Bhagavad Gita: ~ "Those who have achieved 'Self-Knowledge are free from conflicting dualities have merged in Brahman.+

Bhagavad Gita: ~ "Those who have achieved 'Self-Knowledge are free from conflicting dualities to have merged in Brahman. 

Advaitic Sages restrained themselves parting the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana to the mass and only selected a few.   It was hidden from the mass who were not qualified and receptive to it. Self- knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana was not written down but was imparted orally to the chosen few.  Thus, religion was given to the mass and knowledge of the spirit is given only selected few.  Thus, we find traces of the knowledge of spirit in religious books in the form of parables.

Dewdrops of spiritual insights in Bhagavad Gita: ~

Bhagavad Gita: ~ 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)

Bhagavad Gita itself says God (Brahman) is considered the all-pervading consciousness, then why worship Lord Krishna as God, who is limited to the domain of the form, time and space. From the ultimate standpoint the form, time and space are merely an illusion. Lord Krishna can exist only in the domain of dualistic illusion. The consciousness is real and eternal. Whatever is real is the ultimate truth and the ultimate truth is Brahman or God.  Thus, by worshiping Lord Krishna as God is meant for the ignorant populace that is incapable of grasping the truth beyond the illusory form, time and space.

That is why Bhagavad Gita says: ~ “Don't unsettle the minds of ignorant by revealing the esoteric truth."

Bhagavad Gita: ~ It says "Yoga is for purification." This means it is not for truth but discipline. (Chapter 6 verse 11 and 12, which deals with meditation)

Bhagavad Gita says throughout the book, not to rely on Yoga, but to rely on reason (Buddhi) (discrimination between real and unreal). (Chap.5 deals with renunciation)

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

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

In chap. 10 of in Bhagavad 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)

The consciousness is the cause of the dualistic illusion and it itself is uncaused. The consciousness is real and eternal.   Thus, consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God. Thus it is necessary to realize the difference between the ordinary belief of God and the truth about God.

That is why Lord Krishna says: ~ “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. (Ch~ V)

The one who is in search of truth has to accept only the truth nothing but the truth.

Bhagavad Gita suits everyone because there is something in it for everyone. People love the Bhagavad Gita because it is very easy to extract one's own meaning from it.   It is a hodgepodge containing everything; hence it is difficult to find any tradition whose voice is not found in the Bhagavad Gita.

It is difficult to find anyone who does not take solace from the Bhagavad Gita. But for such people to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana will prove very difficult. 

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is not for synthesis. Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is the knowledge of the truth beyond the form, time and space.

Reading Bhagavad Gita,  a devotee extracts something of which he can make a belief because Bhagavad Gita speaks on bhakti, devotion.

Bhagavad Gita speaks on karma yoga; the karma yogi extracts his belief. The believer Gnana yoga finds what he wants because Bhagavad Gita speaks on Gnana as well. Somewhere Bhagavad Gita says bhakti-yoga is the ultimate, somewhere else it says Gnana yoga is the ultimate, again elsewhere it says karma yoga the ultimate.

There are 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 the truth beyond the form, time, and space. The Bhakti yoga and Karma yoga is meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. The Gnana yoga, with its emphasis on the Advaitic wisdom, is meant for those who wish to go beyond such transient pleasures.

Lord teaches us in the Gita and in it, he lashes out against the karmakanda. It is generally believed that the Buddha and Mahavira were the first to attack the Vedas.

It is not so. Lord Sir Krishna himself spoke against them long before these two religious leaders. At one place in the Bhagavad Gita, he says to Arjuna:-"The Vedas are associated with the three qualities of sattva, rajas, and tamas.

 You must transcend these three qualities. Full of desire, they (the practitioners of Vedic rituals) long for paradise and keep thinking of pleasures and material prosperity. They are born again and again and their minds are never fixed in samadhi, these men clinging to Vedic rituals. “In another passage Lord Krishna says: "Not by the Vedas is Self to be realised, nor by sacrifices nor by much study . . . .”

Bhagavad Gita caters and includes many things to suit and please diverse mindset. This is why the Bhagavad Gita suits everyone, why there are thousands of commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita.

The populace is not concerned with the Advaitic wisdom because to accept Advaitic truth one has to drop all accumulate dualistic knowledge.  One cannot bring the dualistic knowledge in the Gnana Yoga.  In the path of Bhakti yoga, there is no need to transform oneself; he can fit just as he is.

The founders of each sect and tradition have written commentaries on Bhagavad Gita. Each has extracted his own meaning.

Remember:~

Bhagavad Gita expresses things in such a way as to allow multiple meanings; hence Bhagavad Gita is like a poem. People can draw out any meaning as they like from a poem.

