The ultimate truth or Brahman is nothing to do with the religion, religious god, religious theories and yoga.+

An advanced seeker can mentally separate the illusion from reality. A seeker can figure out as he proceeds deeper, he will realize there is nothing to realize other than realizing the illusion is just a superimposition on consciousness. The illusion is nothing but consciousness. The world in which you exist is the dualistic illusion created out single stuff. To realize this knowledge of single stuff, there is no need to for a Guru, there is no need to study scriptures, there is no need to go to the mountain, there is no need for gurus blessing or grace to get Self-realization.

If you have an intense urge and ready to drop all your accumulated knowledge and start afresh then you are fit and ready to take this mental journey. When one realizes mind (matter) and the Soul (Spirit), the Self, are one, in essence, there is no place for the duality. Without duality, the universe ceases to exist. Without the universe, your existence within the universe is merely an illusion because there is scope for two because everything is created out of single stuff. That single stuff is consciousness or the Spirit. Till one thinks he is an individual separate from this world he remains in the realm of duality. Duality is the product of ignorance.

When the Advaitic wisdom dawns, then the ignorance vanishes. When the ignorance vanishes, then the duality never remains as a reality. The path of wisdom is the Soulcentric path. Egocentric knowledge is not of any use in the path of wisdom. In the Soulcentric path, there is no scope for argument because all the arguments are based on egocentricity. The argument is useless so long as the ultimate truth is unknown, and the argument is equally useless when the ultimate truth or Brahman has already been known.

The Advaitic wisdom is not custom-made stuff to feed different mindset according to their likes and fancy. You are the birth entity. The one, which is born, lives dies in this world is not the ‘Self’ because the ‘Self’ is the Soul, which is birthless and deathless. If you are not the ‘Self’ then all the argument and understanding of the truth is based on intellectualism.

If you want to realize the truth, which is beyond the form, time and space then you have to learn to view and judge the truth on the base of the ‘Soul, which is the Self to realize the truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space. Perfect understanding of ‘what is what’ is needed. Only an intense urge to know the truth, humility sincerity and patience are the only qualifications to realize God in this very life and in this very world.

Till you make sure intellectually the ‘Self’ is not within you but the ‘Self’ is hidden within the world, in which you exist and the world, in which you exist is nothing but an illusion created out of consciousness, it is difficult to become Soulcentric. In the past, Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana was imparted only with few because Sages of truth had preserved it people were more interested in their religious beliefs. Now a day’s people are more advanced, capable of understanding assimilating and realizing the truth beyond the form, time, and space. Start your journey even you may find it difficult in the first as you go on reading the post your subconscious will start dropping the dualistic egocentric knowledge and start accepting the Soul-centric Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Remember:~

Belief makes the Soul permanently remain in ignorance.  Ignorance makes the soul experience the duality as reality. Belief implies duality. The duality is not reality.  Thus, the path of bhakti,  the path of karma and the path of yoga are based on the dualistic perspective therefore they are the path of ignorance. 

The seekers who are searching for ultimate truth or Brahman have to discard all the egocentric paths to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.  

The belief of God is not God. Holding a belief as God is holding an illusion as reality because the belief is possible only within the realm of duality. 

Duality is merely an illusion from the ultimate standpoint.  Without the belief of God, the belief system holds no water.  Belief is not God. Belief needs a believer.  

The believer needs to be born in this world. If the believer is born than he is part of the illusion.   Without the believer, there is no belief.  

The believer and his world and his  God based on blind belief are part of the illusion because the self is birth-less because the Self is formless. The one, which is born, lives and dies, is not the Self.    

The Soul, the Self is formless substance and witness of the falsehood (universe or waking or illusion), which is soul or consciousness, consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman or Christ.  

Religion and Yoga are useful from utilitarian viewpoints, but they are inadequate and useless in the path of wisdom.  Because religion and yoga are based on the false self (ego or you) and the ultimate truth or Brahman is based on the formless Soul, the Self. 

The ultimate truth or Brahman is nothing to do with the religion, religious god, religious theories and yoga because the ultimate truth is beyond the experience of form, time and space.  

There is in religion the element of imagination. People think that religion which they like is the best, which gives them satisfaction, which pleases their taste is true! 

