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.

People believe in old myths propagated by their religion. All religions have propagated their myth. Every religious belief contradicts other beliefs. It is merely blind belief accepted as truth without verification and evidence. This causes division. Modern science has exposed many myths propagated by religion. 

Religious dogmas are based on myth. All these dogmas were introduced in the primitive era before people had the benefit of modern science. Science attempts to objectively discover how life works, and religion makes one blindly believe and cast their burden on blind belief without verification, to live in peace and harmony in worldly life.

The seeker's main aim is to investigate both dual and nondual experiences to find and define the underlying truth in everything, thereby realizing what the ultimate truth is.

Religion has propagated diverse ideas of God. There is no universality in the religious God. Seekers of truth are neither believers of religiously propagated beliefs of God nor atheists to declare that there is no God.

The seekers of truth will not accept the belief blindly without deeper verification. Religionists and atheists both are believers because religionists believe in the belief of God and atheists believe in the belief of no God.

The pursuit of truth is all about accepting uncertainty and open questions and seeking the things that are certainty. Believers and nonbelievers will not accept anything other than their inherited belief system or accepted truth. Atheists feel there is no proof of God’s existence. So an atheist chooses to just believe there is no such thing called God. And religionists just believe in the existence of their conceptual God.

A Gnani is fully aware of the fact that the existence or non-existence of God cannot be proven based on the physical Self. Therefore, a deeper understanding and realization are necessary to understand and assimilate the truth about God's existence, to know what is supposed to be God in truth.

Remember:~

Thus, Idolatry does not find any support from the Vedas.

Prohibition of idol worship in Yajurveda: ~

Orthodox claims that idolatry in India does not mean anything horrible. Idolatry in no way helps undeveloped minds to grasp the spiritual truth.

It is the ignorant people who indulge in idolatry and rituals, even though they are highly qualified with university degrees.

Yajur Veda – chapter- 32:~ God is the Supreme Spirit, has no ‘Pratima’ (idol) or material shape. He cannot be seen directly by anyone. He pervades all beings and all directions.

Yajurveda: ~ There is no image of God in truth. God in truth is unborn and eternal. (Chapter 32, Verse 3)

Yajurveda: ~ God in truth is nondual and pure" (Chapter 40, Verse) 

Yajurveda: ~ "They are entering darkness, those who worship the natural things (like air, water, fire, etc.), they are sinking more in darkness who worship created things." (Chapter 40, Verse 9)

Thus, Idolatry does not find any support from the Vedas.

Yajurveda: ~ "They are entering darkness, those who worship the natural things (like air, water, fire, etc.), they are sinking more in darkness who worship created things." (Chapter 40, Verse 9)

Religious Gurus are not Gnanis; they propagate only religion. Religion is not spirituality.

Religious Gurus do not propagate wisdom; they are meant to guide the ignorant populace in practical life within the practical world.  : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

One of Sage Sankara’s missions was to wean people away from the ritualistic approach advocated by Mimamsakas and to project wisdom (jnana) as the means of liberation.+

The Advaitic wisdom is not suited for the unsettled mind, which sticks to religion, yoga, and all non-Vedic worship and activities. There is no use in convincing such a mindset.

Sage Sankara cautioned that the study of the Upanishad alone would not lead to Moksha.

The goal of the truth-seeker is to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, is inherent in every seeker of truth.

Sage Sankara pointed out that those rituals could in no way bring about wisdom, much less Moksha.

Traditionally, religious people are so entangled in orthodox religiosity; it is very difficult for them to free themselves from narrow-minded prejudices and dogmas, and superstitions.

These educated orthodox people are more ignorant than the illiterate. They strongly stuck to their inherited orthodox baggage meant for the ignorant populace. Even though their sage has said that orthodoxy is meant for the ignorant populace, they ignore it, and they are like the blind led by another blind, following the inherited blind belief.

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

But remember:~

Most Orthodox scriptural scholars are ignorant in the guise of Gnanis.

