Devotional Gods are mythical Gods. Mythical Gods are not Vedic Gods. Vedic God is Athma, the Spirit.+

The devotional path is the religious path, not the spiritual path. Devotion towards an inherited God based on blind faith or blind belief cannot transport the seeker towards the nondual destination. 

Devotion is between the person and his belief. The devotion is based on the belief system. The person, who has inherited some belief system, believes in the individualized God and indulges in the devotional path.

Devotional Gods are mythical Gods. Mythical Gods are not Vedic Gods. Vedic God is Athma, the Spirit. 

Devotional toward myth produces only myth. Thus, we must have the devotion to exploring God in truth.

The devotion makes one believe that he is a person and God has created this world. Therefore, he believes that he is born in this world and the world existed prior to him, this conviction makes him feel he is the doer. Since he accepts himself as the doer; he will remain ignorant of the true self, which is the Soul. Ignorance makes him feel the illusion as a reality.

The truth-seeker has to reject the devotional path (Bhakti Marga) if wants to realize the truth beyond form, time, and space.

The path of Bhakti is for the ignorant populace. The only path of wisdom leads the seeker of truth on his journey to the ultimate realization of the true nature of the Universal Essence, which is the Soul. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness.

Bhagavad Gita Chapter:~ “All those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires, they worship many Gods. (7- Verse -20)

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~ Brahman (God) is present in the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself’.

Thus, it refers to a formless and attributeless God, which is the Atman (Soul), the innermost ‘Self’ within the false experience. Thus, it indicates clearly all the Gods with form and attributes are mere imaginations based on the false self. Thus Atman or Soul, the  ‘Self’ is God in truth.

The Vedas do not talk about idol worship. In fact, till about 2000 years ago followers of Vedism never worshipped idols. Idol worship was started by the followers of Buddhism and Jains. There is logic to idol worship. Vedas speak of one God that is the supreme ‘Self’ i.e. Atman or Soul but Hinduism indulges in worshiping 60 million Gods.

It indicates clearly all the Gods with form and attributes are mere imaginations based on the false self.

The idea of religion and religious identity is based on the false self (waking). Belief in a personal God will lead one to hallucination. Without realizing the Soul, the innermost self, all types of meditation keep one in the grip of duality.

That is why Swami Vivekananda: ~ “The masses in India cry to sixty million Gods and still die like dogs. Where are these Gods?

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad:~ "He who worships the deities as entities entirely separate from the Self does not know the truth. For the Gods, he is like a pasu (beast)". (1. 4. 10)

Rig Veda: ~ 'Prajnanam Brahma'- Consciousness is the ultimate reality or Brahman or God in truth. 

Do not accept any other God other than the Soul. The Soul is God in truth,  Nothing is real but the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Nothing matters but realizing God in truth. God in truth is everywhere and in everything. Let these words be inscribed in your subconscious.

God in truth is hidden by the illusory universe. God in truth alone is real and eternal and all else is an illusion.

Brahman is merely a word to indicate the ultimate truth or God in truth.  The ultimate truth itself is God in truth.  

Yajurveda – chapter- 32: ~God is Supreme Spirit has no ‘Pratima’ (idol) or material shape. He cannot be seen directly by anyone. He pervades all beings and all directions. Thus, Idolatry does not find any support from the Vedas. 

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 ‘Self’. May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?" (10:48, 5)

Remember this:~ 

Yajur Veda indicates that: ~ 

They sink deeper into darkness those who worship sambhuti. (Sambhuti means created things, for example, table, chair, idol, etc (Yajurveda 40:9) 

Those who worship visible things born of the prakrti, such as the earth, trees, and bodies (human and the like) in place of God are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time." (Yajurveda 40:9.) 

Then why worship and glorify the non-~Vedic Gods in place of Vedic God when Veda bars such activities and also warns people who indulge in such activities are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Advaita: Sage Sankara was the expounder of the Advaitic wisdom.+

Sage Sankara is the foremost among the Sages of truth that India has produced. He was the expounder of the Advaitic wisdom. 

Sage Sankara was an original thinker. He was a sage of universal order. He was not a dreaming idealist but a practical visionary. Scripture and reason were the two aids in his arguments. 

Sage Sankara was a great logician, who based his arguments entirely on the principles of logic but without contradicting the intuitional revelations of the Vedas and the Upanishads. 

Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom gave a new dimension to Indian philosophy. It restored the position of the Upanishads as the pristine source of knowledge. It established Vidya, wisdom as the true source of light. It put reason and discretion at the center stage and pushed the rituals out of contention.

Sage Sankara ushered in a new way of looking at our world, at our experience in/with it, by introducing the relative and absolute view of the Universe. When he talked about the infinite and timeless nature of the Universe, it was not in the sense of endless duration, but in the sense of completeness, requiring neither a before nor an after. 

When Sage Sankara referred to Unity of self he was not talking of putting two things together, but he used the term to mean the utter absence of all plurality in the real Self. The Western world had to wait until the beginning of the twentieth century to arrive at those concepts.

Sage Sankara gave credence to an individual’s subjective experience. Sage Sankara placed personal experience and intuition above all the other means of cognition. Sage Sankara said a person’s experience could not be disputed. Sage Sankara declared, “Intuition is not opposed to intellect. Reality is experience. Realizing the Supreme Being is within one's experience.”

Sage Sankara recognized the underlying oneness and the infinite nature of the universe. Sage Sankara asserted, “I am not the mind or the intellect, not the ego. I am the blissful form of the Brahman. Sage Sankara redefined the relationship between Man and the Universe.  Sage Sankara said they were One. Duality, he said, was an error in perception.

Sage Sankara's is not a system opposed to other systems, but a method of interpretation of values. He is a voice of reason and sanity. Sage Sankara is therefore relevant even today. Sage Sankara values reason, encourages the spirit of inquiry, and gives credence to subjective experience and therefore to freedom of one's thought and expression. Sage Sankara suggests intellect is not opposed to intuition. 

Sage Sankara says to take the ego out of the equation in our day-to-day activities of life. Sage Sankara implores us to recognize the essential unity of all beings and their oneness with the infinite space-time continuum. Sage Sankara explained, that the universe is the manifestation of the Athma.

 Vedanta of Sage Sankara comes as a remedy to the conflict and violence-ridden ways of our lives.

 Swami Vivekananda aptly described Sage Sankara’s Advaita as the fairest flower of philosophy that any country in any age has produced

Remember:

Sage Sankara says only through direct knowledge of non-duality that one be enlightened.

Some people claim that in  Sage Sankara's philosophy, there is no place for a personal God (Ishvara) because Ishvara is also described as "false". He appears as Ishvara because of the curtain of Maya. However, as described earlier, just as the world is true at the pragmatic level, similarly, Ishvara is also pragmatically true. 

Just as the world is not absolutely false, Ishvara is also not absolutely false. He is the distributor of the fruits of one's Karma. To make a pragmatic life successful, it is very important to believe in God and worship him. At the pragmatic level, whenever we talk about Atman, we are in fact talking about God. God is the highest knowledge theoretically possible at that level.

Devotion (Bhakti) will cancel the effects of bad Karma and will make a person closer to true knowledge by purifying his mind.

The knowledge of one object implies the ignorance of all objects other than that particular object. The ignorance of all objects in deep sleep means really the positive knowledge of the self, which shines as happiness there. Consequently, the ignorance of the ordinary man in deep sleep is really the knowledge [...]

Remember:~

Sage Sankara’s opponents accused him of teaching Buddhism in the garb of Hinduism because his non-dualistic ideals were a bit radical to contemporary Hindu philosophy. However, it may be noted that while the Later Buddhists arrived at a changeless, deathless, absolute truth after their insightful understanding of the unreality of samsara, historically Vedantins never liked this idea.

Although Advaita also proposes the theory of Maya, explaining the universe as a "trick of a magician", Sage Sankara and his followers see this as a consequence of their basic premise that Atman is real. Their idea of Maya emerges from their belief in the reality of Atman, rather than the other way around.

Sage Sankara was a peripatetic orthodox Hindu monk who traveled the length and breadth of India. The more enthusiastic followers of the Advaita tradition claim that he was chiefly responsible for "driving the Buddhists away". Historically the decline of Buddhism in India is known to have taken place long after Sage Sankara or even Kumarila Bhatta (who according to a legend had "driven the Buddhists away" by defeating them in debates), sometime before the Muslim invasion into Afghanistan (earlier Gandhara).

Although today's followers of Advaita believe Sage Sankara argued against Buddhists in person, a historical source, the Madhaviya Shankara Vijayam, indicates that Sage Sankara sought debates with Mimamsa, Samkhya, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, and Yoga scholars as keenly as with any Buddhists. In fact, his arguments against the Buddhists are quite mild in the Upanishad Bhashyas, while they border on the acrimonious in the Brahma Sutra Bhashya

The Vishistadvaita and Dvaita schools believe in an ultimately attributed Atman. They differ passionately with Advaita and believe that his attriubuteless Atman is not different from the Buddhist Sunyata (wholeness or zeroness) — much to the dismay of the Advaita school. A careful study of the Buddhist Sunyata will show that it is in some ways metaphysically similar to Atman. Whether Sage Sankara agrees with the Buddhists is unclear from his commentaries on the Upanishads. His arguments against Buddhism in the Brahma Sutra Bhashyas are more a representation of Vedantic traditional debate with Buddhists than a true representation of his own individual belief.

Sage Sankara wrote Bhashyas or commentaries on the Brahma Sutras, the Upanishads, and the Gita. The Bhashya on the Brahma Sutras is called Shareerik Bhasya. Sage Sankara wrote commentaries on Sanat Sujatiya and Sahasranama Adhyaya.

It is usually said, “For learning logic and metaphysics, go to Sage Sankara 's commentaries; for gaining practical knowledge, which unfolds and strengthens devotion, go to his works such as Viveka Chudamani, Atma Bodha, Aparoksha Anubhuti, Ananda Lahari, Atma-Anatma Viveka, Drik-Drishya Viveka, and Upadesa Sahasri”. Sage Sankara wrote innumerable original works in verses that are matchless in sweetness, melody and thought.

Sage Sankara’s supreme Atman is Attriubuteless (without the Gunas), Nirakara (formless), Nirvisesha (without attributes), and Akarta (non-agent). He is above all needs and desires. Sage Sankara says, "This Atman is self-evident. This Atman or Self is not established by proofs of the existence of the Self. It is not possible to deny this Atman, for it is the very essence of he who denies it. The Atman is the basis of all kinds of knowledge. The Self is within, the Self is without, the Self is before and the Self is behind. The Self is on the right hand, the Self is on the left, the Self is above and the Self is below".

Satyam-Jnanam-Anantam-Anandam are not separate attributes. They form the very essence of Atman. Atman cannot be described, because description implies distinction. Atman cannot be distinguished from any other than He.

The objective world with names and forms has no independent existence apart from Atman. The Atman is a real existence. The world is only Vyavaharika or phenomenal.

Sage Sankara was the exponent of the Kevala Advaita philosophy. His teachings can be summed up in the following words:

Brahma Satyam Jagat Mithya, 

Jeevo Brahmaiva Na Aparah

Atman alone is real; this world is unreal; the Jiva is identical to Atman.

Sage Sankara preached Vivarta Vada. Just as the snake is superimposed on the rope, this world and this body are superimposed on Atman or the Supreme Self. If you get knowledge of the rope, the illusion of the snake will vanish. Even so, if you get knowledge of Atman, the illusion of the body and the world will vanish.

Sage Sankara is the foremost among the masterminds and the giant souls that Mother India has produced. He was the expounder of the Advaita philosophy.

Sage Sankara was a giant metaphysician, a practical philosopher, an infallible logician, a dynamic personality, and a stupendous moral and spiritual force. His grasping and elucidating powers knew no bounds. He was a fully developed Yogi, Jnani, and Bhakta. He was a Karma Yogin of no mean order. He was a powerful magnet.

There is not one branch of knowledge that Sage Sankara has left unexplored and which has not received the touch, polish, and finish of his superhuman intellect.

For Sage Sankara and his works, we have a very high reverence. The loftiness, calmness, and firmness of his mind, the impartiality with which he deals with various questions, and his clearness of expression all make us revere the philosopher more and more. His teachings will continue to live as long as the sun shines.

Sage Sankara's scholarly erudition and his masterly way of exposition of intricate philosophical problems have won the admiration of all the philosophical schools of the world at the present moment.

Sage Sankara was an intellectual genius, a profound philosopher, an able propagandist, a matchless preacher, a gifted poet, and a great religious reformer. Perhaps, never in the history of any literature, a stupendous writer like him has been found. Even the Western scholars of the present day pay their homage and respect to him. Of all the ancient systems, that of Sage Sankara will be found to be the most congenial and the easiest to accept to the modern mindset.:~Santthosh Kumaar 

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana itself is Advaitic Gnana.+

 

Remember: ~

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana itself is Advaitic Gnana.

No books can do more than help us to find it, and even without them, we can get all the truth if we search for the truth that is hidden by the world in which we exist. You have a love for books without bondage to them, and read the books, but do not believe blindly because it is well written with the ornamental world, but think for yourself. No blind belief can save you, work out on your own to find the truth, which is hidden by form, time, and space. Think the Soul is your inner Guru - that Soul is an eternal help.

There is no need to read books to realize the truth which is beyond form, time, and space.

Sage Sankara does not believe in books. Sage Sankara denies the authority of any book over any other book. Sage Sankara denies emphatically any one book contains all the truths about Brahman or God, Soul, the ultimate reality.

It is impossible to realize the Self through bookish knowledge. A feeling of profound respect for the physical Guru is still more difficult to uphold. If you are seeking truth know must not cling to any physical Guru or his teaching.

Tripura Rahasya: ~ Second-hand knowledge of the Self-gathered from books or Gurus can never emancipate a man until its truth is rightly investigated and applied; only direct realization will do that. Realize yourself, turning the mind inward. (18: 89).: ~Santthosh Kumaar

A householder who becomes a Gnani will attend his duties as usual to his family and society.+

 

Advaitin Sage and Maya

The King of the Hoysalas was a dualist and was greatly incensed at the doctrine taught by Advaitin Sage that everything here below is an illusion. He wanted to teach the exponent of this doctrine a lesson. So he invited the then Advaitin sage to his palace. That Advaitin sage went there and stoutly maintained that everything in this world was an illusion. The king had arranged to let loose an infuriated elephant against, Advaitin Sage. The beast rushed at Advaitin sage who took to a precipitate flight to save himself.

'Oh, Venerable Sir,' shouted the king, 'why do you run so fast seeing that the elephant is only an illusion?'

'Oh, king,' said Advaitin Sage in the course of his flight, 'my running too is an illusion. Everything in this world is an illusion.

Similarly, the practical life within the practical world is merely an illusion. All our hopes and desires or pleasure and pain are a reality within the illusion. We all are searching for truth within the illusion not being aware of the fact that the illusion is created out of a single stuff which is the Soul or consciousness. The Soul is the innermost Self. When the waking entity realizes it is not the Self in the midst of the waking experience it enters the Advaitic Self-awareness, which is free from form, time, and space.

A Gnani is consciously aware of ‘what is truth’ and ‘what is untruth’.

A Gnani is fully aware of the fact that the experiences the pleasure and pain within the waking experience are merely an illusion because the waking experience itself is an illusion.

A Gnani sees the reality (Soul) hidden by the illusion as it is in the midst of the illusion.

Thus, life within the waking experience will go on, on its own. It has nothing to do with the Soul the Self. The waking or dream is merely an object to the formless witness. The Soul is the Self. The Soul is the witness. The Soul, the witness has nothing to do with the three states because it is the witness of the coming and going of the illusory three states.

The world is both real and unreal. It is real because it is a manifestation of consciousness, but is unreal, in the sense, that it is not absolute and eternal like consciousness itself.

A Gnani sees the reality (Soul) hidden by the illusion as it is in the midst of the illusion. People That is why all the confusion.

The look of an object will depend upon the medium through which the observer views it. In fact, our mental and intellectual conditions determine the world, observed and experienced. The commoner viewing the world will see differently from a Gnani viewing the same world. Each one interprets the world that they see in terms of their existing knowledge. The commoner sees everything based on the ego and, therefore, experiences birth, life, death, and the world as a reality, whereas a Gnani sees everything as consciousness and he is fully aware of the fact that, there is no second thing that exists other than the Soul or consciousness. Thus, all the egocentric (religious) adulteration has to be bifurcated to realize the ultimate truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

Those who assert the world is reality must know: The person, who stamped their foot on the ground to refute to show the world, is real, ignore that in a dream he would do exactly the same--stamp his dream foot on the ground and assert it to be real.

A householder who becomes a Gnani will attend to his duties as usual to his family and society but he is fully conscious of the fact that his individual experience of birth, life, death, and the world is a reality within the dualistic illusion created out of the Soul, which is God in truth.

A Gnani lives in the world as a commoner but he is consciously not of this world.

A Gnani cannot have the idea of renouncing the world or giving up something of the practical world because that would connote the idea of duality. Duality is merely an illusion from the ultimate standpoint. Knowing no second thing at all there remains nothing to be given up.

Ashtavakra Samhita: ~ "The man of knowledge, though living like an ordinary man, is contrary to him, and only those like him understand his state.

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

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

 Yoga: Middle intellects: wearing yellow robes, going to caves, ashrams, etc.

 Advaitic wisdom: High intellects: who want to realize the truth are concerned with no external rites no prayers 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 never mix different paths with each other, and make cocktails because it leads to all sorts of doubts and confusion.

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