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

Jesus said, "Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you. (THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS- Saying 5)

It means one has to know the world which confronts him confronts to realize his body and world are made of the same essence and that essence is Spirit (father). 

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.

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.
  

"Jesus said:-"Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all." (Gospel of Thomas 2)

"The Kingdom of God is inside you and all around you, Not in a mansion of wood and stone.  Split a piece of wood and God is there, Lift a stone and you will find God." (Gospel of Thomas)

Sage Sri, Sankara says :-  the universe is not real. He says that Brahman and Atman are one. The ultimate and the Absolute Truth is the Self, which is one though appearing as many in different individuals. The individual has no reality. Only the Self is Real; the rest, mental and physical are but passing appearances, then it indicates the form (waking/duality/mind) is unreal the formless is real (soul or consciousness). Therefore, only soul is real because there is no second thing other then soul,which is present in the form of consciousness. .

He also clearly mentions that: The path of religion, path of yoga and the path of wisdom were intended for different classes of people. The wisdom is for the advanced seekers of truth. It deals with the nature of the ultimate Truth and Reality. It is meant for superior aspirants who have inner urge to know the truth and it is not for those who are immersed in earthly desires.

The scientists now concluded that you are not the brain (body). Consciousness requires the joint operation of brain, body and world. "You are not your brain. The brain, rather, is part of what you are."

The Biology of Consciousness

by Alva Noë. Hill and Wang, 2009

                                                                            
Alva Noe, a University of California, Berkeley, philosopher and cognitive scientist, argues that after decades of concerted effort on the part of neuroscientists, psychologists and philosophers "only one proposition about how the brain makes us conscious ... has emerged unchallenged: we don't have a clue." The reason we have been unable to explain the neural basis of consciousness, he says, is that it does not take place in the brain. Consciousness is not something that happens inside us but something we achieve it is more like dancing than it is like the digestive process. To understand consciousness the fact that we think and feel and that a world shows up for us we need to look at a larger system of which the brain is only one element. Consciousness requires the joint operation of brain, body and world. "You are not your brain. The brain, rather, is part of what you are."

Thus, it is going in the right direction in its invention and one day it will declare that everything is consciousness, which Shankar declared 1200 years back –everything is Ataman- because Ataman is in the form of consciousness.  Thus we have to know the fact that the Buddha, Goudpad and Sri,Sankara are not only reformers but also  the greatest  scientists. Since the original thesis has been lost in the labyrinths of philosophy and mutilated by pundits and priest craft, it becomes very difficult understand and assimilate the wisdom expounded by the great masters. In addition, the conservativeness of the scholars will not allow any research other than playing with the words, which suits the mass mindsets, because of their egocentric outlook. All the add-ons have to be deleted, to understand and assimilate the real fragrance of the wisdom expounded by the great masters. It is hurricane task.  Thus, it is no use going through all the scriptures, when there is a direct path to nondual truth.  The same time and effort can be used to reach the nondual destination ,which lesser time and effort.     

Thus, self-knowledge is meant only for those who have intense urge, and courage to accept the truth with humility and reject the untruth. Since people start comparing with their scriptural knowledge, it becomes impossible to assimilate and realize the nondual truth.   Therefore, there is no need to convince anyone other then our own-self to get the firm conviction.  I am not trying to prove my views, but it is for you to prove yourself to know what is truth? and what is untruth to assimilate the self -knowledge. 

Thus consciousnesses is ultimate truth or Brahman

People are unaware  of the fact that, Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana  is nothing to do with religion, yoga, and belief of  God . people believe  in their belief system because of their  inherited  samskara or conditioning.  There is a need to bifurcate spirituality from religion/yoga/paths.  Spirituality is path of truth or  wisdom. Thus it is necessary to  bifurcate  religion/yoga  to acquire the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana  in lesser time and effort.

People are not aware of the fact that, no God can exist, apart from  the self.  The soul is the innermost self. The soul is present in the form of consciousness. If there is no  consciousness , then there is a body, the world and their belief of God. People  imagine  that there must be a creator of this universe. If one thinks waking entity  as self, then there is a creator  but if one thinks the formless soul as the Self, then there is nothing exists other than the soul,which is present in the form of consciousness. And there is no second thing exist other than consciousness because the whole universe along with all its contents are created out of consciousness. Thus everything is consciousness. Thus consciousnesses is ultimate truth or Brahman.    Discovering and realizing the soul or consciousness  as self is truth realization.

If one objectifies and sees a universe, then he is bound to see many things beside himself and postulate a God, the creator. Body, God and world rise and set together from, and into, the soul, the innermost self. If God is apart from the soul, the innermost self , then He would be selfless, that is, outside existence, that is, non-existent.