People who have such limited views are not fit for Nondualistic or Advaitic wisdom. A Gnani discards this limited view because he is aware of the limitlessness of the Soul, the Self.  

The question is, how one has to know that the scriptures are true? One has to look into the facts, for the proof of what has the worship of God done for the people! When calamities strike, terrorist attacks, epidemics brakes, the god is helpless in saving people. Even though, they say God saved him: Such an argument is of no value.

Swami Vivekananda:~  The masses in India cry to sixty million gods and still die like dogs. Where are these gods?

Knowing this, stand up and fight! Not one step back that is the idea. ... Fight it out, whatever comes. Let the stars move from the sphere! Let the whole world stand against us! Death means only a change of garment. What of it? Thus fight! You gain nothing by becoming cowards. ... Taking a step backward, you do not avoid any misfortune. You have cried to all the gods in the world. Has misery ceased? The masses in India cry to sixty million gods and still die like dogs. Where are these gods? ... The gods come to help you when you have succeeded. So what is the use? Die game. ... This bending the knee to superstitions, this selling yourself to your own mind does not befit you, my soul. You are infinite, deathless, birthless. Because you are infinite spirit, it does not befit you to be a slave. ... Arise! Awake! Stand up and fight! Die if you must. There is none to help you. You are the entire world. Who can help you? :~  Swami Vivekananda (Delivered In San Francisco, on May 28, 1900) -The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Lectures And Discourses/The Gita II

The ultimate truth will interest only .5% of people; the rest will follow the religion" Religion is that teaching which pleases minds which lack vigor.

The scriptures are for the ignorant masses, who wholly accept the material the world as it presents itself. Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is for those who have begun to realize that things are not what they seem and that the truth

The famous peace invocation of Isa Upanishad says: ~

Om Purna- madah, purna-midam purnat-purnam-udacyate Purnaysa purna-madaya purna-meva-vasisyate

This means ~ All this is full /from fullness, fullness comes when fullness is taken from fullness/ fullness still remains.

 This belief is all- comprehensive and all-absorbing. There is nothing that is not God.

This truth has been told by the seers. This is the only truth but is described by the people differently. 

 Truth is one, but the people describe it in different ways. Those on the journey to Eternity may differ,  but once reached there, all the differences sink into oneness.

The whole of humanity has to arrive at this eternal truth one day. :~Santthosh Kumaar 

Bhagvan Buddha, Sage Sankara and Sage Goudpada have declared non-dualistic or Advaitic truth centuries back.+

Swami Vivekananda aptly described Sage Sankara’s Advaita as the fairest flower of philosophy that any country in any age has produced.

The Advaitic truth is a rational or scientific truth declared by the Sages of truth centuries back, but unfortunately, the original essence of the rational Advaita is lost mainly, because of orthodox adulteration and add-ons, which is based on the ego (waking entity), which is the false self within the false experience (waking).

The seeker has to first indulge in deeper self-search without scriptures and understand and assimilate the Advaitic truth, which leads to self-awareness. Thus, soulcentric thinking, reasoning, and judgment are very much necessary in pursuit of truth.

Sage  Gaudapada:~ The non-dual Atman is realized when the individual self (jiva) is awakened from its ignorance. Atman is unborn, dreamless, sleepless, and motionless and is beyond duality. It is cognition at its purest. It is Brahman- Ayam Atma Brahma, this Atma is that Brahma; Thus epitomizing the core of Upanishad teachings.

Blavatsky says that Sage Sankara’s wisdom will remain a dead letter to most Hindus for ages to come. (SD 1:271-2).

***

Many believe spirituality and religion are considered interconnected, but it is not so. Religion is based on the false self (ego or body or you) and it is limited to the false experience (universe), while spirituality transcends race, religion, gender, language nationality, and universe.  Spirituality is based on the soul, the innermost self. From the standpoint of the soul, the innermost self the universe in which we exist is merely an illusion.  

Remember:~

People who think the ‘I’ or ‘I AM’ as the 'Self' are caught up in the web of duality, and they experience the illusory world in which they exist as reality.    

As the waking entity or ego becomes more and more inward-turned, it becomes gradually free from experiencing the duality as reality.  

When the soul, the 'Self' becomes freed from all the obstruction by fully eliminating the ignorance it remains in its own awareness.  

