If one is seeking the truth, then he has to be free from all the religious beliefs and dogmas. Religion is based on the ego (you), whereas, the ultimate truth is based on the Soul, the Self. +

Religion is meant for the ignorant populace who are incapable of grasping the truth, which is hidden by form, time, and space.

Spirituality is meant for the serious seekers of truth who want to realize the truth hidden by illusory form, time, and space.

Never mix spirituality with religion. Religion is based on the ego, whereas spirituality is based on the invisible Soul, the Spirit, or God in truth.

The religious Gurus are meant to inject morals and ethics and guide the ignorant populace in the human society live with love and harmony.

People who rebelled against the religion are merely intellectual speculators. They are not serious about realizing the truth. They are more interested in showing their intellectual acrobatics with the information collected from whatever they have read and heard. Such accumulated knowledge is not the means to realize the truth, which is hidden by ignorance.

Condemning religion and its Gurus and Gods will help the seeker to get rid of ignorance.

It is better to educate the crowd to realize what God suppose to be in actuality according to their own scriptures.

Religion is regarded as sacred and real by the common people, by the wise as false, and by the politicians as useful.

Religion has nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman, or God in truth.

Remember:~

If one is seeking the truth, then he has to be free from all the religious beliefs and dogmas. Religion is based on the ego (you), whereas, the ultimate truth is based on the Soul, the Self.

Whatever is based on the ego is an illusion, and whatever is based on the Soul is the ultimate reality or Brahman. Thus, religion has to be bifurcated from spirituality to realize the truth beyond form, time, and space.

There is no use in condemning religion. But one has to highlight how they cause hindrance and becomes an obstacle in the pursuit of truth.

There is no need to rebel against religion, but to realize that religion is based on the false self within the false experience,e whereas spirituality or Adyathma is based on the Soul, the Self.

Religion makes humanity remain in ignorance of the reality of their true existence with its beliefs, superstitions, and dogmas, the ideas of heaven, hell, sin, karma, and rebirth.

Heaven is the abode of physicalized Gods, where one goes after death, rebirth, and karma theories based on the birth entity, which is the false self within the illusory world.

For those ignorant who believe their experience of birth, life, death, and the world as a reality, think that the effect of action done in previous births, as the Prarabdha in this birth, but for the realized one the present birth, life, death and the world itself is an illusion because they have realized the fact that, waking experience itself is an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Heaven, the abode of physicalized Gods, where one goes after death, rebirth, and karma theories based on the birth entity, which is the false self within the illusory world.

When Vedas and Upanishads give clear-cut ideas of what God is supposed to be then all these Gods and Goddesses which people worship have no value from the ultimate standpoint.

Religious Gods are based on blind faith or belief. Belief is not God. Religious God cannot be considered as the center because the Soul, the Self, is the center of all that exists.

Without the invisible Soul, the world in which you exist ceases to exist, which means the religious God is dependent on the Soul for his existence. God in truth is only the invisible Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The Vedic God is Spirit. The Spirit, which is God in truth, is present in the form of the Atman (Soul). The Spirit, which is God in truth, is present in the form of consciousness.

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

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

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

Even Bhagavad Gita says: ~ 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 as God other than consciousness.

Remember:~

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad declares: "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)

No mantras help to get rid of ignorance. All the mantras and rituals are meant for the ignorant populace, which strongly believes, the world in which it exists as a reality. For one who wants to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, the mantras will not help to realize the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

That is why Sage Sankara:~ VC~.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?

VC- v6~ 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. : ~Santthosh Kumaar

Yogi tries to avoid this duality by ignoring the universe. Hence, he gets a false unity only.+

Manduka Upanishad:~ Yoga is in the sphere of duality and is unnecessary to one who knows non-duality.

