Who am I? inquiry helps to expose the falsehood of the ego or waking entity not of the fallacy of the whole world whereas Sri, Sankara declares the world is an illusion.

Those who are of a dulled mind say that to be non-observant and to withdraw: keen powers of observation are desirable and will help, not hinder the pursuit of truth. The seeker has to take experiences as they come to him and he should not run away from the world in ascetic fear.

To say the universe is an illusion without first examining it and inquiring into its nature thoroughly is to delude oneself. This world is common to every one of us; therefore the seeker of truth must begin his inquiry with it. It is only after he has inquired into the nature of the objective world he realizes the universe which through ignorance appears as of diverse forms, is nothing else but the soul, which is present in the form of consciousness  is absolutely free from all the limitations of human thought.

 First the seeker must inquire into the nature of the three states to realize the three states are one in essence.  One has to observe everything in the three states because all three states are one in essence and that essence is consciousness (soul or Atman) Atman  is Brahman. The seeker should not shut his eyes to the nature of the three states, because they are a mere mirage created out of consciousness.

Form, time and space are one is essence. That essence is consciousness. Consciousness is ultimate truth or Brahma. Brahman cannot be described, because description implies distinction. Brahman cannot be distinguished from any other than self.

Man is primarily interested in himself. Hence, to get him started on a higher quest he has to go to the root of his own self, i.e. to inquire "What is “I”?" This is a spiritualistic formula. 

When as a later consequence of this inquiry he gets more impersonal he has to go to the root of the physical existence (mind or universe), to realize the whole physical existence is mirage created out of consciousness." 

one has to know what is what in order to realize ultimate truth or Brahman.  thus he has to know :- 

“What is this universe?”

“What is I”? 

“What is the meaning of life as a whole?" 

Truth is all is  consciousness(soul), the innermost self. Soul  is in the form of consciousness. One cannot get away from body or thoughts. They are part of the mind [waking or dream] so is the universe. Hence need to understand universe, if he wants ultimate truth.

Most of the dualistic sages approach was more practical, and they stuck with the reality of the world, they took it as real.  Whereas Sage Sri, Sankara says: one must first know what is before him. If he cannot know that, what else can he know or understand? If he gives up the external world in his inquiry, he cannot get the whole truth.

Sage Sri, Sankara says :- VC 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.

Sri, Raman Maharshi says :- The world is nothing more than an embodiment of the objects perceived by the five sense-organs. Since, through these five sense-organs, a single mind perceives the world, the world is nothing but the mind. Apart from the mind can there be a world?

 If the world is nothing but Mind then the WHO AM I? Inquiry prescribed by Sri ,Raman Maharishi revels only half truth  because  Who am I? inquiry helps to expose the falsehood of the ego or waking entity  not of  the fallacy  of the   whole world whereas Sri, Sankara declares the world is an  illusion.   

Yoga Vasishta, says: - that the world is both real and unreal. It is real because it is a manifestation of consciousness, but is unreal, in the sense, that it is not absolute and eternal like consciousness itself.

If the Advaita is bifurcated from orthodoxy  it becomes more scientific then it becomes very easy to understand and assimilate. All these scientific –inventions are nearer to truth but they are not truth in themselves.

Until a person is receptive and ripe enough it is difficult to understand, assimilate the non-dual truth. 

It should be understood by novices that both religion and yoga and intellectuality are all right in their places and that they are steps which should lead to the path of ultimate truth, but when religion, yoga and intellectuality are made ends in themselves and not means to be used later in conjunction with inquiry, they may become and do become detrimental.  Yoga is not useless, but it is not the means to acquire Self-Knowledge. Yoga cannot remove ignorance. It is only a step. It removes obstructions.

Only through non-dual wisdom the individual soul realizes through knowledge its identity with the universal soul. The one who knows truth knows what the universe is.  One has to make use of treason based on the self/soul to know “What is reality” and   “What is unreality” .

Even Sage  Sri, Sankara says: - that Yoga is not the means of liberation ( page 132-133 of his commentary on Brihadaranyakopanishad). 

The one who loses touch with the external world and gives himself over to his thoughts alone takes his illusions to be reality. 

