Sage Sankara pokes fun at ascetics and points out that all their austerities do not cause desires to go.+

It is time for the reform to build a strong society free from dogmas and superstitions. All the orthodox ideas were rejected by Sage Sankara. There is no need to indulge in rituals, to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman. There is no need to study philosophy, to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman so why indulge in studying philosophy.

Sage Sankara pokes fun at ascetics and points out that all their austerities do not cause desires to go (Altar Flowers" Page 205, v.2 P.207 v.4)

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

Sage Sankara says the rewards of the rituals are not a matter of direct realization. Advaitic wisdom is based on personal realization.

The orthodox Advaitin believes that rituals alone would lead one to higher levels of attainment. Further, the deities would reward only those entitled to perform the rituals alone. The entitlement involved caste, creed, and other parameters.

The scriptural authority and value of rituals are part of the Advaitic orthodoxy, which is meant for ignorant people.

The Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara has nothing to do with religion, caste, rituals, worship, yoga, and other practices. Therefore an obvious disparity between Sage  Sankara‘s path of Gnana and the path of Karma. The path of Gnana is meant for the advanced seeker of truth and the path of Karma is meant for the ignorant populace.

Even Sage Sankara appears and tells the orthodox people the path of orthodoxy is the path of ignorance they will not be able to drop their inherited samskara or conditioning, which they think is the only way to reach heaven and reap a happy life in the next life.

As regards the rituals, Sage Sankara says, that 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 all through 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 the ‘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.- (11- Adhyasa Bhashya)

First Mundaka - Chapter 2 (10) - Ignorant fools, regarding sacrifices and humanitarian works as the highest, do not know any higher good. Having enjoyed their reward on the heights of heaven, gained by good works, they still remain in ignorance of the Atman the real God.

As a person, one performs rituals throughout his life. The person who performs rituals and aspires for rewards will view the world in which he exists as a reality. However, the Soul, the Self unborn eternal hidden by the world in which he exists. From the standpoint of the Soul, the world in which he exists is merely an illusion.

The scriptures dealing with rituals, rewards, etc. are therefore addressed to an ignorant person.

Orthodox people impose their outdated religious ideas on their children and force them into Self-imposed prison.

First Mundaka - Chapter 2 (10) - Ignorant fools, regarding sacrifices and humanitarian works as the highest, do not know any higher good. Having enjoyed their reward on the heights of heaven, gained by good works, they enter again this world or a lower one.

It is high time for the orthodox people to realize the fact that their inherited belief system is meant for ignorant people. If they think they are on the right path, but the Vedas declare they are on the wrong path because they indulge in non-Vedic activities. Orthodox people think that they are on the right path to Moksha, but such moksha is merely an imagination within the dualistic illusion.

It is high time to realize the truth of their own inherited religion is full of adulteration and they are simply indulging in worships and activities barred by the Vedas. Vedas warns not to indulge in non-Vedic activities.

According to Advaita Vedanta: the Vedas addresses itself to two kinds of audiences - the ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices, and the more advanced seeker who seeks to know 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 such transient pleasures.

Orthodox people are ordinary people. Thus the ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices. The karma kanda of the Vedas is meant for the ordinary audience, to help lead its followers along the way.

Most of the orthodox families, today live in the prison of dogmas. The orthodox people expect their clan to follow a certain outdated religious code of conduct (Shastras) and live dogmatically following the traditional lifestyle.

Their chosen path of orthodoxy is meant for the ignorant who have a sheepish mentality and blindly accept the inherited dogmas and superstition. From the ultimate standpoint, the concept of God itself is a superstition. Thus, all religious ideas of heaven, hell, sin, and karma are merely imaginary theories meant for the ignorant people of ancient times.

It is high time to stop judging who is right and who is wrong in this unreal world and instead spend the same time acquiring Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana to realize the world (Samsara) is unreal the Brahman alone is real. ~ Santthosh Kumaar

What is God in actuality? Where is God?+

What is God in actuality?

“Where is God?”

People say that God is everywhere, but they do not know because they hold their religious propagated belief of God. The religious propagated God is limited to a particular religion, community sect, and creed cannot be universal. The believers of other religions, community sects, and creeds will not accept any other God as their own other than their inherited accepted idea of God.

