Question with boldness even the existence of a God.+

Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear." :~ Thomas Jefferson

Do not search for the God in the world in which you exist. God is not an entity or identity within the world in which you exist. God is the cause of the world in which you exist and God is uncaused.

You will not find the real God in the world in which you exist because God is prior to the world in which you exist. The world in which you exist hides the God, which is the Soul. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. 

The world in which you exist is made out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. From the standpoint of the Soul, the universe in which you exist is merely an illusion. Without the illusion, God alone exists.

Religious believers say doubt is a precipice on the way to God. But doubting the existence of God and trying to know the truth is the starting point of the pursuit of truth.

He who is freed from all the doubts and confusions by deeper inquiry, analysis, and reasoning reach the non-dual destination.  The Seeker has to follow the footprints of the Gnani and advance with care by means of such mental trekking; he will reach the source.

The journey of reason brings joy to those who dare to accept the truth and drop the untruth mentally.

The religious scholars say there is a need for a precise understanding of the concepts of ancient Knowledge like Veda and its offshoots must be attempted by constant comparison with developments in Science and Science should seek new vistas from ancient Knowledge.

Remember:~

When the Upanishads suggest that:~ 

Katha Upanishad:~ This Atman cannot be attained by the study of the Vedas, or by intelligence, or by much hearing of sacred books. It is attained by him alone whom It chooses. To such a one Atman reveals Its own form. (Ch-II -23-P-20)

Mundaka Upanishad:~ This Atman cannot be attained through the study of the Vedas, nor through intelligence, nor through much learning. He who chooses Atman—by him alone is Atman attained. It is Atman that reveals to the seeker Its true nature. (3 –page-70 Mundaka Upanishad- Upanishads by Nikilanada)

The above passages further prove that: Self-Knowledge cannot be attained by the study of the Vedas and intellectual understanding or by bookish knowledge.  Therefore, there is no use in studying the Vedas and other scriptures in order to acquire non-dual wisdom.  That is why Buddha rejected the scriptures, and even Sri, Sankara indicated that the truth lies beyond religion, the concept of god, and the scriptures. 

Thus, the truth is beyond physicality. One has to discover, grasp and assimilate it only by deeper thinking through inquiry, analysis, and reasoning on the true base.   There is no need for scriptures in pursuit of the truth because the scriptures themselves suggest the truth lies beyond the knowledge of scriptures.  

That is why Sage  Sankara says:~  VC-56. Neither by Yoga nor by Sankhya nor by work nor by learning, but by the realization of one's identity with Brahman is Liberation possible, and by no other means.

58. Loud speech consisting of a shower of words, the skill in expounding the Scriptures, and likewise erudition - these merely bring on a little personal enjoyment to the scholar but are no good for Liberation.

59. The study of the Scriptures is useless so long as the highest Truth is unknown, and it is equally useless when the highest Truth has already been known.

60. The Scriptures consisting of many words are a dense forest that merely causes the mind to ramble. Hence, men of wisdom should earnestly set about knowing the true nature of the Self.

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 utters the name of the medicine, without taking it; (similarly) without direct realization one cannot be liberated by the mere utterance of the word Brahman.

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.

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

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.

67. The question that thou hast asked today is excellent, approved by those versed in the Scriptures, aphoristic, pregnant with meaning, and fit to be known by the seekers after Liberation.

One could go on and on,  but the point is that the Upanishads approach the Supreme immutable truth in multiple ways and try to articulate the manifest and unmanifest aspects of the Brahman.

For those that are deluded, the multiple points of view may amount to contradictory perceptions but Upanishads are the epitome of an attempted understanding of the immortal, immutable Brahman by mortals caught in the dynamism of this universe.:~Santthosh Kumaar 

You, your body and the world in which you exist is nothing but the consciousness.***

You, your body and the world in which you exist is nothing but the consciousness. Thus, when everything is the consciousness   then you, your body and the world in which you exist is mere an illusion created out of consciousness.   Thus, consciousness alone is real all else is mere an illusion created out of the consciousness.

