Sage Goudpada: ~ To establish the truth of Non-duality by sheer reasoning alone.+

Sage Goudpada: ~ To establish the truth of Non-duality by sheer reasoning alone. He begins by defining "What is real?" "What is unreal?" etc, because that is the right way to inquire and reason. People must first know what they are talking about. (Manduka Karika)

When Arjuna says in Verse 63, Chap.18, Gita, that all his doubts are cleared, he means his doubts on every question. But this happy state could not have been reached if he had not begun by having doubts without inquiry and reasoning.

When Lord Krishna tells Arjuna to overcome doubt by the sword of wisdom, he does not mean that Arjuna should give up his doubt and believe, as the Pundits interpret it, but that he should keep on thinking and reasoning deeply about his doubts until they are solved; that he should not stop until a nondual point is reached.

On the other hand, as Gita says, never be satisfied with mere skepticism, have the hope that your doubt will be solved, and go forward.

In the confusing multiplicity of doctrines, each has his own theory, he does not have time to think and inquire if it is true. Yet doubt is the first step to knowledge for the thoughtful.

Reason tells you what is truth and what is untruth, what should be accepted as truth and what should be considered as untruth.

 Bhagavad Gita: ~ Reason as means to reality. (Chap.18 verse 37)

In chap. 10 of in Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says: ~ I cannot save you, but I can give you Buddhi (reason). (chap. 10)

In chap. 10 of in Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says: ~ "I have given you the most secret teaching, now reflect over it all" Krishna plainly says reflect, think. (Verse 63 of Chap. 18)

Ashtavakra Gita: ~ It is not the absence of Buddhi that can grasp Advaita but the man who possesses the highest intellect. Brains are necessary. Such a man, by merely hearing the truth mentioned will know it. (Page~ 224).

The mystic must become a constant slave to some line of "thought" or rather imagination, and then he will really see visions confirming his imaginations.

The mystic who sees God in vision has seen Him during the waking state. The waking experience itself is an illusion. Thus, whatever is seen within the illusion is bound to be an illusion. Thus, it is necessary for the mystic to realize his existence is a reality within the illusion.

Whatever belief of God one is familiar with through his inherited conditioning or samskara that he will see in his visions. When a man is a false self within the false experience, then whatever he believes is bound to be a falsehood.

God is the Soul, the Self. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. God is not within you, but you and your experience of the world are within God. Self-realization is God-realization because the Soul, the Self itself is God in truth. When you and your experience of the world disappear then God alone prevails as a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.: ~ Santthosh Kumaar