When the Soul, the Self remains in its own awareness amid duality then the duality is merely an illusion created out of the soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

So long the Soul, the  'Self' identifies itself with the waking entity (ego or the waking entity) it remains in ignorance of its formless nondual true nature. Therefore, it is necessary to realize the fact that, the ‘Self’ is neither the waking entity (you) nor the ‘Self’ is a dream entity but the Self is the  Soul,  the Self, which witnesses the coming and going of the three states.

Just as the sun is the direct cause of the daylight, so without the Self-knowledge no emancipation can be had. Compared to all other forms of discipline Self-knowledge is the only direct means of freedom from experiencing the illusory world as a reality.

Only when the Advaitic wisdom dawns, the Soul, the  Self can remain in its own awareness in the midst of duality. 

Remember:~

Bhagavan Buddha, Sage Sankara, and Sage Goudpada have declared non-dualistic or Advaitic truth centuries back,  but one has to reach the destination with scientific (rational) investigation, not through punditry or intellectuality. Until one mentally reaches a conclusion, the conviction will not arise. 

Without firm conviction, wisdom will not dawn. Therefore, there is a need to know consciousness is real and all else is a myth, which Sri, Sankara declared as the world is a myth Brahman alone is real.

That alone is called the ultimate truth or Brahman, which is a fact that can never be changed under any circumstances. One must make an effort to know the ultimate truth. The Soul is there always in the form of consciousness. 

Everyone has got it, there is nothing new to be acquired; only they have to be sharp enough to grasp understand, and assimilate it when told about it. But there is a difference between understanding and realization.

An effort is required for this understanding only, whereas once understood no special effort is needed to remember his understanding: until then he only has an idea of the Soul, he only partially understands it. But once he thoroughly grasps what it is and that all these things are Soul, he will then constantly find it present everywhere without further effort, because he will perceive the ultimate truth by understanding, even in the midst of worldly existence.

When there is only one thing that is the Soul, then there is nothing to change, nothing to appear or disappear; when one speaks of remembering or forgetting the Soul that implies he believes in the existence of something else, i.e. a second thing, which is to be remembered. That would show he does not know that all is one. But knowing it, there is no second, consequently no intermittent perception of the soul, but a permanent effortless understanding and assimilation that it alone is.

When one gets a glimpse of truth he has to try to repeat it many times to establish it.  The Soul, the innermost self must raise itself by the Soul, the  Self.

The difference between physical truth and spiritual truth, the former can evolve or change; the latter is ultimate and final. 

Remember:~

Sage Sankara ’says:~ "Kuruthe Ganga sahar gamanam Vratha paripal mathva dhanam. Gyana Vihine.Sarva Mathene.”~Gnana is common to all religions. There is nothing like One Gnana for a Hindu and another for a Christian.

The entire philosophy of Sage Sankara can be summed up in the following statement:-

Brahma Satyam, jaganmithya, jivobrahmaivanaparah: - Brahman alone is real; the world is non-real and the individual Self is essentially not different from Brahman.

This is the quintessence of Sage Sankara’s metaphysics.

The consciousness is the one single reality or Brahman. The individual self is a reality within the duality. There is no individual in the realm of the nondual reality.

Sage Sankara says:~ One alone exists, and the rest is all superimposition on that One, due to ignorance.

Through a systematic inquiry into the nature of the mind, which is present in the form of the universe, one arrives at the position that the soul, the innermost self, which is present in the form of consciousness, is the ultimate truth or Brahman.

The Soul, the innermost self is constant and, therefore, real, while the phenomena constituting the universe are constantly changing and, therefore, unreal. The final conclusion is that the form, time, and space or the universe are one in essence. That essence is consciousness. Thus, no second thing exists other than consciousness.

The seeker of truth has to take into account all three states of our existence, which are waking, dream, and deep sleep ~ in waking or dream one experiences duality, and in deep sleep, there is only non-duality. To obtain a complete picture of our existential reality, we need to include evidence from all three states. This is the phenomenology of consciousness.

The consciousness is one only, without a second. One experiences the manifold universe ignorance ~ led illusion “covers" the One and "projects" the Many. The illusion is the veil on consciousness. In truth, only One, non-dual Reality is all there is. consciousness is all-pervasive. It is intrinsically Real, self-effulgent, infinite, undifferentiated Pure.

