Yoga has its own value in practical life within the practical world.+

Manduka Upanishad:~ Yoga is in the sphere of duality and is unnecessary to one who knows non-duality.

Sage Sankara pointed out that yoga could in no way bring about wisdom, much less Moksha.

Yoga is based on the body as the Self.  The deeper investigation reveals the fact that the Self is not the body. Therefore, body-based practices will not yield truth. Yoga has its own value in practical life within the practical world. But yoga is nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman.

The Atmic Path is nothing to do with yoga and religion. The path of religion, the theory of karma, the yogic path, 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 and it is not for those who are immersed in earthly desires.

As per the scriptures, the three "Ashrams" or stages in life were originally intended for three grades of intelligence thus:~

Religion: low intellects had to do 'karmas' works, ritual actions, chanting of mantras and indulging in bhajans and prayers, etc.

Middle intellects: Yoga: taking yellow robes, going to caves, ashrams, etc.

High intellects: wisdom who wanted the truth is concerned with no external rites or sanyasa but depends solely on the intelligent inquiry for their path.

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

In Sutra Bashya and Mandukya: ~  The Samadhi and sleep are identical.

Brihad Upanishad does not advocate Samadhi.

Sage Sankara in the  commentary to "Brahma Sutras: - " "The highest beatitude is not to be attained by Yoga." (Sacred Books of East Series page 298 Vol.1.) And he also says Samadhi is the same as sleep (p.312) ~ which indicates that yoga is not the means to Self-realization.

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 viewpoint of view, not the non-dual truth, which is the ultimate reality or Brahman or God in truth.

Realizing the universe is created out of single stuff and that single stuff is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness leads to non-dualistic or Advaitic Self-awareness. Self-awareness is freedom or Moksha. Moksha is unity in diversity in the midst of duality. :~Santthosh Kumaar 

The Ashtavakra Gita, with its emphasis on the Advaitic wisdom, is meant for those who wish to go beyond such transient pleasures.+

Maha Gita: ~ Krishna's Gita is a hodgepodge containing everything; hence it suits everyone because there is something in it for everyone. It is difficult to find any tradition whose voice is not found in the Gita. It is difficult to find anyone who does not take solace from the Gita. But for such people, Ashtavakra's Gita will prove very difficult. 

Ashtavakra is not for synthesis -- he is a man of truth. He speaks the truth just as it is, without any artifice or coloring. He is not concerned about the listener, he does not care whether his listener will understand or not. Such a pure expression of truth has never happened anywhere before, nor has it ever happened again. 

People love Krishna's Gita because it is very easy to extract one's own meaning from it. Krishna's Gita is poetic: in it two plus two can equal five, two plus two can also equal three. No such tricks are possible with Ashtavakra. With him, two plus two are exactly four. Ashtavakra's statements are statements of pure mathematics. There isn't the least possibility for poetic license here. He says things as they are, without any sort of compromise. 

Reading Krishna's Gita a devotee extracts something of which he can make a belief because Krishna spoke on bhakti, devotion. The karma yogi extracts his belief because Krishna has spoken on karma yoga, the Yoga of action. The believer in knowledge finds what he wants because Krishna has spoken on knowledge as well. Somewhere Krishna calls bhakti the ultimate, somewhere else he calls knowledge the ultimate, again elsewhere he calls karma yoga the ultimate.

Krishna's statements are very political. He was a politician, a perfect politician. Just to say he was a politician is not right; he was a shrewd politician, a real diplomat. In his statements, he considered and included many things. This is why the Gita suits everyone, why there are thousands of commentaries on the Gita. No one is concerned with Ashtavakra because to accept Ashtavakra you are going to have to drop yourself -- unconditionally. You cannot bring yourself along. Only if you stay behind can you come near him? With Krishna, you can bring yourself along. With Krishna, there is no need to transform yourself. With Krishna, you can fit just as you are.

Hence the founders of each tradition have written commentaries on Krishna's Gita -- Sankara, Ramanuja, Nimbarak, Vallabha -- everyone. Each has extracted his own meaning. Krishna has said things in such a way as to allow multiple meanings; hence I call his Gita poetic. You can draw out any meaning you like from a poem.

