Sage Sankara says: - Yoga is not the means of liberation.+

All philosophical, yogic, and cosmological teachings, but at the end, it finally says, "All is imaginative and based on the false self (ego) within the false experience (waking)."

Sage Sankara says: - Yoga is not the means of liberation. (P-132-133 of his commentary on Brihadaranyakopanishad)

One need not doubt that mystics saw God or Goddesses in their vision. That they saw visions may he an undeniable fact. But the question is “Was what they saw the Truth? They no doubt had such a vision, but they never stopped to inquire if their visions were true.

One has to take all the facts and then find out which is the truth through deeper self-search.

The seeker of truth has to collect as much evidence as possible, even contradictory, and then proceed to examine all of it and analyze how far it is true.

What happens when thoughts are stilled? It is not the Self that is found. Rubbish. It is only the mind.

Patanjali has not reached Gnana and therefore does not know the highest truth. His yoga is good to give peace and concentration, but only in order to start reasoning, i.e., thinking again to find the truth.

Thoughts arise to the person within the waking or dream state. The thinker is the form. Without the form, the thinking is an impossibility.

Thus, thinker and thoughts are part of the known. The witness of the knower and the known, including the world, is the Soul. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Manduka Upanishad: - Yoga can no more succeed than the ocean can be emptied with a blade of grass.+

 

Patanjali warns against sleep as a hindrance to yoga; he means that when it occurs in the early stages of the practice before one has obtained the power of control, and consequently to banish the thought. The fact that Samadhi is deep sleep is kept secret because people would not be tempted to take up yoga. Then what is the value of it? Why, to sharpen the mind, to enable it to keep away all extraneous thoughts when one gets out to reason in the practice of the next higher stage, i.e., Gnana.

Manduka Upanishad: - Yoga can no more succeed than the ocean can be emptied with a blade of grass.

Yoga is thus simply a sharpening stone for the intellect to enable it to take up Gnana.

People think that the yogis can live without thoughts, but it is impossible to live without thoughts. How can he walk from one spot to another without thought? He does not know the Gnanic or Advaitic truth if he says thoughtlessness is the nature of the Self.

Yoga has its place rather than its value, and its value is for a certain type of mindset. Yoga will give steadiness of mind, education of mind, but never Truth because it ignores the external world.

Brihad Upanishads: -Even yoga cannot give perfect concentration, and the only way to gain it is through philosophical realization. (Page 133 1st para)

Patanjali takes for granted that there is an Iswara--God-- gives it to the students for concentration purposes, and then they naturally find God in their meditations. But it is only their imagined God.

Mystics see what they are looking for or whose existence they presuppose. Therefore, Patanjali Yoga belongs to religion, not truth.

Belief in Yoga is a self-hypnotic condition out of which it is extremely difficult to escape. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Brihad Upanishads: ~Even yoga cannot give perfect concentration, and the only way to gain it is philosophical realization.+

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 philosophical realization. This confirms Manduka Upanishad’s statement that yoga can no more succeed than the ocean can be emptied with a blade of grass. (Page ~133- first para)

Yoga and Samadhi are not the goals but a means to an end, i.e. Gnana. Samadhi in itself is useless because the mind is withdrawn, and there is no memory of it until after it is over and one returns to waking state.

Yogi who attains mind control: it is only sleep. The world must be seen before you can know its true nature in Gnana. The yogi who shuts it out thereby deprives himself of the opportunity to achieve Gnana.

BRIH. Upanishad: ~ "Yoga does not yield truth or liberation."(page 32).

The Gnani sees the essential universal unity and the multiplicity of objects simultaneously. The person in deep sleep or Samadhi leaves out the objects and sees the essence; hence he has not the full Gnana. There was no permanent cure however without Gnana, and Yoga does not yield Gnana.