 All the Advaitins believe in god and goddesses (vidya) and performing rituals  and other sacrifices (Avidya) both are hindrance to Self-knowledge according to Ish Upanishds,  then why the seeker of truth needs worshiping of  god and goddesses, when Advaitins believe Atman is Brahman .

Isa Upanishads indicates that: By worshiping gods and goddesses and going to the world of gods after death is of no use.  The time one spends in ritualistic practices is wasted; one can spend same time moving forward towards Self-knowledge, which is the main goal. One cannot reach the nondual destination by glorifying god and goddesses and by doing that, one goes deeper and deeper into darkness. It surely indicates the fact that, the seeker of truth has to drop the worshiping god and goddess in order to get self-knowledge.

It also indicates that, Religious Rituals (Avidya) is Karma(action) and therefore a hindrance. By performing Agnihotra and other sacrifices [Avidya] is a roundabout way of purifying the mind, and it is also groping in the dark.

In addition, it indicates the karma is limited only to the religious rituals, not on the whole human life. This karma theory based on the human conduct must have been adopted from Buddhism and other theories based on human conducts.   

When it says: Perform the obligatory karmas without any attachment to the fruits, and at the same time worship gods and goddesses, again without any desire to go to heaven - then you can get the benefit of both, liberation and bliss. For those who are not yet ready to renounce, this path is recommended, it mean that the religion and its  idea of god and goddesses and code of conducts, and its rituals are meant for the mass who are incapable of thinking of the beyond.

In addition, it also speaks of heaven the abode of gods, where one goes after death, and it speaks of rebirth, this contradiction, seeker has to conclude that religion, rituals god and its code of conducts is meant for the mass that is not receptive to self-knowledge.

When the self is not the body (waking entity) whatever one sees, knows, believes, experiences and feels on the base of the body (waking entity) as self is bound to be an illusion.  Thus, the karma performed in illusion is bound to be illusion. The birth, life and death is happening within the illusion, therefore it is bound to be illusion. Thus, rebirth and reincarnation theories based on the false self within the false experience are bound to be illusion on the base of the true self. Only the witness of the illusion is real (Brahman).  Therefore, everything has to be viewed and judged, on the base of the Formless Witness (soul) in order to overcome the illusion/duality.

Seeker of truth has to know somewhere he is going wrong, and it is for the seeker to go on his own and remove the obstacle.  The greatest hindrance is mixing religion, god, scriptures, and yogic theories. Moreover, attachment to scriptures, personal god and religious code of conduct keeps one permanently in the grip of duality.

For the same reason Raman Maharshi said:  fortunate are the one who do not lose themselves in the labyrinths of philosophy. Bhagwan says: Take Vedanta, for instance: it speaks of 15 pranas the names and functions of it   which the student is asked to commit memory. Will it not be sufficient if he thought, only one prana does the whole work of maintaining the body? Again the antakaran is said to think, to desire, to will, to reason etc. Why all these details? Has anyone seen antakarana, or all these pranas? Do they really exist? They are conceptual divisions invented by teachers of philosophy by their excessive analysis. Where do all these concepts end? Why should confusion created and then explained away? Fortunate is the man who does not lose him self in the labyrinths of philosophy, but goes straight to the source from which they all arise. (GURU RAMANA .By S.S Cohen -vii Danger of philosophy-Page -58-59)

Sage Sri, Sankara  made a clear distinction between the Vedas and Upanishads in his commentary on Gita. He stated that the Karma Kand of the Vedas deal with the injunctions relating to the performance of duties and actions. These are for ordinary householders.

 The path of religion, path of yoga and the path of wisdom were intended for different classes of people. The wisdom is for the advanced seekers of truth. It deals with the nature of the ultimate Truth and Reality. It is meant for superior aspirants who have an inner urge to know the truth and it is not for those who are immersed in earthly desires.

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. – FORMLESS PATH

Advaitic sages Sri, Sankara and Goudpada declared the non-dualistic truth as ultimate truth or Brahman is rational truth and scientific truth.

 Modern science leads in the end to the discovery that the world is the mind and that causality is non existent. Gaudapada and Sankara made precisely the same discovery, because they had the spirit of science, the desire for ascertaining facts and being sages of the highest order, saw the truth.

As one digs into the annals of the history of India  one becomes aware of the fact that, Science was pursued in ancient India but only the philosophical aspect of it, which examined the matter and ultimately found it to be idea, which thrust aside personal predilection in its investigation. India however ignored the practical aspect of science and was not interested in the applications of science: hence India was backward in applied science but far ahead of west  in pure scientific method. For 2000 years India has been a slave nation which has lost even this scientific knowledge which it once possessed as it has lost its philosophy of truth. Today the gate to Advaita must be modern science and nothing else. 