Krishna's statements are like clouds surrounding you in the rainy season: you see in them whatever you want. Someone may see an elephant's trunk, someone sees the whole body of Ganesha, the elephant God. Someone may not see anything. He will say, "What nonsense you talk! They are clouds, vapor -- how is it you see forms in them?"

 Krishna's Gita is just like this -- you will be able to see whatever is in your mind. So Sankara sees knowledge, Ramanuja sees bhakti, Tilak sees action -- and each returns home in a cheerful mood thinking that what Krishna says is the same as his belief.

This kind of suspicion often arises with Krishna too. Centuries have passed and commentaries on Krishna keep on coming. Each century finds its own meaning, each person finds his own meaning. Krishna's Gita is like an inkblot... it is the statement of the perfect politician.

You cannot extract any beliefs from Ashtavakra's Gita. Only if you drop yourself as you move into it, will Ashtavakra's Gita become clear to you?

Ashtavakra's message is crystal clear. You won't be able to add even a small bit of your own interpretation to it. Hence, people have not written commentaries on Ashtavakra's Gita. There is no scope for writing a commentary; there is no way to distort or twist it. Your mind has no chance to add anything. Ashtavakra has given such an expression that no one has been able to add or take anything from it, even though centuries have passed. It is not easy to give such a perfect expression. Such skill with words is very difficult to come by.

This is why I say we are starting off on a rare journey. ~OSHO

Santthosh Kumaar:~

Ashtavakra or any other book is not final because it has been misinterpreted by different authors based on their egocentric outlook.

The Soulcentric knowledge cannot be grasped on the dualistic understanding.

Nothing has to be accepted as truth without verification. What is accepted without a proper inquiry will not lead a person to the final goal.

The study of Upanishad was neither indispensable nor a necessary prerequisite for attaining the human goal, the moksha.

All that one was required to do was to get rid of ignorance.

There is no need to read books after books. You need to realize only the world in which you exist is created out of single stuff. That single stuff is consciousness.

Knowledge of that single stuff is Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is Advaitic Gnana.

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.  Bhagavad Gita is meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. 

Ashtavakra Gita, with its emphasis on the Advaitic wisdom, is meant for those who wish to go beyond such transient pleasures.

Scientific knowledge is limited to form, time and space. Self-knowledge is beyond the form, time and space.  The birth, life, death and the world are within the domain of the form, time and space. The Soul, the  Self,  is a formless, timeless and spaceless existence.

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. :~Santthosh Kumaar 

Lord Krishna confesses that the oldest wisdom of India (Advaitic wisdom) has been lost: people misinterpret and falsify it today as they did then.+

All sect-based beliefs are dualistic and unphilosophical nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman.  In spirituality,  the ultimate truth is God in truth.

Lord Krishna confesses that the oldest wisdom of India ( Advaitic 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 Lord 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.

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.

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)

The theosophist’s idea of the universe appearing and dissolving, days and nights of Brahma, entering into pralaya, etc. is intended for mediocre intellects, who cannot rise to the truth. 

It is a convenient fable representing the philosophic truth that the whole universe dissolves in your mind in deep sleep, thus entering pralaya, and rises again the next morning, i.e. it is all imagination, idea. The Brahman -God has nothing to do with it.

Although Sage Sankara puts the mystic goal highest in his mystical books, he is careful to say that this goal leads to Brahman, not that it is realization. :~Santthosh Kumaar 

Even in those ancient days people did not care for Advaita (Advaitic wisdom); they wanted religion.+

There are hundreds of commentaries from different authors on the Bhagavad Gita. Each one goes on spinning yarns imagining as he likes what the meaning may be.

Bhagavad Gita has been interpreted in a thousand ways, according to the author’s capacity to understand,  the test of all these is the Reason. Only a few understood Bhagavad Gita.

Bhagavad Gita is a hodgepodge containing everything; hence it suits the populace because there is something in it for every type of mindset. It is difficult to find any tradition whose voice is not found in the Gita. It is difficult to find anyone who does not take solace from the Bhagavad Gita. But for such people, the Advaitic path will prove very difficult. 

Once you are Soulcentric you will know what Bhagavad Gita and other scriptures really meant, you will see that there is only one possible interpretation, irrespective of your opinion or imagination.

Bhagavad Gita does not contain higher wisdom. Bhagavad Gita is intended for those who are incapable of thinking rationally.

People love Bhagavad Gita because it is very easy to extract one's own meaning from it. Reading Bhagavad Gita a religious believer extracts something of which he can make a belief because Bhagavad Gita speaks on bhakti, devotion. The karma yogi extracts his belief because Krishna has spoken on karma yoga, the Yoga of action. The believer in knowledge finds what he wants because Bhagavad Gita has spoken on knowledge as well. Somewhere Krishna calls bhakti the ultimate, somewhere else he calls knowledge the ultimate, again elsewhere he calls karma yoga the ultimate.

Lord Krishna taught the Karma and Bhakti yogis their own paths only to lead them up to the Gnana yoga path, which is the highest and the real object of his teaching.

Lord Krishna confesses that the oldest wisdom of India (Advaitic 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)

Why is the word Yoga used in so many different senses in the Gita? Because there are grades and the highest demands concentrated brains, not sitting mindless and imagining, you are seeing God.

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 the yoga must-see is "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.

Understanding what is God is not so easy. Religious people can only imagine God based on their beliefs.

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.

No duality, no differentiation. Only Atman exists.

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)

It proves that the all-pervading Atman, which is present in the form of consciousness, is God.   Thus worshipping the form-based Gods is meant for the ignorant populace who are incapable of realizing the truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space. 

Lord Krishna Says Ch ~V: ~ “Those who know me in truth.".

Bhagavad Gita: 4: 22:~ ".....who has gone beyond the conflicting dualities like 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 Ātman)"

Bhagavad Gita: 6: 32:~ “.....as one seeks and treats oneself with equal vision, the same way one who has an 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 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"

The earliest part of Bhagavad Gita deals with religion because it is for mentally immature persons, but in the latter part, you get philosophy as that is intended for the intellectually evolved. You can’t make all men genius, and therefore religion is provided for them.

Lord Sri Krishna himself says that he can do nothing to make a man intelligent straight away. The adepts give Prasad, blessing, initiations, mantrams, etc. only to confer temporary peace of mind, to help one to get rid of worries, but not to confer Gnana. The capacity to receive it must first be inborn in man by evolutionary degree.

In the statement in Bhagavad Gita which says that the path of the Unmanifest is harder than others, this path means Gnana Yoga.

The Upanishads and Gita do not give detailed explanations because the knowledge of those days was not as advanced as it as nowadays. However, there are odd words here and there which give hints.

Bhagavad Gita gives dualistic worship of "God” only for the lower minds; it also indicates the Advaitic wisdom for the more evolved.

Likewise, thinkers and poets of the Age of Devotion (Bhakti) of the 16th century believed in a God with attributes who became very tangible when incarnating as Avatar and was attainable simply through love and devotion rather than scholastic and intellectual meditation.

For the religious people,  the Bhagavad Gita became the main vehicle of inspiration with its qualified and deistic Monism, rather than the scholastic and esoteric path shown by Sage Sankara’s Advaitic path.  :~Santthosh Kumaar 

Lord Krishna says ~ “Those who know the Self in truth."~ means ~ Know the ‘Self’ is not you but the Self is the Soul, which is without the form, time, and space.+

The Sages of truth are not religious Gurus or Saints or yogis.  The religion and its mythological Gods and mythological Gods are nothing to with the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

All sect-based beliefs are dualistic and unphilosophical nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman.  In spirituality, the ultimate truth is God.

Lord Krishna confesses that the oldest wisdom of India (Advaitic 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." Krishna points out that the yoga must-see is "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.

Understanding what is God is not so easy. Religious people can only imagine God based on their beliefs.

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.

No duality, no differentiation. Only Atman exists.

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)

It proves that the all-pervading Atman, which is present in the form of consciousness, is God.   Thus worshipping the form-based Gods is meant for the ignorant populace who are incapable of realizing the truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space. 

Lord Krishna says Ch ~V: ~ “Those who know the Self in truth."

~ Know the Self in truth means ~  Know the ‘Self’ is not you but the Self is the Soul, which is without the form, time, and space.

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 Bhagavad Gita is meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. The Advaitic wisdom is meant for those who wish to go beyond form, time, and space.:~Santthosh Kumaar 

Indian Sages of truth, who believed in the realization of the immortal Soul as the Self, frees the Soul from the illusory prison of experience of the birth, life, death and the world.+

The Indian Sages of truth, who believed in the realization of the immortal Soul as the Self, frees the Soul from the illusory prison of experience of the birth, life, death, and the world.  

When the Soul wakes up from its sleep of ignorance and consciously remains in its own awareness in the midst of the dualistic illusion is Moksha.

There is no other goal other than Self-realization is the supreme goal within the dualistic illusion.

The Soul appears as the world in which we exist, the world in which we exist is nothing but an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The Soul is God. The Soul alone is the ultimate truth or Brahman.  The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is without the second.

The truth is ever truth and the untruth is always untruth, the untruth hides the truth.

The Soul is what gives the sentient to the illusory world in which we exist.  The Soul pervades everywhere and in everything in the world in which we exist.  The Soul is the fullness of the consciousness unlimited by form, time, and space.  it is self-luminous, existence, and aware. None can deny it because it is the basis of the very world in which we exist. Denying the existence of the Soul is denying the world in which the denier exists.  

The world exists because of the Soul.  The Soul is the innermost Self.  The Self is not you but the Soul, which is the cause of the world in which you exist.  The Soul is not within your body because the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness pervades everywhere and in everything in the world in which you exist.

Drop the idea is that the Soul is within your body.  Mentally detach the Soul from the world in which you exist by realizing the world in which you exist is merely an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Therefore, the world in which you exist is merely an illusion created out of consciousness. If the world in which you exist is merely an illusion then there is no second thing that exists other than consciousness. Thus, everything is consciousness.

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)

The influence of Sage Sankara’s wisdom is nothing to do with orthodox belief systems.

Some philosophers in the past dissented from this interpretation of Vedanta philosophy, holding that the incarnated Souls were separate from the Divine Essence and only finally merged with it after the cycles of birth.  All these theoretical philosophies are based on the image based on the false self (ego or you) within the false experience (waking).

Scientific knowledge is limited to form, time and space. Self-knowledge is beyond form, time, and space.  The birth, life, death, and the world are within the domain of form, time, and space. The Soul, the innermost Self, is a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

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. :~Santthosh Kumaar 

Perfect understanding removes all sorts of an obstacle in the pursuit of truth.+

Unless one realizes the Soul as the innermost ‘Self’ as it really is” it is impossible to realize the non-dualistic or Advaitic truth. 

The seeker has many doubts or confusion on his quest because he is egocentric. The seeker then needs a mental yardstick to know ‘what is the truth’ to know ‘what is untruth’. With that mental yardstick, the seeker will know in which direction to turn and overcome all the pitfalls. If the seeker is Soul centric then he will know all the pitfalls and errors and ever aware of ‘what is the truth’ and ‘what is falsehood’. 

The body is not the ‘Self’. The ‘I’ is superimposed upon the Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Realize the ‘Self is not ‘I’ but the Soul, which witnesses the coming and going, of the ‘I’.   

Self-inquiry is for making one realize the ‘Self’ is not the ‘I’ but the ‘Self’ is the ‘I-LESS Soul’, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Until one thinks of his body as the body and the world as the world, it is impossible to grasp the non-dualistic or Advaitic truth, because his views and judgments are based on physical self (ego or the waking entity or you) within the physical existence (waking).  

Individuality is a reality with the waking experience, but the waking experience itself is a falsehood. Thus, holding the view as an individual within the false experience is erroneous from the ultimate point of view.  The waking is a parallel dream and the dream is a parallel waking experience.

Perfect understanding removes all sorts of an obstacle in the pursuit of truth.  Only through constant repetition of words in my posts will make one think differently, but it also creates more doubts and confusion in his subconscious and his inner urge to know the truth even more intense. And it also helps to overcome some of our conditioning, which we have inherited from parental grooming and circumstances. 

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana leads to Advaitic awareness. In self-awareness, the Soul, the 'Self ' remains in its own awareness in the midst of the dualistic illusion. In Self –awareness there is unity in diversity or Oneness. :~Santthosh Kumaar