If one gives up the external world in his inquiry, he cannot get the whole trut

Sri,Sankara is rightly said :- One  must first know what is before him. If he cannot know that, what else can he know or understand? If one  gives up the external world in his  inquiry, he  cannot get the whole truth.

Some of the thinkers hold views of illusion  which are entirely incorrect and untenable because they hold the false self (waking entity or ego) as real self and false  experience(waking or universe) as reality. 

The  Advaitic orthodoxy hold the birth,life,death and world as reality whereas the great sage Sri,Sankara declares the universe is myth.  Thus the conduct oriented orthodoxy ,which believes  in  rebirth and reincarnation , Karma , individualized god ,sin ,heaven and hell holds no water because the birth,life,death and the world are reality within the illusion. 

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

This may be because 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.

That is why Gaudapada says that: - The merciful Veda teaches karma and Upaasana to people of lower and middling intellect, while Jnana is taught to those of higher intellect.

Goudapada suggest that the religious paths and worship of guru and conceptual god are lower and middling intellect.  But in this modern world people are sharp enough to understand and assimilate ultimate truth or Brahman or god. Thus people who wants higher truth then it is high time to discard the lower knowledge and move ahead to realize the ultimate truth, which is Brahman or God.  

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

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

Thus Sankara clearly suggests direct realization of truth is not possible through punditry or orthodoxy.  Why to follow the traditional path, which does not yield any fruit.  Therefore, Seeker of truth has to take the direct path and avoid losing precious time and effort loosing himself in philosophical studies and traditional path. 

When Sri,Sankara declares:-  the world is myth and Brahman alone is real then why worships the  guru and gods of this  unreal world .  That is why Veda bars such worships and people who indulge in such activities will suffer and sink into darkness.  And Upanishads says self-realization is the human goal. Therefore, one has to strive only for self-realization or truth realization.      

That is why Gaudapada says that: - The merciful Veda teaches karma and Upaasana to people of lower and middling intellect, while Jnana is taught to those of higher intellect.

Thus Goudapada suggest that the religious paths and worship of guru and conceptual god are lower and middling intellect.  But in this modern world people are sharp enough to understand and assimilate ultimate truth or Brahman or god. Thus people who wants higher truth then it is high time to discard the lower knowledge and move ahead to realize the ultimate truth, which is Brahman or God.  

Sage Sri, Sankara varied his practical advice and doctrinal teaching according to the people he was amongst. He never told them to give their particular religion or beliefs or metaphysics completely; he only told them to give up the worst features of abuse: at the same time he showed just one step forward towards the truth. 

That is why Sri Sankara, indicated  in Bhaja Govindam says: - [Jnana Viheena Sarva Mathena Bajathi na Muktim janma Shatena] - one without knowledge does not obtain liberation even in a hundred births, no matter which religious faith he follows.

As one peeps carefully inn the annals of religious history we find:-  Sankara was extremely precise and careful in his choice of words. He was no fool in writing. 

Sage Sri, Sankara did more than write books or initiate Sanyasins: He brought India into a unity as a nation. He told men: Worship what you wish, remain in your particular religion, but remember also you are part of a larger whole.

Few Pundits have caught the spirit, they are merely fond of his words. For his spirit is that of an appeal to reason, with scripture dragged in as a second and lesser support afterwards. So many years have passed since Sage Sri, Sankara appeared; yet it is very hard to find his true teachings understood anywhere in India today. Why? Because so few could rise to his level. Hence Ramanuja, Madva and others came to supply the common demand.

The story in Sankara's life of going to Benares and occupying the body of another man and then having sex intercourse with his wife, is a cock and bull story hiding the real fact. He had the scientific spirit and when told by Saraswathi the woman that he was talking emptily about sex, being a Sanyasi, he at once went to learn the truth by having actual intercourse himself and thus learning by experiment and observation.

Sage Sri, Sankara has used the phrase "the jungle of words." This is his acknowledgment of the need of Semantics. 

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]

Sage 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. 

Dualists  and realists who believed  in the practical life and practical world as reality and others came to supply the common demand of the mass mindset who are immersed in the material side of their life.

Orthodox non-dualists, qualified non dualists and dualists say that, only the Brahmin-born could attain liberation. This therefore rules out all non-Brahmins! Sankara on the contrary taught that anyone could attain.  

Many Vedantic logical books are vitiated in value because they do not inquire into the ego.  The ego, body and the world appears together and disappears together as deep sleep. The 'ego ' is always changing as any other part of the world.