Brihad Upanishads: ~Even yoga cannot give perfect concentration, and the only way to gain it is through philosophical realization. This confirms Mandukya Upanishad’s statement that yoga can no more succeed than the ocean can be emptied with a blade of grass. (Page ~133- first para)

The Yogi wants to do something, some action, even that of sitting still, to control this or concentrate on that. This means he is still attached to his physical body. He wants his physical body to be quiet. He is still thinking of the illusory physical body. He does not know that he and his physical body are part of the dualistic illusion or Maya. On the contrary, he takes the world in which he exists as a reality.

The world must be seen before one can know its true nature in Gnana. The yogi, who shuts it out, thereby deprives himself of the opportunity to achieve Gnana.

The yogi must go to the ashram, some special place, some cave, or another. Whoever must sit in a posture is attached to the body.

The inquiry must begin with duality, i.e., with the world to inquire into. It will end with unity. Yogi tries to avoid this duality by ignoring the universe. Hence, he gets a false unity only.

The seekers of truth will inquire and practice discrimination. The ultimate truth has to be attained not by intuition but by reason, which is superior to it. Not even a combination of intellect and intuition will find the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

Yoga will only let one know what he imagines. Self-knowledge is the sum of all sciences. Scientists think only of the external world, the seekers of truth, and the inner Self. Both are needed

Answers to prayers are imagination, due to chance.

Religion and Yoga are useful from utilitarian viewpoints, but from the standpoint of seeking the truth, they are useless. Yogic belief is a self-hypnotic condition out of which it is extremely difficult to escape.:: ~ Santthosh Kumaar

When you will start thinking independently then the inner revelation will start clearing all the obstacles which were blocking your realization.+

When you will start thinking independently then the inner revelation will start clearing all the obstacles that were blocking your realizationDeeper thinking and reasoning are very much needed in pursuit of truth.

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

The path of wisdom is divided into three parts:~

First:- Hearing the truth--that consciousness is the only reality and that the universe, along with you, is merely an illusion or Maya.

Second:- Reasoning upon these words of wisdom of Sage Sankara from all points of view.

Third:- Giving up all further argumentation and realizing the truth. This realization comes from being certain that consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman, or God in truth.

The seeker of truth should not become attached to words as being in perfect conformity with meaning, because Truth is not in the letters.

The words and their discrimination bind one to the duality; meaning stands alone and is a guide to non-dual awareness. Meaning is attained by much learning, and much learning is attained by becoming conversant with meaning and not with words; therefore, seekers of truth have to avoid the sticklers for particular words.

Remember:~

No guru or yogi teaches what I share with fellow seekers because they preach a cocktail of different ideologies, theories, religions, and philosophies.

The truth is very simple. It is very difficult to realize because it is lost in the dualistic knowledge we inherited, collected from different sources, different masters, different gurus, different philosophies, different ideologies, different books, and scriptures.

All this accumulated knowledge is merely mental garbage.

Nothing is needed other than realizing the knowledge of the single stuff. The single stuff is the cause of the world in which we exist. And that single stuff itself is causeless. That single stuff is the invisible Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The invisible Soul is the Self. Knowledge of the invisible Soul, the Self, is Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. Atma Gnana is knowledge of God in truth.

Realizing God in truth, this very life is your goal. God-realization is real worship.

A perfect understanding of ‘what is what’ is needed. Only an intense urge to know the truth, humility, sincerity, and patience are the only qualifications to realize God in this very life and in this very world.

All your religious-based accumulated knowledge will block you from realizing the truth, which is hidden by the illusory form, time, and space. Be more rational in your thinking.

Your religious conditioning will not allow you to cross the domain of the ‘I’.

Until you hold all the religious ideas as real, the invisible Soul will remain in the cage of ignorance.

Drop your entire accumulated knowledge, drop all the physical Gurus, the invisible Soul, the inner Guru is waiting for you to take the first step, for you to realize there are no more steps. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Adyatma is pure spirituality. Knowledge of Atma is Adyatma. Advaita is Adyatma.+

When you start thinking independently then the inner revelation will start clearing all the obstacles which were blocking your realizationDeeper thinking and reasoning are very much needed in pursuit of truth.