When the Soul, the Self, wakes up to its own formless nondual true nature, ignorance ceases, and the illusion, which is present in the form duality never again experienced as reality.

The show of the illusory duality, however, continues, as before. Only our identification with a particular actor's role is gone forever because the Self is in its own awareness.

Self-awareness is Brahmic Bliss! This state is already ours always in deep sleep in a "general" way. When the Self-Knowledge dawns then one is awake to it in a "special" way in the midst of duality.

Atman=Brahman or the Self, capture the essence of the immanent (Self) and the transcendent (Brahman) Reality. Humanity has not yet conceived a more lofty conception of its position in the universe.

Advaita only means the negation of duality. The soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is the ultimate truth or Brahman. The consciousness is the cause of the origin, maintenance, and withdrawal of the universe is Advaita (i.e. non-dual), which means that the consciousness transcends all conceptions, positive and negative. Nothing positive can ever be imagined or said about it.

The consciousness is existence absolute, awareness absolute. Existence absolute means that consciousness is not unreal or non-existent. And it is not the unconsciousness. Nothing positive can be stated about consciousness.:~Santthosh Kumaar 

People who stuck to orthodoxy never will be able to cross the prison of duality.+

In the context of Advaita Vedanta: ~ Jagat (the world) is not different from Brahman; however, Brahman is different from Jagat

It has not been possible to preach Advaitic Truth entirely free from the settings of dualistic weakness it has not been more operative and useful to mankind at large because only a few will be able to grasp and realize it.

'To realize the Advaitic Truth a freer and fuller scope the seeker has to realize the form, time and space are one in essence. And that essence is consciousness. And the Soul, the Self is present in the form of consciousness.   

To realize the Advaitic truth the seeker has to be free from all superstitions and orthodox contaminations. The seeker has  the inner urge to acquire  the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana alone.'

A  Gnani will easily appreciate the high flights of Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom is one of the 'most majestic structures and valuable products of the Genius of man in his search for Truth.

In India, people think that religion is a stepping stone to a higher truth.   But it is not so, because religion is based on the false self (waking entity or ego) within the false experience (waking or world).

One must go beyond form, time, and space. The theistic tradition has been kept alive by the orthodoxy. The orthodoxy is the path of ignorance because it is based on ignorance.  The orthodoxy has nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman. 

Thus it is not the path of ultimate truth or Brahman. People who stick to orthodoxy never will be able to cross the prison of duality. Without crossing the prison of duality self-awareness is an impossibility.  

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana is necessary to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

Dalai Lama said: ~ Buddhism need not be the best religion though it is more 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-Gulbarga).

Same way, all religions of the world and all philosophies of the world are based on individuality (ego), and find no answers to many questions. Truth seekers all over the world are trying to find answers for themselves, and they imagine and write articles and books of their ideas and others will read and blindly accept them as truth.

There is no need to condemn anyone’s views and ideas or writing, but without being judgmental, the seeker has to verify whether the author is speaking from the standpoint of ego, or whether he is speaking from the standpoint of the Soul, the Self.  

If his views are based on the standpoint of the physical self (waking entity or ego or you), then there are many doubts and confusion. If his views are based on the Soul, the Self then there is no confusion and doubts of any sort.   

Nothing has to be accepted without verifying the validity of any claim in pursuit of truth. Only the uncontradictable truth has to be accepted as truth.  There is no need to condemn any religion or any saints or Gurus, but the seeker has to think beyond religion, scriptures, and individualized gods.   

It is difficult to understand and assimilate within a framework of some teaching or holding some philosophy as a yardstick.  We have to drop all our accumulated dross to understand assimilate and realize the non-dualistic truth.  

I am highlighting some scriptural citations only to show the seeker that the Advaitic sages themselves declare that scriptures, religion, and ideas of god are unimportant in pursuit of truth.  It is easier to understand, assimilate, and realize the ultimate truth or non-dualistic truth by rationalizing our views and understanding:~

 There is only the mind which is present as the universe. Thus we have to investigate the world that confronts us.

The Soul is the Self. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness.  Consciousness is that which knows everything, that which sees. Consciousness alone remains after one gets rid of all thoughts and ideas by identification with the Self.  