If one has   one idea--say ego, he cannot have ultimate truth or Brahman, one idea leads to several. The treasure of Brahman is coiled by illusion or “I”.  Give up immediately identification with ‘I’ or mind or universe or waking.  .

BRAHMA SUTRAS

Brahma Sutras, i.e. "Vedanta Sutras" by Badarayana, are intended for those of middling intellects, not for those who have the best brains: it is a semi-theological, semi-philosophical work; it starts with the assumption that Brahman exists.

The opening sentence is "All this is Brahman.” But nobody knows or has seen Brahman. If we say "All this is wood" and show a piece of wood, the words are understandable. Suppose you have never seen wood. Then what is the use of such a sentence? It becomes meaningless when the object indicated is seen by none. Hence the Brahma Sutra opening is equivalent to "All this is X". Both have no meaning so long as they are not understood, if we take them as the data to start from. It is for this reason that I say the book is intended for theological minds, because it begins with dogma although its reasoning is close. For it starts with something imagined.

A man who describes Sankara's philosophy as negative (because of his Neti, Neti) does not know that this is applied only to the world of the Seen; the critic ignorantly believes that it is also applied to the Seer. Vedanta never negates the seer, only the seen.

The pleasure and pain are individual experiences happening within the waking experience.

The pleasure and pain are individual experiences happening within the waking experience. Therefore their reality is limited to the waking experience because the waking experience itself is illusion. Until one become aware of the fact that: how the waking experience is illusion, he is bound to experience the duality as reality. The individuality and individual experiences happening with in the waking experience, is nothing to do with the formless Soul, which is witness of the three states.

 The pleasure and pain of the dream becomes unreal when the waking takes place. Same way for a Gnani the waking experience becomes mere an object of experience because he is soul-centric. Most of the god men are pretending to be Gnani but they are egocentric. When one becomes soul-centric for him body and world are also consciousness.   Because people think the body is born, lives and dies they feel the pleasure and pain as reality. But it is not body alone that dies, the world also dies together, because they appeared together and they disappear together as deep sleep or death.   The one which is aware of the appearance disappearance of the three states is birth- less and deathless,  the  formless soul consciousness,  which is the innermost self.

The consciousness  is the soul, which Buddhist called as nothingness or emptiness and Sri, Sankara called it as Brahman, Meher Baba called it as I AM GOD STATE, and Christens called it Christ consciousness. 

When one consciously becomes aware of the soul or  consciousness is the true self, then there is no physical apparatus and world to experience, because a Gnani is aware his body and the world are also consciousness.   To get this conviction one has understand the fact that, the birth, life, death and world are mere mirage created out of consciousness. Whatever prevails without the mirage is ultimate truth, which is consciousnes.

If the self is formless   then diversity is mere illusion. One has  to know this fact intellectually first, then gradually as conviction becomes firm then  he becomes soul-centric and he sees the sameness in everything and the mind reaches the stillness and he  becomes aware of the fact that,  the soul itself is the ultimate truth.   

We all including the world exist in waking or dream. We experience different experiences as individuals. When we consider we are individual separate from the world, we will think whatever is happening within the waking experience as reality, because we are judging the truth on the waking entity, which is erroneous. The waking entity is limited to the waking experience alone. We have to learn to judge truth on the base of the formless knower of the three states.    Therefore, the individuality and individual experience is nothing to do with the self, which is formless.  Until one includes the world in his realization to grasp the ultimate truth is impossibility. 

We have to realize Individual experience of birth, life and death is nothing to do with the true self which is the soul, because the soul is our eternal identity. On the base of soul as self there is neither witness nor witnessed, there is only oneness.  

Until one limits the ‘I’ to individuality the ignorance persist. If ignorance is their then the duality prevails as reality. Duality is accepted as reality than illusion is accepted as reality.  Illusion is accepted as reality than the experience of birth, life, death and the world is accepted as reality.

Thus accepting ‘I’ or ‘I AM’ is cause of the ignorance. By accepting the ‘I’ or ‘I AM’ as self is cause of accepting the individuality. Individuality is cause of separation.  The one who accepts the ‘I’ or ‘I AM’ as self is accepting – Every living being has this inborn samskara or conditioning that  he is an individual separate from the world and the world existed prior to him and he is born in this world afterward.  Until this conditioning is there one is stuck to the illusory reality of the experience of birth, life, death and the world. 

Until one becomes aware of the existence formless witness of the three states the form, time and space will prevails as reality. If, the experience of form, time and space remains as reality, than the universe will remains as reality. If universe remains as reality than the birth, life, death remains as reality. If the experience of birth, life, death remains as reality than the waking experience will remains as reality.   That is the unreality remains as reality.  Thus seeker has to realize the fact that, unreality (mind or waking or universe) is created out of the formless consciousness, which is real  and eternal , by getting rid of the ignorance through  sword of wisdom.

The nature of the true self is ‘I’-less (non-dual) state in which the mind stays merged in the soul or consciousness, the innermost self.

Deeper self-search revels the fact that,  self is neither the waking entity  nor the dream entity but the self is formless soul which is present in the form of consciousness. Soul or consciousness is the formless witness of the three states.    The formless witness  of the three states is also the substance of the three states. The formless witness and substance of the three states are one in essence. That essnce is conciousness.

People, who stamped their foot on the ground to refute to show the world, is real, ignore that in dream they  would do exactly the same--stamp their  dream foot on the ground and assert it to be real. 

The three mental states of waking, dream and deep sleep are unreal, because they have no permanence. Man and his experience of the world is reality within the waking or dream. But the point is the waking is also as unreal as dream. They come and go.  Thus one has to realize the fact that, there must be a knower  or witness of these three states which appear and disappear in succession.

One knows nothing about the deep sleep except the recollection of its repose on waking. And on waking one becomes aware the dream is unreal.  The reason for this is the apparent absence of continuity of events between two or more dream and absence of corroboration about the dream on waking.

 It is erroneous to view and judge the three states on the standpoint of the waking entity. When the inquiry and reasoning reveals the fact that, physical body is not the self, then it is clear that one which is without the body and the world  (formless)is the knower of the three states, which come and go. Therefore, it is erroneous to view and judge the three states on the standpoint of waking entity or ego. Thus there is a need to become aware of the existence of formless witness of these three states. 

Even the dream is self contained and it has perfect inner logic and sequence. During the dream experience the dream entity and the dream world are reality, within the dream.  But the dream is unreal. Similarly, the waking entity, and waking world, is reality within the waking, but the waking is unreal on the standpoint of the formless consciousness the innermost self.

However, if one analyze deeply one becomes aware every state is self contained; it has perfect inner logic and sequence.  During the subsistence of the dream there is no doubt about its reality. Thus one can easily conclude that each state has its own illusion which can be got over only if one wakes up from that particular illusory state into another.  Just as the dream appears unreal to the one who is awake, so too would waking itself be if the self, awakes from it to its formless non-dual true nature. 

  The nature of the true self is ‘I’-less (non-dual) state in which the mind stays merged in the soul or consciousness,  the innermost self.  It is only when one traverses beyond the mind (I’ or waking or universe or mind) through inquiry and reasoning on the true base,   than it is possible to negate the all the three starts mentally.  Then one is in self- awareness of its formless non-dual true nature, a state which combines the conscious of the waking experience with the repose of the deep sleep. In this Self-Awareness one is fully aware of the fact that,  the waking experience  is mere mirage created out of consciousness. 

The observation of the three states will depend upon the medium through which the observer views it. In fact, one’s mental and intellectual conditions will determine the dual and non-dual experiences observed and experienced.  The religionists viewing the three states will see it differently from the spiritualist viewing the same three states.  Each one interprets the three states that he observes in term of his existing knowledge.

 The man of truth sees consciousness in everything and everywhere. Because he is fully aware of the fact that, the consciousness pervades in everything and everywhere in all the three states, therefore he has the firm conviction that everything is consciousness and no second thing exists other than the consciousness  in  midst diversity or waking experience.

 Just as a dream appears “unreal” when waking takes place, the waking becomes unreal when the wisdom dawns.

It takes a long time to rectify the reasoning base mentally from form to formless base because of the inborn samskara or conditioning ,which is present as 'I'

Until and unless the seeker of truth finds the fact that, the religion, scriptures, god/guru glorification or chosen paths are inadequate and useless, in quenching his spiritual thirst, and finds them all as method of dead words, and then only he will be able to grasp and realize the non dual truth. 

Truth pursuit is for those who has intense urge to know the truth of their true existence, and receptive mind, which has the courage to accept only un-contradictable truth, and reject the untruth. People who are emotionally and sentimentally involved with religion, god and scriptures and gurus and yoga should avoid indulging in pursuit of truth.

Religion, scriptural studies, theories, concept of god and yoga are valuable for those who do believe their present physical identity (ego) as real, and world as reality. And it helps to manipulate the practical life life ,which is based on the false self or ego.

Since pursuit of truth is a very personal journey, and there is nothing is needed other then verifying “What is mind?” and “What is substance of the mind?” Religion, concept of god, scriptural knowledge becomes big obstacle in realizing the non dual truth, because they are based on the body or ego as self, whereas the non dual truth is based on the soul or consciousness as self.

  Since everyone is   viewing the worldview on the base of object as subject ( body or ’ego’) due to ignorance, they have to become aware of the fact  that ,the true subject, is soul or consciousness . By rectifying the reasoning base, from form, to formless, mentally helps  one  acquire the Self-knowledge.  

Inquiry and reasoning on the true base revels the fact that, neither physical body, nor the ‘I’, the true self.  The formless witness of the ‘I’ is the true self.  The formless witness is soul or consciousness.  The three mental states of waking, dream and deep sleep are unreal, because they have no permanence. Man and his experience of the world is reality within the waking  or dream. But the point is, the waking is also as unreal as dream. They come and go. 

 Thus one has to realize the fact that there must be a knower  or witness of these three states which appear and disappear in succession.

One has to trace the source of the three states, from where they appear and disappear. The source is also the formless substance , the witness and the innermost self. This  truth has to be grasped mentally by constantly reflecting on the source until one gets the firm conviction that, the source itself is the true self, and the source is formless soul or consciousness.  Once this conviction becomes firm, then the true base is formed mentally, and one will be able to view and judge the worldview on the base of the formless subject.

 On the base of formless subject [soul or consciousness], the three states becomes an object to the formless subject [consciousness], and one will be to view and judge the worldview on the base of soul or consciousness  and realize the fact that,  the waking  or dream which consist of man and world are unreal, on the standpoint of the formless witness. This is first step the seeker has to take. Once the true base formed mentally the truth will start unfolding on its own.

It takes a long time to rectify  the reasoning base mentally from  form  to   formless  base because of the inborn samskara or conditioning  ,which is  present as 'I' , but for those who are free from religion; scriptural knowledge , concept of god and yoga can grasp it with lesser time and effort.

In a dream one sees the whole variety of individual. These entities, which are within the dream, do not exist apart from the witness of the dream.

In a dream one sees the whole variety of individual.  These entities, which are within the dream, do not exist apart   from the witness of the dream. Likewise, the dream is an object to the formless witness, which is the innermost self.  Similarly, the waking experience is also an object to the formless witness which is formless Consciousness, the innermost self.

The waking man, wandering about in all the ten directions in his waking experience, sees the whole the variety of individuals are within the waking. Similarly there is variety of individual in the waking world. The waking also disappears as dream. The witness of the three states is within but it is apart from the three states.  It is within because it is the formless clay of the three states and it is apart as the formless witness of the three states, it is apart because it is not an entity or identity within the waking or dream.

The waking or dream cannot exist independently without the formless witness the innermost self. There is no evidence of the existence of the one without the other; they are cognized only through each other.

Birthlessness of the Self, which is free from Manifestation and causal relationship, is absolute and constant. For duality i.e. the ego and its objects is merely an objectification of the false self or ego.

Realizing the absence of causality as ultimate truth and not finding any other reason for birth, one attains that state which is free from grief, desire and fear.

On account of attachment to unreal objects the mind pursues such objects. But it comes back to its pure state when it attains non-attachment, realizing their unreality.

The mind freed from attachment to all external objects and undistracted by fresh objects attains the state of immutability. Such a mind is Consciousness; it is undifferentiated, birthless and non-dual.

The birthless, dreamless and sleepless Reality reveals itself by itself; for this Consciousness by its very nature is self- luminous.  The Consciousness becomes easily hidden because of attachment to any single object and is revealed with great difficulty.

The ignorant, with their spiritually immaturity, verily cover Consciousness by predicating of it such attributes as existence, non-existence, existence and non-existence and total non-existence, deriving these characteristics from the notions of change, immovability, combination of change and immovability and absolute negation which they associate with Consciousness.

Attachment to unreality hides the truth from one's view. He who knows the Consciousness to it ever untouched by them indeed knows all.

There is nothing else remains to be desired by him who has attained the natural state, -a state of complete non-duality, which is without beginning, middle, or end.