One of Sage Sankara’s missions was to wean people away from the ritualistic approach advocated by Mimamsakas and to project wisdom (jnana) as the means of liberation in the light of Upanishad teachings.

Sage Sankara severely criticized the ritualistic attitude and those who advocated such practices. However, the texts that combined rituals with wisdom (jnana_karma_samucchaya) were more in favor of the Mimamsaka position, came into vogue, projecting Sankara as the rallying force of the doctrine.

Sage Sankara:~ Loud speech, the profusion of words, and possessing skilfulness in expounding scriptures are merely for the enjoyment of the learned. They do not lead to Liberation."

Mundaka Upanishads:~ So-called spiritual pundits and learned are called children because a child takes whatever it thinks as truth. The question never occurs to children, “Is what I have seen or thought really the truth?" (P.334 line 9)

The Scriptures' mastery, the force of religious merit--none of these lead to the realization of that ultimate truth or Brahman.

The ultimate truth is revealed in the clear understanding and realization of ‘what is truth and ‘what is the untruth.

When one realizes the untruth (universe) is created out of a single stuff, Self-awareness rises in the midst of duality, exposing the unreal nature of form, time, and space.

An adherent of the orthodox philosopher may say his philosophy teaches so and so", another man may object and say, “No, his religious philosophy teaches such and such." Thus, they may go on uttering contradictions in the name of philosophy. True philosophy deals only with the appeal to facts, not theories.

Where scriptures and authorities do not agree with the reason, the seeker of truth must reject them.

How is one to know that the scriptures are true? The seeker has to look into the facts for the proof of what the worship of God has done for the people! When a tsunami occurred in Japan, God did not save the believers of Japan. Thus, God saves one who prays; such an argument is of no value in the pursuit of truth.

People believe scripture is infallible, but deeper Self-search reveals the fact that they are merely the book of words.

The words are a mere expression of thoughts. Then it is impossible to see if the scripture-writers' thoughts are founded in fact or not.

The fallacy of orthodoxy’s appeal to scripture lies in the varying and conflicting interpretations of the same scripture that different men feel entitled to give or hold.

The scriptures are for the ignorant masses, who wholly accept the practical life within the practical world as it presents itself. Gnana is for those who have begun to realize that things are not what they seem.

Where scriptures and authorities do not agree with the reason, the seeker of truth must reject them.

Scriptural knowledge is a conceptual division invented by teachers of philosophy through their excessive analysis. All these concepts are a great obstacle in the pursuit of truth.

Why should confusion be created and then explained away? Fortunate is the man who does not lose himself in the labyrinths of philosophy but goes straight to the source from which they all arise : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

The Upanishad has extensively discussed the state of sleep.+

The Upanishad has extensively discussed the state of sleep. Does this has several purposes?

1. To reiterate that the objective world does not have a permanent reality.

2. To demonstrate that the subject alone remains as the non-dual reality in the sleep state and therefore in all the states.

3. To prove that the sleep state, being non-dual, gives the greatest bliss to the subject consciousness.

4. To prove to the subject-enquirer that bliss is obtained not from objects but, on the contrary, in the absence of objects.

5. To prove that duality is samsara, misery, and non-duality is liberation, bliss.

6. To give to the Sadhaka a? Preview? a foretaste of the liberated state.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.3.22 alludes to this experience: ~ (In this state a father is no father, a mother no mother, Gods no Gods, the Vedas or no Vedas. In this state, a thief is no thief, the killer of a noble Brahmana no killer, a monk no monk, a hermit no hermit. This form of his is untouched by good work and utouched by evil work, for he is then beyond all the woes of his intellect. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar 

The objective world is not a creation of the mind because the objective world itself is the mind.+

The objective world is not a creation of the mind because the objective world itself is the mind. Thus, without knowing:~

‘What is the mind?

‘What is the substance of the mind?

‘What is the source of the mind?

~ it is difficult to understand, assimilate Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana, or Atma Gnana.