Consciousness is only the seer; it is not Brahman that is an error. It becomes Brahman only after a deeper inquiry and soulcentric reasoning.

Firstly, we have to realize the fact that, the mind is not within the body, but the body and world are within the mind. Therefore, all our practical life within the practical world is within the mind, which is in the form of the universe. The universe appears as a waking or dream (duality or mind or the universe) and disappears as deep sleep (non-duality or soul). 

Thus the waking entity is not the self. The self is that which witnesses the coming and going of the three states.  The Self is not an individual because it pervades everything and everywhere in all three states. Therefore, our practical life within the practical world, which is based on individuality, has nothing to do with the Soul, the  Self, which is ever formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

One becomes aware of the fact that the universe or mind, which appears and disappears, is the only form and shape created out of consciousness and nothing else. 

The consciousness alone is positive proof and on the standpoint of the consciousness or Soul as the Self, one becomes aware of the falsity of this universe or mind, which is merely an appearance. 

The one which appears as mind (universe) and disappears as no mind (Soul) is consciousness alone. Therefore, the mind and Soul are one in essence.  Without the Soul, the Self, or consciousness, the universe ceases to exist. 

Remember:~

The mental analysis shows that, the existence of the formless witness, which witnesses the three states coming and going without a break. This, on closer analysis, is found to be that changeless, soul or consciousness itself.

The seeker has to focus his attention only on the three states.  The mind, which appears as waking or dream is duality and deep sleep is non-duality.  Therefore,  we have to find out: ~ what is it that becomes the duality (waking or dream) and non-duality (deep sleep).  

The individual experience happening within the waking and dream has nothing to do with the Soul or consciousness. Identifying consciousness as the  Self is necessary to realize the unreal nature of the mind. 

The mind cannot be destroyed but when one overcomes ignorance through wisdom then he realizes his body, his ego, and his experience of the world to be consciousness.

 For a Gnani the body is not the body, the ego is not the ego, the world is not the world but everything is consciousness even though he is in the midst of illusion knowing and realizing the ultimate truth in the midst of illusion or Maya is called wisdom.    It becomes very easy to assimilate non-dual truth if one can drop his accumulated knowledge and inborn samskara. 

Only one has to realize his body and his experience of the universe are one, in essence, to bring unity in diversity in our understanding, and in turn, it leads to self-awareness.   

 We all are searching for truth within the illusion, not being aware of the fact that the illusion is created out of a single stuff which is the unborn 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.

The Advaitic wisdom was not written down but was imparted orally to the chosen few.+

All biblical insights lead to Advaitic (Self)-awareness. Self-awareness is Christ-consciousness.  The ultimate truth or Braham in the biblical sense is Christ.  The truth was not written down but was imparted orally to the chosen few.

John 8: 32: ~ You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Jesus said:~  "Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you. (The gospel of Thomas- saying 5)

It means one has to know the world that confronts him to realize his body and world are made of the same essence and that essence is Spirit (father).  

Even Sage Sri, Sankara says:~ one must first know what is before him. If he cannot know that, what else can he know or understand? If he gives up the external world in his inquiry, he cannot get the whole truth.

VC- 63. Without causing the objective universe to vanish and without knowing the truth of the Self, how is one to achieve Liberation by the mere utterance of the word Brahman? — It would result merely in an effort of speech.

Sage  Sri, Sankara says: ~ VC 65. As a treasure hidden underground requires (for its extraction) competent instruction, excavation, the removal of stones and other such things lying above it, and (finally) grasping, but never comes out by being (merely) called out by name, so the transparent Truth of the self, which is hidden by Maya and its effects, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, followed by reflection, meditation and so forth, but not through perverted arguments.

"Jesus said:~"Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find it, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all." (Gospel of Thomas 2)

"The Kingdom of God is inside you and all around you, Not in a mansion of wood and stone.  Split a piece of wood and God is there, Lift a stone and you will find God." (Gospel of Thomas)

1. According to the New Testament:  Jesus said to his disciples: ‘To you, it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others, they are in parables so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand’ (Luke, 8:10). While speaking to the multitude in a veiled manner, ‘privately to his own disciples he explained everything’ (Mark, 4:34), and advised them not to ‘throw your pearls before swine’ (Matthew, 7:6).