You are not you; your body is not the body the world in which you exist is not the world but everything is made out of the Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness.  The Soul is the innermost Self.  Self-realization is necessary to realize the world in which you exist is mere an illusion created out of the consciousness.

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).

When Bhagavad Gita says, God is considered the all-pervading consciousness which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material  then  nothing has to be accepted  other than consciousness  as  the ultimate truth.    The consciousness is the ultimate truth.  Do not search   the truth in the objective world because the objective world is mere an illusion created out of the consciousness.  Realize the consciousness   is real and eternal that is all.  

Self-knowledge or Bramha Gnana or Atma Gnana is not had by resorting to a Guru***

If you are seeking truth nothing but the truth then you must not get stuck to any Guru or yogi. Those who are seeking  the truth need not follow any Guru or any teaching.

Yoga Vasistha says:~ Self-knowledge or knowledge of truth is not had by resorting to a Guru (preceptor) nor by the study of scripture, nor by good works: it is attained only by means of enquiry inspired by the company of wise (Gnani). One’s inner light alone is the means, naught else. When this inner light is kept alive, it is not affected by the darkness of inertia. 

There is no need to condemn Gurus, but there is need highlight how they become an obstacle in realizing the ultimate truth or Brahman.

Swami Vivekananda said: ~   “You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher, but your own Soul.”

The Guru is useless so long as the ultimate truth is unknown, and Guru is equally useless when the ultimate truth or Brahman   has already been known.

A Guru is needed in religious and the yogic path.  There is no need of a Guru in to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Self-realization is God realization***

Bhagavad Gita gives the dualistic worship of "God” only for the lower minds; it also teaches Advaita 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’s Advaitic path.

Devotional prayer (Bhakti) value only for the ignorant who believe the world in which they are born is real. But for the seeker on his journey to the ultimate realization of the truth beyond the form time and space the devotional path becomes an obstacle.

People worship God in various ways, not knowing the Truth. At different levels, at different epochs, in different lands, people have different conceptions of God. They have quarreled because they did not know the truth about God.

The conflict of opinions among mystics and religionists proves that all are imagining God as they like, not knowing God.

Rig Veda: ~ The Atman (Soul or Spirit) 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)

Rig-Veda 1-164-46 and Y.V 32-1 clearly mention that God is “One”.

Rig Veda declares God is ‘ONE’ and God is Atman, then why believe and   worship in place of real God.

Brihad Upanishad: ~ “If you think there is another entity, whether man or God there is no truth."

When Upanishad itself declares: ~   Sarvam khalvidam brahma ~ all this (universe) is verily Brahman. By following back all of the relative appearances in the world, we eventually return to that from which it is all manifest – the non-dual reality (Chandogya Upanishad). 

Sage Sri, Sankara’s Supreme Brahman (God) is impersonal, Nirguna (without Gunas or attributes), Nirakara (formless), Nirvisesha (without special characteristics), immutable, eternal and Akarta (non-agent). It is above all needs and desires. It is always the Witnessing Subject. It can never become an object as It is beyond the reach of the senses. Brahman is non-dual, one without a second. It has no other beside it. It is destitute of difference, either external or internal. Brahman cannot be described because description implies distinction. Brahman cannot be distinguished from any other than It. In Brahman, there is not the distinction of substance and attribute. Sat-Chit-Ananda constitutes the very essence or Svarupa of Brahman, and not just Its attributes. The Nirguna Brahman of Sage Sri, Sankara is impersonal.

Sage Sri, Sankara: ~"That which permeate~"That which permeates all, which nothing transcends and which, like the universal space around us, fills everything completely from within and without, that Supreme non-dual Brahman  (God)."

Thus, truth realization   is self-realization. The Self-realization is God realization.  God -realization is real worship.  

Religious truth is individualized truth, whereas Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is universal truth***.

