People are being conditioned by the religious myth, which has made them non-thinkers.+

People are being conditioned by the religious myth, which has made them non-thinkers. People need to come out of the religious myth by realizing God in truth.

The obsession with "our sins" having been "washed away by the water of holy river would be regarded as evidence of a serious mental illness in an individual within any sane society, but when this is an obsession of millions of people it becomes "religious faith", held by many others to be something that should the be criticized.

Sage Sankara: ~ VC~12&13~ Neither sacred baths nor any amount of charity nor even hundreds of pranayama* can give us the knowledge about the Self. The firm realization of the nature of the Self is seen to proceed from inquiry along the lines of the salutary advice of the wise.

It was desperately important for the believers of their belief system, for some reason, that others shared their beliefs because they assumed that their religious doctrine was literally true, and then justified their beliefs because "God says so in their doctrine ".

It is no use arguing with someone who has faith in his belief system because, for him, there can be no possible refutation of what he believes, so rational argument is entirely useless. He clings to his belief so strongly that he makes no distinction between the truth and his belief.

One has to know the fact that God cannot exist without his existence. The truth does not depend on God’s existence, but it entirely depends on man’s existence.

It is foolish to venture into knowing the truth of God's existence without verifying the facts about his own existence.

Deeper inquiry reveals that the Self is neither the body nor the ego. If the Self is not the body nor the ego, then it proves that whatever is seen, known, believed, and experienced on the base of the Self as body or ego is bound to be a falsehood.

Thus, arguing from the standpoint of the body or ego, which is not the Self, is erroneous.

Thus, the whole argument has to be based on the true ‘Self’, which is not the body or ego. It is necessary to realize that the Self is not the form, but the Self is the formless Soul, to realize the Advaitic truth. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar 

The seekers of truth need not identify Sage Sankara as a holy man or Jagadguru but the seeker of truth has to identify Sage Sankara as a Brahma Gnani.+

Sage Sankara: ~ "Though I wear these robes of a Sanyasin, it is only for the sake of bread." (Select Works of Sage Sankara, also his commentary on the Brihad)

Thus, the above passage proves that all those who wear the sanyasin robes are wearing them for the sake of bread and belong to the religion; they have nothing to do with the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana, or Atma Gnana.

There is no need to criticize and condemn the Gurus, yogis, and swamis because they are needed for the welfare of the ignorant masses in the dualistic world.

So he wore a Guru's robe only for the sake of the ignorant. So he was identified as a Guru with a parampara by religious people. For the truth seekers, Sage Sankara is a Brahma Gnani.

Sage Sankara clearly indicates in Viveka Chudamani (2) that the Knower of the Atman (A Gnani) "bears no outward mark of a holy man" (Stanza 539).

When Sage Sankara says, the Knower of the Atman (A Gnani) "bears no outward mark of a holy man.

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

From the Advaitic perspective, a Gnani never identifies himself as a Guru or a Yogi or someone's disciple. The one who accepts himself as a Guru or someone’s disciple is not a Gnani.

The seekers of truth need not identify Sage Sankara as a holy man or Jagadguru, but the seeker of truth has to identify Sage Sankara as a Brahma Gnani.

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

The Guru Paramparas are for religious people. There is no need for a Guru who wants to tread the path of wisdom.

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

A Guru is needed in the religious and the yogic path. There is no need for a Guru for acquiring Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana, or Atma Gnana. : : ~ Santthosh Kumaar 

Buddha was dying, he said:~ What is the Self? If something is true, is real, is constant, is a foundation of a nature that is unchanging, this can be called the self.

When the Buddha was dying, he said to his followers: -

"Just as the earth has hills and grass, healing herbs and nourishing grains for all beings to use, the truth that I have taught is also so.

It produces the flavor of wonder and is the healing medicine for the ailments of humankind.

I have brought you to abide peacefully in this great treasure.

But if you have any doubts, you must ask about them now.

Whatever your doubts are, I will try to answer them."

"Honored One, we understand the ideas of no-self, of no permanent state, and of the suffering caused to the person by the belief that he has a self and is permanent.

He is like one who is drunk and sees the hills and rivers, moon and stars wheeling dizzily about him.

