Sage Sankara: ~ VC~12&13~ Neither sacred baths nor any amount of charity nor even hundreds of pranayama* can give us the knowledge.+

The obsession with "our sins" having been "washed away by the water of 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 never be criticized.

Sage Sankara: ~ VC~12&13~ Neither sacred baths nor any amount of charity nor even hundreds of pranayama* can give us Self-knowledge. A 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 is literally true, and then justified their beliefs because "God says so in their doctrine ".

It is no use in arguing with someone who has faith in his belief system because for him there can be no possible refutation of what he believes is the 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. Thus, 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.

Thus, it is necessary to realize the fact that the Self is not the form, but the Self is formless, to realize the Advaitic truth. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

The invisible Soul, the Self, is permanent, and ‘I’ is impermanent.+

The Self is not you but the invisible Soul, the cause of the ‘I’. You and your thoughts and the world in which you exist belong to the dualistic illusion. The dualistic illusion appears in the form of the ‘I’.

The invisible Soul, the Self, is permanent, and ‘I’ is impermanent. The invisible Soul is the witness of the coming and going, of the ‘I’.

The one that appears as the ‘I’ and disappears as the ‘I-less is the invisible Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Do not make the mistake of holding the ‘I’ as the Self because it is not permanent. ‘I’ disappears and becomes invisible Soul.

‘I’ is an illusion, and the invisible Soul, the Self, is real and eternal. The invisible Soul appears as ‘I’ and ‘I' disappears as the invisible Soul.

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

The ‘I’ hides the invisible Soul, the Self, which is present i the form of consciousness.

Remember:~

It is erroneous to identify the invisible Soul, the Self, as 'I' or 'I AM' because the invisible Soul, the Self, is not 'I' or I AM’. The invisible Soul, the Self, is the cause of the 'I'.

To understand the false nature of the ‘I’, Self-knowledge, or Brahma Gnana, or Atma Gnana, is necessary.

The Self is not ‘I’, but the Self is the invisible Soul which is the witness of the ‘I’. Holding the ‘I as the Self leads to hallucination based on the imagination.

Bhagavad Gita: ~ “You must first see the ‘I’ as illusory before you see others as illusory. ~ CH.2 v.16

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 

People never accept that the universe is an illusion, it is because they are part and parcel of that illusory universe.+

People never accept that the universe is an illusion, it is because they are part and parcel of that illusory universe. The reality of the illusory universe often confuses people.

Only when one acquires Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana then he realize the world in which he exists is merely an illusion created out of the invisible Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The universe is a reality from the base of ‘ you (ego). You are the false self (ego)within the false experience (waking).

The universe is an illusion from the standpoint of the invisible Soul, which is the Self. The invisible Soul is in the form of consciousness.

This is because of some logical reasons. First, you have to analyze the definition of truth and hence why the universe is not considered as a reality.

People who strongly believe this world is real must realize: ~

A person who stamped his foot on the ground to refute, to show the world, is real, ignores that in the dream he would do exactly the same--stamp his dream foot on the ground and assert it to be real.

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

Thus, you, your experience of birth, life, death, and the world merely an illusion created out of consciousness; consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

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

People's approach is more practical, and they are stuck with the reality of the illusory world; they take it as real. That is why all the confusion.

In Self-awareness-- the witness and the witnessed are one in essence. That essence is consciousness. There is no second thing that exists other than consciousness.

Thus, whatever is seen, known, believed, and experienced as a person is a reality within the waking experience (duality), but waking experience (duality) itself is merely an illusion created out of consciousness. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

People of small intelligence follow religion and believe that the world was created by God.+

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

People of small intelligence follow religion and believe that the world was created by God. But how do they know that He did so? When a pot is created, one can see both the pot and its maker, but not in the case of the world. Then there is the question which nobody has answered till now, viz. Why did He create all these evils, these sufferings? Even a father would never do that. If He did so, assuming that God did create, then what sort of an evil God is He?

All religions that begin with "God created the world" are fit only for children. It is a lie; it is inconsistent and fit only for ignorant people.

When one knows the truth then he knows that the Soul which is present in the form of the consciousness is everything that exists." A child learns to count, by seeing and counting material objects. When the child is mature it says directly "one plus one equals two." without having to count tangible objects.

Religion is dualistic. The Guru Parampara is for the religious people. There is no need for a Guru who wants to tread the path of wisdom.

Even Swami Vivekananda was Ramakrishna Paramahansa's disciple. Swami Vivekananda himself said: ~ “You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own Soul.”

,

There are two kinds of audiences - the ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices, and the most advanced seeker who seeks to know the ultimate truth or Brahman.

The Guru and Guru Paramparas are meant for the first audience, to help lead their followers along the way. However, there is no need to follow any parampara and follow any Guru, those who wish to realize the truth which is beyond form, time, and space.

We should not mix religion with spirituality because religion is based on the ego, and Spirituality is based on the invisible and unborn Soul.

Religion is concerned with its paramparas, not truth, whereas spirituality is concerned only with the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space. Religion is not spirituality.

