Religious rites and ceremonies, yagnas and homa-havans, or any other forms of ritual are meant for the ignorant populace.+

Mundaka Upanishad:~ The rituals and the sacrifices described in the Vedas deal with lower knowledge. The sages ignored these rituals and went in search of higher knowledge. ... Such rituals are unsafe rafts for crossing the sea of samsara, of birth and death. Doomed to shipwreck are those who try to cross the sea of samsara on these poor rafts. Ignorant of their own ignorance, yet wise in their own esteem, these deluded men, Proud of their vain learning, go round and round like the blind led by the blind.

Religious rites and rigid ceremonies were passed down from one generation to the next as a practice or set customs and traditions, and performed automatically with blind faith. Such worship based on the belief in God does not reach God.

According to Advaita Vedanta, the Veda addresses itself to two kinds of audiences –

1, “The ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices”.

2, “The advanced seekers who seek to know the ultimate truth or Brahman.”

Thus, the Purva mimam.sa, with its emphasis on the karma kanda of the Vedas, is meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. However, the Vedanta, with its emphasis on the jnana kanda, is meant for those who wish to go beyond form, time, and space.

Thus, those who are seeking truth have to discard the ritualistic without mercy to realize the Advaitic truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

Religious rites and ceremonies, yagnas and homa-havans or any other forms of rituals, formal observance have long since set in.

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.

Religious rites and rigid ceremonies were passed down from one generation to the next as a practice or set customs and traditions, and performed automatically with blind faith. Such worship based on God based on blind belief does not reach God in truth.

Religious rites and ceremonies, yagnas and homa-havans, or any other forms of ritual, are meant for the ignorant populace.

Religious rites and ceremonies, yagnas and homa-havans, or any other forms of ritual, are meant for the ignorant populace.

Belief in God without knowing God in actuality holds the worshiper more firmly in the grip of ignorance.

All worship and the ceremonial rituals performed based on non-Vedic Gods will not yield any fruits. Deeper self-search reveals the fact that the worshiper, the worship and worshiper, and the world are merely an illusion created out of consciousness.

Mundaka Upanishad condemns rituals. The Para or Higher knowledge is the knowledge of the Supreme Being, while the Apara or Lower Knowledge is that of following sacrificial rites and ceremonies. (1/2/ 1 – 6)

Religious rites and ceremonies, yagnas and homa-havans, or any other forms of ritual formal observance have long since set in.

Religious rites and ceremonies, yagnas and homa-havans, or any other forms of ritual, are meant for the ignorant populace. In the Atmic path, the seeker has to discard what is not needed to realize the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

Religious rites and ceremonies, yagnas and homa-havans, or any other forms of rituals, formal observance has long since set in.

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

Meher Baba: ~ When religion has become merely a matter of external rituals and ceremonies, it has become a cage for the Soul.

The beliefs are barriers to Self-realization.

Sage Sankara states that wisdom (Vidya) can eliminate ignorance (Avidya), but the ignorance it eliminates is not real, because it has no existence of its own. Once the error is removed, the Brahman (God in truth) will reveal itself of its own accord. :~ Santthosh Kumaar

What happens to consciousness when the form dies?+

R W:~ Can you explain what happens to consciousness when the form dies?

Santthosh Kumaar:~ What happens in deep sleep, the same thing happens when the illusion of the world dies. Consciousness remains in its own awareness without the illusory form, time, and space.

For a Gnani, the world is merely an illusion. He sees the world in which he exists as an object; thus, for a Gnani, the world in which birth, life, and death happen is a passing show.

The commoner thinks he is an individual separate from the world, and the world existed prior to him, and he was born in it. Until this conviction is there, the world in which he exists prevails as a reality. Therefore, there is a need to realize that the one who is born, lives, and dies in this world is not the Self.

The Self is a birthless and deathless Soul because it is an ever-formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

From the ultimate standpoint, nothing is ever born, nothing dies, and one that is born in ignorance. Ignorance is present in the form of the ‘I’. The ‘I’ is the whole universe. The universe is the dualistic illusion or Maya.

