Sage Sankara himself had often said that his philosophy was based on Sruti or revealed scripture. This may be because Sage 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 for this idea of divine causality and can, therefore, dispense with Sruti and arrive at the truth of Non-Dualism by pure reason.
Sage Sankara is the only sage who has final authority on the Advaitic truth. The Advaitic truth is rational truth and scientific truth without dogma.
Sage Sankara himself has warned us not to use ambiguous words and to practice semantic analysis in his book "Definition of one's own Self. (Page 199, v.24 of "Sankara's Selected Works)
Sage Sankara founded his Advaita Vedanta either on reason independent of Sruti or on Sruti confirmed by reason."
Sage Sankara, in debates with Buddhists and others who did not recognize the authority of the Vedas, had been obliged to prove the truth of Advaita by means of reason alone.
Sage Sankara, in debates with Buddhists and others who did not recognize the authority of the Vedas, had been obliged to prove the truth of Advaita by means of reason alone.
Remember:~
Bhagavad Gita: ~ Reason as a means to reality. (Chap. 18 verse 37)
In chap. 10 of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says: ~ I cannot save you, but I can give you Buddhi (reason). (chap. 10)
In chap. 10 of the 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)
Mundaka Upanishad says: ~ Both states are harmful and take you away from the path of inquiry into truth. (Page 234)
Ashtavakra Gita: ~ It is not the absence of Buddhi (Reason) 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).
Remember:~
To attain Self-realization, the study of the Advaita Vedanta is not necessary. You want fresh water to drink, but you do not require all the water of the river to quench your thirst.
The intellectual wealth of accumulated knowledge is of no use in the quest for truth. Each Guru spins his own imagination and calls it wisdom.
My blogs and posts are useful in explaining doubts and difficulties the seeker encounters in the course of thinking.
Sage Sankara's wisdom (Advaita) ~ Without a Parallel. Sage Sankara's wisdom is lofty, sublime, and unique. It is highly interesting, inspiring, and elevating. No other wisdom can stand before it in boldness, depth, and subtle thinking. Sage Sankara’s wisdom is complete and perfect.
Advaitic wisdom is independent of religion, as in Sage Sankara himself, the Saguna Brahman or a personal God is only a part of the phenomenal (if not illusory) world, and the Nirguna Brahman is the only reality and has nothing to do with religion.
Sage Sankara’s whole teaching can be summed up in one sentence: ‘There is nothing else but Brahman. He says that the Absolute Existence, Absolute Knowledge, and Absolute Bliss are real. The universe is not real. He says that Brahma and Atman are one. The ultimate and the Absolute Truth is the Self, which is one though appearing as many different individuals. The individual has no reality. Only the Self is real; the rest, mental and physical, are but passing appearances.
There is no need to study Vedanta. The seeker has to find out: - ‘What is mind or ‘I’?’, ‘What is the substance of the mind (I)?’ And what is the source of the mind? (I), to realize the nature of the mind (I).
Sage Sankara said: ~ Talk as much philosophy as you like, worship as many gods as you please, observe ceremonies and sing devotional hymns, but the liberation will never come, even after a hundred aeons, without realizing the Oneness.
The non-duality has to be grasped in the midst of the duality (waking experience).
When one is Soul-centric, then he will realize ‘what is the truth’ and ‘what is untruth’ and ‘what is reality’ and what is unreality’ and be able to establish himself in the truth and be able to view and judge the three states, based on the invisible Soul, the Self. The invisible Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is the ultimate truth or Brahman.
Unfortunately, people are stuck with their accumulated ideas based on the false self, and imagine nonduality and say nothing exists other than the source. But a Gnani says everything exists (illusion), but everything is created out of a single stuff and that single stuff is the consciousness.
Everything arises from the consciousness and subsides as consciousness. Thus, the whole diversity (three states) has no relevance from the standpoint of the consciousness as the Self.
Everything (illusion) is nothingness (consciousness), realizing the three states are created out of nothingness (Consciousness). Nothingness is the nature of consciousness because there is no second thing that exists other than itself.
Religion, mysticism, and yoga are meant for the mass mindset, which is incapable of investigating and verifying their inherited beliefs. The path of wisdom or truth is to get the pure essence of non-duality or Advaita.
The ultimate truth is based on the invisible Soul, the Self. Soul-centric reasoning leads one to non-dual Self-awareness. Therefore, there is a need to rectify the reasoning base from ego base to invisible Soul base to understand, assimilate, and realize the Non-dualistic or Advaitic truth. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar
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