Mastering Vedas, Upanishads, Sanskrit language, does not a qualifies one to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.+

Manduka Upanishad has no assumptions whatever. It is an honest and bold inquiry into truth. It rises above scripture. 

Sage Sankara clearly says:~ Neither studying philosophy nor by mastering the scriptures liberation comes without realizing the Oneness.

Ashtavakra:~There is no wisdom whatsoever in the scriptures-just a collection of words.

I only highlighted scriptural insights which point to the ultimate reality. what is not helpful in the pursuit of truth has to be discarded. 

 

The seeker should not bother about finding the meaning of what is written in the scriptures.

Do not indulge in arguing from your own standpoint holding your accumulated knowledge as a yardstick that is pointless. 

Instead, read, reason, and reflect on the subject, which is the Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara to get rid of ignorance.

Remember:~

Many people believe by accumulating mastering the knowledge from Vedas,  Upanishads, and other scriptures and mastering Sanskrit language makes one a Gnani. 

The one who is sharp enough can grasp the Advaitic or non-dualistic truth. The seeker must have an intense urge to know the truth One need not have to be born in any particular caste or creed to acquire Self’-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

One need not have a university degree to acquire Self -knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnan, Only strong willpower is needed. The ignorance will be gone eventually and you realize that the Self is always the pure infinite Soul or God without beginning, without end and immortal.

The scholars who mastered the knowledge from the Vedas the Upanishads and the other scriptures and mastered the Sanskrit language looked upon other people as ignorant, as illiterate people who have no knowledge of Vedas,  the Upanishads, and the other scriptures and does not know the  Sanskrit language.

Mastering the Vedas the Upanishads and the other scriptures and mastering the Sanskrit language does not a qualifies one to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

These religious scholars immersed in ignorance in various ways, flatter themselves, saying: We have accomplished life's mission. Because these performers of karma do not the Advaitic Gnana owing to their accumulated knowledge, they will never be able to cross the ocean of dualistic illusion.

Sage Sankara says ~   “VC~ 58. Loud speech consisting of a shower of words, the skill in expounding the Scriptures, and likewise erudition - these merely bring on a little personal enjoyment to the scholar but are no good for Liberation.

59. The study of the Scriptures is useless so long as the highest Truth is unknown, and it is equally useless when the highest Truth has already been known.

60. The Scriptures consisting of many words are a dense forest that merely causes the mind to ramble. Hence, men of wisdom should earnestly set about knowing the true nature of the Self.

Dattatreya's Song of the Avadhut 1.36-42:~ “Non-duality is 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:~   “ The Para or Higher knowledge is the knowledge of the Supreme Being while the Apara or Lower Knowledge is that of following sacrificial rites and ceremonies. (1/2/ 1 – 6)

A Gnani may be illiterate in the dualistic world, a scholar as literaand, as a well-educated person is a dualistic world. But of what value is the scholar’s knowledge is limited to the form, time, and space but a Gnani’s even if he is illiterate his knowledge beyond the form, time, and space.

Sage Sankara: ~ On Gnani: "The knower of Brahman wears no signs. Gives up the insignia of a monk's life…his signs are not manifest, nor his behavior." 

When the knower of Brahman wears no signs ~ it means he does not identify himself as a Guru or a teacher or yogi. 

A scholar will go on and on about the immortality of the Soul but when death approaches he will be trembling and weeping and wailing. Scholars, interpretations of sacred texts, the force of religious merit--none of these lead to the realization of that Ultimate Truth or Brahman.   Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is the knowledge of the immortal Soul, the one and only ‘Self’ of all that exists as an illusion.  

All this talk of immortality will crumble into nothingness because he has not known the knowledge of the Soul, which is immortal.    

Remember:~

A Gnani knows what he is talking about is not an explanation, what he is talking about is the realization of the truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space.

 A Gnani shares his joy by sharing his wisdom; he is singing the song about the unsung truth.  Remember whenever a Gnani speaks about God it is not a belief; he knows it, it is his realization. He is talking out of his realization; hence he can be of immense help to the whole of humanity.

A Gnani always sees the world in which he exists as the Soul without any division of form, time, and space.  And a Gnani watches his own actions as if they were another's.  he is never puffed up by the praise or disturbed by blame.  

As for Gnani, his individuality is dead. It is merged in the Soul like waves in the ocean A Gnani living in freedom and has gone beyond the dualities of life.  

A Gnani is not competing with anyone, he is alike in success and failure and is content with whatever comes to him.  He is e free, without Selfish attachments; his attention is fixed in the awareness of the Soul.  A Gnani performs all practical duties of the practical world like others and he helps other seekers to get rid of the ignorance of their true existence.:~Santthosh Kumaar 

Mixing yoga and religion in Atmic discussion is mixing water and oil.+

The Atmic path is not the yogic path.  Mixing yoga and religion in the Atmic discussion is mixing water and oil.

Panchadasi, P.509 v,109, shows the impossibility of yoga arriving at a successful end to its practices. 

Self-realization through yoga is not philosophic. Every yogi who shuts himself in a cave is not thereby freed from thinking. 

Yoga can lead only to temporary peace because the world is subject to change. Only Self- knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana can yield Advaitic awareness in the midst of the form, time, and space. 

Bhagavan Buddha gave up yoga after practicing it for six years. He saw it could not yield truth.

Buddha gave up his austerities of yoga as impossible and useless. Thus,  Buddha got enlightenment only after he gave up Yoga. (Page.70/71 "Buddhism In Translation” by Warren)

Unless one exercise his Buddhi--reason--there is no chance of getting the ultimate truth or Brahman

Buddhism has not proved the truth of Nonduality. Buddha pointed out the unreality of the world, we agree. He told people they were foolish to cling to it. But he stopped there. He came nearest to Vedanta in speech but not to Vedanta fully.

Only when we independently search the truth without religion and its doctrine then we will be able to realize the truth beyond form, time, and space.

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

Lord Krishna confesses that the oldest wisdom of India (our true 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.

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.

There is no need for any practice to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman or God.  Perfect understanding assimilation of ‘what is what’ is very much necessary to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman, which is God.

Sage Sankara: ~ VC~"All this universe which through ignorance appears as of diverse forms, is nothing else but Brahman which is absolutely free from all the limitations of human thought.

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.

According to Advaita Vedanta, the Veda addresses itself to two kinds of audiences - the ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices, and the most advanced seeker who seeks to know Brahman. Thus, the Purva mimam. sa, with its emphasis on the karma kanda of the Vedas, is meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. However, the Vedanta, with its emphasis on the Jnana kanda, is meant for those who wish to go beyond such transient pleasures.

Those who lack the intelligence to discriminate between formless witness (subject) and three states (object) will not be able to grasp what is real and what is unreal. Both subject and object are consciousness, not subject alone.:~Santthosh Kumaar 

The universe will not exist without the consciousness.+

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

Do not accept any other truth other than the consciousness. Consciousness is the ultimate truth,  Nothing is real but consciousness, . Nothing Matters but to realize the ultimate truth. Consciousness is everywhere and in everything. Let these words be inscribed in your subconscious. 

The visible is the universe. The invisible is the Soul, the 'Self' hidden by the universe. Without the invisible Soul,   the visible universe ceases to exist.  The invisible Soul can exist with or without the known (universe)

Advaita is the Soul, the Self. Dvaita is the universe. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. The universe hides consciousness. The universe hides consciousness because the universe is merely an illusion created out of consciousness.  Without the universe, consciousness alone exists as the eternal reality or Brahman pr God in truth. 

No one recognizes the water in the cloud.

No one recognizes the water in the snow.

No one recognizes the consciousness in the universe.

The cloud will not form without the water.

The snow will not form without the water.

The universe will not exist without consciousness. 

Like an ornament made from gold is Gold, which is born out of consciousness is consciousness.  Like gold is the permanent thing, in the ornaments made of gold, similarly, the mind, which is in the form of the universe is born out of consciousness, is consciousness in its essence.

People see God is different from them; they fear him similar to a tiger-fearing its own shadow in the well. The ignorant think the birth, life, death, and the universe as a reality because he is unaware of the fact that the universe is a reality within the waking experience but from the ultimate standpoint, the waking experience itself is an illusion.

The ‘I’ is the inborn samskara or conditioning which makes us believe the birth, life, death, and the world as a reality we are unaware of the fact that our human experience within the world in which we exist is merely an illusion created out of Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. 

Ignorance of the ‘Soul, the innermost Self makes us accept the false theories based on the false self and we accept whatever theory suits our mindset and keep manipulating our false life within the false experience.   

The Self is not ‘I’, but the Self is the Soul which is the witness of the ‘I’.  Holding the ‘I as the 'Self' leads to hallucination based on the imagination. The Soul, the Self is always there; only the transient ‘I’ comes and goes.

The ‘I’ disappears as deep sleep, so what is the use of being attached to it? It is impermanent and illusory because ‘I’ is physical awareness. Physical awareness is not Self-awareness. ‘I-less awareness is Self-awareness.

It is erroneous to identify the Soul the Self as 'I' or 'I AM' because the Soul the Self is not 'I' or I AM’. The Soul, the Self, is that witness of the 'I'.

Atman is Brahman. Brahman, the Absolute is alone real; this ‘I’, which appears as the world (waking),   is unreal; and the world in which we exist is non-different from the Soul or Brahman. 

Realize with firm conviction the ‘Self’ is not you, but the ‘Self is the Soul is present in the form of consciousness.

Right here and right in this very life if you realize with firm conviction 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, which is present in the form of consciousness.

To realize the self is not you but the Soul profits much rather than searching the truth in an external world moving from one ashram to another and one Guru to another and one mountain to another.

To realize the Self’ is not you, but the Self is the Soul, there is no need for a Guru, there is no need to study scriptures, there is no need to go to the mountain, there is no need for gurus blessing or grace. There is no need to waste your fortune and precious time of your life.  There is no need to follow anyone

If you have an intense urge and are ready to drop all your accumulated knowledge and start afresh then you are fit and ready to take this mental journey.

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.

So-called spiritual paths are useless unless it causes us to seek the truth of our true existence. All controversies about creation, the nature of the universe, evolution, the purpose of God, etc., are useless in the Atmic path.  

To understand the false nature of the ‘I’, the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is necessary. :~Santthosh Kumaar 

Sage Sankara says: ~ “The exercise in discrimination between real and unreal and renunciation of the false is real meditation.+

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.

Ashtavakra says ~  "This is your bondage, that you practice Samadhi or meditation.”

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, mantrams and meditation--all come from the Self.

Meditation is not the means to Self –Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. Meditation is not the goal itself. It is an important and useful tool to quiet the body, mind, and emotions and allow one to enter a deep and quiet state of mind. Once the turbulent tendencies of the body or ego and emotions are brought into harmony, clarity and renewed strength are available to meet and overcome each life challenge as it presents itself. Meditation will not eliminate our life challenges but can enable us to harmonize our body, mind, emotions, and spirit and to focus that energy like a powerful beam of light on the challenges that lie ahead in worldly life. 

When one sits down to meditate, he is thinking first of sitting, i.e. his body; then he tries to have only had the thoughts of getting rid of the thoughts, with the thoughts of getting rid of the thought.  Thus, he is thinking as a person within the world.  Thus, he remains as the person practicing meditation, thinking the ego alone is illusory, and the rest (universe) is a reality within the illusion.  He only thinks of the object, within the object, as an object.  But he is never aware of the formless subject.

People dip into meditation, but they do not understand that that is only one-half of the truth and that this dipping is also a mental discipline for them to understand the true nature of the external universe, which understanding they must next get if they are to become a Gnani.

The ‘Self’ does not reside in the human heart, and one will not find the ‘Self’ in the human heart if he searches for it. The Self is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. The consciousness pervades everything and everywhere in the world in which we exist.  Limiting the ‘Self’ to the human heart is erroneous. The truth is not belief propagated by the belief system. 

Tattireya Upanishad: ~ “The Self in man and in the sun are one. Those who understand this see through the world and go beyond the various sheaths of being to realize the unity of life”.

Holding the ‘I’ as the ‘Self’ is the main mistake. People refuse to rectify the mistake because they are sentimentally attached to their Gurus and their teaching.  Such people are like stagnant water in the dirty pond.   Rectifying the mistake will unfold the mystery of the whole world.

The sun is simply bright. It does not correct anyone. Because it shines the whole world is full of light.   The Soul is the fullness of consciousness. The universe exists because of the Soul. Without the universe the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness alone exists.  The universe is merely an illusion created out of consciousness.  Realize the consciousness is the cause of the universe and it itself is uncaused. 

Ashtavakra Gita: ~ “The universe rises from the ‘Self’ like bubbles from the sea. Thus, know the Self to be One and in this way enter into the state of dissolution."

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?"

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana frees the Soul from the cage of the illusory form, time, and space.