The world in which you exist is not separate from God because the world in which you exist is created out of God. God is not imagination whatever you think of God is imagination based on the false self within the false experience.

Upanishad itself says: ~ Sarvam khalvidam brahma ~ all this (universe) is verily Brahman. By following back all of the relative appearances in the world, we eventually return to that from which it is all manifest – the non-dual reality (Chandogya Upanishad).

Sage Sankara’s Supreme Brahman (God in truth) is impersonal, Nirguna (without Gunas or attributes), Nirakara (formless), Nirvisesha (without special characteristics), immutable, eternal, and Akarta (non-agent). It is above all needs and desires. It is always the Witnessing Subject. It can never become an object as it is beyond the reach of the senses. Brahman is non-dual, one without a second. It has no other besides it. It is destitute of difference, either external or internal. Brahman cannot be described because the description implies a distinction. Brahman cannot be distinguished from any other than It. In Brahman, there is not a distinction between substance and attribute. Sat-Chit-Ananda constitutes the very essence or Svarupa of Brahman and not just Its attributes. The Nirguna Brahman of Sage Sankara is impersonal.

Sage Sankara: ~"That which permeates all, which nothing transcends and which, like the universal space around us, fills everything completely from within and without, that Supreme non-dual Brahman (God)."

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).

When Bhagavad Gita says, that God is considered the all-pervading consciousness which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material then nothing has to be accepted as God other than consciousness.

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.

The dualistic worship of "God” is only for the ignorant populace. The God in truth is only Atman, the innermost Self. In reality, there is no duality, no differentiation. Only Atman exists.

Yajurveda – chapter- 32:~ God is Supreme Spirit.

If God is Spirit, then how does the man know God created the world? There is no proof. If man had seen God creating the world, he could admit it, but how could he have seen God before he came into existence? (i.e. were created).

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

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

Rig Veda: ~ The Atman 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 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 in place of the real God.

Brihad Upanishad: ~ “If you think there is another entity, whether man or God there is no truth."

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

People who are saying ‘I AM GOD’ are hallucinating that they become God. First, you must know what is God.

Thus, truth realization is self-realization. Self-realization is God-realization. God-realization itself is real worship. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

It takes time for the seeker to gain the perfect understanding of ‘what is the truth’ and ‘what is untruth’.+

The seeker of truth has to do his duty in practical life within the practical world. The seeker should not remain idlers like yogis who are no better than a wooden log.

Amid difficulties and the busy life of practical life within the practical world, the seeker has to live and yet get on with the inner quest.

There is no alleviation of ignorance except the realization of the ultimate Truth or Brahman. Yoga may alleviate one's mental and physical stress.

The seeker of truth has to live in the world and he must know the Self is not of this world because the ‘‘Self’’ is a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

The advaitic wisdom will not dawn by renouncing the worldly life and shutting yourself in a cave or Ashram or monastery. Too much yoga leads to insanity and fixed ideas or delusions.

The main purpose of analyzing the world that confronts is to discover that it is to realize it is nothing but the illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

People fail to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman because they have stuck with the reality of the world.

Too much religion and false belief drugs the power of reason. To effect this discrimination, we need intelligence much sharper than the average. Weak minds cannot take a comprehensive view and so decry what they cannot understand.

When you realize you and your experience of the world are made of a single stuff and that single stuff is the consciousness with full and firm conviction then there is unity in diversity in your understanding. There is no second thing that exists other than consciousness.

It is the ignorance that creates illusion and it is the ‘Soul, the ‘Self’’ that gets free of it. Words may aggravate ignorance; words may also help dispel it. There is a need to repeat the same truth again and again until it becomes a reality.

The seeker has to reflect on the nature of the Soul constantly day after day until the conviction of the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space, becomes firm and he gets the firm conviction.

The seeker needs to hear the words of wisdom until he realizes that form, time and space are one in essence.

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

The Soul has to wake up from the sleep of ignorance, and then only it is possible to realize that form, time and space are one in essence. That essence is the Soul or consciousness.

If form, time, and space are one in essence, then there is no division in consciousness.

If there is no division in consciousness, then there is no duality, if there is no duality when there is unity in diversity.