2. According to Clement of Alexandria (150-215 CE): ‘Mark’ preached three different gospels. The New Testament version was intended for ‘beginners’, but there was also a Secret Gospel of Mark for those who were ‘perfected’, i.e. initiated. Clement advised one of his students that the existence of this secret gospel should be denied ‘even under oath’, for ‘the light of the truth should be hidden from those who are mentally blind’. The third gospel was so mystical that it was not written down but was imparted orally to the chosen few (JM 120-1).

3. The fragments that remain of The Secret Gospel of Mark include an account of Jesus raising a young man from the dead, which may be an early version of the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in John’s Gospel. In the Secret Gospel, the risen young man is initiated by Jesus, who ‘taught him the mystery of the Kingdom of God’. This indicates that for the gnostics, being raised from the dead is an allegory for spiritual rebirth through initiation.

--

When the seeker indulges in deeper self-search then he realizes the fact that the experience of form, time, and space are one in essence. And that essence is spirit or consciousness. 

Thus, form, time, and space are merely an illusion created out of single, stuff,   which is Spirit or consciousness.   The Spirit is the Self.  The Spirit or consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in ruth.  . : ~ Santthosh Kumaar 

The more one indulges in deeper self-search, he learns and able to grasp the Advaita.+

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana cannot be attained by the study of the scriptures and intellectual understanding or by bookish knowledge.  Therefore, there is no use in studying the scriptures and other scriptures to acquire non-dualistic or Advaitic wisdom.  

That is why Buddha rejected the scriptures, and even Sage Sankara indicated that the ultimate truth lies beyond religion, the concept of God, and the scriptures.

There is only one Reality to be known, the same for all seekers, but the ways to it, are hidden by the religion.  Self-discovery is the only way, towards a non-dual Absolute without any religious doctrines, which will help the seekers to unfold the mystery of the illusion in which we all are searching the truth of our true existence. 

There is a need for an atmosphere of free will; wherein deeper self-search is the order of the day. The more one indulges in deeper self-search, he learns and can grasp the non-dualistic or Advaitic truth.

This helps the seeker of truth to be inquisitive and opens his vistas and dialogue with like-minded fellow seekers. The dialogue between the religious and the non-religious is of no use.

What is important is the truth of existence is first and then the rest in pursuit of truth. 

The Seeker of truth needs to work towards, how he has to find answers for all his doubts and confusions. Most people consider the ultimate truth as a threat to their religious beliefs.

Remember:~

The ultimate aim of the human being is to find and realize the truth and work towards it rather than fight that one has the truth to oneself, and other truths are wrong or inferior. Realization of the truth of one’s true existence is an important factor as mankind is caught up in the crossroads of witnessing wars and terrorism in the name of fundamentalism.

Universal peace is a need of the hour. The political oppression and religious agenda of conversion are being challenged all over. This requires a perfect understanding of what is the truth and what is not the truth, for constructive action rather than destruction. 

As the old tenets of the religion are losing ground, newer avenues are sought through fundamentalism to protect the old rut, which is a dangerous sign. Only the realization of non-dual helps to bring in greater tolerance and social responsibility.

Seekers of truth must read more on critical thinking and develop their spirit of reasoning.  

The younger generation who are exposed to the world and realities of the atrocities committed in the name of religion and God are moving towards questioning the hypocrisy of religion. This is an important force to reckon with and needs to be tapped to make the younger generations constructive thinkers with strong reasoning. 

 Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is the best suited for the modern mindset. The seeker of truth has to strive to acquire the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana in lesser time and effort by dropping all inherited egocentric knowledge and samskaras and conditioning by realizing what is what.  

A deeper self–search helps the seeker clear all the cobweb doubts and confusion in the pursuit of truth.

Until and unless one becomes aware of what is real and what is unreal there is only confusion, doubts, and arguments because we are holding the false self (ego] and false experience as reality and viewing judging the truth of the false self which is ‘ego or waking entity’.  Self-ignorance can only be removed by the knowledge of the true Self.

Remember:~

In my view, self-ignorance limits the mind or ‘I’ to the physical entity, which is the cause of duality (universe or samsara), whereas the Self pervades all three states (dual and non-dual experiences) as its formless substance and witness.  Thus, holding only the body is not self is erroneous; the world has to be included in it.   