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. :: ~ Santthosh Kumaar

By breathing up and down or by holding the breath the ignorance will not vanish.+

If one could find the truth by just sitting and breathing up and down, it would have been so easy to find the truth. By breathing up and down or by holding the breath, the ignorance will not vanish.

What is the use of doing Kriya yoga when the Self is not the body, but the Self is the invisible Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness? The invisible Soul does not breathe because it is the ever-formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

All breath-based yogic techniques will not help you get rid of ignorance. All yogic techniques are good only for keeping mental and physical health, nothing more.

The novice seekers must understand that yoga is all right in its place and that it is good at the beginning of the pursuit of truth, but when yoga is made an end in itself and not a means to acquire the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Yoga and meditation are not useless; they are useful to bring the restless ego under control. Yoga and meditation are not final. Indulging in yoga and meditation will not lead to the ultimate end of understanding. Yoga cannot remove ignorance. It is only a step. It removes obstructions.

Sage Sankara definitely says that yoga is not the means of liberation (page 132-133 of his commentary on the Brihadaranyakopanishad).

Ashtavakra says, "This is your bondage, that you practice Samadhi or meditation.”

Remaining thoughtless in the waking experience is yogic Samadhi. Yogic Samadhi is not the Advaitic wisdom

Brih Upanishad: page 32. "Yoga does not yield truth or liberation."

One who is in Samadhi will not know that this universe is the consciousness; therefore, yoga is not the means to Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

In Samadhi, the yogi knows nothing, sees no universe; so if there is nothing but blankness. The blankness is not the Advaitic wisdom.

The yogi does not know the nature of the universe. If the universe is not seen in the Samadhi, then there is no need to use the words Atman and Brahman. The yogi is unaware of the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

By shutting his eyes in Samadhi, the yogi does not know the universe that confronts him. Hence, the universe can't be known as the Soul or the consciousness through yoga.

One is in a non-dual condition in deep sleep or Samadhi, one without a second, true, but he did not know it at the time. He says only in the waking experience afterward. Hence, there must be an inquiry so that you find non-duality whilst you are awake, so that you can see nonduality at the time, not afterward. Hence, too a need to inquire into the nature of the universe and know it as the Soul or the consciousness whilst one is awake, and not during sleep or Samadhi.

Advaitic truth is the ultimate truth. Yogis, mystics, and religious teachers do not accept the path of wisdom because it pries into the truth, the source, and the validity of the knowledge they claim. Therefore, it is the most difficult part of the study of the Advaita.

That is why Sage Sankara said VC-63: ~ “Without causing the objective universe to vanish and without knowing the truth of the Self, how is one to achieve Liberation.

The universe in which we exist will not remain as reality when wisdom dawns. The universe is a mere mirage created out of consciousness, and there is conscious awareness of unity in diversity because there is no second thing exist other than consciousness.

Lord Krishna confesses that the oldest wisdom of India (Advaitic wisdom) has been lost: people misinterpret and falsify it today as they did then. It is not yoga but the philosophic truth. But nobody knows it. The teachers of philosophy and leaders of mysticism or religion do not want to inquire into truth and have no time for it. (Gita –Chap- IV-v.2)

In the Gita Chap.IV where Lord Krishna says: ~ "This yoga has been lost for ages" the word yoga refers to Gnana yoga, not other yogas: the force of the word this is to point this out.

Lord Krishna describes some of the other yogas, but devotes this chapter separately to Gnana yoga. So one sees even in those ancient days, people did not care for Advaita; they wanted religion; hence, the Gnana got lost. That is why Krishna calls it "the supreme secret." Krishna points out that the yoga must see "Brahman in action."

Until a man is ripe to receive Self-knowledge, he will not be able to understand what I am saying.