Due to ignorance, the Soul, the innermost Self is in forgetfulness of its own true nature in the dualistic illusion.  When the Soul wakes up from its sleep of ignorance,   the unreal nature of the world, in which you exist, is exposed. :~Santthosh Kumaar 

The Atmic path or the path of wisdom is not the religious or yogic path.+

The Atmic path or the path of wisdom is not the religious or yogic path.   Guru is not required in the Atmic path or path of wisdom.

Getting sentimentally or emotionally involved with the Gurus and yogis and their teaching and glorifying the Gurus’ blocks the realization of the ‘Self’.  Worshiping and glorifying the Gurus will keep you in the domain of form, time, and space. 

The Guru who pretends he to be Self- realized and plays with the emotions and sentiments of the seeker is a fraud, not a Gnani.

Katha Upanishad (1.2.5) says:~ "Caught in the grip of ignorance, self-proclaimed experts consider themselves learned authorities. They wander about this world befooled, like the blind leading the blind."

Only a perfect understanding of what is what’ leads to truth realization. The truth- realization is Self-realization. Self-realization is God-realization.

If you are seeking truth nothing but the truth then you must not get stuck to any Guru or yogi. Those who are seeking truth need not follow any Guru or any teaching.

Yoga Vasistha says:~ Self-knowledge or knowledge of truth is not had by resorting to a Guru (preceptor) nor by the study of scripture, nor by good works: it is attained only through inquiry inspired by the company of wise (Gnani). One’s inner light alone is the means, naught else. When this inner light is kept alive, it is not affected by the darkness of inertia. 

There is no need to condemn Gurus, but there is a need to highlight how they become an obstacle in realizing the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

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

The Guru is useless so long as the ultimate truth is unknown, and Guru is equally useless when the ultimate truth or Brahman has already been known.

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. (Mandukya Karika)

A Guru is needed in the religious and the yogic path.  There is no need for a Guru to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. :~Santthosh Kumaar 

There is a need to understand, assimilate and realize the nature of this ‘I’, which appears and disappears.+

Only your intense urge to know the truth will take you to the ultimate end, but your accumulated knowledge will block you from realizing the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

It is impossible for the seeker to discard the ‘I’ because they are stuck up with the idea that ‘I’ itself is the Self.  In the past, some famous Gurus and their teachings glorified the ‘I’ people take it as a final and accepted it as the ultimate truth. Such acceptance without verifying the fact about the ‘I’, their journey is incomplete.  

Blind acceptance and reverence to the guru will not help the seeker to get rid of the ignorance.

Firstly, doubt about this ‘I’, how it came into existence.   There are no other means to the final goal is the realization of the source of the ‘I’.  

There is a need to understand, assimilate, and realize the nature of this ‘I’, which appears and disappears. 

It is erroneous to use the word ‘I’ for the Self, because ‘I’ represents the form, time, and space whereas the Soul, the innermost Self is formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. 

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

To understand the false nature of the ‘I’, the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is necessary. 

The Self is not ‘I’, but the Self is the Soul which is the witness of the ‘I’. By holding the’ Self’  ‘I' leads to hallucination based on the imagination.

Those who are stuck with the ‘I’ based teaching never be able to cross the domain of the form, time, and space.  

All the Gurus glorified the ‘I’. Thus, it becomes very difficult to discard the ‘I’. Those who have accepted the ‘I’ based teaching refuse to accept anything other than their accepted truth. Till you hold the ‘Self’ as the ‘I’, your knowledge remains skin deep.

The world in which you exist came into existence because of the ‘I’. The world, in which you exist ceases to exist without the ‘I’.

Sage Sankara: ~ “VC~ All this universe which through ignorance appears as of diverse forms, is nothing else but Brahman which is absolutely free from all the limitations of human thought”.

The ‘I’ is what the seeker begins his investigation. A perfect understanding of ‘what is what’ will help the seeker to reach the Soul, which is the Self.

Sage Sankara: ~VC~ if the universe is true, let it then be perceived in the state of deep sleep also. As it is not at all perceived, it must be unreal and false like dreams. 

This universe is nothing but the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.  From the Soul, the universe appears and when the universe disappears from consciousness and consciousness still remains without any division of the form, time, and space.

Ashtavakra Gita: ~ The universe rises from the Soul, the innermost Self like bubbles from the sea. Thus,  know the Self to be One and in this way enter into the state of dissolution."

To enable the seeker to steer clear of any possible doubt, the seeker should take the Atmic path.  The ‘I’ is the clue and study the nature of the ‘I’ and discover its source. :~Santthosh Kumaar