Sage Sankara in the commentary to "Brahma Sutras:- "The highest beatitude is not to be attained by Yoga." (Sacred Books of East Series page 298 Vol. 1.) And he also says Samadhi is the same as sleep (p.312)

~this indicates that yoga is not the means to self-realization. And yogic Samadhi is not nondual awareness. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Nirvikalpa Samadhi, which is identical to deep sleep.+

Manduka Upanisad:~ Those who want the ultimate truth or Brahman will not practice control of the mind. (p.231) 

Manduka Upanishad:~ Yoga is in the sphere of duality and is unnecessary to one who knows non-duality.The eye cannot see it; the mind cannot grasp it. The deathless Self has neither caste nor race, neither eyes not ears nor hands nor feet. Sages say this Self is infinite in the great and in the small, everlasting and changeless, the source of life. 

It is impossible to stop thought for more than a second whilst in the waking experience. If one succeeds in controlling thought and then banishes it, one passes into Nirvikalpa Samadhi, which is identical to deep sleep.

The only difference between ordinary deep sleep and Samadhi, therefore, is that the ordinary man falls asleep involuntarily, whereas the yogi has the satisfaction of knowing that he has passed into sleep by his own effort of will in banishing thoughts.

Yoga can yield the only duality, because, everything that one can do or practice becomes a vanishing 'known.' It yields relative truth based on imagination, which is true from a physical viewpoint of view, not the non-dualistic or Advaitic truth, which is the ultimate reality.

The yogic truth is the individual truth, not universal. The "Religions place God as the unknown reality.” Every religious believer has a different idea of God. Every man has a different idea of reality. Hence, the need for a definition before the study.

The yogic teachings about the six chakras and the seven chakras of Raja yoga are based on fact and fiction. It was noted that there were nervous plexuses and nodules at intervals in the spine and other parts of the body. Upon this basis, the yogis started imagining that if the ego is concentrated on each one, a different mystic result would be obtained. But that is mere fancy.

Manduka Upanishads: - Those who want Brahman will not practice control of the mind. That is Yoga for duffers. The others will inquire and practice discrimination. (p.231) : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Sage Sankara asks his opponents, "How do you know there are separate individual Souls? Have you seen the Soul of a man? You can only say that you have seen different bodies. +

Sage Sankara asks his opponents, "How do you know there are separate individual Souls? Have you seen the Soul of a Man? You can only say that you have seen different bodies. To say more is to misuse language. Therefore, I call you liars unless you give proof, which is impossible.

You and your experience of the world disappear when the waking experience disappears.

The waking experience disappears in deep sleep.

The dream disappears when waking takes place.

There is neither the waking nor the dream in deep sleep.

The seeker has to find out ‘what is it’ that’ becomes the waking or dream (duality), and ‘what is it that becomes the deep sleep (nonduality).

The one that becomes the dual (waking or dream) and that one that becomes non-dual (deep sleep) is the invisible Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. The invisible Soul is the Self.

In the realm of the invisible Soul, diversity has no value because there is unity in diversity in the consciousness.

All three states are made of single stuff. Realizing that single Stuff, which is the invisible Soul, is Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

If the invisible Soul is the Self, then the world in which you exist is merely an illusion. The world is a reality on the base of the ego (you), which is the false self within the false experience.

The world in which you exist is the product of ignorance. When ignorance vanishes, the unreal nature of the world in which you exist is exposed. In the same way, the unreal nature of the dream is exposed when waking takes place. Ignorance vanishes when Advaitic wisdom dawns.

Perfect understanding of ‘what is ‘what’ helps the seeker to remove all the obstacles, which are blocking our realization.

That is why Sage Sankara says: ~ V.63~ "Without knowing and examining the external world, 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 external world.

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

It takes time for the subconscious to gain speed; it takes time for the invisible Soul to awake, and it takes time for the invisible Soul, which has been in the sleep of ignorance, to wake up to its own awareness. ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Burn down ignorance with the fire of Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.+

Burn down ignorance with the fire of Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is knowledge of the invisible Soul. Realizing the Self is not the ‘I’ but the Self is the Soul, the witness of the ‘I’.

You think the ‘Self is the ‘I’ and ‘I’ is within the body. You are mistaking the Soul, the Self, for the ‘I’, which appears and disappears. This is the great stumbling block of the Gurus who propagated the ‘I-centric teaching.

These Gurus think that when the ego is not, nothing remains. You must realize you are the ego. You are the false self within the false experience.

You (the ego), body, and the world appear together and disappear together. Therefore, you cannot get rid of the ego alone because your body and the world also appeared along with the ego.

It is foolish to venture to get rid of the ego alone. Therefore, the seeker must realize ‘what is what’ to discover the truth, which is hidden by the ‘I’.

The ‘I’ is not different from the mind.

The mind is not different from the universe.

The universe is not different from the waking.

Without the ‘I’, there is neither the mind nor the universe nor the waking.

The universe is verily the consciousness. Without realizing ‘what is the Mind, it is impossible to get Self-realization.

The universe is not different from the Mind because the universe is the mind itself. The mind is not different from the invisible Soul because the mind is the dualistic illusion created out of the invisible Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Thus, the universe is nothing but consciousness. The universe is unreal because it is not absolute and eternal like consciousness.
It is impossible for any human being to challenge successfully the Advaitic position, as Sage Sankara says.::~ Santthosh Kummar

The theory of fate (Prarabdha) is for the ignorant. +

The theory of fate (Prarabdha) is for the ignorant one because those who accept the waking entity (you) as self and the waking world as a reality will remain in believing in the theory of birth, death, and rebirth.

The waking entity (ego) and the waking world are a reality within the waking experience. The waking experience itself is an illusion from the ultimate standpoint.

The body being in this universe does not also exist because the world is merely an illusion from the ultimate standpoint., and due to this, Prarabdha also does not exist, Though the Vedas speak of Prarabdha, For the understanding of the ignorant.

The Mundaka Upanishad:~ Ksheeyanthethasyakarmanithasmindrushte cha paravare, Bahuthwam than nishedarthasruthyageetham cha yathsphutam. 98

The body being in this world does not also exist, and due to this, Prarabdha also does not exist, though the Vedas speak of Prarabdha, for the understanding of the ignorant.

All actions of man including Prarabdha perishes when one can see, Brahman which is in the higher and also lower, Thus, tell the Vedas with clarity,*Cause and effect. If fate does not get destroyed, ignorance gets never destroyed and spiritual realization never comes.

Sage Sankara says:~ Karma is not competent to remove ignorance, for it is not opposed to it. It does not matter in what way we characterize ignorance, whether as the absence of knowledge or as doubt or as erroneous knowledge. It is always removable by knowledge, but not by action in any of its forms, for there is no contradiction between ignorance and karma. (Commentary on Brah 3-3-1 )

Sage Sankara says in Aparoksh Anubhuti on Prarabdha Karma: ~

88. When the whole universe, movable and immovable, is known to be Atman, and thus the existence of everything else is negated, where is then any room to say that the body is Atman?

89. O enlightened one, pass your time always contemplating on Atman while you are experiencing all the results of Prarabdha; for it ill becomes you to feel distressed.

90. The theory one hears of from the scripture, that Prarabdha does not lose its hold upon one even after the origination of the knowledge of Atman, is now being refuted.

91. After the origination of the knowledge of Reality, Prarabdha verily ceases to exist, since the body and the like become non-existent; just as a dream does not exist on waking.

92. That Karma which is done in a previous life is known as Prarabdha (which produces the present life). But such Karma cannot take the place of Prarabdha (for a man of knowledge), as he has no other birth (being free from ego).

93. Just as the body in a dream is superimposed (and therefore illusory), so is this body. How could there be any birth of the superimposed (body), and in the absence of birth (of the body), where is the room for that (i.e., Prarabdha) at all?

94. The Vedanta texts declare ignorance to be verily the material (cause) of the phenomenal world, just as the earth is of a jar. That (ignorance) being destroyed, where can the universe subsist?

