Sage Ramana Maharishi also refers: ~ Pure Consciousness, which is the heart, includes all, and nothing is outside or apart from it.+

Sage Ramana Maharishi Says: ~ The Self is the fullness of consciousness. Therefore, there is nothing apart from it. (Page-8 – Practical Guide To Know Yourself).

Thus, any division (body, ego, and the world) within the consciousness is merely an illusion.   Thus, whatever is experienced as a person within the illusion is bound to be an illusion. 

The first seeker has to find answers to following doubts and confusion which arise in a deeper investigation of Sage Ramana Maharishi's ~ “Who Am I?- inquiry”

v  If the mind is the same as Atman, how can it vanish? How can Atman vanish? (Page 4 para. 3)

v  "Whenever any thought leads you outward" etc, says Sage Ramana Maharishi. What can you be certain of when you leave the external world? And why leave the world if you say everything is Brahman? (Page 6 ~center)

v  The "Mind ceases to struggle" Yes if I commit suicide I shall also cease to struggle! How can you say the world ceases to exist if you don't look at it? ~ (Page ~ 6)

v  Who has seen the subtle mind projecting through the brain and the senses? Can you see it? Is not the brain also a piece of gross matter? Then how can it come into existence after the world is created, if later, depends on the brain? (Page 6 last para)

v  How can you say the world vanishes when you are introspected? The world is still there; whether you see it or not. (Page 7 top)

v  Heart is an idea created by the mind, so how can the Mind emerge from it? (Page 7~ Line 4)

v  One should unquestioningly follow guru"--This is the very reverse of what Sri Ramakrishna taught. What if the guru happens to be a fool or a rascal? Sri Ramakrishna said "Test me! (Page 11, Para 2)

v  "In deep sleep, trance, swoon, mind turns inwards and enjoys atmasukam." Why should any man study or inquire or practice if in sleep he can easily get the Atman? If sleep gives Brahman why trouble with Vedanta? (Page 12: middle)

v  Page 16 middle: "If this truth is appreciated who can refrain from being good?" This is the opposite of real Vedanta. Vedanta says it is not enough to be good, you must serve the world and relieve suffering. ~ (Page 16 center)

v  Is the vanishing of ego to be the end of life? Aham, I must indeed go but tuham (thou) must come; you must know Brahman is everywhere. It is only half to say the ego must vanish. This is only a step, not the highest. (Page 16 last para).

Bhagavad Gita on this point says: ~   The Soul, the Self must see all in itself. (4/34)

Sage Raman Maharishi: ~ He placed his right hand on his right breast and continued, "Here lies the Heart, the dynamic, spiritual Heart. It is called Hridaya and is located on the right side of the chest and is clearly visible to the inner eye of an adept on the spiritual path. Through meditation, you can learn to find the Self in the cave of this Heart." ~ Mercedes de Acosta, Here Lies the Heart

Santthosh Kumaar: ~  The spiritual heart is the Soul, the Self, not the physical heart.   The world in which you exist is within the Soul, the spiritual heart. Mistaking the spiritual heart within the body is a great error. Even some Advaitic guru says that the Self is within the spiritual heart. And the spiritual heart is on the left side.  Such a declaration is merely an imagination, based on the false Self (ego or you). When the Self is bodiless, then the question of the heart being left side or right side does not arise.  

The seeker must realize the Soul, the Self, itself is the spiritual heart.  The Soul the spiritual heart is ever formless. The Soul itself is the spiritual heart that is present in the form of the spirit or consciousness.

Without the form, time, and space, the Soul, the Self, becomes naked. The nature of the Soul, the innermost Self is the formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. 

Sage Ramana Maharishi also refers to: ~ Pure Consciousness, which is the heart, includes all, and nothing is outside or apart from it. 

That means the fullness of the consciousness is the ultimate Truth or Brahman or God in truth.

I have the highest reverence for Sage Ramana Maharishi as a sage of absolute purity and unworldliness and desirelessness, but those who are seeking truth have to indulge in much deeper Self-search to realize the truth which is beyond the dual (waking or dream and nondual states).  