Sage Sankara said:~ Neither by the practice of yoga nor philosophy, nor by good works nor by learning, does liberation come, but only through the realization that Atman and Brahman are one in no other way. (1) Vivekachoodamani v 56, pg. 25

Sage Sankara: ~ VC 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: ~ “The vital-air Sheath cannot be the Self because it is the modification of air (Vayu). Like air, it enters the body and goes out of it, never knowing the joy and sorrow like others. It is ever dependent on the Self. ~Viveka Chudamani 165-166

Breath, body, and the world are one in essence. That essence is formless consciousness. The Consciousness (Soul) is the innermost Self. Breath, body, and the world are part and parcel of the illusion. By holding the breath (vital force) as the Self, one cannot get rid of the ignorance. Without getting rid of the ignorance, wisdom will not dawn. Wisdom dawns only when one realizes that form, time, and space are one in essence.

The truth realization is very simple. We make it complicated by mixing diverse theories, different ideologies, religion, and yoga. All our accumulated knowledge is the greatest hindrance in the pursuit of truth. To realize the truth beyond form, time, and space, one must have the courage of Buddha. Buddha got enlightenment only after dropping the religion, the Vedas, and the concept of God.

To realize the simple truth, there is no need to go from one mountain to another, one Ashram to another, or worship the Godmen or Guru as a God or convert from one faith to another. The truth is universal. Anyone can realize it if they have an intense urge.

There is no second thing that exists other than consciousness. The world in which we exist, all our thoughts, words, beliefs, and experiences are nothing but consciousness.

Realizing that consciousness is everything, is truth realization or Self-realization, or God-realization. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

You are mortal because the ‘Self’ is not you. You are not the ‘Self’ because you are bound by the birth, life, death, world.+

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

The Self is the invisible and unborn Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness and is immortal because it is an ever-formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

From the standpoint of the invisible Soul, the Self, the world in which you exist is merely an illusion.

The one that is in ignorance is the invisible Soul; the one that has to wake up from the sleep of ignorance is the Soul, the Self.

The world in which you exist is the product of ignorance. When ignorance vanishes, the world in which you exist is merely an illusion created out of consciousness.

Without the illusion, the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness alone, will prevail as the ultimate reality or Brahman or God in truth.

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

Do not accept any other truth other than consciousness. Consciousness is the ultimate truth. Nothing is real but consciousness.

Realize consciousness as the ultimate truth, or Brahman or God in truth. Consciousness is everywhere and in everything. Let these words be inscribed in your subconscious.

Remember:

You are mortal because the Self is not you. You are not the Self because you are bound by birth, life, death, and the world.

The invisible and unborn Soul, the Self, is immortal because it is birthless and deathless. It is birthless and deathless because it is a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

The Soul is the Self. The invisible Soul is present in the form of consciousness. Consciousness is the witness-consciousness that experiences the action, the actor, and the world of separate things. It is like a light that illuminates everything in a theatre, revealing the master of ceremonies, the guests, and the dancers with complete impartiality. Even when they all depart, the light shines to reveal their absence.

The Soul is Self. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. Consciousness is Self-illumined. So how can the body, which is inert (insentient) and illumined by an external agent, be consciousness, which is present only in the waking or dream?

Consciousness (Soul), the Self is apart from the three states and permanent, as it endures even after the death of the body and the world within the waking or dream. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Upanishads:~ Fools dwelling in darkness, but thinking they are wise and erudite, go round and round, by various tortuous paths.+

The path of wisdom attracts only those who are in search of truth, and they appreciate it greatly. The ignorant are not spiritually mature enough to receive Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana, or Atma Gnana.

The ignorant indulge in argument and provocation and personal attack, which hinders their own realization of the ultimate truth or Brahman.

Upanishads:~ Fools dwelling in darkness, but thinking they are wise and erudite, go round and round, by various tortuous paths, like the blind led by the blind. (Upanishads Nikilanada - Ch II-5 P-14)

Advaita is not the path of exchange of views or discussion. The seeker has to read, think deeply, and reflect on the subject constantly until the truth becomes firm. When the seeker has a firm conviction of what is reality, then the unreality fades on its own.

Everyone’s inner work is on. Until a man is ripe to receive Self-knowledge, he will not be able to understand what I am saying.

Even they may find it difficult in the first, as they go on reading and reflecting repeatedly the post their subconscious will start dropping the dualistic egocentric knowledge and start accepting the Soul-centric Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Grasping the truth depends on the spiritual maturity of the seeker. A Gnani shares the knowledge by inspiring the serious and sincere seekers of truth and diverting their attention towards the inward reality.