Ignorance is the cause of experiencing duality as reality. Realizing the Soul as the ‘Self’’, leads to Advaitic Self-awareness. The Soul, the ’Self’ is Absolute Knowledge, which cannot be negated. The nature of the Soul is Advaitic awareness. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Buddha’s whole life was against philosophy and philosophizing became the source of the greatest philosophical endeavor.+

Once Bhagavan Buddha died, great philosophical schools arose. It had never happened in the whole world as it happened in India after Bhagavan Buddha.

Bhagavan Buddha’s whole life was against philosophy and philosophizing became the source of the greatest philosophical endeavour ever.

Thirty-six schools of philosophy were born when Bhagavan Buddha died. And the people that he had always condemned all gathered together to philosophize about him.

Bhagavan Buddha was a Gnani, not his followers. Bhagavan Buddha’s wisdom was lost, it is because it is mixed up and messed up with other religions in Asia wherever it existed.

Buddhism has no answer to certain questions like the existence of Atama (Soul) and rebirth. Buddhists do not believe in Athma because they believe in emptiness but they are unaware of the fact that emptiness is the nature of the Atama, the Self. Without the Atama there is no nonduality. Nonduality is the nature of the Atama.

Bhagavan Buddha did not found Buddhism because Bhagavan Buddha rejected religion, scriptures, and the concept of God. When Bhagavan Buddha died all the Buddhist philosophical schools arose. It had never happened in the whole world as it happened in India after Bhagavan Buddha. The man, who for his whole life was against philosophy and philosophizing, became the source of the greatest philosophical endeavor ever. Thirty-six schools of philosophy were born when Bhagavan Buddha died. And the people that he had always condemned all gathered together to philosophize about him.

Buddhism did not graduate its teaching to suit people of varying grades; hence it failure to affect society in Asia.

Bhagavan Buddha's teachings that all life is misery belong to the relative standpoint only. For you cannot form any idea of misery without contrasting it with its opposite, happiness. The two will always go together. Bhagavan Buddha taught the goal of cessation of misery, i.e. peace, but took care not to discuss the ultimate standpoint for then he would have had to go above the heads of the people and tell them that misery itself was only an idea, that peace even was an idea (for it contrasted with peacelessness). That the doctrine he gave out was a limited one, is evident because he inculcated compassion. Why should a Buddhist sage practice pity? There is no reason for it.

Advaita is the next step higher than Buddhism because it gives the missing reason, viz. unity, non-difference from others, and because it explains that it used the concept of removing the sufferings of others, of lifting them up to happiness, only as we use one thorn to pick out another, afterward throw both away. Similarly, Advaita discards both concepts of misery and happiness from the ultimate standpoint of non-duality, which is indescribable.

Buddhists say that a thing exists only for a moment, and if that thing has still got some of the substance from which it was produced how then can they deny that its cause is continuing in the effect; hence its existence is more than a moment. Vedanta is concerned with whether it is one and the same thing which has come into being or has it come out of nothing.

Even the Sunyavada ultimate of the "void" is really a breath, and therefore an imagination and not truth.

Remember:~

Bhagavan Buddha as a constructive worker committed an error in failing to give the masses a religion, something tangible they could grasp something materialistic, if symbolic that their limited intellect could take hold of, in addition to his ethics and philosophy.

Bhagavan Buddha gave as the central feature of his doctrine the great law of Karma to reiterate its ethical meaning. He did more good in this to uplift the people than the ritualists.

Fortunate is the seeker who does not lose himself in the labyrinths of Buddhist philosophy but realizes that form, time and space are one in essence. And that essence is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

That is why Buddha said: ~ “Believe nothing because a wise man said it, Believe nothing because it is generally held. Believe nothing because it is written. Believe nothing because it is said to be divine. Believe nothing because someone else said it. But believe only what you, yourself judge to be true.

Bhagavan Buddha: ~ "It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell."

No one has anyone seen emptiness. All the Buddhist theories are conceptual divisions invented by the Buddhist philosophers by their excessive analysis. Where do all these conceptual theories based on the dualistic perspective end? Why should confusion be created and then explained away?

Bhagavan Buddha’s wisdom is lost because of Buddhism because they believed that emptiness means the non-existence of the Atama. There is a need to bifurcate Bhagavan Buddha from Buddhism to rediscover the lost wisdom of Bhagavan Buddha.