The serious seekers who are searching for the ultimate truth or Brahman should not stop till they reach their Goal.

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

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

Bhagavan 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

Dattatreya's Song of the Avadhut 1.36-42:~ Advaita taught by some; some others teach duality. They don't understand that the all-pervading Reality is beyond both duality and non-duality.

Mundaka Upanishad 1.3:~ Complete knowledge includes knowledge of the phenomenal world, the spirit behind it, and the source of both of them.  When the cause of all causes becomes known, then everything knowable becomes known, and nothing remains unknown is Gnana.”

Sage Sankara’s wisdom will remain a dead letter to the seekers who get stuck with orthodoxy and glorifying God and gurus.     All such acts and worship and rituals are not meant for the seekers of truth. 

Sage Sankara: ~ 'Like a servant who carries a lamp in front of you to find your way, and you have found it, so becomes the Veda to that person. What is the Veda? -- utterances of those who have known the Truth. Here is one who has known the Truth; why should he or she depend upon the Veda further? Actual realization takes you beyond books. At a certain stage, books become a botheration. The Upanishad itself says that the 'words are only so much of distraction for such minds'

Sage Sankara: ~ Atman, the innermost 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. 

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

God in truth is the Atman, the Self. Atman is present in the form of consciousness.

Do not accept any other God other than Atman not worship other than Atman.

Let these words be inscribed in your subconscious.

Nothing is real but God. Nothing Matters but love for God in truth. God in truth is everywhere and in everything.

God in truth is hidden by the illusory universe. God in truth alone is and all else is an illusion.

Rig Veda, 10:48, 5:~ The Soul is the cause; Soul is the support of all that exists in this universe. May ye never turn away from the Soul the innermost Self. May ye never accept another God in place of the Soul nor worship other than the Soul?

The pursuit of truth is not for getting emotionally involved with some guru or yogi and indulging in glorifying the guru or yogi as God but investigating to find out whether there is any valuable material to realize the ultimate truth, which is beyond the form, time and space.  

Swami Vivekananda said: ~ “You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, and none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own Soul.”

Thus, the seeker has to do his own homework to realize the truth beyond the form, time, and space.  The seeker's aim is the search for the Ultimate Truth or Brahman, the search to find the non-dualistic truth that in actuality never was lost, only hidden. The ultimate truth has to be realized first, and then only it is possible to know what the scriptures are saying.

Bhagavad Gita: 7: 19:~ "Such a man who has attained true knowledge, the knowledge of Self, the knowledge of Atman, worships the Self as~ Atman (God in truth) alone exists~ everything is Atman, there exists nothing except Atman. Such a man is extremely rare"

The Soul, the Self is the ultimate truth or Brahman.  The seeker should not search for truth outside of the form, time, and space.  Let these words be inscribed in your heart. Nothing is real but the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. 

Nothing matters but an intense urge to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman. The Soul or consciousness is everywhere and in everything.  Consciousness is beyond form, time, and space and is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth. God in truth alone is and all else is an illusion.:~Santthosh Kumaar 

Sage Sankara says: - Yoga is not the means of liberation +

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

What happens when thoughts are stilled? It is not the ultimate truth that is found.  Thoughtlessness is not wisdom or Gnana. It is only ignorance.

Patanjali yoga is not Atma  Gnana and, therefore, yoga will not yield the highest truth. The yoga is good to give peace and concentration, but only in order to start reasoning, i.e. thinking again and again to find the truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space.

Yoga and Samadhi are not a goal but a means to an end, i.e. Gnana. Samadhi in itself is useless because the mind is withdrawn and there is no memory of it until after it is over and one returns to the waking state. A yogi who attains mind control: it is only sleep.

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

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

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

The path of truth is the path is verification. Nothing has to be accepted as truth without verification. 

Ashtavakra Gita: ~ The fool tries to control the mind with the mind - what folly! The wise one delights in the  Self alone. There is no mind to master.