The Hindu theory that the mind actually travels to an object is absurd. Why does the mind get a different and a more correct impression as it approaches nearer to a hill. Why did not the mind, if it traveled, bring a correct report at the very first. Mandukya unpunished  has rejected this theory, which is unscientific.  Scientific fact about visual sensation is correct so far as it says the optic nerve communicates its vibration to the brain. But how does the brain transmit it to the mind? Here all is theory and confusion.

The same truths which modern science gives can be found in  the declaration of  the  Sage, Sri Sankara and Gaudapada. But  the Advaitic sages kept their supreme states of steady wisdom a secret.  

Advaitic Sage, Sri, Sankara' gave religious, ritual or dogmatic instruction to the mass but pure philosophy only to the few who could rise to it. Hence the interpretation of his writings by commentators is often confusing because they mix up the two viewpoints. Thus they may assert that ritual is a means of realizing Brahman, which is absurd. 

In the commentary to "Brahma Sutras Sri, Sankara writes:- " "The highest beatitude is not to be attained by Yoga." (Sacred Books of East Series page 298 Vol.1.)   And he also says Samadhi is the same as sleep (p.312).

 ---This indicates that yoga is not the means to self realization.  And yogic Samadhi is not non dual wisdom. 

Thoughts and thinker are nothing to do with the formless witness. The witness is that witnesses the thoughts and thinker together and remains always in the within the waking or dream as their formless substance.

People think that, more they think, the more they will get; but it is really an error. It remains only a thought and gives them back only thoughts.  Anything seen, observed, cannot be the Self or the Witness. 

Consciousness (soul) is the substance and the witness of the duality.  The duality is present in the form of mind. The mind is present in the form of the universe. The universe appears as waking or dream and diapers as deep sleep. The one which is aware of the coming and going of the three states is neither the waking entity nor the dream entity but the formless soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.  When the soul becomes aware of its formless non-dual true nature in the midst of duality it is called self –awareness. It is foolish to limit the consciousness only to duality because the consciousness pervades all the three states

The earliest ancient sages used the word ‘I’ to the witness of the three states not to the ego as moderns use it and think the ‘I’ without the body is the  self. The seeker has to understand the fact ‘I’ is not the self but the witness of the ‘I’ is the true self, which is eternal. 

People think that the ‘soul’ or ‘spirit’ is something different from the mind. They believe that the mind is really two. This is the confusion among religionists and intellectuals. If ‘Soul’ has any meaning, if ‘spirit’ has any meaning, so long as one thinks of them, they are merely ideas. No, Mind is the highest: it is consciousness, non-dual wisdom.

The individual is a bundle of memories, desires within the waking or dream. The memories and desires are part of the duality. Therefore the individual self is entirely part and parcel of the mirage. Peoples' ideas of that they will go to some world after death, some astral plane or religious heavens will disappear as nonsense with the disappearance of belief in the reality of the ‘I’.  

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.

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.

Even  "Jesus said:-"Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all." (Gospel of Thomas 2)

"The Kingdom of God is inside you and all around you, Not in a mansion of wood and stone.  Split a piece of wood and God is there, Lift a stone and you will find God." (Gospel of Thomas)

When the seeker indulges in deeper self-search becomes aware of the fact that, the experience of birth, life, death and the world are mere illusion created out of spirit (consciousness), which is the innermost self.

Thus Advaitic sages Sri, Sankara and Goudpada declared the non-dualistic truth as ultimate truth or Brahman is rational truth and  scientific truth.       

The Atman is the witness-consciousness that experiences the action, the actor, and the world of separate things.

The Atman is the witness-consciousness 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.

The formless soul or consciousness is the innermost self. The soul or consciousness is self-illumined. So how can the body which is inert (insentient) and illumined by an external agent be the consciousness, which is present only within the waking or dream?

The consciousness (soul) the innermost self is apart from the three states and permanent, as it endures even after the death of the body and world   within the waking or dream.

Even the subtle body consists of many parts and is unstable. It is also an object of perception, is changeable, limited and non-existent by nature. So how can this be the true self, when the body exists only within the duality(universe)?

The immutable soul, the substratum of the ego, is thus different from these two bodies, and is the true self, the consciousness, the formless witness of the three states; and it is present in everything and everywhere in all the three states  and yet transcends them all.

Thus the enunciation of the difference between the soul and the body has (indirectly) asserted, indeed, after the manner of the inquiry, analysis and reasoning, the reality of the three states. The birth, life, death and the world are part of the duality (universe). The consciousness, which is the true self and it, is the formless witness of the birth, life, death and the world.