Dalai Lama said:- Buddhism need not be the best religion though it is most scientific and religion and inquisitive. But Buddhism has no answer to certain questions like the existence of Atama [Soul] and rebirth. Dali Lama said that as an individual he believes in rebirth as he had come across a few cases of rebirth. Modern science, Dalai Lama hoped would unearth the mystery behind the rebirth. (In DH –dec-212009-Gulburga)

All the Buddhist theories of reincarnation are based on the birth entity, which is the false self within the illusory world. Buddhists who are caught up with the idea of reincarnation and rebirth theories are not qualified to acquire Advaitic or nondualistic wisdom. When Buddhists do not believe in the Soul but believe in reincarnation then what is it that reincarnates without the Soul?

Buddhist who believes in reincarnation and rebirth theories are unaware of the fact that all their theories and philosophy are egocentric therefore Buddhism has no answer to certain questions like the existence of Atama [Soul] and rebirth

From the standpoint of the Soul, the innermost Self the birth, life, death, rebirth, and reincarnation theory is part of the dualistic illusion or Maya.

Your body cannot reincarnate because it is insentient.

Even in Buddhism: ~ Buddhist teaching has itself become a kind of interactive and Self-evolving process, much like its idea of pratityasamutpada. However, the end goal is still Nirvana, which is an experience ultimately beyond all concepts and language, even beyond the Buddhist teachings. In the end, even the attachment to the Dharma, the Buddhist teaching, must be dropped like all other attachments. The tradition compares the teaching to a raft upon which one crosses a swift river to get to the other side; once one is on the far shore; there is no longer any need to carry the raft. The far shore is Nirvana, and it is also said that when one arrives, one can see quite clearly that there was never any river at all.

Buddhism and its relationship with Science are like that of water and wine, one cannot say there is no water in wine, but when you drink it, it would not be the water but wine... thus Einstein’s view is water in the wine because modern science does not believe in the matter but in this religion, everything is the matter only"

Emptiness is the nature of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Emptiness is the fullness of consciousness without the division of form, time, and space.

Bhagavan Buddha was a Gnani, but his interpreters were not. Bhagavan Buddha did not enter into the scriptural interpretation.

Sage Sankara however although he agreed in nearly all points with Bhagavan Buddha was a tactician and wanted to teach these truths within the Vedic Society. Hence he did in Rome as Rome does! He made himself outwardly appear as a Vedic orthodox and thus secured his aim.

Buddhism has failed through misunderstanding Gautama and believing that nothing is left to exist after Nirvana. What is it that sees the illusory nature of the finite ego? This is what the Buddhists need to answer and cannot on their theories.

The only Advaita has the answer: it is the Soul, the witness, the Seer. The Buddhists are in error in regarding the finite ego as illusory, and as having nothing more behind it: but they would have been perfectly correct in such an outlook had they added the notion of the witness.

How is it that Skandhas come together and compose the ego?

What sees them come and go?

It is the Atman, the witness, and this lack is fulfilled by Advaitic wisdom.

When Buddhists say that the mind comes and goes they are forgetting that there must be another part of the mind as the Soul, the ‘Self, which is present in the form of the consciousness that notices it and which tells them of this disappearance and appearance.

All Buddhist misunderstandings arise from the fact that Bhagavan Buddha refused to discuss ultimate questions.

When Buddhism degenerates into Nihilism Sage Sankara refutes it (Manduka Upanishad P.281). The truth of a single reality within or underlying the illusory ego is all-important and without it Buddhism becomes fallacious.

Sages of Advaita admit the transitoriness and evanescence of thoughts just like Buddhism, but not of the Mind which observes this transitoriness and knows it.

Buddhists borrowed from the Upanishads because they were Indians. The Vedantins did not need to borrow from Buddhism therefore (P.396 v.99 of Manduka Upanishad)

Bhagavan Buddha taught the illusoriness of ego but did not go farther probably because he thought the world could not understand the higher truth. Hence followers go with him to that point of his and then deny the Vedantic doctrine of one supreme reality when Bhagavan Buddha himself neither denied nor advocated it. Anyway, the refutation of his followers is to ask them “What is it that is aware of the ego's illusoriness?" There must be something that tells you that. That something is the Atman, the witness, and if you say this witness itself may be illusory, coming and going, still there must be something non-transient i.e. permanent, to tell you this.

