In the ancient time, religious and Yogic and mystic discipline,
which were not an end in itself, considered to be means for Self-Realization, but
such discipline is almost impossible task for the modern man to adopt. Day by
day modern man is becoming aware of the fact that, religion and yoga are nothing
to do with Self-Realization.
The modern mindset
is pre-eminently scientific owing to the great progress that science has made.
And the best method of freeing the mind from its inaccurate ways of thinking is
to imbue it as fully as possible with the scientific spirit. It is therefore
only one who possesses a clear knowledge of its methods and results i.e., who
is able to make reason the highest means of enquiry that would be fit for
self-knowledge.
Vedanta itself admits its highest Truth that is Atman
or Brahman cannot be reached by any path other than that of reason and unless
the reason is sharper than the ‘Edge of a razor'.
Reason on the true base is the highest means of
attaining self- knowledge. Religion, theology,
mystic practice and yoga are not the means to acquire non-dual wisdom. Absence of reason is absence of wisdom.
Both modern science and religion offer hypotheses and theories but there
is one vital difference--science begins with facts which it collects; religion begins
with fancies. Science evolves its hypotheses from such facts, religion from
fancies.
Science declares that oxygen combines with hydrogen to give water. And
it also declares oxygen is protons or electrons. But in pursuit of truth the
whole physical existence [universe or mind] is considered as illusion and science
and their inventions, which are based on the physical existence is limited to
physical existence. The truth is within but it is beyond the physical
existence. The science demands physical proof. But the physical
proof is part of the illusion. Hence science cannot go beyond physicality
because the truth cannot be traced with laboratory conditions. Deeper
Inquiry, analysis and reasoning is required if one wants to push
its quest deeply enough.
Common people and primitive minds fall into faulty thinking through
their inherited conditioning , such faulty thinking and reasoning makes
them accept the experience of birth, life and death as reality ; taking what
one sees through the senses as real, taking what is apparent
obvious and superficial as true because it is less troublesome.
Many People adopt the attitude that what they know is truth.
And what others say id false. This attitude makes them not to verify
anything other then what they know. One needs to be rational, not
merely logical. Logic is has its value only in physical plane.
As one advances towards spiritual plane he sees the logic underlying
experience and becomes more rational. His reasoning is two-fold--implicit and
explicit.
There is a need of facts of physical proof in scientific invention,
whereas in pursuit of truth the proof has to be grasped mentally and realized.
Therefore, the truth is realized only by few who take this mental
pursuit. “Whatever facts revealed, which is un-contradictable has to be
accepted as truth.
The truth based on the formless soul/self is worthwhile; without it, one
has something else, not truth. Most people refuse to venture into pursuit
of truth; because they do not want to go into the root of things.
The seeker of truth has to study, inquire and reason in the beginning of
the pursuit of truth, because it is absolutely necessary in pursuit of truth.
One has to know the true self is not
physical but the formless spirit. The spirit or soul or the self is in
the form of consciousness. Consciousness gives one the awareness
of the three states.
The ignorance of the true self is the cause of experiencing the duality
as reality. The ignorance vanishes through realization of the true Self,
which is the soul or consciousness or spirit.
The formless soul, the innermost self does not lie in our body or in our brain but it is the essence of the dual and non-dual experiences, which
comes and goes as waking dream and deep sleep. The three states are one in essence. And that essence is consciousness. thus there is no second thing exits other than consciousness because everything is made of consciousness.Consciousness is real and eternal. Consciousness is eternal truth or Brahman. 