Such a one will never understand selflessness and will wander on endlessly in a miserable state.

It is because of such a miserable state that we cultivate the idea of no-self."

Then the Buddha was roused from the calm of coming death and said,

"Listen closely! You have used the metaphor of a drunken person but you know only the words and not the meaning!

The drunk believes the world is spinning when it is not.

You still think the self is something if you believe you should be selfless in order to save yourselves.

You believe you should see the eternal as impermanent, the pure as impure, happiness as suffering.

But these are concepts and you have not penetrated the meaning.

The meaning is that the real self is truth.

The eternal is existence.

Happiness is nirvana, and the pure is things as they are.

You should not practice ideas of impermanence, suffering, impurity, and selflessness as though they are real objects like stones or rocks but look instead for the meaning.

You should use expedient means in every place and cultivate the ideas of permanence, happiness, and purity for the sake of all beings.

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 skilfully plucks it out.

It is the same with cultivating the idea of the self as with permanence, happiness, and purity."

The followers were taken aback.

They said, "Honored One, according to all you have taught and spoken, we have been asked to cultivate selflessness, leading to the dropping of the idea of a self.

But now you tell us we should cultivate the idea of a self --what is the meaning of this?"

"Good," replied the Buddha.

"You are now asking about meaning.

You should know that, like a doctor, you should find the right medicine for an illness.

It is as a doctor that I observed the ailments of the world.

I saw that ordinary people believe they have a self and that whoever they meet has a self.

They think of the self as within the body.

But it is not like that.

Because it is not like that, I have shown the fallacy of all the ideas of self and shown that the self is not there in the way it is thought to be. In everything I have said I have shown that the self is not as people think of it, for this is expedient means, the right medicine.

But that does not mean that there is no self.

What is the self?

If something is true, is real, is constant, is a foundation of a nature that is unchanging, this can be called the self. For the sake of sentient beings, in all the truths I have taught, there is such a self.

This is for you to cultivate."

Mahaparinirvana Sutra

The whole universe shines because of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.+

Yourself is not the Self.  Yourself is the ego. You must know the difference between the Self and ‘yourself’. 

Yourself has nothing to do with the invisible and unborn Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of consciousness. Holding yourself as the Self is a great error.

The whole universe shines because of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Remember:~

Sage Sankara: ~ “VC~ All this universe, which through ignorance appears as of diverse forms, is nothing else but Brahman (Consciousness) which is absolutely free from all the limitations of Maya.

When you finally realize the  Self is not you, but the  Self is the invisible Soul, then you will realize the world in which you exist is merely an illusion created out of the invisible Soul. The invisible Soul is present in the form of consciousness.

Sage Sankara: ~ VC-63- "Without knowing and examining the universe, one can’t know the Truth, as the idea that the external world exists, won't go. It can only go by an inquiry into the nature of the external world.

Sage Sankara says: ~ “What is accepted without a proper inquiry will not lead a person to the final goal. On the contrary, such acceptance will result only in evil, in something which is detrimental to our spiritual progress.

Sage Sankara says: - VC-47 All the effects of ignorance, root, and branch, are burnt down by the fire of knowledge, which arises from discrimination between these two—the Self and the non-Self.

Until you think you are an individual separate from the world and the world that existed prior to you, and you are born in it afterward, ignorance will prevail as a reality. Till ignorance is there, the universe prevails as reality.

Sage Sankara says: ~ “The exercise in discrimination between real and unreal and renunciation of the false is real meditation, then why are you indulging in other types of meditation.

Perfect understanding and realization of ‘what is what’ leads to Self-awareness. By holding onto theories, one remains in the realm of duality. You have to mentally go on dropping what is not the truth through deeper Self-search.

Finally, when you become aware that your ego, your body, and the world are one in essence, then there is Self-awareness in the midst of duality. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

The whole universe is nothing but the Soul. Therefore, there is no second thing that exists other than the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.+

Having turned visible into the invisible, one should realize everything to be consciousness itself.

A Gnani always dwells in nondual awareness in the midst of dualistic illusion (world).

A Gnani has realized he is not he but consciousness; his body is not the body but consciousness, the world in which he exists is not the world but consciousness.

Everything is known, seen, believed, and experienced by him is nothing but consciousness; then what else remains, which is not consciousness?