Sage Sankara says: - Yoga is not the means of liberation. (page 132-133 - Commentary on Brihadaranyakopanishad).

Yoga can yield only the duality because everything that one can do or practice becomes a vanishing 'known.' It yields relative truth based on imagination, which is true from the physical point of view, not the non-dual truth, which is the ultimate reality.

Yoga does not yield truth, because it ignores the objective world.  Say the yoga has its place rather than its value and that its value is for a certain type of mindset.  One cannot live without the physical world; it is the basis of his life, so it must be the starting point of his inquiry. Things, not imaginations, must be the seeker’s material.

The yogi, who follows Patanjali-yoga, wants to sit in a place and think "I’ am shutting my eyes, ‘I’ am sitting in this cave, and ‘I’ am meditating." This egocentric yoga has nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

The yogi mystic is always thinking in terms of me and ‘I’ for he thinks of what he is to get from his practice; whereas in the path of wisdom one first verifies and get rid of this ‘I’ by the deeper inquiry for he wants the truth, not something for the Self.

The Yogi says he wants to gain Samadhi. The Gnani wants to gain nothing for he knows, "I’ is the whole universe. 

Remember:~

Yoga is meant for the mass mindset, which is incapable of investigating and verifying their inherited beliefs.  The path of wisdom or truth is to get the pure essence of nonduality or Advaita.

In Sutra Bashya and Mundaka: ~ Samadhi and sleep are identical. 

Brihad Upanishad does not advocate Samadhi.

Avadhuta Gita: ~ “The Atman cannot be purified through the practice of the six limbs of the yoga, or through the annihilation of the mind, or through the instruction of a teacher. The Atman is the Reality Itself and It is Purity Itself."

From the standpoint of the Soul, the Self, the visions, and Samadhi are the illusion because they are based on the false self (ego) within the false experience (waking).

It is not possible to stop the thought for more than a half-second whilst in the waking state. If one succeeds in controlling thought and then banishes it, one passes into Nirvikalpa Samadhi, which is identical to deep sleep. The only difference between ordinary deep sleep and Samadhi, therefore, is that the ordinary man falls asleep involuntarily whereas the yogi has the satisfaction of knowing that he has passed into sleep by his own effort of will in banishing thoughts.

Sage Patanjali warns against sleep as a hindrance to yoga, he means when it occurs in the early stages of the practice before one has obtained the power of control and consequently to banish the thought. The fact, that Samadhi is deep sleep is kept secret because people would not be tempted to take up yoga.

Yoga sharpens the ego, to enable it to keep away all extraneous thoughts when one gets out to reason in the practice of the next higher stage, i.e. Gnana.

Yoga is thus simply a sharpening-stone for the ego to enable it to take up Gnana. But you say that Maharishi lives without thoughts, Impossible. How can he walk from one spot to another without thought? He does not know the Gnanic truth if he says thoughtlessness is the perfect stage of the Soul, the Self.:~Santthosh Kumaar 

Everything in the cosmos-- energy and space, fire and water, name and form,time and space --all come from the Soul, the Self.+*****

The seeker has to find out:~ What is this universe in which we exist? What stuff the universe in which we exist ultimately made of?

Realizing that the final stuff of which this universe in which you exist is made is Truth realization or self-realization or God realization. 

Chandogya Upanishad -One who meditates upon and realizes the 'Self' discovers that everything in the cosmos-- energy and space, fire and water, name and form, birth and death, mind and will, word and deed, mantram and meditation--all come from the Self.

Krishna tells Arjuna ~   that knowledge of both matter and Spirit is the True knowledge. (Gita, Chap.XII)

Everything (universe) is the consciousness, which Sage scientist Sankara declared 1200 years back –everything is Atman because Atman is in the form of consciousness or Spirit. 

The Soul is the Self. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. Consciousness is ever-present. Without consciousness, the world, in which you exist ceases to exist. Consciousness is Self-evident. It is not established by extraneous proofs. 