95. Just as a person, out of confusion, perceives only the snake, leaving aside the rope, so does an ignorant person see only the phenomenal world without knowing the reality?

96. The real nature of the rope being known, the appearance of the snake no longer persists; so the substratum being known, the phenomenal world disappears completely.

97. The body also being within the phenomenal world (and therefore unreal), how could Prarabdha exist? It is, therefore, for the understanding of the ignorant alone that the Shruti speaks of Prarabdha.

98. “And all the actions of a man perish when he realizes that (Atman) which is both the higher and the lower”. Here, the clear use of the plural by the Shruti is to negate Prarabdha as well.

99. If the ignorant still arbitrarily maintain this, they will not only involve themselves in two absurdities but will also run the risk of forgoing the Vedantic conclusion. So one should accept those Shrutis alone from which proceeds true knowledge.

The above proves that the karma theory is a reality only on the base of false self (ego or you), where one thinks body and the universe as a reality. When one becomes aware that, the ‘Self ‘is the formless Soul, then the karma theory becomes part and parcel of illusion.

If one accepts the karma theory as a reality, they will never be able to come out of ignorance. And ignorance makes him believe the cycle of birth, life, and death, or pain and pleasure, as a reality. Thus, the freedom that one is seeking will remain a distant dream.

For the one who accepts the experience of birth life, death, and the world as a reality, Self-knowledge is impossible.

Thus, the seeker of truth must know the fact that the body which is born, lives, and dies is not the Self. Since he is taking the body to be the Self, he is experiencing the duality as reality within the waking experience.

Taittiriya Vartika, verse 24:~ There is also another reason for rejecting this view. Karma involves duality in the form of means and ends, the doer and deed. The perception of duality is ignorance. Further, it is only a person who has the desire to perform karma. Since he is ignorant of the non-dual Self, he thinks that there are objects other than the Self which he should strive for and that there are persons for whom he should suffer in his body. "He struggles to desire something for himself, something else for his son, the third thing for his wife, and so on and gets involved in the cycle of births and deaths." (Brh. Up. Sage Sankara's Commentary, 4-4-12)

In short, karma presupposes desire, involves duality, and is, therefore, a product of Avidya. If so, how can it destroy Avidya, the root cause of bondage, and thereby cause liberation?

One has to destroy ignorance together with its effect, the mind (phenomenal universe). One has to discriminate between the ultimate Truth (consciousness) and from untruth (mind or universe). For the easy understanding of those who have an intense urge to know and realize the truth.

The objects of knowledge, viz., sound, touch, etc., which are perceived in the waking experience, are different from each other because of their peculiarities; but the consciousness of these, which is different from them, does not differ because of its homogeneity. Similar is the case in the dream. Here, the perceived objects are transient, and in the waking experience, they seem permanent. So there is a difference between them. But the (perceiving) consciousness in both states does not differ. It is homogeneous.

In waking experience, the waking entity awake from the deep sleep, consciously remembers its lack of perception during that experience. Remembrance consists of objects experienced earlier. It is therefore clear that even in deep sleep ‘want of knowledge is perceived.

This consciousness (in the deep sleep experience) is indeed distinct from the object (here, ignorance), but not from itself, as is consciousness in the dream experience. Thus in all three states, consciousness (being homogeneous) is the same. It is so on other days too.

Through the many months, years, ages, and world cycles, past and future, consciousness is the same; it neither rises nor sets; it is self-revealing. This consciousness, which is the true Self, is formless and eternal in its nature. It is established by reasoning that the self is not physical, but the self is consciousness, which pervades everything and everywhere in all three states.

If the non-dual peace, which is the nature of the true Self, is not known, there cannot be the highest love for it. It is ever-present. If it is known consciously, there cannot be an attraction for worldly objects because the whole universe with its contents becomes merely an illusion.

Advaita is known yet unknown. Non-duality is unconsciously known as deep sleep in ignorance, and it is consciously known through wisdom as consciousness. :~Santthosh Kumaar