Jesus said: ~ Seek and ye shall find. Knock the doors shall open to you.+

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 and nationality, and the universe. Spirituality is based on the Soul, the  Self. From the standpoint of the Soul the innermost Self, the universe in which we exist is merely an illusion:

Jesus said: ~ Do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. (Matthew -7:6) 

Jesus meant Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana (pearls) should not be given to the ignorant populace (pigs)

Jesus really say? To the multitude, he said, “God is in heaven; try to go there,” and to reach that end he said to overcome certain temptations and sufferings.

To his followers, he said, “God is everywhere; try to see Him.” and gave explanations to that effect.

To the close circle of apostles, he said, “God is in me and in you too,” and actually revealed this to them.

Why did Jesus say different things? Owing to the time and the persons, according to their readiness to listen and understand. What Jesus meant was to leave all and follow him; that means to know him, see him, and experience him.

The teachings that are being followed by Christians are not the real teachings that Christ gave. The priests have altered his words, added to his teachings, and spoiled them.

Jesus said: ~ Seek and ye shall find. Knock the doors shall open to you. 

Remember:~

Gospel Thomas logian 22:~ Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to his disciples, “These infants being suckled are like those who enter the kingdom.”

They said to him, “Shall we then, as children, enter the kingdom?”

Jesus said to them:~  “When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor the female is female; and when you fashion eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, and a likeness in place of a likeness; then will you enter the kingdom.”

Santthosh Kumaar: ~ This above passage is Jesus’s version of Nonduality or Advaita. When one realizes mind (matter) and Soul (Spirit), the Self, are one, in essence, there is no place for the duality. Without the 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 the consciousness or Spirit. 

 Till one thinks he is an individual separate from this world he remains in the realm of duality. The duality is the product of ignorance. When the wisdom dawns, then the ignorance vanishes. When the ignorance vanishes, then the duality never remains as a reality. 

God is not physical. God is present in the form of the Spirit. The Spirit is the cause of the world and the Spirit itself is uncaused. 

 From the standpoint of the Spirit, the form, time, space, and name are merely an illusion. The spirit alone is real and all else is an illusion. In reality, the spirit (God) matter (the world in which we exist), are one.:~Santthosh Kumaar

Brahman is everywhere and in everything.+

People study  Vedanta and they under the delusion and conclude that they declare:~   "I-Am-Brahman",   but they fail to realize the fact that   Brahman is everywhere and in everything! The existence of Brahman is not limited to his physical identity, because, it is the very essence of form, time, and space.

Yoga Vasistha:~ "Teachers, interpretations of sacred texts, the force of religious merit--none of these lead to the realization of that Ultimate Truth which is revealed in the clear reflection of the heart, engendered from contact with the good."

Sage Sankara: ~ VC- Let erudite scholars quote all the Scripture, let Gods be invoked through sacrifices, let elaborate rituals be performed, let personal Gods be propitiated---yet, without the realization of one‘s identity with the Self, there shall be no liberation for the individual, not even in the lifetimes of a hundred Brahmas put together. (verses-6)

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

The ‘I’ is ignorance. Till one holds the ‘I’ as the Self, it is impossible to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.  Thus,   the seeker has to get rid of the ignorance, which is present in the form of ‘I’, to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman. 

What is this ‘I’?

The ‘I’ is not a thought.  The ‘I’ is the mind. The mind is the whole universe.  The universe appears as waking or dream (duality and disappears as deep sleep (nonduality).  The one that appears as waking or dream (duality) and disappears as deep sleep (nonduality) is the Soul, the Self. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. The consciousness pervades everything and everywhere in all three states.

Without knowing what the mind is, it is impossible to realize the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.  People think the mind is within the body, but deeper self-search reveals the fact that the world in which you exist itself is the mind. When the ‘I’ is there then only the mind is there. 

If the mind is there then only the universe is there. If the universe is there then only the waking is there.  Thus, it is very much necessary to realize the ‘what ‘I’ is in actuality.  Without knowing ‘what is this ‘I’ it is impossible to realize the ‘I-less’ truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space.

Till you hold the ‘Self ‘as the ‘I’ you will never be able to get Self-realization.  ‘I’ hides the Soul, which is the Self. 

I’ is ignorance.

‘I’ is the duality.

‘I’ is the form, time, and space.

‘I’ is the universe.

‘I’ is the waking.

‘I’ is the dream.

‘I’ is the illusion.

‘I’ is the experience of birth, life, death, and the world.

But remember:~

Without the ‘I’ there is no ignorance.

Without the ‘I’ there is no duality.

Without the ‘I’ there is no form, time, and space.

Without the ‘I’ there is no universe.

Without the ‘I’ there is no waking.

Without the ‘I’ there is no dream.

Without the ‘I’ there is no illusion.

Without the ‘I’ there is no experience of birth, life, death, and the world.

The ‘I’ hides the truth of the whole. The ‘I’ hides the truth.

That is why Ashtavakra Gita 16:10:~ If you desire liberation, but you still say ‘I,’, If you feel the ‘Self’ is the ‘I’, you are not a wise man or a seeker. You are simply a man who suffers.

The Bhagavad Gita: ~ The permanent is always there, only the transient ‘I’ comes and goes. (2.18)

It is time to discard the ‘I’. Never use the word the ‘I’ or I AM for the Self. :~Santthosh Kumaar   

The man alone does not become Brahman (God) because the world in which man exists is mere an illusion.+

The man alone does not become Brahman (God) because the world in which man exists is merely an illusion.  The illusion is created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.  The consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

The Self is not you because you are bound by the experience of birth, life, death, and the world. The Soul, the 'Self' becomes the universe in waking or dream (duality) and the universe becomes the Soul, the 'Self is deep sleep (nonduality).  thus, the Soul, God becomes dual and nondual. From the standpoint of the Soul, the duality is merely an illusion. Therefore, God alone is real and the universe is merely an illusion created out of the Soul, God. 