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

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

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

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

Remember:~

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)

Ashtavakra Gita: ~ Truly, dualism is the root of suffering. There is no other remedy for it than the realization that all this that we see is unreal and that the Soul, the Self, is the one stainless reality, consisting of consciousness. 2:16

The Self is pure awareness, though through ignorance, the Self has imagined itself to have additional attributes. By continually reflecting like this, the Self's dwelling place is unimagined. 2:17

For the Self, there is neither bondage nor liberation. The illusion has lost its basis and ceased. Truly, all this exists in the Self, though ultimately it does not even exist in the Self. 2:18

Self-knowledge should be explained again and again until it is firmly rooted in the subconscious.

The one who has adopted the life of a wandering monk will never be able to realize the truth which is hidden in form, time, and space. He keeps wandering from one place to the next, meeting different gurus, worshipping different Gods. He is caught up in the prison of the dualistic illusion.

People who think Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana can be achieved through their karma (actions) are hallucinating.  : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

People must know what God is supposed to be in truth, according to their own scriptures.+

People who are worshipping religious Gods are hallucinating about their Gods of belief as truth. 

People must know what God is supposed to be in truth, according to their own scriptures.  

Without knowing God in truth, worshipping a false God based on blind belief is superstition.

The existence of God or no God is only a belief. Belief is not the truth. Religion imposed on people to blindly follow God based on blind belief without verification. 

Religion is based on blind belief. Every religion has its own beliefs and dogmas. Religion discourages people from verifying whether it is based on truth or not.

That is why Lord Krishna says Ch ~V: ~ “Those who know the Self in truth."  The last two words (tattvataha) are usually ignored by pundits, but they make all the difference between the ordinary concept of God and the truth about God.

Lord  Krishna himself says that he can do nothing to make a man intelligent straight away. The adepts give Prasad, blessings, initiations, mantrams, etc., only to confer temporary peace of mind, to help one to get rid of worries, but not to confer Gnana. The capacity to receive it must first be inborn in man by evolutionary degree.

All sect-based beliefs are dualistic and unphilosophical nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman or God. 

In Spirituality, the ultimate truth is God.   God of the Vedas has nothing to do with the religious Gods based on blind belief or blind faith.  Realize that God in truth is the invisible and unborn  Soul, the  Self.  

Nothing is real but the invisible Soul, which is the ultimate truth or Brahman, or God in truth.  The invisible Soul, which is God in truth, is real and eternal. God in truth pervades everywhere and everything in the universe. 

The invisible Soul, the Self, is beyond form, time, and space.  The invisible Soul, the Self alone, is real, and all else is an illusion.

Vedas and Upanishads confirm that the invisible Soul, the Self, is God.

The Vedas confirm that God is Atman (Spirit), the   Self.

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)

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

Do not accept any other God other than the invisible Soul. The invisible Soul is God in truth. 

Nothing is real but the invisible 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, is the cause and also the source of the universe. 

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

Rig-Veda 1-164-46 and Y.V 32-1 clearly mention that God is “One”.

Rig Veda declares God is ‘ONE’ and God is Atman, then why believe and worship any other Gods in place of the real God.

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.

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

The Bhagavad Gita: ~ brahmano hi pratisthaham ~ Brahman (God in truth) is considered the all-pervading consciousness which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material. (14.27)

People who are stuck with the religious  Gods based on blind belief will never be able to cross the threshold of the dualistic illusion. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar 

The karma belongs to Advaitic orthodoxy. The Advaitic orthodoxy is a path meant for the ignorant populace.+

Q:~ That intense urge, ache, or yearning... is it to come from within or by a prompting of consciousness or from an external stimulus or by the consequence of one's past karma?

Santthosh Kumaar:~ When one finds the religion and yoga are inadequate and useless in quenching his thirst and when one feels there is something higher is there to realize then the inner urge sprouts on its own and his journey to the higher will start and end in realizing the Advaitic reality, which is hidden by the illusory form, time, and space (I).

Advaita is Spirituality. Advaita has nothing to do with any religion or sect. Advaita is the universal truth. Advaita is the nature of the invisible Soul; the Self is God in truth.

Ish Upanishad declares: - Those people who have neglected the attainment of Self-knowledge and have thus committed suicide

Sage Sankara gave religious, ritual, or dogmatic instruction to the ignorant populace, but the Advaitic wisdom only to the few who could rise to it. Hence, the interpretation of his writings by commentators is often confusing because they mix up the two viewpoints. Thus, they may assert that ritual is a means of realizing Brahman, which is absurd.

There are two kinds of audiences

The first: ~ the ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of karma, ritual sacrifices, and prayers

The second: ~ the more advanced seeker who seeks to realize the truth of their true existence. The religions of yoga and meditation are meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way.

The path of wisdom is meant for those who wish to go beyond form, time, and space.

Sage Sankara: - Action (karma) cannot destroy ignorance, for it is not in conflict with or opposed to ignorance. Knowledge does verily destroy ignorance as light destroys deep darkness. -Atma Bodha

The karma belongs to Advaitic orthodoxy. The Advaitic orthodoxy is a path meant for the ignorant populace.

The orthodox people believe that their experience of birth, life, death, and rebirth, and the world as a reality, whereas the Sage Sankara declares the world is an illusion.