The seeker has to know: whether the physical body and the world are within the mind or the mind is within the physical body?

The mind, physical body, ego, and the world are present only when the whole experience of waking is present. And the mind is absent when the waking experience is absent. Thus, one has to conclude that the mind as the whole waking experience. Thus, the mind appears as the waking experience (duality) and disappears as deep sleep (nonduality).

All your arguments are true only on the base of the ego, which is the false Self, within the false experience (waking). The individual experiences within the waking state are as real as a dream.

Suppose the same subject, if we are discussing in the dream and one asks me the same questions in the dream, then whatever he said in the dream becomes unreal, when the waking takes place. Whatever one says now, he is saying within the waking experience.

The waking is unreal on the base of the formless witness, which is the Atman. Atman is present in the form the consciousness.

How does one see various objects, scenes, and persons during dreams? If the dream is experienced without the physical body, then what is it that experiences the dream? Therefore, there must be a formless witness (knower) of the dream world.

This formless witness is the same witness that witnessed this Waking experience also. Therefore, the Waking experience and dream both are witnessed by one and only the witness of which the seeker is not aware. Since he considers the physical body (I) as the Self or witness and views and judges the world-view from the standpoint of the false self, within the false experience.

The formless witness can exist with or without waking or dream. But the waking or the dream ceases to exist, without the formless witness (Soul).

The gross waking experience is merged into the mental experience in the sense that, when it is analyzed, it is found to exist inseparably in and as the mind alone.

All "spiritual" planes are really mental: those who regard them as different or higher are deceiving themselves. The dream becomes unreal when the waking takes place; similarly, the waking becomes unreal when the Advaitic wisdom dawns. Therefore, everything has to be grasped mentally, not argued from the intellectual point of view, which is limited to the false physical entity within the false experience.

The unreal is created out of the real, and when one views and judges the standpoint of the unreal (ego), then there is duality.

When one can view and judge from the standpoint of the invisible Soul, the Self, then there is only non-duality. When Advaitic wisdom dawns, then there is neither duality nor nonduality, only reality.

All these confusions will go on until the man thinks he is an individual and apart from the world, and the world existed prior to him, and he is born in it afterward. Therefore, it is necessary to realize that the true Self is not the ego; the true Self is the invisible Soul.

The seeker has to learn to view and judge the world-view from the standpoint of the ego, and one has to view and judge on the invisible Soul, the real Self, to realize that the world, along with man, is an illusion.

The formless substance from which the illusion is created is Atman (Soul). Thus, the Atman is Brahman (ultimate reality).

Thus, no second thing exists from the standpoint of Atman as the Self.

Thus, there is neither experience nor the experiencer in non-dual reality, but only Atmic-awareness. :~Santthosh Kumaar

Advaitic orthodoxy is dualistic, whereas Advaitic wisdom is nondualistic.+

Adyatma has nothing to do with religious sects or creeds, and religious beliefs. Adyatma is pure spirituality. Knowledge of Atma is Adyatma. Advaita is Adyatma.

Adyatma is the knowledge of the truth hidden by the illusory form, time, and space. Bifurcate religion, yoga, and theoretical philosophy, and base the truth on the Athma, it is Adyathma.

Adyatma is based on the ultimate truth, which is based on the Atman or Spirit, which is the Self.

Sage Sankara's Advaitic wisdom is pure spirituality or Adyathma. Never mix religion with Sprituality or Adyathma.

The Advaitic wisdom is not suited for the unsettled mind, which sticks to religion, yoga, and all non-Vedic worship and activities. There is no use in convincing such a mindset. Everyone is free to move on their chosen path.

Sage Sankara was a JagadGuru or a Brahma Gnani.

Sage Sankara’s wisdom has nothing to do orthodox belief system. Sage Sankara is the final authority on the Advaitic truth.

The Advaitic truth is rational truth and scientific truth without dogma.

Sage Sankara’s wisdom has nothing to do with the orthodox belief system. Some philosophers in the past dissented from this interpretation of Vedanta philosophy, holding that the incarnated Souls were separate from the Divine Essence and only finally merged with it after the cycles of birth.

All these theoretical philosophy is based on the imagination based on the false self (ego or you) within the false experience (waking).

Orthodox people argue that Sage Sankara had a Guru. Sage Sankara himself was a Guru.

Remember, Advaitic orthodoxy is dualistic, whereas Advaitic wisdom is nondualistic.

For orthodox people, Sage Sankara was JagadGuru, but for seekers of truth, he was a Brahma Gnani

The traditionally religious people are so entangled in orthodox religiosity; it is very difficult for them to free themselves from narrow-minded prejudices and dogmas, and superstitions.

These educated orthodox people are more ignorant than the illiterate. They strongly stuck to their inherited orthodox baggage meant for the ignorant populace.

Even though their own sage has said that orthodoxy meant for the ignorant populace, they ignore it, and they are like the blind led by another blind, following the inherited blind belief.

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 or God in truth.

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 Soul.

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

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 the religious Gurus and yogis are not Gnanis because they identified themselves as holy people.

A Gnani never identifies himself as a Guru or a Yogi or some Guru's disciple. The one who accepts himself as a Guru or someone’s disciple is not a Gnani.

For the seekers of truth need not identify Sage Sankara as a holy man or JagadGuru, but 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 Parampara is for the 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 to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana, or Atma Gnana

Just as you see a mirage, the Gnani sees the mirage of this universe too; but he is not deceived by it.+

Dualist Gurus say God cannot exist without attributes. Then they are making God as an object, whereas God is the subject. Attributes can only be seen in the objective world. Causality appears in the duality, but when one goes deeper into the matter, even there, the causality disappears.

Who else but the Self could have imagined the objective world? Ramanuja and Madva see God as the imaginer, but where is the proof? Nobody has seen God creating.

You have seen no other creator, whether God or an angel. The only self is left. Therefore Self is the creator because imagining means creating.

The Dualists talk nonsense. Has God have any meaning to you? Yes. It is an idea. What is an idea? The idea is imagination. So, God has no proven existence beyond that of the idea.

Where people cannot and do not think, they follow others. A Gnani will see the world and get to know that it is the only appearance. He is not blind; he sees three states or objects as it is, but he knows it is only a falsehood.

Just as you see a mirage, the Gnani sees the mirage of this universe too; but he is not deceived by it.

So long as one is ignorant, they will have the idea that God has created this world because the causal notion will be there. Nobody wants to suffer, and while the notion that suffering can be gotten rid of by appealing to God, these wishes will sway the mind to believe in God. For them, religion will arise, but for the man who wants the truth, religion offers no consolation.

Anybody can write a commentary on the Upanishads, other scriptures; all they need to do to pour out words. It is quite easy to do this even by those who have never understood the Upanishads but think they have.

The dualists and their disciples have written commentaries on scriptures, but all these have been written to satisfy themselves, not to get the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

Religion is regarded as sacred and real by the common people, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful:~Santthosh Kumaar

In Atmic discussion, the practical life within the practical world is an unimportant subject matter.+

In Atmic discussion, the practical life within the practical world is an unimportant subject matter because it is to find and realize the mystery of the universe in which we exist. 

The practical life within the practical world has nothing to do with the invisible Soul, the  Self, because it is ever formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. 

A person and the experience of the world are within the illusion. He is the false self within the false experience (waking). 

The waking experience is a parallel dream, and the dream is a parallel waking experience. 

The Self is neither the waking entity nor the Self is the dream entity, but the Self is the invisible  Soul, which witnesses the coming and going of the three states. 

The invisible Soul, the  Self, has nothing to do with the person and his experience of the world, because it is ever formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. 

The world in which the person exists is merely an illusion created out of the invisible  Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

If one says this world is real, then:~

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. :~Santthosh Kumaar