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

The path of wisdom is divided into three parts:~

First:- Hearing the truth--that consciousness is the only reality and that the universe, along with you, is merely an illusion or Maya.

Second:- Reasoning upon these words of wisdom of Sage Sankara from all points of view.

Third:- Giving up all further argumentation and realizing the truth. This realization comes from being certain that consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman, or God in truth.

The seeker of truth should not become attached to words as being in perfect conformity with meaning, because Truth is not in the letters.

The words and their discrimination bind one to the duality; meaning stands alone and is a guide to non-dual awareness. Meaning is attained by much learning, and much learning is attained by becoming conversant with meaning and not with words; therefore, seekers of truth have to avoid the sticklers for particular words.

Remember:~

No guru or yogi teaches what I share with fellow seekers because they preach a cocktail of different ideologies, theories, religions, and philosophies.

The truth is very simple. It is very difficult to realize because it is lost in the dualistic knowledge we inherited, collected from different sources, different masters, different gurus, different philosophies, different ideologies, different books, and scriptures.

All this accumulated knowledge is merely mental garbage.

Nothing is needed other than realizing the knowledge of the single stuff. The single stuff is the cause of the world in which we exist. And that single stuff itself is causeless. That single stuff is the invisible Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The invisible Soul is the Self. Knowledge of the invisible Soul, the Self, is Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. Atma Gnana is knowledge of God in truth.

Realizing God in truth, this very life is your goal. God-realization is real worship.

A perfect understanding of ‘what is what’ is needed. Only an intense urge to know the truth, humility, sincerity, and patience are the only qualifications to realize God in this very life and in this very world.

All your religious-based accumulated knowledge will block you from realizing the truth, which is hidden by the illusory form, time, and space. Be more rational in your thinking.

Your religious conditioning will not allow you to cross the domain of the ‘I’.

Until you hold all the religious ideas as real, the invisible Soul will remain in the cage of ignorance.

Drop your entire accumulated knowledge, drop all the physical Gurus, the invisible Soul, the inner Guru is waiting for you to take the first step, for you to realize there are no more steps. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

First, know What is this Self supposed to be in reality to realize the Self is not you but the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.+

The Self is not you because you are bound by the experience of birth, life, death, and the world.

First, know what this Self is supposed to be in reality, to realize the Self is not you but the invisible and unborn Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The experience of birth, life, death, and the world has nothing to do with the invisible Soul, the Self.

When you are not the Self, then how can you relate the unborn Soul, the Self, to your experience of birth, life, death, and the world?

When the invisible Soul, the Self, wakes up with its own awareness, then you and your experience of the world become unreal in the same way as the dream becomes unreal when the waking takes place.

If you imagine within the dream, it becomes unreal when the waking takes place.

Your imagination within the dream remains a reality until waking takes place. In the same way, your imagination within the waking remains reality till Advaitic wisdom dawns.

Advaitic Wisdom dawns when you realize you are not the Self, but the Self is the invisible Soul.

If you are not the Self, then your imagination has no value because you are the false self within the illusion (waking).

When the Self is not you, then what is the use of dropping ignorance? It is not you who has to drop the ignorance, but the invisible Soul, the Self, has to wake up from the sleep of ignorance.

When the invisible Soul, the Self, wakes up, then the world in which you exist ceases to exist as a reality.

The one that is born lives and dies, is not the Self. Your birth and death happen within the illusory world.

The world itself is the dualistic illusion or Maya created out of the invisible Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of consciousness.

When the invisible Soul, the Self, is not limited to an individual, then what is the use of ‘Who am ‘I’? -inquiry.

What is the use of saying ‘I AM THIS’ and ‘I AM THAT’, without realizing what the ‘Self’ is in actuality?

WHO AM ‘I’ / I AM THAT’ are inadequate and useless to unfold the mystery of the 'I'.

For Self-realization, you must first know what this Self is in actuality.

Remember this:~

The ‘I-centric and you-centric Gurus and their teaching is not Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Unless you discard the ‘I-centric and you-centric Gurus and their teaching, it is impossible to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

First, know what this Self is?