If the world is in an illusion, the birth, life, death, and rebirth that happen within the unreal world are bound to be an illusion. Therefore, the karma performed within the illusory world has no value.

Sage Sankara says: ~ The scriptures dealing with rituals, rewards are therefore addressed to an ignorant person.

Adhyasa Bhashya of Sage Sankara:~ (11) As regards the rituals, Sage Sankara says, the person who performs rituals and aspires for rewards will view himself in terms of the caste into which he is born, his age, the stage of his life, his standing in society, etc. In addition, he is required to perform rituals throughout his life. However, the Self has none of those attributes or tags. Hence, the person who superimposes all those attributes on the changeless, eternal Self and identifies Self with the body is confusing one for the other; and is, therefore, an ignorant person. The scriptures dealing with rituals, rewards, etc., are therefore addressed to an ignorant person.

Adhyasa Bhashya of Sage Sankara:~ (11.1) This ignorance (mistaking the body for Self) brings in its wake a desire for the well-being of the body, aversion for its disease or discomfort, fear of its destruction, and thus a host of miseries(anartha). This anartha is caused by projecting karthvya(“doer” sense) and bhokthavya (object) on the Atman. Sankara calls this adhyasa. The scriptures dealing with rituals, rewards, etc., are, therefore, he says, addressed to an ignorant person.

Adhyasa Bhashya of Sage Sankara:~ (11.2) In short, a person who engages in rituals with the notion “I am an agent, doer, thinker”, according to Sage Sankara, is ignorant, as his behavior implies a distinct, separate doer/agent/knower; and an object that is to be done/achieved/known. That duality is avidya, an error that can be removed by vidya.

Adhyasa Bhashya of Sage Sankara: ~ (12) Sage Sankara affirming his belief in one eternal unchanging reality (Brahman) and the illusion of plurality, drives home the point that Upanishads deal not with rituals but with the knowledge of the Absolute (Brahma vidya) and the Upanishads give us an insight into the essential nature of the Self which is identical with the Absolute, the Brahman.

Sage Sankara: ~ Atman, the Self is verily Brahman (God in truth), being equanimous, quiescent, and by nature absolute Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss. Atman is not the body that is non-existence itself. This is called true Knowledge by the wise.

Everyone’s inner work is on. The invisible Soul is the Self. The Soul, the inner Guru guides us all till we get the stillness of its Advaitic true nature. It is the Soul which is in ignorance it is the Soul that has to wake from the sleep of ignorance.

Katha Upanishad says: ~ This Atman is attained by him alone whom It chooses. (II -23-P-20)

Thus, those who have taken the path of wisdom are chosen ones. The chosen one will get the grace of the Soul, the inner Guru.

The path of wisdom is the Soulcentric path, whereas all other paths are egocentric. All egocentric paths lead to hallucination.

The invisible Soul, the Self, reveals ‘what is real’ and ‘what is unreal” when the seeker is receptive and ready.

Sage Sankara:~ Actions(Karma) help to purify the mind, but they do not, by themselves, contribute to the attainment of Reality. The attainment of the Reality is brought about only by Self-Inquiry and not in the least by even ten million acts. (11)

Sage Sankara:~ A firm conviction that Brahman alone is Real and the phenomenal world is unreal is known as discrimination between the Real and the unreal. (20)

Sage Sankara:~ VC 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 (verses-6)

Sage Sankara:~ Neither sacred baths nor any amount of charity nor even Hundreds of pranayamas* can give us the knowledge about our own Self. The firm experience of the nature of the Self is seen to proceed from inquiry along the lines of the salutary advice of the wise. (13)

Sage Sankara:~ They have crossed the dreadful ocean of (embodied) existence through their own efforts and without any (personal) motives; they help others to cross it. (37)  : ~ SantthoshKumaar 

The destruction of ignorance exposes the unreal nature of the world in which he exists.+

The seeker should inquire into the nature of the world which confronts him first, then into the individual, and finally, into the invisible Soul, the Self.

The seeker should not go on wasting his time imagining things. He should search for truth which means he must examine what is before him.

Yoga and religion omit this important preliminary inquiry into the world and hence never reach the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

It does not mean the world should disappear in Samadhi, but that its true nature should be determined. If the yogis really got emancipation in Samadhi, then ordinary men would also get it in deep sleep!

The seeker must always be engaged in an inquiry into the nature of this world in which he exists and the invisible Soul.

When the notions of the reality of the world in which he exists are destroyed, what remains is the invisible Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The destruction of ignorance exposes the unreal nature of the world in which he exists. It does not mean that the world disappears, but there should arise a determination of their unreal nature: for if that were not the case, people may find emancipation without efforts on their part as during dreamless sleep, and fainting (when precepts altogether disappear).

If a person cannot undertake the study into the nature of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness through Soulcentric reasoning. The seeker must be constantly engaged in reflecting on the nature of the Soul.

The Yogi who moves unseeing through this world is not better than mentally blind; it is not the imperceptions of the world that are needed, but the intellectual realization that its substratum is an idea.  :~Santthosh Kumaar