The Self is hidden by the dualistic illusion or Maya as its formless substance and the Self is apart from the illusion as its formless witness. Self is apart because it is not an entity or identity within the illusion(duality or samsara).   

Thus birth, life, and death are part of the illusion because they happen in the world which is mithya.  

The one which witnesses the mithya or illusion (I) is Atman. The formless witness and illusion (I) are one in essence.  Only By realizing this fact the unity in diversity is possible. One will be able to realize the fact that the body and the world are created out of Atman.

The Seeker on being heated and tormented by his spiritual trouble presented himself before the inner guru to be liberated from his troubles. Observing his sufferings, the inner guru, began to revel in the form of revelation to liberate her from her troubles.

The inner revelation  overflowing with perfect guidance, on the “Realization of Reality” of the Universe, God, birth, life, death, and the world, the Real Self, Religion, and the Ideal, so that after Realizing the Reality one   may liberate himself from the troubles of duality to pass her life peacefully and cheerfully.:~Santthosh Kumaar 

By accepting the karma theory, one is accepting the unreal as real, and permanently remains in the domain of the illusion.+

By accepting the karma theory, one is accepting the unreal as real and permanently remains in the clutches of duality thinking the cycle of birth, life, and death as a reality. Therefore, to overcome the illusory experience cycle of birth, life, death, and the world one has to know the fact that, the waking entity(ego) is not the Self, but the Self is the invisible Soul. 

The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. Consciousness is within the mind (universe or waking) but it is without the mind (universe or waking). Thus the self is within the ‘I’ but it is without the ‘I’. :~Santthosh Kumaar

• Linda Macmillan, Narendra Joshi, and Mahesh Hegade like this.
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• Q:~

  Suppose a person doesn't know one's own gender of the body, though performing the actions of the body; will that person ever come to know the gender by doing those actions many times? But if that person comes to know the Gender, will he forget the Gender even after doing so many actions? It is something similar, the realization is the only way and not reading scriptures year after year! sorry for being rude,  but you love the same rude way told by me in my past lives!
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  Santthosh Kumaar:~  I respect your views and wisdom. Deeper self-search reveals the fact that the karma theory is meant for those who are immersed in worldly life, thinking of the individual life within the particle world as reality. In the path of the truth,  the karma theory becomes a great obstacle to realizing the truth.

  
  

  When Sage Sankara says clearly, the universe is not real. He says that Brahman and Atman are one. The ultimate and the Absolute Truth is the Self, which is one though appearing as many in different individuals. The individual has no reality. Only the Self is Real; the rest, mental and physical are but passing appearances, then it indicates the form (waking) is unreal the formless is real (Soul or Spirit or Consciousness). Therefore, only Atman is real because there is no second thing other than Atman.
  
  He also clearly mentions that:~
  
  The path of religion,  the theory of karma, the path of yoga, and the path of wisdom were intended for different classes of people. The wisdom is for the advanced seekers of truth. It deals with the nature of the ultimate Truth and Reality. It is meant for superior aspirants who have an inner urge to know the truth, which is beyond form, time,  and space.  and it is not for those who are immersed in earthly desires.
  
  Thus,  we have to know the fact that,  Buddha,  Sage Goudpada, and Sage  Sankara are not only reformers but also the greatest scientists. Since their original thesis has been lost in the labyrinths of philosophy and mutilated by pundits and orthodoxy, it becomes very difficult to understand and assimilate the wisdom expounded by the great masters. In addition, the conservativeness of the orthodox scholars will not allow any research other than playing with the words, that suit the mass mindsets, because of their egocentric outlook.
  
  All the add-ons have to be deleted, to understand and assimilate the real fragrance of the wisdom expounded by the great masters of Advaita, but it is a hurricane task. Thus, it is no use going through all the scriptures, when there is a direct path to nondual truth. The same time and effort can be used to reach the nondual destination, in lesser time and effort.
  
  Nonduality does not need the support of any scripture or revelation like the Veda. For it is based, not upon the varying theological fancies, which are as numerous as the sands of the sea, but upon reason, the common heritage of all mankind, irrespective of color or creed or clime.
  