If something is true, is real, is constant, is a foundation of nature that is unchanging, this can be called the Self.

The invisible Soul, the Self, is the fullness of consciousness without the illusory division of form, time, and space. The invisible Soul is a formless, timeless, spaceless, and eternal existence.

People have not penetrated the meaning of the Self. The meaning is that the ultimate truth is the Self, which is eternal is existence.

You are impermanent because the Self is not you, but the Self is the invisible Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

People have not penetrated the meaning of the Self. The meaning is that the ultimate truth is the Self, which is eternal is existence.

You should not hold anything of the dualistic illusion (universe), which is impermanence.

The world in which you exist makes you feel as though they are real, but ultimately it is merely an illusion created out of the Soul, which is permanent.

You must cultivate to see the permanence (Soul) hidden by the impermanence (universe) as it is.

If you do this, you will be like one who sees a gem in the muddied water among the stones and rocks and waits for the water to settle before he skillfully plucks it out.

It is the same with cultivating the idea of the invisible Soul, the Self hidden by the dualistic illusion (universe) : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

The seeker must discard the holy and sacred business because the holy and sacred business belong to religion and yoga.+

The seeker must discard the holy and sacred business because the holy and sacred business belongs to religion and yoga, not Spirituality.

,

No one is holy or sacred other than the invisible Soul, which is God in truth, because all these holy and sacred people belong to the dualistic illusion or Maya.

Holding them as holy and sacred blocks you from transcending from dualistic illusion to non-dualistic reality.

,

By identifying oneself as some gurus, one does not become a Gnani. A Gnana does not identify himself with and Guru or a disciple. Those who identify themselves as gurus are Gnanis.

Religious or yogic Gurus propagate that, once a seeker identifies a Guru, he must totally surrender to the Guru, and then from there onwards, the spiritual journey is fully the Guru's responsibility, not his... Hence, the importance of choosing the right Guru is necessary, but in the pursuit of truth, the Guru is not necessary, because the truth is not theoretical. Truth has to be ascertained by the seeker on their own through Soulcentric reasoning.

The one who identifies himself as a swami, a Guru, or a yogi, is not a Gnani.

A Gnani never identifies himself as a swami, Guru, pundit, or yogi. Swami, Guru, pundit, and yogi belong to the religious or the yogic path, not to the path of wisdom.

Sage Sankara on Gnani: On Gnani: "The knower of Brahman (Self-realized or Gnani) wears no signs. Gives up the insignia of a monk's life…his signs are not manifest, nor his behavior."

~ When the knower of Brahman wears no signs -- it means he does not identify himself as a Guru or a teacher. Therefore, those who identify themselves as gurus are not Gnanis.

Those who have embraced sannyasa or monkhood are also not Gnanis. The Gurus and sanyasis belong to the religious and yogic path, not a Gnani path.

Sage Sankara: ~ "Though I wear these robes of a sanyasin, it is only for the sake of bread."

Sage Sankara: ~ A Gnani "bears no outward mark of a holy man" (Stanza 539).

Thus, it proves that religious Gurus and yogis are not Gnanis because they identified themselves as holy people.

A Gnani never claims himself as a Gnani; he guides the seekers, not posing himself as a Guru, and he does not force his wisdom on others.

Advaita is not a theory or a philosophy. Advaita is the nature of the invisible Soul, the Self.

There is no need for any theory or philosophy, or scriptures to acquire Self-knowledge. Only a perfect understanding of ‘what is what’ is needed.

Mundaka Upanishad 1.3: ~ Complete knowledge includes knowledge of the phenomenal world, the spirit behind it, and the source of both of them. When the cause of all causes becomes known, then everything knowable becomes known, and nothing remains unknown is Gnana.”

The birth is the birth of ignorance. Physical life is a life of ignorance. Death is the death of ignorance.

Whatever exists without ignorance is the ultimate reality or Brahman, or God in truth.