One has to know mind and its substance if one is to find truth. Yogi avoids inquiring, hence cannot find truth. If he thinks he does not see the world by shutting his eyes and omitting it from his thought, he is an ignorant and not a Gnani. The mere absence of the external world from cognition gave ultimate truth, and then everyone would attain knowledge of truth because they lose the universe in deep sleep. 

 

BRIH. UPANISAD: page 32. "Yoga does not yield truth or liberation." 

BRIHAD UP. (Page 133 1st para) :-  points out that even yoga cannot give perfect concentration and that the only way to gain it is philosophical realization. This confirms Mandukya's statement that yoga can no more succeed than the ocean can be emptied with a blade of grass.

One may read the Mahabharata for all philosophical, yogic and cosmological teachings but at the end it finally says "All is imaginative."

Brihad Upanishad is next in importance to Mandukya. It too declares Yoga cannot give you truth.

Brihad Up(Page 78) .: To see Him whole mystics may have similar ideas of the "universe in a dew-drop," but Vedanta demands proof.

It is not possible by mental control alone, by yoga, to achieve Brahman, but at best one falls into a sleep. It is like trying to eat food from the ears or nose, to try the yogic way.

The dualist only shuts his eyes and does not see the universe.  He does not examine the phenomenal universe and hence is not aware of the truth that the universe also is consciousness.  He takes his body and universe as real and talks of humanity and world peace, which are unreal on the standpoint of the true self.  

Inquiry must begin with duality, i.e. with a universe to inquire into. It will end with unity. The dualist tries to avoid this duality by ignoring the universe. Hence he gets a false unity only.

God is mere belief; no one has proved that there is a God. No one has proved that the individual is God or Brahman

Yogi takes for granted that there is an Iswara--God, gives it to people for concentration purposes, and then they naturally find God in their meditations. But it is only his imagined God. 

Mystics see what they are looking for or that whose existence they presuppose. Therefore Yoga belongs to religion, not Philosophy. 

God is mere belief; no one has proved that there is a God. No one has proved that the individual is God or Brahman.  Personal experience which is not universally valid is no proof, neither is ecstatic feeling. 

What one knows must be tested, to see if it be true or not. Experience must be taken, checked, analysed and corrected. It is the characteristic of all human beings to believe they understand, even when they do not. Otherwise he may be merely imagining as he like. 

The reasoning base has to be rectified from form to formless to get faultless judgment.  The defective interpretation is to apply it only to waking state. The correct interpretation is to apply it to the three states. The latter leads to final settlement of the problems because it takes all data into consideration.  Opinions belong to scholasticism. And opinions are of no use in pursuit of truth. 

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?

People believe it merely because it is for them to believe and very difficult for them to reason.  The belief makes one more and more ignorance of the true self. Without realizing the true self is not the physical but the formless soul, the true will not be revealed.  The belief system rests on the belief because it is based on the belief. The truth is based on the reason not on the belief.  Nearly all people want their own imagination, not truth.

Most people who write books on non-duality are borrows idea from punditry have commercial interest to sell their books or ideas. They have not expounded anything new other than    presenting the eastern concepts to suit the western seekers in ornamental words.  

Authoritative and orthodox egoic attitude is out-dated and not suit  for the modern mind-sets who are capable of thinking using their own reason.  It is no use of arguing with people who live in self-imposed orthodox prison and who impose their false inherited baggage to the next generation.   It is high time for the orthodox cult to wake up and indulge is self-search their belief to realize the non-dualistic truth expounded by the great sage scientists, Sri, Sankara and Goudpada.   

Mundaka Upanishad says:-  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.

When sages themselves found rituals are unsafe rafts for crossing The sea of samsara, of birth and death and ignored them and they the Mundaka Upanishad further suggest that, such rituals are unsafe rafts for crossing the realm of duality those who try to cross The realm of duality on these poor rafts are  Doomed to shipwreck are. Ignorant of their own ignorance, yet wise in their own esteem, these deluded people [punndiths] proud of their vain learning go round and round like the blind led by the blind.

 Therefore, if one wants to acquire Atma Gnana or   Bramha Gnana or Self- Knowledge or knowledge of consciousness one has to drop all ritualistic and orthodox baggage to move forward in their pursuit of truth. 

The formula "What is ‘I’?" presupposes the existence of an ‘I’. But this is only an assumption. Before proceeding to act on such a formula one ought first to inquire whether there is such a thing as an ‘I’.