As their urge is at the seed level, and as they go on reading the words of wisdom, it will start growing.

It takes time for the seeker to gain the perfect understanding of ‘what is truth’ and ’what is untruth’. It takes time for the invisible Soul, the Self, to wake up from the sleep of ignorance, and it takes time for one to realize the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space

Self-knowledge is not a question-and-answer session. As the seeker digs into old and new posts, he will gradually start understanding and assimilating the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

It is a waste of time to spend time in discussion with unqualified people.

Jesus said: ~ “ Do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. (Matthew -7:6)

~ Jesus meant knowledge of Spirit or God or Self-knowledge should not be shared with unqualified people.

The ultimate truth has to be realized first, and then only it is possible to know what the scriptures are saying. :~ Santthosh Kumaar

Ashtavakra:~

When Ashtavakra was twelve years old, Janak hosted a huge debating conference. Janak was an emperor, and he invited the pundits of the whole country to debate on the scriptures. He had one thousand cows placed at the palace gate and had the horns of the cows plated with gold and decorated with jewels. He proclaimed, “Whoever is victorious shall take possession of these cows.”

It was a great debate. Ashtavakra’s father also participated. As dusk was falling, the message came to Ashtavakra that his father was losing. He had already defeated all the others, but he was about to be defeated by a pundit named Vandin. Receiving this message, Ashtavakra went to the palace. The hall was decorated. The debate was in its final stage, and the decisive moment was fast approaching. His father’s defeat was a complete forgone conclusion – he was on the very edge of defeat.

The pundits saw Ashtavakra as he entered the royal court. They were all learned scholars. His body was bent and deformed in eight places: he had just to move and anyone would start laughing. His very movement was a laughing matter. The whole meeting broke into laughter. Ashtavakra also roared with laughter. Janak asked, “Everyone else is laughing. I can understand why they laugh, but why did you laugh, my son?”

Ashtavakra said, “I am laughing because the truth is being decided in this conference of butchers” – the man must have been extraordinary. ”What are all these skinners doing here?” A deep silence fell over the meeting. Butchers? Skinners? The king asked,

”What do you mean?”

Ashtavakra said, “It is simple and straightforward: They only see skin, they don’t see me. It is difficult to find a man more pure and simple than I, but they don’t see this; they see a bent and deformed body. They are skinners; they judge by the skin. Your Majesty, in the curve of a temple, is the sky curved? When a pot is smashed, is the sky smashed? The sky is beyond change. My body is twisted, but I am not. Look at the one within. You can’t find anything more straight and pure.”

It was a very startling declaration. There must have been pin-drop silence. Janak was impressed, astounded: “Absolutely right, why had he gathered a crowd of skinners there?” He became repentant; he felt guilty that he, too, had laughed. That day, the king couldn’t manage to say anything, but the following day, when he was out on his morning ride, he saw Ashtavakra on the way. Janak dismounted from his horse and fell at his feet. The day before, in front of everyone, he couldn’t find the courage.

The day before, he had said, “Why do you laugh, my son?” Ashtavakra was a boy of twelve years, and Janak had considered his age. This day he didn’t notice the age. This day, he got down from his horse and fell at Ashtavakra’s feet, spread-eagled in prostration.

He said, “Please visit the palace, and satisfy my eagerness for the truth.

Oh, lord, be so gracious as to come to my home. I have understood! I couldn’t sleep the whole night. You spoke truly: what depths of understanding have those who recognize only the body? They are debating the being, but attraction and repulsion for the body still arise; hate and attraction still arise. They are looking at death while talking of the deathless! I’m blessed that you came and disturbed me, that you broke my sleep. Please come to the palace!

Janak had the palace decorated magnificently. He welcomed Ashtavakra and seated him on a golden throne – this 12-year-old Ashtavakra. Then he put his questions to him. The first sutra is Janak’s inquiry. Janak asked, and Ashtavakra explained. Beyond this, nothing is known about Ashtavakra. And there is no need to know more, it is more than enough! Diamonds are not many; only pebbles and rocks are so common. A single diamond is enough. Maha Gita- by OSHO.