The ultimate truth or Brahman dwells within the three states like fragrance in the flower; Musk lies within the Musk-deer yet seeks it afar." Until one trace the truth within the three states the illusion of birth, life, death and the world is experienced as reality.  

Religious truth  is individualized truth whereas  Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is the universal truth.  This means religious believers  takes the belief as the ultimate truth whereas the Gnani takes his reasoned judgment, which will be the same under test everywhere in the universe.

No one has seen God. They do not know God’s capacities, what He can do, and what he cannot do. Therefore any statement one might make about God would only be an imagination. God is only a settled fact for believers, but for others Gods existence is problematic. 

It is impossible to prove the existence of God by any reasoning without belief system. Every belief- system has its own idea of God and idea of creation. Without belief,  the  religious God ceases to exist. One must take rational position in order to unfold the mystery of his true existence. Thus the seeker of truth does not know whether God exists or not. He starts his quest without belief and belief system.

Unless one gives up the religious ideas of individual god, karma, sin heaven and hell, self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is impossible. Truth must be proved here and now, on this very life. If that cannot be done, one cannot consider any such idea, as existence of individual god, karma, sin heaven and hell, as true.

People see visions of Gods and Goddesses and adepts,  according to their own inherited religious  samskara or conditioning. How does one know that God who tells about himself in meditation or vision is truthful! He may tell you a lie! His statements must therefore be tested. Supposing a mystic has a vision, which experience is true, but he must prove that it is really what it purports to be, and that he is not deluded.

When the 'Self' is not  him   then all his   claims of seeing God or talking to God as the himself  is bound to be a falsehood because he exists within the waking experience and   the waking experience itself is an illusion. If the three states are illusion created out of the formless Soul, which is present in the form of the  consciousness. on the standpoint of the Soul, the innermost Self, all the visions are also mere dualistic illusion  created out of  the consciousness. wherever there is duality there is no reality. 

Only in yogic paths such visions of God and saints are taken as reality because yogis’ approach is more practical, and they are stuck with the reality of the waking experience, and they take it as real.

That is why Buddha said:~    

Believe nothing because a wise man said it,

Believe nothing because it is generally held, 

Believe nothing because it is written, 

Believe nothing because it is said to be divine,

Believe nothing because someone else said it.

But believe only what you yourself judge to be true.

Authoritarianism merely assumes as true what another says, but what has yet to be proved.  One may believe in a position, but he is required to prove the truth of his belief. A belief is a feeling,  the truth is knowledge.

Looking to all these diverse idea of every belief system create the doubts and confusion. "Which belief system is the right and which belief system is wrong?" .There is the certainty  in any belief system.Thus,  doubts arise and the inquiring spirit comes and impels to search elsewhere for truth where it will not be possible even to have doubt. 

The test is therefore in reasoning. Only through soul-centric reasoning one can reach the ultimate end of understanding. If one is soul-centric than there is no scope for argument about views or to have a  difference of opinion and one is in the realm of doubtlessness.

If one seeking  ultimate truth or Brahman   then he should not accept anything as truth without verification.

As per the scriptures the three "Ashrams" or stages in life were originally intended for three grades of intelligence thus:

v             Religion: low intellects had to do 'karmas' works, ritual actions, chanting of mantras and indulging in bhajans and prayers etc.

v             Middle intellects:  Yoga: taking yellow robes, going to caves, ashrams etc.

v             High intellects: wisdom who wanted the truth is concerned with no external rites or sanyasa but depend solely on the Soulcentric reasoning for their path.

Thus, the seeker has to choose his path, according to his choice.  Without an  intense urge to know the truth, and sharpness to grasp the truth,  it is difficult to tread the path of wisdom or reason. Never mix different path with each other and make cocktail because it leads to all sorts of doubts and confusion. 

The seeker should be beware of everything that is untrue: stick to the truth and he shall succeed, maybe slowly, but surely.