Until one has the conviction that he is an individual separate from the world and world existed prior to him, and he is born in this world afterwards, he will not be able to cross the threshold of duality [illusion], which he experiences as reality.  If accepts the duality [illusion or mind or waking] as reality he will never be able to grasp the ultimate truth. 

The duality is reality only on the standpoint of false self.  There is a need to reduce mentally the whole experience of diversity [man+ universe] into mind and mind into spirit [consciousness] in order to realize the non-dual truth.  Consciousness itself is ultimate truth.       

Seeker must first know what is before him. If he cannot know that, what else can he know or understand? If he gives up the external world in his inquiry, he cannot get the whole truth.

One cannot know the truth until one knows the stuff from which the mind is created. The goal of pursuit of truth is to realize the fact that, the true self is not physical but it is the formless soul/ spirit/consciousness.   

Many people are struck with awe or reverence at the outer indications of renunciation, and thus blindly accept a man to be a Gnani. The two have no connection. Because he has no wife, no family, and no possessions" they think man who has merely repressed these desires as though these things had anything to do with wisdom he is mere religious man. People are quite incompetent to judge who is a Gnani between god men, intellectuals, and yogis. A Gnani is neither a god men, nor yogi, nor intellectual. 

The man who speaks about god, scriptures and religion is not a Gnani. A yogi who speaks about yoga is not a Gnani. A God man who indulges in miracle is not a Gnani. An intellectual who argues on his own speculated theories is not a Gnani. A Gnani is the one who guides people towards the source of the mind [physical existence] is real Gnani. A Gnani never claims himself a teacher nor does he accept any one as disciple.      

The first step is of knowing “Self" is not physical but it is formless spirit.  The second is to know the spirit is ultimate truth, the "whole." Then alone he knows truth and wisdom, i.e. the whole truth.

“Soul” [consciousness] as “Self “is the key that opens the door of ultimate truth. This understanding is certainly necessary at the first stage, when the mind is wandering. At the end the mind gets stilled and knows its formless essence and becomes one with it. Then there is no witness nor witnessed everything is one and the whole. 

The formula "What is ‘I’?" presupposes the existence of an ‘I’. But this is only an assumption. Before proceeding to act on such a formula one ought first to inquire whether there is such a thing as an ‘I’. 

Those who have been baffled by unsuccessful enquiry, reading, intellection, have to find out what are the obstacles on the way what is blocking them from grasping, understanding and assimilating the non-dual truth.

Yoga is intended to remove the hindrance in pursuit of truth such as sexual desire, worries, anxieties, desire for wealth etc. and also to enable one to keep out from irrelevant thoughts whilst making inquiry, analysis and reasoning.

 All this has to be done before indulging in pursuit of truth. Therefore yoga has only a negative value and is a preparatory stage. Pursuit of truth starts from what is seen, i.e. the three states.  Wisdom comes from both knowing the three states and the formless witness of the three states. 

To leave out one of these parts is to prevent attainment of wisdom. "Who am I” is useful no doubt, it has certainly a value in its place, and gives some knowledge of self as, the Witness. But what about the witnessed? The three states are mere object to the witness. It must also be looked at. If the witnessed [three states] is ignored, then "Who am I” cannot give the full truth. 

“Who am ‘I’” is   yogic enquiry; not the spiritualistic; the latter deals with the whole of life whereas the former deals with a part only.

"Who am I” inquiry limits only to the physical entity, because there, is no person in truth but only in the illusion of mystics.  ‘It should be "What is I?"

  The question "Who am I” is a religious, not a spiritualistic question. It is a most selfish one. It is on a par with "What shall I be after death?" and "What shall I get in return for my good karma in next life?" It is purely egocentric and it is based on the false self. 

Only the people who are serious in knowing the truth can lift their thoughts above ego and ask "What is the mind?"  All  the three states  put together make the soul/self, not merely the ego questioning itself ''What is  I.” 

People are most interested in themselves before they gets interested in the world therefore, the "Who am I?" inquiry leads only to reveal half-truth.    The “Who am I? – Inquiry is useful as a first stage to show the illusoriness of ego and thus help seeker to get rid of it. It helps the seeker to prepare him to consider the higher question: What is the world, what is mind, what is “Self” the truth about which cannot be learnt by those attached to their ego, with its prejudices against idealism, etc.