The experience of birth, life, death, and the world is nothing to do with the Soul of the  Self. When you are not the Self, then how can you relate the Self with your experience of birth, life, death, and the world. When the Soul wakes up with its own awareness, then you and your experience of the world becomes unreal in the same way as the dream becomes unreal when the waking takes place.

It is foolish to say ‘I AM GOD’ when the Self is not you,  but the Self is the Soul. Therefore, the Soul, the Self,  is God in truth.

People say Aham Brahmasmi ~ I am God, I am Brahman. But when Brahman is, how can "I" remain? Only Brahman remains, not the ‘I’.

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 1-164-46 and Y.V 32-1 clearly mention that God is “One”.

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

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 present in the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself.

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

That is why Ashtavakra Gita 16:10:~ If you desire liberation, but you still say "mine," If you feel the ‘Self’ is the ‘I’, You are not a wise man or a seeker. You are simply a man who suffers.

Only religious Godmen declare: I AM GOD. Gnanis say the Soul, the Self is God. 

Remember:~ 

Different paths will not converge to the same Ultimate Reality because they are based on the false ‘‘Self’’. They are not different stages in the same path. People fight about the differences and greatness of their chosen paths but only through wisdom one can realize the Ultimate Reality.

All is consciousness.  The whole universe is consciousness. From consciousness, the universe comes. When the universe disappears, the consciousness still 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 absolutely free from all the limitations of human thought.

The universe is the product of ignorance. The ignorance is present in the form of the ‘I’.

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.

Till you think you are an individual separate from the world and the world existed prior to 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. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Vedas says God is One and that God is Atama.+

The populace in India believes and worships sixty million Gods, but they are unaware of the fact that the Vedas, their own scriptures, which they hold as sacred say God is One and that God is Atama.

There is no mention of these sixty million Gods in Vedas.  There is clear-cut instruction in Vedas what God is supposed to be and what to worship as God and what not to worship in place of God.

The Hindus believed in polytheism, believing all of their Gods to be separate individuals, which was introduced much later by the founders of Hinduism which contains diverse beliefs caste, and creed. 

When the religion of the Veda knows no idols, then why so many Gods and Goddesses with different forms and names are being propagated as Vedic Gods. Why these conceptual Gods are introduced when the Vedic concept of God is free from form and attributes.

Who introduced the concept of God with attributes and attributeless Gods, when Yajur Veda says: -   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. Therefore, all these add-ons prove that the form and attribute-based concepts are introduced by some sages of the past with a new belief system and code of conduct in the name of Vedas. 

In Vedas, God has been described as the Atman.

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

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

Rig-Veda 1-164-46 and Y.V 32-1 clearly mention that God is “One”.

Rig Veda says God is ‘ONE’ and God is Atman, then why believe and worship sixty million Gods.

Thus Vedas refers to God as Atman, which is a formless and attributeless God. It indicates clearly All the Gods with form and attributes are mere imaginations based on the false self.  Thus, Atman, the innermost Self is the real God.

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.

Yajurveda says if one worships what is not the God he enters darkness: ~  

Translation 1

They enter darkness, those who worship natural things (for example air, water, sun, moon, animals, fire, stone, etc.). They sink deeper into 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 are 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 Prakriti -- the material cause of the world -- in place of the All-pervading God, But 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 Prakriti -- the material cause of the world -- in place of the All-pervading God, But 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.)

So, Yajur Veda indicates that: ~ They sink deeper into 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 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.)

Indian populace accepts the concept of God in many forms and names.

Sages of truth declare the Atman is Brahman.  That is the Soul, which is in the form of consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman.  That is the ultimate truth is God.  And the ultimate truth itself is worthy of Godhood. 

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 the 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

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad:~The Self is indeed Brahman, but through ignorance, people identify it with intellect, mind, senses, passions, and the elements of earth, water, air, space, and fire. This is why the Self is said to consist of this and that and appears to be everything. 

Religion can never make you know God because it propagates the belief in God. Only an intense urge to know what God is supposed to be in truth can make you realize God.  

The Soul, the ‘Self is the Infinite God. 

The Soul is the innermost Self. God is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. God is the fullness of the consciousness without the illusory division of form, time, and space.  Therefore, there is nothing apart from it. 

God is Self-evident. God is not established by extraneous proofs. It is not possible to deny God because God is the very essence of the one who denies it. God is the basis of all kinds of knowledge, presuppositions, and proofs. God is within the universe in which you exist, the God is without the universe in which you exist.

Remember 

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

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

The Soul itself is God, the One without a Second.

The Soul is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God. The Soul, God is present in the form of consciousness. Thus, consciousness itself is God.

Even Bhagavad Gita says: ~ Brahmano hi pratisthaham ~ Brahman (God) is considered the all-pervading consciousness, which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material. (14.27).

The consciousness, the God is Self-evident. It is not established by extraneous proofs. It is not possible to deny God because God is the very essence of the one who denies God. God is the basis of all kinds of knowledge, presuppositions, and proofs

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

Bhagavad Gita Chapter: ~ “All those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires, they worship many Gods. (7- Verse)

Vedas, Upanishad, and Bhagvad Gita Bible confirm the Soul, the Self, which is the present in the form of the Spirit or consciousness is God in truth.

It is for every seeker who is seeking truth must first know what God is supposed to be in actuality according to Vedas and Upanishads and reject all non-Vedic Gods to realize the Atman is real God.   :~ Santthosh Kumaar