  The seeker of truth has to know that something is inadequate in Buddhist or orthodox Advaitic teachings to reach the nondual destination because of the add-ons and adulteration. Thus,  it becomes difficult to reach the destination directed by the Buddha,  Sage  Sankara, and Sage Goudapada. 

  
  The karma theory is a reality only for those who believe their present physical identity (ego) as real, and world as reality. When the  Sage  Sankara declares the world itself is an illusion, and Brahman is real, then what value does the karma theory have when the world is an illusion because man is part and parcel of the illusory world. Therefore, one has to view and judge the three states, from the standpoint of the formless Soul, the innermost self, to overcome the duality, which he is experiencing as reality. The individuality is a reality within the illusory world. Therefore, all the theories created within the illusion on the base of the false entity, within the false experience, have to be part and parcel of the illusion. Thus,  it is necessary to realize the fact that Atman is the true self and all else is an illusion, to overcome the illusory concept of the cycle of birth, life, and death. 

  
  

  Sage  Sankara says in Aparokshanubhuti:~ 88. When the whole universe, movable and immovable, is known to be Atman, and thus the existence of everything else is negated, where is then any room to say that the body is Atman?
  
  89. O enlightened one, pass your time always contemplating on Atman while you are experiencing all the results of Prarabdha; for it will becomes you to feel distressed.
  
  90. The theory one hears of from the scripture, that Prarabdha does not lose its hold upon one even after the origination of the knowledge of Atman, is now being refuted.
  
  91. After the origination of the knowledge of Reality, Prarabdha verily ceases to exist, inasmuch as the body and the like become non-existent; just as a dream does not exist on waking.
  
  92. That Karma which is done in a previous life is known as Prarabdha (which produces the present life). But such Karma cannot take the place of Prarabdha (for a man of knowledge), as he has no other birth (being free from ego).
  
  93. Just as the body in a dream is superimposed (and therefore illusory), so is also this body. How could there be any birth of the superimposed (body), and in the absence of birth (of the body) where is the room for that (i.e., Prarabdha) at all?
  
  94. The Vedanta texts declare ignorance to be verily the material (cause) of the phenomenal world just as the earth is of a jar. That (ignorance) being destroyed, where can the universe subsist?
  
  95. Just as a person out of confusion perceives only the snake leaving aside the rope, so does an ignorant person see only the phenomenal world without knowing the reality?
  
  96. The real nature of the rope being known, the appearance of the snake no longer persists; so the substratum being known, the phenomenal world disappears completely.
  
  97. The body also being within the phenomenal world (and therefore unreal), how could Prarabdha exist? It is, therefore, for the understanding of the ignorant alone that the Shruti speaks of Prarabdha.
  
  98. “And all the actions of a man perish when he realizes that (Atman) which is both the higher and the lower”. Here the clear use of the plural by the Shruti is to negate Prarabdha as well.
  
  99. If the ignorant still arbitrarily maintain this, they will not only involve themselves into two absurdities but will also run the risk of forgoing the Vedantic conclusion. So one should accept those Shrutis alone from which proceeds true knowledge.
  
  The above proves that karma is a reality only on the base of the false self, where one thinks of the body and the universe as reality.
• Thus, to understand and assimilate Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom, the seeker has to do his own homework through inquiry, analysis, and reasoning on the true base, without mixing religion, scriptures, theories concepts of god, and yoga.
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• When one becomes aware of the fact that, the true Self is the formless Soul, then the karma becomes part and parcel of illusion. 
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• My point is that, if one accepts the karma theory as a reality, he will never be able to come out of ignorance. And ignorance makes him believe the cycle of birth, life, and death as a reality. 
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• Thus, the freedom that one is seeking will remain a distant dream. For the one who accepts birth life and death as reality, Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is impossible.
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• It is for the seeker to go on his own and remove the obstacle. The greatest hindrance is mixing religion, God, scriptures, and yogic theories. Moreover, attachment to scriptures, personal god, and religious code of conduct keeps one permanently in the grip of duality.
  
  If the Self is neither the body nor the ego, neither the waking entity nor the dream entity but the Self is the invisible  Soul, the Self, then how the karma based on the false self (form or the waking entity) within the false experience can yield fruits. Therefore, karma is a religious fable based on the form.