Sages of Advaita disagree with Buddhists (Vijnanavadin) only on the Ultimate question, but they agree with their idealism fully.

Even when you say "I am not" you are thinking. Hence every thought means positing some existence. To exist is to be thought of hence the Advaitic criticism of Sunyavada which says there is nothing. In saying "There is nothing" they are unconsciously positing something. The thought of nothing is existence itself. Hence only by refraining from thought can they state their case. The thought itself is an object. The negation of existence is a thought. The presence of an object means duality. Hence this proves that the Sunyavadins never understood the non-duality that is Brahman.

Buddhism agrees in thinking that the ego sees itself; they do not admit there is anything that sees the ego: they say there is no proof that any witness exists. When thoughts are there, thoughts become conscious of themselves. Advaitic criticism is that these Skandhas which appear and disappear are witnessed only.

Sages of Advaita say the witness is hidden by the witnessed. The witnessed is merely an illusion created out of the witness. In reality, there is neither witness nor witnessed only oneness that is Advaita or nonduality.

ZEN may get a flash of peace but that is not the same as Advaitin who realizes that the whole world is the Atman, the Self. Zen is mysticism.

The critics say Sage Sankara and Sag Gaudapada borrowed their ideas from Buddhism. But in Manduka Upanishad (page 281) these two declare they are not Buddhists, only a number of their ideas agree with those of Buddhism, whilst they point out their difference of view from Sunyavada Buddhists and Vijnanavadins. Thus Sage Sankara, and Sage Sri, Gaudapada both agree and disagree with Buddhists.

Tibetan and Chinese Buddhists who say that there are many Buddhas living in spirit bodies and helping our earth from the spiritual world are still in the sphere of religious illusion, not the ultimate truth. Their statements are wrong. Every sage realizes that the only way to help mankind is to come down amongst them, for which he must necessarily take on flesh-body. When people are suffering how can he relieve their suffering unless he appears amongst them? When people are suffering how can he feed them from an unseen world whether their struggle is for material bread or for spiritual truth? No! He must be here actually in the flesh. It is impossible to help them in any other way and all talk of Shiva living on Mount Kailas in the spiritual body or Buddha in Nirmanakaya, invisible body belongs to the realm of delusion or Self-deception.

Bhagavan Buddha: ~ ‘There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth: not going all the way... and not starting.

Sunyavadins say there is nothing, neither matter nor mind: they are nihilists. How do they know the mind ceases to exist? Where is the proof? When you know everything is mind, both the changing forms and the underlying substances how can you posit its real change into nothingness? Mind, Brahman always remains really itself because of its nature. We see change every minute but by inquiry into the nature of change and cause, we see that it is only when we imagine that th

The Modern generation is more advanced and capable of acquiring Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.+

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.

The Modern generation is more advanced and capable of acquiring Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. The modern generation is more advanced and seeks to know the ultimate truth or Brahman.

It is high time for the orthodox highly educated noble Advaitins to realize their religious-based orthodox path was meant for the ignorant in the past, therefore, it is outdated and not suited for the modern generation.

The right path for the modern generation is the path of the Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sri, Sankara. Orthodox Advaita is nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman.

Thus, getting stuck with the religious path is getting stuck with the dualistic illusion. Getting stuck with dualistic illusion is getting stuck with falsehood.

Getting stuck with the falsehood is accepting the illusory experience of birth, life, death, and the world as a reality. Thus, the people who want freedom or Moksha right here, right now, that is, in this very life and in this very world must follow the path of wisdom.

Orthodoxy is the path of ignorance because it recognizes the experience of birth, life, death, and the world as a reality.

Stop judging who is right and who is wrong in this unreal world instead one has to spend the same time acquiring Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

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 criticized severely the ritualistic attitude and those who advocated such practices.

As indicated in ISH Upanishads: - By worshiping Gods and Goddesses you will go after death to the world of gods and goddesses. But will that help you? The time you spend there is wasted because if you were not there you could have spent that time moving forward towards ‘Self’-knowledge, which is your goal. In the world of gods and goddesses, you cannot do that, and thus, you go deeper and deeper into the darkness.