Bhagavad Gita is just like this ~ one will be able to see whatever way he imagines. So Gnani sees knowledge, the religious believer sees bhakti, Karma Yogi sees action ~ and each is happy thinking that what Bhagavad Gita says is the same as his belief.

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

In 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." Lord Krishna points out that yoga must-see "Brahman in action."

Gita Chap.IV: "He who achieves perfection in Yoga finds the Self in time." This means that after his yoga is finished, he begins the inquiry into ultimate truth, and in due course this inquiry produces the realization of the universal spirit as the result.

No dualities, no differentiation. Only Atman exists. Let us see in the words of Lord Krishna: ~

Bhagavad Gita: 4: 22:~ ".....who has gone beyond the conflicting dualities like the good (happiness) and bad (sorrow)....."

Bhagavad Gita: 4: 42:~ ".....cut all such conflicting dualities (doubts) by the sword (weapon) of knowledge. ....."

Bhagavad Gita: 5: 18:~ “The learned men (who have come out of delusions (Māyā), got rid of Avidya) see no differentiation have equal vision for a revered Brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a cāndāla (outcaste, rogue, mleccha, demonic person etc)"

Bhagavad Gita: 5: 19:~ "Those who have achieved the true knowledge i.e. the 'Self-Knowledge' or the 'knowledge of Atman' and see no difference, are free from conflicting dualities have merged in Brahman"

Bhagavad Gita: 5: 20:~ "One who does not get excited out of happiness on getting good and does not get depressed on getting bad is situated in Brahman i.e. is merged in Brahman"

Bhagavad Gita: 6: 9:~  "The one who has equal vision for a Selfless do-gooder, a friend, a foe, an unbiased, a well-wisher, a depressed and jealous man, relatives, a righteous and a sinner is the best (as he sees no duality and differentiation but sees everything as Atman)"

Bhagvad Gita: 6: 32:~ “.....as one seeks and treats oneself with equal vision, the same way one who has equal vision for good and evil, for everybody is the best of all"

Bhagavad Gita: 6: 8:~ "For whom soil, a pebble, and gold are alike, he is merged in Brahman"

Bhagavad Gita: 7: 27:~ ".....people are getting entangled in the primordial ignorance (Avidya) of the conflicting dualities like good and evil, happiness and sorrow caused due to attachments, desires, and hatred....."

Bhagavad Gita: 6: 28:~ “.....who have cut-off conflicting dualities (like good and evil) is determinedly in my service. ...."

Bhagavad Gita: 7: 19:~ "Such a man who has attained true knowledge, the knowledge of Self, the knowledge of Atman, in the last birth in the series of many births worships Me as~ Atman alone exists~ everything is Atman, there exists nothing except Atman. Such a man is extremely rare"

Bhagavad Gita 4:22-23:~ They live in freedom who have gone beyond the dualities of life. Competing with no one, they are alike in success and failure and content with whatever comes to them. They are free, without Selfish attachments; their minds are fixed in knowledge. They perform all work in the spirit of service, and their karma is dissolved.

Due to the diverse paths prescribed in Bhagvad Gita the suspicion and confusion often arise to the person who reads the Bhagvad Gita which path he has to take. Centuries have passed and commentaries on Bhagvad Gita keep on coming. Each era finds its own meaning; each person finds his own meaning.

 One has realized the individual God propagated by the belief systems, are mere imaginary Gods based on the false self (ego) within the false experience (waking). :~Santthosh Kumaar 

It is necessary to realize ‘what is supposed to be God’ according to the Vedas and the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita.+

It is necessary to realize ‘what is supposed to be God’ according to the  Vedas and the Upanishads and the  Bhagavad Gita.

It is impossible to know that God is everywhere without realizing what is supposed to be God.  All the Gods with names and forms are not real Gods. All Gods with names and forms were introduced temples were built by the rulers for the ignorant populace.

As one peeps into the annals of religious history he finds that Hinduism which exists today is not a continuation of the Vedic religion, and it has no real historical foundation.  Hinduism is of a much later origin.

As per the researchers, the two faiths the Hindu belief system has drifted miles away from the Vedic faith so that the two seem to be two distinct faiths. It is not difficult to discover that there is no noticeable continuity of Hinduism from the Vedic religion or Santana Dharma

The distinctive characteristics of the Hindu belief system cannot be traced in the Vedic literature. Besides, although the Vedas are revered as sacred texts, there are many people in India who do not know what ‘belief in the Vedas’ means. In most cases, the acquaintance of the Hindus with the Vedas is limited to the few hymns that are recited in temples and household liturgies.

Max Müller says: ~ “The religion of the Veda knows no idols; the worship of idols in India is a secondary formation, a degradation of the more primitive worship of ideal Gods."

Hindus are idol worshipers of a large number of Gods and Goddesses whereas Vedas declares God is ‘ONE’ and that God is Atman.

