Until you discard religion you will never be able to realize the
Advaitic truth, which is hidden by dualistic illusion or Maya.
The religion
blocks one from realizing God in truth because religion is based on myth
whereas Spirituality is based on the truth.
People in India identify Advaita and Dvaita as their religious traditions
inherited from their ancestors. No one questions their validity because it is
considered blasphemy to question their religion, their Guru, and Godmen or the
pundits.
Remember:~ Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sri, Sankara is pure spirituality. Advaitic wisdom is nothing to
do with religion and yoga and philosophies. All Advaitic teachings of the Gurus
of the east and west are not Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sri, Sankara.
Advaita is universal. Advaita is the nature of the Soul, the Self. The
world in which you exist is created out of single stuff. That single stuff is
consciousness. Knowledge of the single stuff is Advaitic wisdom.
Advaitic truth is very simple, but it is very difficult to realize
because you have accumulated mental garbage from different sources in the name
of Advaita.
Until you discard religion you will never be able to realize the
Advaitic truth, which is hidden by dualistic illusion or Maya.
The Advaita is the nature of the Soul, the innermost Self shines in its
own awareness when wisdom dawns.
The Advaita is the Soul is the cause and the support of all that exists
as the world in which we exist. Advaita is the nature of God, the Self.
The Advaita is present in the form of consciousness. Advaita is the root
element of the universe. From the Advaita, the universe comes into existence.
In the Advaita, the universe resides. And into the Advaita, the universe is
dissolved. The Advaita is the parent of all that is there is.
People who are attached to their religious code of conduct and trying to
preach Advaita, that is mixing the individual life, and the concept of God and
all mixed up hotchpotch religious doctrine and feed the seeking people are
themselves not aware of the fact that the individuality and their worldly life
is part of the illusion.
Religion is based on the blind belief as truth whereas Spirituality or
Adyathma is based on the Athma the ultimate truth or Brahman.
Religion should be discarded in order to realize the real God hidden by
ignorance. Religion is regarded as sacred and real by the common people, by the
wise as false and by the political class as useful.
Religion preaches that God is one and the ways to God are many. It
simply tries to lead them to darkness with its dogma and idea of many Gods,
which is apart from the Self.
The religion is based on the false self (ego) and false experience
(world) thus; all religious beliefs are a falsehood.
Everyone likes religion because it belongs to the world of sentiments
and emotions. Religion changes as it appeals to different emotions. One will
find at one pole the nude Sadhu is admired; at the other, the gorgeous life
styled Godman is revered. Belief in religious prohibitions arises out of fear
of God's punishment.
The man himself suggests that there must be a God. It is an
auto-suggestion. To say that one knows God exists always implies he must also
exist always. It would be correct to say at this point, he does not know about
the existence of God because Gods existence depends on the individualized
belief
People magnify every minor coincidence or every petty fact where yogis
or Good men were concerned, and they see the miraculous or esoteric
significance therein.
Religion is “believers Truth”; spirituality is “Truth for the seeker of
truth.” This means a believer takes his feeling of truth whereas the seeker of
truth takes his reasoned judgment, which will be the same under test everywhere
in the universe.
The position of the seeker of truth is this: he has not seen God. He
does not know his capacities, what God can do, and what God cannot do. Therefore,
any statement he might make about God would only be a lie.
The seeker of truth does not wish to tell a lie. Therefore, he does not
accept God nor deny Him; he simply refuses to make any statement about God.
Each sect concocts a God to suit its own purposes. Belief in such
concocted Gods is a great hindrance in pursuit of truth. The man himself
suggests that there must be a God. It is an auto-suggestion. Prayers and
sacrifices belong to a premature stage of development. When no answers come to
prayers to their belief of God, then the doubt arises about the existence of
such God. Belief in religion weakens as the man pays more attention to the
facts of his practical life within the practical world.
People who argue that truth is only in their religion are vain logicians
based on mere ideas, imaginations. Religions that say "If one follows the
religion they will go to heaven, while others “go to hell," are stories
invented on the base of false Self within the false experience.
Religious truth is not the ultimate truth because it always shows a
contradiction. A contradiction arises because a different person's
interpretation may disagree with others.
Remember: ~
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says: ~ "He who worships the deities as entities
entirely separate from him does not know the truth. For the Gods, he is like a
pasu (beast)". (1. 4. 10)
Sage Sri, 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.