It is not possible to deny consciousness because it is the very essence of the one who denies it. Consciousness is the basis of all kinds of knowledge, presuppositions, and proofs. Consciousness is everything. Thus, consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman.

 

The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is real and eternal. The world in which we exist is an illusion created out of consciousness.  

Remember:

All is consciousness. The whole universe is consciousness. From consciousness, the universe comes. When the universe disappears, the consciousness remains without form, time, and space.

Sage Sankara: ~ “VC~ All this universe which through ignorance appears as of diverse forms, is nothing else but Brahman (Consciousness) which is free from all the limitations of  Maya.

Sage Sankara:~ VC~.63- "Without knowing and examining the external world, one can’t know the Truth, as the idea that the external world exists, won't go. It can go only by an inquiry into the nature of the external world.

After verifying through deeper inquiry if one finds the world is a reality within the illusion then he cannot again say the world is not an illusion.

If one is frightened to accept the world is an illusion (waking) then he is unfit to acquire ‘Self’-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. Those who are stuck with the reality of the world are stuck with the reality of the individual experiences of birth, life, and death, which take place within the unreal world. Thus the pursuit of truth is for those who have the courage to accept reality as it is, that is the reality without form, time, and space.

When you finally realize the ‘‘Self’ ‘is not you but the ‘‘Self’’ is the Soul then you will realize the world in which you exist is merely an illusion created out of the Soul. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness.

Sage Sankara says:~ VC-47- All the effects of ignorance, root, and branch, are burnt down by the fire of knowledge, which arises from discrimination between these two—the Self and the non-Self.

Until you think you are an individual separate from the world and the world that existed before you and you are born in it afterward the ignorance will prevail as a reality. Till ignorance is there the universe prevails as reality.

Sage Sankara says ~ “The exercise in discrimination between real and unreal and renunciation of the false is real meditation, then why you are indulging in other types of meditation.

Perfect understanding and realization of ‘what is what’ leads to Self-awareness. By holding onto theories one remains in the realm of duality. You have to mentally go on dropping what is not the truth through deeper Self-search. Finally when you become aware of the fact that, your ego, your body, and the world are one in essence then there is Self-awareness in the midst of duality. 

 Remember 

Ignorance is the cause of the duality. The duality is the cause of the illusion. The illusion is the cause of experiencing birth, life, death, and the world as a reality.

Self-knowledge leads to Self-awareness. The quest for truth is not the quest for acquiring the dualistic truth within the world. The seeker must have an intense urge to realize the truth which is beyond the form, time, and space.

 The dualistic knowledge hides the truth beyond form, time, and space. The practical life within the practical world is nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman.  

The dualistic knowledge within the dualistic illusion is not Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Remember:~

This vast cosmos with all its contents (atom, molecule, sun, moon, planet, and star) all are created out of single stuff. That single stuff is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Knowledge of the single stuff is Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.  

Consciousness is ever-present. Without consciousness, the world, in which you exist ceases to exist. Consciousness is Self-evident. It is not established by extraneous proofs.  It is not possible to deny consciousness because it is the very essence of the one who denies it. Consciousness is the basis of all kinds of knowledge, presuppositions, and proofs. Consciousness is everything. Thus, consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is the ultimate truth or Brahman (God). The universe is not real. There is no difference between Brahman and the universe because the universe is a mere illusion created out of the consciousness which is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

First, the seeker has to know ‘what is the mind” What is the substance of the mind? And ‘what is the source of the mind? , to realize ‘what is what’? The ego is the physical mind, whereas the mind is present in the form of the universe. 

The universe appears as waking or dream (duality) and disappears as deep sleep). Thus, a perfect understanding of ‘what is what' is necessary to realize that form, time, and space are merely an illusion created out of single stuff. 

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

What is not the consciousness (formless) in waking, dream, or deep sleep? The waking and the dream cease to exist without consciousness. 

 The Soul (witness and the three states (witnessed) are one in essence. That essence is consciousness. Thus, The seeker, seeking and his destination all are one in essence.

There is only a need to realize the whole universe in which we exist is created out of consciousness (Soul), the Self.  

From the standpoint, the Soul, the Self, the universe is merely an illusion created out of consciousness. From the ultimate standpoint, no second thing exists other than consciousness. Thus, consciousness is the ultimate reality or Brahman or  God in truth. :~Santthosh Kumaar 

If the man had seen God creating the world, he could admit it, but how could he have seen God before he came into existence?+

People accumulate knowledge by reading or hearing from different sources, and they think they are learned and already self-realized. Their half-baked knowledge leads to hallucinations. Without self-knowledge, or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is impossible to realize the truth beyond the form, time, and space.

Rational thinking is necessary to realize the truth beyond form, time, and space because Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is nothing to do with religion and its rituals.  The religious man alone thinks of the attributed consciousness with various names and forms.

If God is the formless spirit, then how does 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).

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

Pundits justify myths and religious fancies. Soulcentric Reasoning means strict thinking of facts.  Easy philosophy is a false philosophy. It may be a true religion.  People do not want the reason, to think.

The seekers of truth should not accept pundits' knowledge as the ultimate truth without deeper verification  A Gnani is no respecter of persons, but he is concerned with the ultimate truth or Brahman. 

Sage  Sankara himself declares ~ 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?

62. A disease does not leave off if one simply utters the name of the medicine, without taking it; (similarly) without direct realization one cannot be liberated by the mere utterance of the word Brahman.

The person, who starts an exposition by bringing in Gods, is trying to force on others something which he believed as truth or something, which he has simply assumed. An assumption is something that is not in itself true but is assumed to be true.

How does one know that his idea of God corresponds to God? Philosophic doubt is needed. Every dream and vision must be tested if it is true.  The yogi thinks that by getting to Nirvikalpa Samadhi he reaches the highest; the religious man thinks that by getting God’s vision he reaches the highest, but how do they know it is the highest?:~Santthosh Kumaar 

Sage Goudpada: ~ To establish the truth of Non-duality by sheer reasoning alone.+

In chap. 10 of in Bhagvad Gita, Krishna says: ~ I cannot save you, but I can give you Buddhi (reason). (chap. 10)

In chap. 10 of in Bhagvad Gita, Krishna says: ~ "I have given you the most secret teaching, now reflect over it all" Krishna plainly says reflect, think. (Verse 63 of Chap. 18)

 Bhagvad Gita: ~ Reason as a means to reality. (Chap.18 verse 37)

Mundaka Upanishad says: ~  Both states are harmful and take you away from the path of inquiry into the truth. (Page 234)

Ashtavakra Gita: ~ It is not the absence of Buddhi that can grasp Advaita but the man who possesses the highest intellect. Brains are necessary. Such a man, by merely hearing the truth mentioned will know it. (Page~ 224).

Sage Goudpada: ~ To establish the truth of Non-duality by sheer reasoning alone. He begins by defining "What is real?" "What is unreal?" etc, because that is the right way to discuss or teach. People must first know what they are talking about. (Manduka Karika)

The reasoning is interpretable in two ways. The egocentric interpretation is to apply it only to the waking experience. The Soulcentric interpretation is to apply it to the three states. The latter leads to a final settlement of the problems because it takes all data into consideration.

If one has a belief, it is because somebody else believes it, or the majority believes it--or it is his own experience. Is it religious authority or religious sanction or is it based upon a feeling of certainty? They believe it merely because it works well or is it true. If you ask the question of Truth, it becomes a question of philosophy. Does your belief rest upon Reason?  Nearly all people want their own imagination, not the truth.

The inferior knowledge based on religion is not the means to Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.  Scriptural Revelation is, therefore, absolutely necessary for this hypothesis of cosmology, this Saguna or apara (= inferior) Brahman, but not for the absolute truth of Nirguna Brahman.:~Santthosh Kumaar