Even highly educated people are caught up in orthodoxy just because they have inherited it from their forefathers.+

Advatic Gnana (Advaitic wisdom) is given neither from outside nor from another person. The Guru of everyone is only the invisible Soul, the Self that is always revealing on its own.

The Seeker has to grow from the inside out by Soulcentric reasoning. None can teach him, none can make him reach the ultimate end of understanding. There is no other Guru but the invisible Soul, the Self.

The seeker must personally strive by all means to be free from the bondage of ignorance (I).

Bhagavan Buddha: ~ No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.

Orthodoxy is meant for the ignorant populace. Even highly educated people are caught up in orthodoxy just because they have inherited it from their forefathers.

Sage Sankara and Sage Goudpada have declared non-dual truth centuries back, but one has to reach the destination with the scientific (rational) investigation, not through punditry and intellectuality. One has to mentally reach the final conclusion, then only the conviction becomes firm. Without a firm conviction, wisdom will not dawn. Therefore, there is a need to realize that consciousness is real, all else is a myth, which Sage Sri, Sri, Sankara declared as the world is a myth, Brahman alone is real.

Sage Sankara says Atman is Brahman, and everything that is Brahman is a scientific declaration, not religious or yogic. Sage Sankara and Sage Goudpada are more scientific than anyone else in the world. Since the real Advaitic essence is hidden, it cannot be obtained without the inner (mental) journey.

Sage Goudpada says that: - The merciful Veda teaches karma and Upasana to people of lower and middling intellect, while Jnana is taught to those of higher intellect.

Gnana here is Advaitic truth or rational truth, or scientific truth. Thus, their scientific truth of the whole, not the part, was declared by Sage Sankara 1400 years back and taught only to those of higher intellect. Thus, karma and Upasana, yoga, and orthodoxy have to be bifurcated to realize the ultimate truth. Or Brahman.

Advaitic Wisdom is for those who are capable of inquiring into their own existence to know and realize the ultimate truth or Brahman.. – Santthosh Kumaar

Imparting the Advaitic wisdom to the unprepared mindset would be ‘equivalent to giving sermons to the stone statues.+

Imparting the Advaitic wisdom to the unprepared mindset would be ‘equivalent to giving sermons to the stone statues.

Everyone is not ripe enough to understand and assimilate the Nondualistic or Advaitic truth. Some people want to exhibit their intellectual wealth, but it has no value in the pursuit of truth.

The seeker must have enough patience, humility, and an intense urge to know the truth.

Arguments and provocation will not yield truth. Perfect understanding of ‘what is what ‘leads to the realization of Nondualistic or Advaitic truth.

As the seeker's understanding of ‘what is what ‘grows, gradually the seeker gets a glimpse of truth.

Sage Sankara and Sage Goudpada have declared nondualistic truth centuries back, but one has to reach the destination with a scientific rationale investigation, not through punditry and intellectuality.

One has to mentally reach the final conclusion, then only the conviction becomes firm. Without firm conviction, wisdom will not dawn. Therefore, there is a need to know consciousness is real, all else is a myth, which Sage Sankara declared as the world is a myth, Brahman alone is real.

Sage Sankara says Atman is Brahman and everything is Brahman, which is a scientific declaration, not religious or yogic.

Sage Sankara and Sage Goudpada are more scientific than anyone else in the world. Since the real Advaitic essence is hidden, it cannot be obtained without the inner (mental) journey.

Sage Goudpada says that: - The merciful Veda teaches karma and Upasana to people of lower and middling intellect, while Jnana is taught to those of higher intellect.

Gnana here is knowledge, uncontradictable truth, or scientific truth. Thus, their scientific truth of the whole, not the part, was declared by Sage Sankara many centuries back and taught only to those of higher intellect. Thus, karma and Upasana, yoga, and orthodoxy have to be bifurcated to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman.

Advaitic Wisdom is for those who are capable of inquiring into their own existence to know and realize the ultimate truth or Brahman.. –Santthosh Kumaar