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

Do not accept any other God other than the Soul. The Soul is God in truth,  Nothing is real but the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Nothing matters but realize  God in truth. God in truth is everywhere and in everything. Let these words be inscribed in your subconscious. 

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

Brahman is merely a word to indicate the ultimate truth or God in truth.  The ultimate truth itself is God in truth. 

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 real God.

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)

In Vedas, God has been described as: ~

           v Sakshi (Witness)

           v Chetan (conscious)

           v Nirguna (Without form and properties).

           v Nitya (eternal)

           v Shuddha (pure)

           v Buddha (omniscient)

           v   Mukta (unattached).

The nature of the Atman (Soul) is:~    

         v Witness

         v Conscious

         v Without form and properties

         v Eternal

         v Pure

         v Omniscient

         v Unattached

Thus, it refers to formless and attributeless God, which is the Atman (Soul), the innermost Self within the false experience. Thus, it indicates clearly all the Gods with form and attributes are mere imagination based on the false self.  Thus, Atman or Soul, the innermost Self is God.

The Vedas do not talk about idol worship. In fact, till about 2000 years ago followers of Vedism never worshiped idols. Idol worship was started by the followers of Buddhism and Jainism.  There is logic to idol worship. Vedas speak of one God that is the supreme self in i.e. Atman or soul but Hinduism indulges in worshiping 60 million Gods.

It indicates clearly all the Gods with form and attributes are mere imagination based on the false self.

The Vedas as a body of scripture contains many contradictions and they are fragmentary in nature. For Hindus, scriptures like the Bhagavad-Gita, Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Puranas are more attractive and appealing than the Vedas. And also the Gods and Goddesses they worship differ considerably from the Vedic ones. The collection of hymns called Vedas are written in praise of certain deities by poets over several centuries does not seem to have much significance for the Hindus

Yajur Veda says:~

Translation 1

They enter darkness, those who worship natural things (for example air, water, sun, moon, animals, fire, stone, etc).

They sink deeper in darkness those who worship sambhuti. (Sambhuti means created things, for example, table, chair, idol, etc.) (Yajurveda 40:9)

Translation 2

Deep into the shade of blinding gloom fall asambhuti's worshippers. They sink to darkness deeper yet who on sambhuti is the intent." (Yajurveda Samhita by Ralph T. H. Giffith pg 538)

Translation 3

"They are enveloped in darkness, in other words, are steeped in ignorance and sunk in the greatest depths of misery who worship the uncreated, eternal prakrti -- the material cause of the world -- in place of the All-pervading God, But those who worship visible things born of the prakrti, such as the earth, trees, bodies (human and the like) in place of God are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time." (Yajur Veda 40:9.)

So, Yajur Veda indicates that: ~

They sink deeper in darkness those who worship sambhuti. (Sambhuti means created things, for example,  table, chair, idol, etc. (Yajurveda 40:9)

Those who worship visible things born of the Prakriti, such as the earth, trees, bodies (human and the like) in place of God are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time." (Yajur Veda 40:9.)

The religion is based on personal God. And Orthodoxy accepts the experience of birth, life, death, and the world as reality, whereas Sage Sankara declares the world is unreal Brahman alone is real.  Thus, the experience of birth, life, death happening within the unreal world is bound to be a falsehood. Thus, religion and religious belief and its ritual based on the birth entity are bound to be a falsehood.  Thus, the seeker has to realize ‘what is that is real and eternal?

Mythological stories are a myth. Whatever is based on myth is merely a superstition.  Mythology was introduced in the past for the ignorant masses. It has to be discarded as one progresses in his spiritual advancement. 

Mythology breeds superstition, blind belief, and senseless rituals and most irrational and gives them divine outlook.   

Religious Gods are not real Gods. One must know God in truth.

Common People take whatever they inherited from their forefathers as truth. The question never occurs to them “Is what I have seen or thought really the truth?"

Religion only fuels the ego because religion is based on the ego.  All the religious Gods based on the ego. The ego is the false self within the false experience (waking).  Without the ego, they cease to exist. All religious rituals, practices, theories are based on the ego.   Religious Gurus parroting the Gods name.  All these gods are imaginary. 

All Gods with name and form and attributes can be a reality only in the domain of the form, time and space. From the ultimate standpoint, the form, time, and space are merely an illusion created out of single stuff. That single stuff is consciousness.  Consciousness is the ultimate truth and the ultimate truth is God in truth.

There is a clear-cut idea in the Vedas and Upanishads, what supposed to be God. And what not to worship in place of God then why worship the belief of God, which not God.

That is why 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.

Bhagavad Gita: ~ 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)

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)

Yajurveda – chapter- 32:~  God is Supreme Spirit has no ‘Pratima’ (idol) or material shape. God cannot be seen directly by anyone. God pervades all beings and all directions. Thus, Idolatry does not find any support from the Vedas.