Rituals prayers and ceremonies of different religions and cults are a
tool for Self-realization. They keep one in the cage of ignorance.
Attachment to the rigid devotion to the religious beliefs of God limits
one to think within the framework of the illusory division of form, time, and space.
Diverse beliefs of religion and its diverse idea of God create divisions
between one religion and another. The rituals and ceremonies become an obstacle
in realizing the religious God one believes and worships is not God in truth.
Religion becomes an obstacle to realize the real God hidden by ignorance.
The seeker of truth is keener to realize the ‘Self hidden by the
dualistic illusion. The seeker of truth has only one desire and longing — that
of union with the Soul, God.
A seeker is never entangled in with the religion, rituals, yoga and
physical Gurus and never allows himself to be overpowered by any attachment
emotions and sentiment
The rituals mentioned in the karmakanda of the Vedas are sought to be
negated in the jnanakanda which is also part of the same scripture. While the
karmakanda enjoins upon you the worship of various deities and lays down rules
for the same, the jnanakanda constituted by the Upanishads ridicules the worshipper of deities as a dim-witted person no better than a beast.
This seems strange, the latter part of the Vedas contradicting the
former part. The first part deals throughout with karma, while the second or
concluding part is all about jnana. Owing to this difference, people have gone
so far as to divide our scripture into two sections: the Vedas (that is the
first part) to mean the karmakanda and the Upanishads (Vedanta) to mean the
jnanakanda.
Bhagavad Gita: ~ ‘All
those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires, they worship many
Gods. (7-
Verse -20)
Only the path of wisdom leads the seeker of truth on his journey to the ultimate realization of the true nature of the Universal Essence, which is the
Soul, the ultimate truth or Brahman or God.
Bhagavad Gita: 7: 19: ~ "Such a man who has attained true knowledge,
the knowledge of Self, the knowledge of Atman, worships ‘Self’ as~ Atman (God)
alone exists~ everything is Atman, there exists nothing except Atman. Such a
man is extremely rare.
Sage Sri 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
Remember: ~
Religious Gods are based on belief. Belief is not God. Religious God
cannot be considered as the center because the Soul, the innermost ‘Self’ is
the center of all that exists. Without the Soul the world in which you exist
ceases to exist, it means the religious God is dependent on the Soul for his
existence. God in truth is only the Soul, which is present in the form of
consciousness.
Even the Bhagavad Gita says: ~ “Brahmano
hi pratisthaham ~ Brahman (God) 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, God is considered the all-pervading
consciousness, which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and the material then nothing has to be accepted other than consciousness a God.
Even Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~ Brahman (God) is present in the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma
itself.
Religious Gods are based on blind beliefs. Religious God cannot be considered as
the center because the Soul, the innermost ‘Self’ is the center of all that
exists. Without the Soul the world in which you exist ceases to exist, it means
the religious God is dependent on the Soul for his existence.
Even 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 innermost self. May ye never accept another God in
place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?" (10:48, 5)
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~ "He who worships the deities as entities
entirely separate from him does not know the truth. For the Gods, he is like a
pasu (beast)". (1.
4. 10)
No mantras help to get rid of ignorance. All the mantras and rituals are
meant for the ignorant populace, which strongly believes, the world in which he
exists as a reality. For one who wants to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma
Gnana or Atma Gnana, the mantas will not help to realize the truth, which is
beyond the form, time, and space.
That is why Sage Sri, Sankara: ~
VC~.61- For
one who has been bitten by the serpent of Ignorance, the only remedy is the
knowledge of Brahman. Of what avail are the Vedas and (other) Scriptures,
Mantras (sacred formulae) and medicines to such a one?
VC- v6~
Let erudite scholars quote all the scripture, let
Gods be invoked through sacrifices, let elaborate rituals be performed, let personal
Gods are 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 Sri, 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 experienced. 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.”
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.
As indicated in ISH Upanishads: ~ “By worshipping Gods and Goddesses you will go
after death to the world of Gods and Goddesses. But will that help you? The
time you spent 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 darkness.
It clearly indicates that: -If the human goal is to acquire
Self-Knowledge then why one has to indulge in rituals and glorifying 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. :~Santthosh Kumaar