It indicates that:~ If the human goal is to acquire ‘Self’-Knowledge then why one has to indulge in rituals and glorify the conceptual Gods, Goddesses, and gurus to go into deeper darkness. Instead, spend that time moving forward towards Self-knowledge, which is one’s prime goal.

The orthodox lives in the prison of superstition and dogmas. The orthodox people expect their clan to follow a certain outdated religious code of conduct (Shastras) and live dogmatically following the traditional lifestyle. Orthodox people think that those who follow orthodox worship and rituals get Moksha.

There are two kinds of audiences ~ the orthodoxy ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices, and the most advanced seekers who seek to know the ultimate truth or Brahman. Thus, orthodoxy emphasis on the Karma and Upasana is meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. However, the path of wisdom is meant for those who wish to go beyond such transient pleasures.

The orthodox people are ordinary people. Thus, the ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures are obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices. The path of karma and Upasana is for the ordinary audience.

The Orthodox path is meant for the ignorant people who have a sheepish mentality and blindly accept inherited dogmas and superstitions.

From the ultimate standpoint, the belief of God itself’ is the superstition. Thus, all religious ideas of heaven, hell, sin, and karma, are merely imaginary theories meant for the ignorant people of ancient times.

That is why Sage Sankara said:~ Talk as much philosophy as you like, worship as many Gods as you please, observe ceremonies, and sing devotional hymns, but liberation will never come, even after a hundred aeons, without realizing the Oneness.

First, Mundaka - Chapter 2 (10):~ Ignorant fools, regarding sacrifices and humanitarian works as the highest, do not know any higher good. Having enjoyed their reward on the heights of heaven, gained by good works, they enter again this world or a lower one.

It is high time to stop judging who is right and who is wrong in this unreal world and instead spend the same time acquiring Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana to realize the world (Samsara) is unreal the Brahman alone is real.

According to Advaita Vedanta, the Veda addresses itself to 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 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 realize the truth hidden by form, time, and space.

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)

Sage Sankara gave religious, ritual, or dogmatic instruction to the masses, but pure philosophy 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.

Adhyasa Bhashya of Sage Sankara:~ 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. Also, he is required to perform rituals all through 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 (11)

Sage Sankara:~ 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. Sage Sankara calls this adhyasa. The scriptures dealing with rituals, rewards, etc. are, therefore, he says, addressed to an ignorant person. -Adhyasa Bhashya (11.1)

Sage Sankara:~ 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 (11.2)

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. -Adhyasa Bhashya (12)

Sage Sankara: ~ Atman, the ‘Self’ is verily Brahman (God), 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.

So, they indicate rituals and theories are not meant for those who are searching for higher knowledge or wisdom. The path of wisdom is the only means.

All the orthodox Advaitins indulge and immerse themselves in a ritualistic-oriented lifestyle and follow the path of karma and Upasana which is meant for lower and middling intellect and not for realizing the Advaitic truth. Many chose these orthodox scholars as their Gurus. But these Gurus are good at learning the conceptual Advaita meant for those orthodox who believe their conduct-oriented lifestyle leads to Moksha (liberation). The orthodox Advaita is not the means to acquire ‘Self’ –knowledge or nondual wisdom. Those who are seeking truth have to do their homework to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom is very much in tune with the essence of Vedas and Upanishad.

That is why Sage Sankara:~ VC-v6- 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

Sage Sankara goes on to say: ~A sickness of not cured by saying the word “medicine.” You must take the medicine. Liberation does not come by merely saying the word “Brahman.” Brahman must be realized. Until you allow this apparent universe to dissolve from your consciousness until you have realized Brahman, how can you find liberation just by saying the word Brahman? The result is merely noise. Until a man has destroyed his enemies and taken possession of the splendor and wealth of the kingdom, he cannot become a king by simply saying “I am a king.”

Sage Sankara says:~ A buried treasure is not uncovered by merely uttering the words: “Come forth.” You must follow the right directions, dig, remove the stones and earth from above it, and then make it your own. In the same way, the pure truth of the Atman, which is buried under Maya and the effects of Maya, can be reached by meditation, contemplation, and other spiritual disciplines but never by subtle arguments.

The Soul, the Self, is present in the form of the Spirit or consciousness.

Sage Sankara says: ~ there is no need to study the Scriptures, to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman

~ then why indulge in studying the scriptures.