Thus the view that the body is the true self has been denounced by the enunciation of the difference between the soul and the body. The seeking mind has to grasp the truth, between the three states and the formless witness (the soul).

It is the Self that is in illusion and it is the self that gets free from the bondage of the illusion. The illusion is present in the form of mind. Mind is in the form of universe. Universe appears as waking or dream and disappears as deep sleep.  The individual experiences of birth, life, death and the world are within the waking experience.  The dream is parallel waking experience and waking is parallel dream.  

Deeper self-search reveals the fact that the, self is neither the waking entity nor the self is the dream entity but the self is formless soul, which witnesses the coming and going of the three states in succession without the physical apparatus.  This has to be mentally grasped and assimilated to realize the formless soul, the innermost   self is nothing to do with the three states. On the standpoint of the three states, the three states are mere illusion. 

The practical life within the practical world, which is present as waking experience, is mere illusion. If waking experience is mere illusion than the individual experience of birth, life, death and world are mere illusion.   If the experience birth, life death and the world are mere illusion, it means the form; time and space are mere illusion.  If form, time and space are mere illusion, it means the past, present and future is mere illusion. Thus it is necessary for the seeker to realize the fact that,   form, time and space are one in essence, in order to realize the three states are one in essence. That essence is consciousness. Thus all the diversity is created out of   formless consciousness. Thus no second thing exist other than consciousness, the innermost self. Seeker of truth has to constantly reflect on the subject in order to get firm conviction of the truth.  Seeker has to reflect on the same truth again and again until it becomes reality. One needs to constant reflect on the subject until he gets firm conviction of what is what.

As person perceiving the world one is unaware of , because he thinks his body as body, his ego as ego his experience of the ,world as world but never he is unaware of the truth they are just mirage created out consciousness due to ignorance of the truth .

As person perceiving the world   one  is unaware of , because he thinks his  body as body, his  ego as ego his experience of the ,world as world but never he is unaware of the truth they are just mirage created out consciousness due to ignorance of the truth . 

Words are needed until one gets firm conviction of ‘what is what. People need reading and hearing the words to think deeply and reach the ultimate end. 

People fail to understand that, the emptiness is the nature of the self, which is consciousness.  When self becomes aware of its formless non-dual nature it becomes empty of ignorance or illusion or duality or experience of waking or dream.  Thus whatever remains empty of duality or ignorance or illusion is non-dual reality. Only through wisdom one becomes aware of the truth in the midst of duality.

That is why Sage Sri, Sankara said: 63_(VC)- Without causing the objective universe to vanish and without knowing the truth of the Self, how is one to achieve Liberation.

The universe will not remain as reality when wisdom dawns. Universe is mere mirage created out of consciousness and there is unity in diversity because there is no second thing exist other than consciousness.

One thinks he is imprisoned within this body; whereas the body and his experience of the world are within the mind. The consciousness is hidden within the three states but it is without the three states.  The one, which has the awareness of the three states, is not the body but the soul, which is in the form of consciousness. Thus consciousness is not limited to waking experience alone because it pervades all the three states. Till one views and judges the world-view on base of ego he is in the grip of individuality or intellectuality.  The self is not an individual because it is universal. And it pervades in everything and everywhere in all the three states. Thus individualized judgment will not lead one non-dual destination.  

 That is why Sage Sri, Sankara says in (VC)-65:-  As a treasure hidden underground requires (for its extraction) competent instruction, excavation, the removal of stones and other such things lying above it and (finally) grasping, but never comes out by being (merely) called out by name, so the transparent Truth of the self, which is hidden by Maya and its effects, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, followed by reflection, meditation and so forth, but not through perverted arguments.

66. Therefore the wise should, as in the case of disease and the like, personally strive by all the means in their power to be free from the bondage of repeated births and deaths.

Thus,  one has to know what is real by realizing his  body and his  experience of the world are mere illusion created out of the formless soul, the innermost self. . soul is present in the form of consciousness.  The nature of the self is emptiness because it is formless . And it is identified by different masters with different name, such as Brahman, Buddha’s nature, Christ consciousness, Self, Ultimate Truth. 

Self-knowledge or Atma Gnana or Brahma Gnana cannot be attained by one who is without strength or earnestness or without the receptiveness and courage to accept the truth and reject the untruth. If a serious seeker strives sincerely by means of inquiry, analysis and soul-centric reasoning, he will be able to realize it.

It is only seekers sincerity and earnestness in his spiritual pursuit, the knowledge started revealing on its own.  Anyone who has humility and patience and is sincere and ready to drop their accumulated dross and receptive to accept the truth will enter non-dual Self-Awareness when his conviction becomes firm.