlement of
the problems because it takes all data into consideration.
A person, seeing a rope
in dim light, mistakes it for a snake. He is as much frightened as he would
have been if there had been a real snake there.
The snake is said to have ‘illusory reality’. The illusory snake is described as a
superimposition on the rope. The snake is not real, because, it is found on
examination with a light that it never existed there. At the same time, it was
experienced as reality till ignorance prevailed. Similarly, this waking
experience experienced as reality till
wisdom dawns. On the dawn of
Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana it is known to have no existence
apart from consciousness. Consciousness is ultimate truth or Brahman. The
waking experience is therefore said to be superimposed on consciousness same
way as the dream is superimposed on the consciousness. The
waking experience is
practical reality, because
it is real
until the attainment
of Self-realisation. Consciousness alone has absolute reality;
because it is absolutely changeless because it is formless.
One could go on and on but the point is that the Upanishads
approach the Supreme immutable truth in multiple ways and try to articulate the
manifest and un-manifest aspects of the Brahman.
For those that are deluded, the multiple points of view may
amount to contradictory perceptions but Upanishads are the epitome of an
attempted understanding of the immortal, immutable Brahman by mortals caught in
the dynamism of this Universe.
Truth is the understanding of things in accordance with the scriptures,
which contain records of the true experiences of the ancient seers. It is the
same thing that when practiced, is called justice and when understood in
accordance with the scriptures, is called truth. Therefore the mantra says that
which is justice is truth.
Everything has to be
verified before accepting it as truth. To
be applied to every statement or assertion or speculations: It is “Is this
true?” “Where is the proof?”
Opinions belong to
scholasticism, not to Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. There is no
scope for opinions in path of wisdom.
A Gnani prefers not to
cross examines others or indulge in argument and try to prove he is right others
are wrong. He will say what he has to say. He does not impose others to accept his
statements. . He tries to expose their fallacies of every path and practices to
help the serious seekers no to condemn their chosen paths. . By showing that
all other paths and doctrines are erroneous, he reveals that the path of wisdom or
Truth is left as the only alternative.
If one has a belief,
it is because somebody else believes it; or the majority believes it--or it is his
own experience. Is it religious authority or religious sanction or is it based
upon a feeling of certainty? Does one believe it merely because it works well
or is it true? If one asks the question of Truth, it becomes a question of
philosophy. Does one’s belief rest upon Reason? Nearly all people want their
own imagination, not truth.
Blind beliefs without verification and argument and
interpretation on the base of false self( ego or waking entity) are not verified knowledge therefore it is
not truth.
v What is the use of arguing on base of the birth
entity, which is not the self?
v What is the use of knowing what happens after death
when the self is birthless?
v What is the use of thinking of the heaven and hell
when the self is not an individual and it is never born and never dies?
When formless consciousness, is the innermost self, which
pervades in everything and everywhere in all the three states, what value the
theoretical philosophies and scientific inventions which are based on individual
intellectuality will have.
The consciousness is ultimate truth or Brahman. Consciousness
is ground of the universe, the consciousness is the first cause of the universe
and it itself is uncaused.
Ultimate truth cannot be defined in positive terms because
any definition would mean limitation.
One has to realize the fact that, the universe and all its contents are
a mere mirage created out of consciousness.
That means the mind and the soul, which is the innermost self are one in
essence.