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

When Upanishads and Vedas declare that, “God is the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself” then why accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman.

People, who worship the belief of God, are hallucinating that they become one with such God.

God with the form and names cannot exist only in the domain of the duality. In non-dual reality, there is no scope for the duality. :~Santthosh Kumaar 

Sage Sankara is the Jagadguru to the religious followers and he is a great Gnani to the seeking world.+

Sage Sankara taught that it was only through direct knowledge of Advaita that one could be enlightened.

Sage Sankara is the Jagadguru to the religious followers and he is a great Gnani to the seeking world.  

Sage Sankara “s Advaitic wisdom is without a Parallel.  Sage Sankara's wisdom is lofty, sublime, and unique. It is highly interesting, inspiring, and elevating. No other wisdom can stand before it in boldness, depth, and subtle thinking.  Sage Sankara’s wisdom is complete and perfect.

It is that wisdom in India was for centuries more an exposition of the ancient classics than the independent thought of individual thinkers as in ancient Greece or modern Europe and America.

Sage Sankara and Sage Goudpada are independent thinkers other schools of Indian philosophy are mere theologies. Advaitic wisdom is real wisdom. The dualistic philosophy cannot escape the charge of dogmatism.

The main hurdle in his way of thinking is the fact that Sage Sankara did not claim to be an original thinker at all, and his wisdom took the form of commentaries on the generality of the scriptures, particularly the Upanishads and the Gita. Sage Sankara was an independent thinker. His wisdom has not been taken seriously by many in India because most of the followers of Sage Sankara are religious orthodox.

Intelligence and thought, are not applicable to Advaitic wisdom, intelligence and thought are based on the false self (waking entity) within the false experience (waking).   The whole Advaitic wisdom is an attempt to transcend the limitations of intelligence and thought.

The two points of view A Gnani is not cut off from the experience of practical life within the practical world because the Advaitic truth is neither realism nor idealism; it is beyond both these.

Sage Sankara’s wisdom does not arise from studying Advaitic philosophy or mastering the scriptures or worshiping Gods or observing the ceremonies and singing devotional hymns, but the wisdom will dawn only by self-realization.

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 the liberation will never come, even after a hundred aeons, without realizing the Oneness.

That is why Sage Sankara says: ~    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.

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.

 The pursuit of truth does not begin with God.  God has to be proved, not assumed. Hence, the so-called Gurus who take God for granted are not Gnanis at all.

The Advaitin scholars will teach that all is Self, but none of them can show that this is so, none has analyzed it scientifically, and none can prove it. 

Rational proof is required so that one arrives at knowing the ultimate truth or Brahman i.e. Gnana.  Theirs is mere dogma, parrotism, repetition of what they read in the scripture.  Authoritarianism merely assumes as true what another says, but what has yet to be proved.

Sage Sankara’s whole wisdom can be summed up in one sentence, ‘There is nothing else but Brahman. He says that Absolute Existence, Absolute Knowledge, and Absolute awareness are real. The universe is not real. He says that Brahma and Atman are one. The Ultimate and the Absolute Truth is the Self, which is one though appearing as many different individuals. The individual has no reality. Only the Self is real; the rest, mental and physical are but passing appearances.

The truth must be independent of religion because religion is based on the false self (ego) within the false experience (world). 

The Saguna Brahman or a personal God is only a part of the illusory world, and the Nirguna Brahman, or Real God (Soul) is the only reality and has nothing to do with religion. 

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)

Orthodoxy is the home of mysticism and deification that is why they are not keen on the rational truth.  The scriptures and their commentaries thereon do not contain the higher wisdom. They are intended for those who are incapable of thinking rationally.

 Most of the scriptures are not on a philosophical basis but on an Orthodox and a mystic basis. There is no final authority to show certainty.  Pundits take for granted, assuming that a world was created.  God created the world is merely an imagination.   There is neither creation nor creator from the standpoint of the Soul the Self.

The pundits mix dogmatic theology with philosophy.  Some scriptures take the position that there is another entity outside us, i.e. the world really exists separately from the mind. Those who study the scriptures are orthodox minds, intellectual children. 

People are afraid to go deeper because it means being heroic enough to refuse to accept Sruti, and God's authority, in case they mean punishment by God.

 A Gnani says the scriptures for children, but wise seekers will think rationally.  Advaitic wisdom is only for philosophical mindsets.

A number of Upanishads are equally dogmatic because they also begin by assuming Brahman, only a few Upanishads do not but prove Brahman at the end of a train of proof.

Sage Sankara gave religion and scholasticism and yoga no less than the Advaitic wisdom, to the seeking world. He was great enough to be able to do so. Many of his other books are presented from a religious standpoint to help those who are incapable of grasping the Advaitic wisdom. :~Santthosh Kumaar