Sage Sankara says: ~ there is no need to study philosophy, to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman

~then why indulge in studying philosophy.

Sage Sankara says: ~ there is no need to indulge in rituals, to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman

~then why indulge in rituals.

Sage Sankara says: ~ there is no need to indulge in yoga, to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman

~then why indulge in yoga.

Sage Sankara says:~ the transparent Truth of the Self, which is hidden by the illusion, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, (Gnani)

~ then why you are sticking a Guru who is not a Gnani.

Sage Sankara says: ~ “The exercise in discrimination between real and unreal and renunciation of the false leads to truth realization.

Atman is Brahman. The Atman is the Self is non-dual because there is no second thing that exists other than the Atman. Atman is present in the form of consciousness. Consciousness is the only true reality, and everything else, which appears as form, time, and space are merely an illusion. :~ Santthosh Kumaar

You have to tread the path alone to reach it alone finally nothing remains as reality other than the Athma or Soul, the Self.+

Bhagavan Buddha says:~ Go alone, just remember two things. Don’t carry your mistakes — that means, don’t carry your past. There is no need even to repent about the past. Your religious people go on teaching you, “Repent!” because it is through repentance that they make you feel guilty, and when you are guilty you can be exploited.

One need not renounce the worldly life and become a sanyasi or monk. One need not retire from his business or corporate job and become a Guru all these religious and yogic propagated outdated ideas have to be discarded to realize the truth of the true existence.

Do not become a slave of all these outdated religious and yogic ideas they are not meant for those who seriously seeking the truth. There is no need to follow anyone. Self–realization becomes easy if you independently walk your path.

The Atmic path is your own path. You have to tread the path alone to reach it alone finally nothing remains as reality other than the Athma or Soul, the Self.

Stop your emotionally and sentimentally getting stuck with the Guru.

That is why Bhagavan Buddha: ~ “Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.

Sage Sankara was a Gnani. Most of the modern masters are not Gnani. And you have to understand that to be a Gnani is one thing; to be a Guru is totally different.

Out of a million people perhaps one is a Gnani. Most of the Self- realized decide to remain silent – seeing the difficulty, that whatever they have realized is impossible to convey in any possible way to others; seeing that not only is it difficult to convey, it is bound to be misunderstood too.

A Gnani never claims himself as a Gnani, he guides the seekers, not posing himself as a Guru, and he does not force his wisdom on others. A Gnani is not a religious person or Yogi.

One need not roam one mountain to another, one ashram to another, or meet gurus or yogis to get Gnana. One can get a Gnana and become a Gnani wherever he lives.

We all are searching for truth within the illusion of not being aware of the fact that the illusion is created out of a single stuff which is the formless Soul, the Self. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness.

Thus, searching for the truth in the illusion with the illusory self, within the illusory experience, has to be an illusion.

The illusion is created and sustained and finally dissolves as consciousness. There is no second thing that exists other than consciousness. Consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

No one becomes a Gnani by taking sanyasa, wearing religious robes, mastering the scriptures, or identifying with the religious symbol. Religious robes and religious symbols are not the means to Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Blind faith is an obstacle to the pursuit of truth. The seeker should not waste his time on, he should primarily reflect on the Soul, the innermost Self, not on the ‘I’.

The Soul, which is present in the form of the spirit (consciousness), is ever formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

Shruti says: ~ "brahmavit brahmaiva bhavati" - He who knows Brahman becomes Brahman Itself. In the Advaita understanding of this statement, the "becoming" is only metaphorical. It is not as if something that was not Brahman suddenly becomes Brahman.

Rather, "realizing Brahman" means a removal of the ignorance about one's own essential nature as Brahman. Thus, to "know Brahman" is to "be Brahman".

The one who has realized the identity of the Soul, the Self with the Brahman is a Gnani, one who is liberated even while embodied. Such a realization should not and cannot just be a literal understanding of Upanishadic Mahavakya.

Remember:~

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

A Gnani has realized the ultimate truth of the identity with the Soul, the Self. Thus, moksha is not a result of ritual action (path of karma a) or of devotional service (path of bhakti). These paths are egocentric paths therefore they will not help anyway to get rid of the ignorance. In fact, moksha is not a result of anything, for it always exists.

All that is required is the removal of ignorance. The path of wisdom helps the seeker to acquire the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar