Understanding what is God is a not so easy. Religious people can only imagine God based on their beliefs.***

Rig Veda: ~ The Atman is the cause; Atman is the support of all that exists in this universe. May ye never turn away from the Atman the innermost self. May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?" (10:48, 5)

The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad declares: "He who worships the deities as entities entirely separate from him does not know the truth. For the gods he is like a pasu (beast)". (1. 4. 10)

The Sages of truth are not religious Gurus or Saints.  The religion and its mythological Gods and mythological Gods are nothing to with the ultimate truth or Brahman or GOD.

All sect based beliefs are dualistic and unphilosophical nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman.  In spirituality, the ultimate truth is God.

Lord Krishna confesses that the oldest wisdom of India (Advaitic wisdom ) has been lost: people misinterpret and falsify it today as they did then. It is not yoga but the philosophic truth. But nobody knows it. The teachers of philosophy and leaders of mysticism or religion do not want to inquire into truth and have no time for it. (Gita ~ Chap ~IV~ v.2)

In Gita Chap.IV where Lord Krishna says: ~ “This yoga has been lost for ages" the word yoga refers to Gnana yoga, not other yogas: the force of the word this is to point this out.

Lord Krishna describes some of the other yogas but devotes this chapter separately to Gnana yoga. So one sees even in those ancient days people did not care for Advaita; they wanted religion; hence Gnana got lost. That is why Krishna calls it "the supreme secret." Krishna points out that the yoga must see "Brahman in action."

Gita Chap.IV:~ “He who achieves perfection in Yoga finds the Self in time." This means that after his yoga is finished, he begins the inquiry into ultimate truth and in due course this inquiry produces the realization of the universal spirit as the result.

Understanding what is God is a not so easy. Religious people can   only imagine God based on their beliefs.

That is why Lord Krishna Says Ch ~V: ~ “Those who know me in truth.". The last two words (tattvataha) are usually ignored by pundits, but they make all the difference between the ordinary concept of God and the truth about God.

No dualities, no differentiation. Only Atman exists.

The Bhagavad Gita: ~ “brahmano hi pratisthaham” ~ Brahman (God) is considered the all-pervading consciousness which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material. (14.27)

It proves that the all-pervading Atman, which is present in the form of the  consciousness, is God.   Thus worshipping the form based Gods is meant for the ignorant populace who are incapable of the realizing the truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space.  

Lord Krishna Says Ch ~V: ~ “Those who know me in truth.".

~ Know me in truth means know the ‘Self’ without the form, time, and space.

There are two kinds of audiences - the ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices, and the more advanced seeker who seeks to know the truth beyond the form, time and space. The Bhagavad Gita is meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. The Advaitic wisdom is meant for those who wish to go beyond  the form, time, and space. 

All sect based beliefs are dualistic and unphilosophical nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman.***

The Indian Sages of truth, who believed in the realization of the immortal Soul as the Self, frees the Soul from the illusory prison of experience of the birth, life, death and the world.   When the soul wakes up from its sleep of ignorance and consciously remains in its own awareness in the midst of the dualistic illusion is Moksha.

There is no other goal other than Self-realization is the supreme goal within the dualistic illusion.

The Soul is appeared as the world in which we exist, the world in which we exist is nothing but an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness.

 The Soul is the God. The Soul alone is the ultimate truth or Brahman.  The Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness, is without the second.

 The truth is ever truth and the untruth is the untruth, the untruth hides the truth.

The Soul is what gives the sentient to the illusory world in which we exist.  The Soul pervades everywhere and in everything in the world in which we exist.  The Soul is the fullness of the consciousness unlimited by the form, time, and space.  it is self-luminous, existence and awareness.  None can deny it because it is the basis of the very world in which we exist. Denying the existence of the Soul is denying the world in which the denier exists.  

The world exists because of the Soul.  The Soul is the innermost Self.  The Self is not you but the Soul, which is the cause of the world in which you exist.  The Soul is not within your body because the Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness pervades everywhere and in everything in the world in which you exist.

Drop the idea is that the Soul is within your body.  Mentally detach the Soul from the world in which you exist by realizing the world in which you exist is mere an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness. therefore, the world in which you exist is mere an illusion created out of the consciousness. if the world in which you exist is mere an illusion then there is no second thing exist other than the consciousness. Thus, everything is the consciousness.

Sage Sri, Sankara:~  VC Let erudite scholars quote all the scripture, let Gods be invoked through sacrifices, let elaborate rituals be performed, let personal Gods be propitiated ~ yet, without the realization of one‘s identity With the Self, there shall be no liberation for the individual, not  even in the lifetimes of a hundred Brahmas put together (verses-6)

The influence of Sage Sri, Sankara’s wisdom is nothing to do orthodox belief systems.

All sect based beliefs are dualistic and unphilosophical nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman.  In spirituality, the ultimate truth is God.

Some philosophers in the past dissented from this interpretation of Vedanta philosophy, holding that the incarnated Souls were separate from the Divine Essence and only finally merged with it after the cycles of birth.  All these theoretical philosophy is based on the imagination based on the false self (ego or you) within the false experience (waking).

The scientific knowledge is limited to form, time and space. The Self-knowledge  or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is beyond the form, time, and space.  The birth, life, death and the world are within the domain of the form, time, and space. The Soul, the innermost Self, is formless, timeless and spaceless existence.

The consciousness is ever present. Without the consciousness the world, in which you exist cease to exist.   The consciousness is Self-evident. It is not established by extraneous proofs. It is not possible to deny the consciousness because it is the very essence of the one who denies it. The consciousness is the basis of all kinds of knowledge, presuppositions, and proofs. The consciousness is everything. Thus, the consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman. 

Lord Krishna confesses that the oldest wisdom of India (Advaitic wisdom) has been lost: people misinterpret and falsify it today as they did then.*****

Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita says: ~ Among thousands of men, scarcely one strives for perfection; and of those who strive and succeed, scarcely one knows the ‘Self’ in truth.

Bhagvad Gita says: ~ “Don't unsettle the minds of ignorant by revealing the esoteric truth."

Bhagavad Gita: 7: 19:~ "Such a man who has attained true knowledge, the knowledge of Self, the knowledge of Atman, worships ‘Self’ as~ Atman (God) alone exists~ everything is Atman, there exists nothing except Atman. Such a man is extremely rare."

There are hundreds of commentaries from different authors on the Bhagavad Gita. Each one goes on spinning yarns imagining as he likes what the meaning may be.

Bhagavad Gita has been interpreted in a thousand ways, according to the author’s capacity to understand the test of all these is the reason. Only a few understood Bhagavad Gita.

Bhagavad Gita is a hodgepodge containing everything; hence it suits the populace because there is something in it for every type of mindset. It is difficult to find any tradition whose voice is not found in the Gita. It is difficult to find anyone who does not take solace from the Bhagavad Gita. But for such people, the Advaitic path will prove very difficult. 

Once you are Soulcentric you will know what Bhagavad Gita and other scriptures really meant, you will see that there is only one possible interpretation, irrespective of your opinion or imagination.

The Bhagavad Gita does not contain the higher wisdom. Bhagavad Gita is intended for those who are incapable of thinking rationally.

People love Bhagavad Gita because it is very easy to extract one's own meaning from it. Reading Bhagavad Gita a religious believer extracts something of which he can make a belief because Bhagavad Gita speaks on bhakti, devotion. The karma yogi extracts his belief because Krishna has spoken on karma yoga, the Yoga of action. The believer in knowledge finds what he wants because Bhagavad Gita has spoken on knowledge as well. Somewhere Krishna calls bhakti the ultimate, somewhere else he calls knowledge the ultimate, again elsewhere he calls karma yoga the ultimate.

Lord Krishna taught the Karma and Bhakti yogis their own paths only in order to lead them up to the Gnana yoga path, which is the highest and the real object of his teaching.

Lord Krishna confesses that the oldest wisdom of India (Advaitic wisdom) has been lost: people misinterpret and falsify it today as they did then. It is not yoga but the philosophic truth. But nobody knows it. The teachers of philosophy and leaders of mysticism or religion do not want to inquire into truth and have no time for it. (Gita ~ Chap ~IV~ v.2)

Why is the word Yoga used in so many different senses in the Gita? Because there are grades and the highest demands concentrated brains, not sitting mindless and imagining you are seeing God.

In Gita Chap.IV where Lord Krishna says: ~ “This yoga has been lost for ages" the word yoga refers to Gnana yoga, not other yogas: the force of the word this is to point this out.

Lord Krishna describes some of the other yogas but devotes this chapter separately to Gnana yoga. So one sees even in those ancient days people did not care for Advaita; they wanted religion; hence Gnana got lost. That is why Krishna calls it "the supreme secret." Krishna points out that the yoga must see "Brahman in action."

Gita Chap.IV:~ “He who achieves perfection in Yoga finds the Self in time." This means that after his yoga is finished, he begins the inquiry into ultimate truth and in due course this inquiry produces the realization of the universal spirit as the result.

Understanding what is God is a not so easy. Religious people can only imagine God based on their beliefs.

That is why Lord Krishna Says Ch ~V: ~ “Those who know me in truth.". The last two words (tattvataha) are usually ignored by pundits, but they make all the difference between the ordinary concept of God and the truth about God.

No dualities, no differentiation. Only Atman exists.

The Bhagavad Gita: ~ brahmano hi pratisthaham~ Brahman (God) is considered the all-pervading consciousness which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material.( 14.27)

It proves that the all-pervading Atman, which is present in the form of the consciousness, is God.   Thus,  worshipping the form based Gods is meant for the ignorant populace who are incapable of the realizing the truth, which is beyond the form, time,  and space.  

Lord Krishna Says Ch ~V: ~ “Those who know me in truth.".

Bhagavad Gita: 4: 22 :~ ".....who has gone beyond the conflicting dualities like good (happiness) and bad (sorrow)....."

Bhagavad Gita: 4: 42:~ ".....cut all such conflicting dualities (doubts) by the sword (weapon) of knowledge. ....."

Bhagavad Gita: 5: 18:~ “The learned men (who have come out of delusions (Māyā), got rid of Avidya) see no differentiation have equal vision for a revered Brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a cāndāla (outcaste, rogue, mleccha, demonic person etc)"

Bhagavad Gita: 5: 19:~ "Those who have achieved the true knowledge i.e. the 'Self-Knowledge' or the 'knowledge of Atman' and see no difference, are free from conflicting dualities have merged in Brahman"

Bhagavad Gita: 5: 20:~ "One who does not get excited out of happiness on getting good and does not get depressed on getting bad is situated in Brahman i.e. is merged in Brahman"

Bhagavad Gita: 6: 9:~  "The one who has equal vision for a Selfless do-gooder, a friend, a foe, an unbiased, a well-wisher, a depressed and jealous man, relatives, a righteous and a sinner is the best (as he sees no duality and differentiation but sees everything as Ātman)"

Bhagavad Gita: 6: 32:~ “.....as one seeks and treats oneself with equal vision, the same way one who has equal vision for good and evil, for everybody, is the best of all"

Bhagavad Gita: 6: 8:~ "For whom soil, a pebble, and gold are alike, he is merged in Brahman"

Bhagavad-Gita Gita: 7: 27:~ ".....people are getting entangled in the primordial ignorance (Avidya) of the conflicting dualities like good and evil, happiness and sorrow caused due to attachments, desires, and hatred....."

Bhagavad Gita: 6: 28:~ “.....who have cut-off conflicting dualities (like good and evil) is determinedly in my service. ...."

Bhagavad Gita: 7: 19:~ "Such a man who has attained true knowledge, the knowledge of Self, the knowledge of Atman, in the last birth in the series of many births worships Me as~ Atman alone exists~ everything is Atman, there exists nothing except Atman. Such a man is extremely rare"

The earliest part of Bhagavad Gita deals with religion because it is for mentally immature persons, but in the latter part, you get philosophy as that is intended for the intellectually evolved. You can’t make all men genius,   and therefore religion is provided for them.

Lord Sri Krishna himself says that he can do nothing to make a man intelligent straight away. The adepts give Prasad, blessing, initiations, mantrams, etc. only to confer temporary peace of mind, to help one to get rid of worries, but not to confer Gnana. The capacity to receive it must first be inborn in man by evolutionary degree.

In the statement in Bhagavad Gita which says that the path of the Unmanifest is harder than others, this path means Gnana Yoga.

The Upanishads and Gita do not give detailed explanations because the knowledge of those days was not as advanced as it as nowadays. However, there are odd words here and there which give hints.

Bhagvad Gita gives dualistic worship of "God” only for the lower minds; it also indicates the Advaitic wisdom for the more evolved.

Likewise, thinkers and poets of the Age of Devotion (Bhakti) of the 16th century believed in a God with attributes who became very tangible when incarnating as Avatar and was attainable simply through love and devotion rather than scholastic and intellectual meditation.

For the religious people, the Bhagavad Gita became the main vehicle of inspiration with its qualified and deistic Monism, rather than the scholastic and esoteric path shown by Sage Sri, Sankara’ Advaitic path. 

The 'I’ is not the Soul. Holding 'I' as ‘Self’ is holding the falsehood as a reality.***

Without knowing ‘what mind is in actuality' how you can know the consciousness? Playing with words is not spirituality. The consciousness is the cause of the mind and it, it’Self’ is uncaused. Preaching teaching is not wisdom. only through perfect understanding and realization of ‘what is what' leads to  the  realization  of the truth, which is hidden  within the form, time, and space and it is without the form, time, and space. 

The consciousness is not an object, but it’s the subject. Knowledge of both object and subject is ‘Self’-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. 

The Soul is the innermost ‘Self’. ‘I’ is not the Soul. Holding 'I' as ‘Self’ is holding the falsehood as a reality.  There is a need to know what is ‘I’ before indulging in pursuit of truth. 

Dualist Sages including many sages and thinkers could not distinguish between ‘I’ and ‘’’Self’’’.   They hold 'I' as the ‘‘Self’’. Their highest was the Jiva.  They are so much attached to the 'I' that they do not want to think that 'I' does not exist. Again they are unable to detach the ‘I’ from the Real ‘‘Self’’.

The dualist object: - If everything else is false then   the statement I am   Brahman is it’Self’ false, the but when one says non-duality is false, there must be the awareness, the consciousness, behind the very statement. You will also go, die. One has to rely upon that which is permanent.  The formless witness of the ‘I’ alone is permanent. Anything that one says is a witnessed (waking), but there is the formless witness (consciousness) there before any statement could be made.

They mean the body by “I", but it is the formless witness which is the real “‘Self’ ". Theists dualists did not, or could not analyze further than ‘I’   on this point because they thought the ‘I’ without the body as ‘Self’.

WHAT IS ‘I’?

The ‘I’ disappears as deep sleep, so what is the use of being attached to it? It is impermanent and illusory.

There is really no ‘I’. The ‘I’ is present in the form of mind. And the mind is in the form of the universe. The universe   appears as the waking or dream. The ‘I’ or mind or universe or waking or dream dies disappears as deep sleep. 

One that appears as ‘I’ or the mind or universe or waking or dream is nothing but the consciousness and it disappears as deep sleep is also consciousness.  In deep sleep, it is in its formless nondual true nature.  The one, which witnesses the coming and going, of the three states, is also the consciousness.   Thus, the witness and the witnessed are one, in essence.   

Thus, the universe is a reality on the base of the ego. You are the ego. Ego is the false ‘Self’ within the false experience (waking).  

The universe is unreal on the base of the Soul, the innermost ‘Self’.  The Soul is   present in the form of the consciousness. The seeker gradually will grasp and realize the unreal nature of the universe (‘I’ or mind).

Individuality is illusory because the ‘Self’ is not an individual because ‘Self’ is formless and it pervades in everything and everywhere in all the three states. .

Dualist Sages have written big volumes about the soul. Yet they are quite ignorant of the fact that the ‘I’ about which they write itself’ comes and goes and has no permanent existence, is only an idea after all.

What is it that appears as the ‘I’ and disappears as the ‘I-less? It is the Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness.

Do not make the mistake of holding the ‘I’ as the Self because it is not permanent. ‘I’ disappears and becomes ‘I’-less.

 ‘I’ is an illusion and the ‘I-LESS’ is real and eternal. The ‘I-LESS ‘appears as ‘I’ and ‘I ’‘disappears as I-LESS.

Bhagavad Gita: ~ The permanent is always there, only the transient ‘I’ comes and goes. (2.18)

The ‘I’ hides the truth of the whole.

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 that the fact that ‘I’ is not the Self, but the witness of the ‘I’ is the true Self, which is eternal. 

That is why Ashtavakra Gita 16:10:~ If you desire liberation, but you still say "I," If you feel the ‘Self’ is the ‘I’, You are not a wise man or a seeker. You are simply a man who suffers.

Sage Sri, Sankara says: one must first know what is before him. If he cannot know that, what else can he know or understand?***

Even 1% people will not show interest in the Atmic path. And the Atmic path is for those who found the path of religion, path of yoga and all theoretical philosophy and scriptural studies inadequate and useless in quench their inner thirst.

People are searching for remedies for their problems of practical life within the practical world. The path of love is very valuable in the practical world. A Gnani follows the path of love in the practical world and he loves the whole humanity but he inwardly he is fully aware of the fact that, the practical life within the practical world are part mere mirage. 

Upanishads:~ They alone in this world are endowed with the highest wisdom who are firm in their conviction of the sameness and birthlessness of Atman The ordinary man does not understand their way. (Chapter IV — Alatasanti Prakarana 95-P-188 in Upanishads by Nikilanada)

Thus, Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana 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 non-dual truth. Therefore, there is no need to convince anyone other than our own selves to get the firm conviction. 

Seeing God implies duality. Mind or universe or waking, which appears and disappears is not permanent. There is no use of placing faith in the belief of individualized god, which is part of the falsehood, and it is impermanent. It is better to abide in formless consciousness, which is the innermost self and eternal by realizing the experience of diversity is created out of single stuff, which is consciousness. Consciousness is the ultimate truth and only ultimate truth or Brahman is GOD. Self-awareness is what one should seek, not visions of individualized God. It is only when the Mind is merged in its source, the soul or consciousness that true knowledge of one's identity with ultimate truth or Brahman will dawn.

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.

In Brahma Sutras Sage 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.

As one goes deeper investigation he finds:-

Sage Sri, Sankara founded his Advaita Vedanta either on reason independent of Sruti or on Sruti confirmed by reason." 

Sage Sri, Sankara's commentary on the Manduka 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.

Sage Sri, Sankara himself had often said that his philosophy was based on Sruti, or revealed scripture. This may be because Sage 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. 

Those who lack the intelligence to discriminate between formless witness [subject] and three states (object) will not be able to grasp what is real and what is unreal. Both subject and object are consciousness, not subject alone.

The truth can never change. The nature of the truth is, it can never be changed under any circumstances. It may be misrepresented. It must apply to the whole of existence, to the whole of the universe. It is in the object [three states] alone that one has all changes, as deeper analysis points out.

The subject [formless witness] remains unchanged. The subject [formless witness], as such remains immortal. It can never die for it never changes. The body and world are an object, and goes, but the subject or knower of the body and the universe can never go. Seeker has to take this principle as his guiding thread and non-dual truth becomes easy to grasp. The formless witness can never be subject to the changes of the object; it is unchanged. The mistake usually made is that subject becomes an object, or that object is subject.

If one wants to have an absence of contradictions, absence of duality, there must be one entity, one being. If one has experience which is an object [mind], there is a contradiction between subject and object, for "mind” is an object.

The duality is a reality on the standpoint of the false self [ego or body as Self]. The duality is the mere an illusion on the base of the true self, which is formless consciousness. This understanding comes only to the serious seeker, who has a real urge to know the ultimate truth, which is beyond the all the teachings and teachers. There is neither teaching, nor a teacher, nor student in the realm of truth.