There is nothing else to realize other than to realize that consciousness alone is, everything else is merely an illusion created out of consciousness.

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 it 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, therefore, he experiences birth, life, death, and the world as a reality, whereas a Gnani sees everything as consciousness and he is fully aware that there is no second thing that exists other than the Soul or consciousness.

Thus, all the egocentric knowledge has to be bifurcated to realize the ultimate truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

The world in which we exist is nothing but an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The whole universe is nothing but the invisible Soul. Therefore, there is no second thing that exists other than the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

It is not as if something that was not consciousness suddenly becomes consciousness. Rather, "knowing the truth” means the removal of ignorance about one's own existence as consciousness. Thus, to "know the truth” is to "be consciousness."

Consciousness is ever-present. Without consciousness, the world in which you exist ceases to exist.

Consciousness is Self-evident. It is not established by extraneous proofs. It is not possible to deny consciousness because it is the very essence of the one who denies it.

Consciousness is the basis of all kinds of knowledge, presuppositions, and proofs. Consciousness is everything. Thus, consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman, or God in truth. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

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

If one has understood what this ‘I’ is supposed to be in actuality, then there is no necessity for Who Am ‘I’? –inquiry or I AM THAT teaching.

The seeker will realize Who am 'I'? and I AM THAT -teachings are inadequate and useless as he advances in his quest for truth.

‘WHO AM I?’ or ‘I AM THAT’ will not reveal the truth because they are limited to individuality or the ego. The ego is the false self within the illusory universe.

The ego is individual, whereas the ‘invisible and unborn Soul’, the ‘Self’, is not an individual because it is a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

Thus, the journey is incomplete. The seeker has to go much deeper to know the full truth about the ‘Self', which is hidden by the ‘I’. :

In deeper Self-search, one becomes aware that the ‘Self ‘is not ‘I’, but the Self is the invisible Soul hidden by the ‘I’.

If the Self is not the ‘I’, then the seeker has to base the ‘Self’ on whatever prevails without the ‘I’.

Even after knowing the ‘Self’ is not ‘I’, passing the opinion and judgment is erroneous.

Thus, holding the ‘I’ as the ‘Self’ and passing judgment and opinion based on the ‘I’ or ‘I AM’ is only a hallucinated judgment based on the false self. This is because they have taken the false Self as the real Self and the false experience (waking) as a reality.

Rememmbrr:~

Without solving the mystery of the universe, the Advaitic truth hidden by ignorance will not be revealed.

That is why Sage Sankara says: ~ VC-63- "Without knowing and examining the universe, one can’t know the Truth, as the idea that the external world exists, won't go. It can go only by an inquiry into the nature of the universe.

If the inquiry does not include the universe then it is incomplete.:~Santthosh Kumaar

First, know what the ‘Self’ is supposed to be in actuality.+

First, know what the ‘Self’ is supposed to be in actuality. Simply saying ‘I AM without the body is an error because the ‘Self’ is not ‘I’, but the ‘Self’ is the Soul, the witness of the coming and going, of the ‘I’.

Till you hold the ‘Self ‘as the ‘I’, you will never be able to get Self-realization. The ‘I’ hides the Soul, which is the innermost 'Self'.

What is this 'I'?

The 'I’ is ignorance.

The ‘I’ is the duality.

The ‘I’ is the form, time, and space.

The ‘I’ is the universe.

The ‘I’ is the waking.

The ‘I’ is the dream.

The ‘I’ is the illusion.

The ‘I’ is the experience of birth, life, death, and the world.

Without the ‘I’, there is no ignorance.

Without the ‘I’, there is no duality.

Without the ‘I’, there is no form, time, or space.

Without the ‘I’, there is no universe.

Without the ‘I’, there is no waking.

Without the ‘I’, there is no dream.

Without the ‘I,’ there is no illusion.

Without the ‘I,’ there is no experience of birth, life, death, and the world.

The ‘I’ hides the truth of the whole. The ‘I’ hides the truth.

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.

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

It is time to discard the ‘I’. Never use the word ‘I’ or I AM for the Self. Use the word 'Self only for the 'Self'. : : ~ Santthosh Kumaar