Remember the ‘I’ itself is ignorance. I-centric and ‘you-centric’ knowledge blocks the seeker from realizing the Self, hidden by the ‘I’.

Those who are stuck up to the I-centric and you-centric gurus and teaching will never be able to cross the threshold of ignorance because the ‘I’ itself is ignorance.

The Self is not ‘I’, but the Self is the Soul hidden by the ‘I’.

What is Self?

If something is true, is real, is constant, is a foundation of a nature that is unchanging, this can be called the Self.

The invisible Soul, the Self, is the fullness of consciousness without the illusory division of form, time, and space. The invisible Soul is a formless, timeless, spaceless, and eternal existence.

People have not penetrated the meaning of the Self. The meaning is that the ultimate truth is the Self, which is eternal is existence.

You are impermanent because the Self is not you, but the Self is the invisible Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

People have not penetrated the meaning of the Self. The meaning is that the ultimate truth is the Self, which is eternal is existence.

You should not hold anything of the dualistic illusion (universe), which is impermanence.

The world in which you exist makes you feel as though they are real, but ultimately it is merely an illusion created out of the Soul, which is permanent.

You must cultivate to see the permanence (Soul) hidden by the impermanence (universe) as it is.

If you do this, you will be like one who sees a gem in the muddied water among the stones and rocks and waits for the water to settle before he skillfully plucks it out.

It is the same with cultivating the idea of the invisible Soul, the Self hidden by the dualistic illusion (universe). : ~Santthosh Kumaar

Freedom comes only when you unfold the mystery of the ‘I’. The Soul, the Self is in the illusory cage of the ‘I’.+

Freedom comes only when you unfold the mystery of the ‘I’. The invisible Soul, the Self, is in the illusory cage of the ‘I’.

The ‘I’ is the dualistic illusion or Maya. Only the Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara unfolds the mystery of the ‘I’.

Remember, the ‘I’ is not an individual because the ‘I’ is the whole universe. Limiting the ‘I’ to individuality is the cause of experiencing the dualistic illusion as a reality.

,

The nature of the ‘I’ is the nature of the mind.

The nature of the mind is the nature of the universe.

The nature of the universe is the nature of the waking.

The nature of waking is the nature of the illusion.

Thus, it is necessary to study the nature of the ‘I’ to unfold the mystery of the universe.

All the teachings limit the ‘I’ to an individual and glorify the ‘I’ without knowing what this ‘I’ is supposed to be in actuality.

All ‘I’ based teachings are inadequate and useless for the serious seeker of truth.

If you are seeking truth, nothing but the truth must be discarded without mercy; such teaching to progress in your spiritual quest.

The seeker must know the ‘I’ is not limited to individuality. The seeker has to see the ‘I’ as the universe, to overcome ignorance. When the Advaitic wisdom dawns, then the ignorance vanishes.

When ignorance vanishes and the dualistic illusion (world) you used to think as reality becomes unreal.

Remember:~

The Self, noting permanent and the ‘I’, is impermanent. The ‘I’, which appears and disappears, is not the Self. The Self is hidden by the ‘I’. The ‘I’ is perishable, whereas the Self is imperishable.

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

Why are you struggling to find out who you are? You will never find the answer if you get stuck on the ‘I’.

Find out ‘what is this ‘I’, which appears and disappears. What is it aware of the coming and going of the ‘I’?

Without realizing ‘What is this ‘I’?- you will never be able to realize the mystery of the ‘I’.

The ‘I’ is the most intoxicating stuff. Those who use the word ‘I’ for the Self will never be able to cross the threshold of the dualistic illusion or Maya.

The ‘I-centric teachings will not transport the seeker to the ultimate end of understanding.

The ‘I’ is the cage for the Soul. ‘I’ is the cause of ignorance. Self-knowledge, or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, is the only weapon to get rid of ignorance.

The ‘I’ based teachings will not transport the seeker to the ultimate end of understanding.

Perfect understanding of ‘what is this I’ leads to the realization of the truth beyond form, time, and space.

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. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar