Paul Brunton’s Criticisms of Sage Sri, Ramana Maharishi +

Paul Brunton’s Criticisms of Sage Sri, Ramana Maharishi 

As one goes in research into the annals of the history: ~

Paul Brunton was an English writer on spirituality and related subjects. Paul Brunton kept details of his own past as something of a mystery. Paul Brunton’s original name was Raphael Hurst. He was a London journalist. He was keenly interested in eastern spiritual teachings and thought that by an intelligent study and appreciation of it the cause of co-operation between east and west might be greatly promoted. he came to meet Sri, Ramana Maharishi after visiting many spiritual masters, swamis, and yogis.    Brunton wrote under various pseudonyms, including Raphael Meriden and Raphael Delmonte. He changed his name when he visited India and decided to write on spiritual matters. At first, he chose the pen name ~ Brunton Paul. He later changed this to Paul Brunton.

Paul Brunton was the one who made Sri, Ramana Maharishi well-known to the western world. Paul  Brunton met  Sri, Ramana Maharishi in 1931,  and in 1934, he published a book about his meeting with Sri, Ramana Maharishi. The book was called A Search in Secret India.  people all over the world refer to Brunton’s works. 

Now it is interesting that Brunton had very similar criticisms of Ramana. Excerpts of Brunton’s book A Search in Secret India are still published and distributed by Ramana's ashram. What the ashram does not say is that Brunton had a profound disagreement. Brunton says that there were threats of violence against him. In fact, he says he felt forced to leave the ashram. He says he left “abruptly" (32).

Brunton says that he did not see Ramana at all in the 12 years before Ramanaˆa’s death, even though he passed within a few miles of the ashram (33). 

In a book written in 1941, The Hidden Teaching Beyond Yoga, Brunton refers to “threats of physical violence” and "malicious lying ignorance." He speaks of being “harshly separated by the ill-will of certain men.” He speaks of “hate” and “low manners”, which he attributes to jealousy over his success The main problems were:  In March 1939, Brunton arrived at Tiruvannamalai, where he stayed at Ramana's ashram, not for the expected three months, but for three weeks. Brunton describes the situation at the ashram as: ... a highly deplorable situation in the Ramana ashram which represents the culminating crisis of a degeneration which has been going on and worsening during the last three years. And he complains that Ramana was not exercising any control over the ashram: But during my last two visits to India it had become painfully evident that the institution known as the Ashram which had grown around him during the past few years, and over which his ascetic indifference to the world rendered him temperamentally disinclined to exercise the slightest control, could only greatly hinder and not help my own struggles to attain the highest goal, so I had no alternative but to bid it an abrupt and final farewell (Hidden Teaching, p. 18)

It is clear that there were disagreements between Brunton and Ramana's brother, who was in charge of the ashram. Masson says that Brunton had given interviews in the Indian papers about Ramana which the brother had not found satisfactory. Were these disagreements even earlier than 1939? Brunton had not been at the ashram since early 1936. In September  1936, Ramana was asked about "some disagreeable statements by a man well known to Maharishi." Ramana replied  I permit him to do so. I have permitted him already. Let him do so even more. Let others follow suit. Only let them leave me alone. If because of these reports no one comes to me, I shall consider it a great service is done to me. Moreover, if he cares to publish books containing scandals of me, and if he makes money from their sale, it is really good. Such books will sell even more quickly and in larger numbers, than the others (…) He is doing me a very good turn. (36B).

Now Brunton is not specifically identified here. But the dates fit with Brunton leaving for the Himalayas "in exile."

Legal action had been commenced for control of the ashram. Some people said that Brunton was involved. Brunton felt he had to deny this allegation.

4. Brunton complained that Ramana didn’t impart to him the guidance that he was seeking (Hidden Teaching, p. 15). 

Now, what did Brunton want? He certainly had Ramana's instruction of the method of self-inquiry. It seems that perhaps he wanted the magical powers or siddhis associated with yoga. Examples are the power of telepathy or of foreseeing the future. We know that Brunton was interested in such powers. And he refers to the "higher mysteries of yoga." It seems he wanted some kind of initiation from Ramana. But Ramana never initiated anyone. And although such powers may arise in the course of enlightenment, the Hindu traditions state that it is a mistake to seek these powers in themselves. Interestingly enough, Brunton himself was criticized by his own followers for not following through on his promises. Brunton told his own young disciple Jeffrey Masson about his powers. Masson says that Brunton always carried a magic wand or glass rod. Masson was disappointed that he did not get these powers.

Brunton says that meditation apart from experience is “inevitably empty” (Hidden Teaching, p. 19). The illuminations gained by yoga or by trance states are always temporary ones. Although a trance may produce a feeling of exaltation, this feeling goes away and one must repeat the experience daily. He cites the Hindu philosopher/sage Aurobindo: Trance is a way of escape–the body is made quiet, the physical mind is in a state of torpor, the inner consciousness is left free to go on with its experience. The disadvantage is that trance becomes indispensable and that the problem of the waking consciousness is not solved, it remains imperfect. (Hidden Teaching, p. 27)

Brunton refers to the “sheer shriveled complacency” of some of Ramana's followers and their “hidden superiority complex.” He refers to this mystical attitude as a “holier than thou attitude,” and an assumption that total knowledge had been reached when in fact it was only a partial knowledge (Hidden Teaching, p. 16). 

He says that without the healthy opposition of active participation in the world’s affairs, they [mystics] have no means of knowing whether they were living in a realm of sterilized self-hallucination or not. (Hidden Teaching, p. 19) 

Brunton had ethical disagreements with Ramana. For Brunton, it was not sufficient for a realized person to meditate. Interaction and involvement with the outside world are necessary. He felt that Ramana took no stand on issues like the coming war. Brunton seems particularly upset by an incident when the news was brought to the ashram that Italian planes had gunned undefended citizens on the streets of Ethiopia (the Italians invaded Ethiopia in October 1935).

Brunton reports that Ramana said: The sage who knows the truth that the Self is indestructible will remain unaffected even if five million people are killed in his presence.

Remember the advice of Krishna to Arjuna on the battlefield when disheartened by the thought of the impending slaughter of relatives on the opposing side (38)

Now I believe that Brunton's criticism of Ramana is correct, at least with respect to ethics. Ken Wilber also says that, however, realized Ramana was, he had ethical shortcomings (39). I see the problem as an inconsistency in Ramana's teachings between different views of the self. On the one hand, the self is seen as static and unmoving, uninvolved in the world. On the other hand, there is the view of the self as dynamic and participating in the world. Brunton says that the field of human activity is meant to be not in the trance world, but in the external world, this “time-fronted and space-backed world.”

 Brunton's previous experiences of yoga and meditation. In Hidden Teaching, Brunton says that he still regards Ramana as “the most eminent South Indian yogi.” But he also says something quite surprising: that he had known about meditation and yoga before he came to Ramana's ashram, and that his experience with Ramana was no new experience.

He makes the “confession” that when he first came to India, he was no novice in the practice of yoga. Even as a teenager …the ineffable ecstasies of mystical trance had become a daily occurrence in the calendar of life, the abnormal mental phenomena which attend the earlier experience of yoga was commonplace and familiar, whilst the dry labors of meditation had disappeared into effortless ease. (Hidden Teaching, p. 23)

Brunton claims that he not only had practiced yoga but that he had experienced abnormal phenomena or siddhis. He refers to the experience of being seemingly extended in space, an incorporeal being. What I omitted to state and now reveal was that it was no new experience because many years before I had met the saintly yogi of Arunachala, I had enjoyed precisely similar ecstasies, inward repose, and luminous intuitions during self-training in meditation .- (Hidden Teaching, p. 25).

Brunton says that Ramana only confirmed his earlier experiences: When later, I came across translations of Indian books on mysticism, I found to my astonishment that the archaic accents of their phraseology formed familiar descriptions of my own central and cardinal experiences…(Hidden Teaching, p. 23).

This last statement is almost exactly what Ramana claimed for himself–that his experience was direct, and that the later books that he read were only "analyzing and naming what I had felt intuitively without analysis or name." Is Brunton being honest here? Or has he invented this story of the previous experience in view of his disenchantment with Ramana? Surprisingly, the independent record seems to show that Brunton may be telling the truth. There is evidence that Brunton had had earlier experiences. A 1931 report of his first meeting with Ramana reports Brunton (then known as Hurst) as telling Ramana that he had earlier experienced moments of bliss. (41)

Brunton says that his experiences with Ramana brought back these earlier experiences. This may be true, but what Brunton says about his first book, A Search in Secret India, must give cause for great concern insofar as it relates to the record of Ramana. Brunton says that he used the story of Ramana as a “peg” on which to hang his own theories of meditation: It will, therefore, be clear to perspicacious readers that I used his name and attainments as a convenient peg upon which to hang an account of what meditation meant to me. The principal reason for this procedure was that it constituted a convenient literary device to secure the attention and hold the interest of western readers, who would naturally give more serious consideration to such a report of the “conversion” of a seemingly hardheaded critically-minded Western journalist to yoga (Hidden Teaching),

God as an illusion. Brunton also criticizes Ramana’s view that even God is an illusion: The final declaration which really put me, as a Western enquirer, off Advaita came later: it was that God too was an illusion, quite unreal. Had they not left it at that but taken the trouble to explain how and why this all was so, I might have been convinced from the start. But no one did.

This is a rather strange criticism and reflects a rather naïve view of Vedanta. Brunton’s own later teaching moves from a personal to an impersonal Absolute.

Finally, Brunton seems to criticize Ramana for a lack of originality. He says, "some years after I met Maharishi I discovered in an old Sanskrit text the same Who Am I method." Part 2 of Lecture.

Part -2

The Hidden Teaching Beyond Yoga (1941)

In Hidden Teaching, Brunton changes the question “Who am I?” to “What am I?” He says that "Who Am I" was a question that emotionally pre-supposed that the ultimate 'I' of man would prove to be a personal being, whereas "What Am I?" rationally lifted the issue to scientific impersonal enquiry into the nature of that ultimate 'I.' (Hidden Teaching, 17).

In Hidden Teaching, Brunton says that he still regards Ramana as “the most eminent South Indian yogi.” But he also says something quite surprising: that he had known about meditation and yoga before he came to Ramana's ashram, and that his experience with Ramana was no new experience. He makes the “confession” that when he first came to India, he was "no novice in the practice of yoga," Even as a teenager …the ineffable ecstasies of mystical trance had become a daily occurrence in the calendar of life, the abnormal mental phenomena which attend the earlier experience of yoga was commonplace and familiar, whilst the dry labors of meditation had disappeared into effortless ease (Hidden Teaching, 23).

Brunton claims that he not only had practiced yoga but that he had experienced abnormal phenomena or siddhis. He refers to the experience of being seemingly extended in space, an incorporeal being.

What I omitted to state and now reveal was that it was no new experience because many years before I had met the saintly yogi of Arunachala, I had enjoyed precisely similar ecstasies, inward repose, and luminous intuitions during self-training in meditation (Hidden Teaching, 25).

Brunton says that Ramana only confirmed his earlier experiences. Is Brunton being honest here? Or has he invented this story of the previous experience in view of his disenchantment with Ramana? Surprisingly, the independent record seems to show that Brunton may be telling the truth. There is evidence that Brunton had had earlier experiences. The 1931 independent report of his first meeting with Ramana reports Brunton (then known as Hurst) as telling Ramana that he had earlier experienced moments of bliss (94). 

It is in Hidden Teaching that Brunton says that he used the story of Ramana as a “peg” on which to hang his own theories of meditation:-

It will, therefore, be clear to perspicacious readers that I used his name and attainments as a convenient peg upon which to hang an account of what meditation meant to me. The principal reason for this procedure was that it constituted a convenient literary device to secure the attention and hold the interest of western readers, who would naturally give more serious consideration to such a report of the “conversion” of a seemingly hard-headed critically-minded Western journalist to yoga (Hidden Teaching, 25).

It is also in Hidden Teaching that Brunton made public his criticisms of Ramana. Brunton says that there were “threats of physical violence” against him. He says he left the ashram “abruptly.” He refers to “threats of physical violence” and "malicious lying ignorance." He speaks of being “harshly separated by the ill-will of certain men.” He speaks of “hate” and “low manners”, which he attributes to jealousy over his success (Hidden Teaching, 18). Brunton did not return to see Ramana at all in the 12 years before Ramana’s death, even though he passed within a few miles of the ashram (Notebooks 8, s. 6:233.) 

Brunton had many disagreements with Ramana.   An article in The Maharshi gives the following reason for Brunton’s disagreements with the ashram. It says that after the success of his book A Search in Secret India, Brunton had published many books without acknowledging that Ramana was the source of his ideas.

As we have seen, there certainly appears to be the truth in the allegation that Brunton did not sufficiently acknowledge Ramana as his source for many ideas. Chadwick says that Brunton was “a plagiarist of the first water” (Chadwick, 16). But there were also other disagreements with Ramana, at least as noted by Brunton. 

Brunton disagreed with Ramana's brother, who was the Sarvadhikari in charge of the ashram. Brunton describes the situation at the ashram as: ... a highly deplorable situation in the Ramana ashram which represents the culminating crisis of a degeneration that has been going on and worsening during the last three years (96). 

He says that Ramana’s ascetic indifference meant that he could not control the ashram:

But during my last two visits to India, it had become painfully evident that the institution was known as the Ashram which had grown around him during the past few years, and over which his ascetic indifference to the world rendered him temperamentally disinclined to exercise the slightest control, could only greatly hinder and not help my own struggles to attain the highest goal, so I had no alternative but to bid it an abrupt and final farewell (Hidden Teaching, 18).

The ashram had turned out to be “a miniature fragment of the imperfect world I had deserted” (Hidden Teaching, 43).

 Comments made about Ramana: - Masson says that Brunton had given interviews in the Indian papers about Ramana, which the brother had not found satisfactory (Masson, 25). Were these disagreements even earlier than 1939? Brunton had not been at the ashram since early 1936. In September 1936, Ramana was asked about "some disagreeable statements by a man well known to Maharshi." Ramana replied ~ I permit him to do so. I have permitted him already. Let him do so even more. Let others follow suit. Only let them leave me alone. If because of these reports no one comes to me, I shall consider it a great service done to me. Moreover, if he cares to publish books containing scandals of me, and if he makes money from their sale, it is really good. Such books will sell even more quickly and in larger numbers, than the others […] He is doing me a very good turn. (Talks, 204; paragraph 250 (Sept. 7, 1936)

What can I do? If I go off to the forest and try to hide, what will happen? They will soon find me out. Then someone will put up a hut in front of me and another person at the back, and it will not be long before huts will have sprung up on either side. Where can I go? I shall always be a prisoner. (Chadwick, 93)

Brunton says that with Ramana, he experienced intermittent satisfaction of mental peace. But these entered into conflict with “an innate, ever-enquiring rationalism” (Hidden Teaching, 21). 

He had hoped to obtain more guidance from Ramana: I turned in the first hope of finding clear guidance to the Maharishi. But the guidance never came. I waited patiently in the hope that time might draw it out of him, but I waited in vain. Gradually it dawned upon me as this question of obtaining a higher knowledge than hitherto rose uppermost in my mind, that so far he had never instructed any other person in it. The reason slowly emerged as I pondered the matter. From my long friendship with him, it was possible to gauge that primarily this was not his path and did not much interest him. His immense attainment lay in the realms of asceticism and meditation. He possessed a tremendous power of concentrating attention inwardly and losing himself in a rapt trance, of sitting calm and unmoved like a tree. But with all the deep respect and affection I feel for him, it must be said that the role of a teaching Sage was not his forte because he was primarily a self-absorbed mystic. This explained why his open disdain for life’s practical fulfillment in disinterested service of others had led to inevitable consequences of a disappointing kind in his immediate external environment. It was doubtless more than enough for himself and certainly for his adoring followers that he had perfected himself in indifference to worldly attractions and in the control of the restless mind. He did not ask for more. The question of the significance of the universe in which he lived did not appear to trouble him. The question of the significance of the human being did trouble him and he had found an answer which satisfied him. (Hidden Teaching, 16)

Paul Brunton regarded these trances as evidence of Ramana’s enlightenment. But in Hidden Teaching, Brunton criticizes trances. Brunton refers to the “sheer shriveled complacency” of some of Ramana's followers and their “hidden superiority complex.” He refers to this mystical attitude as a “holier than thou attitude,” and an assumption that total knowledge had been reached when in fact it was only a partial knowledge (Hidden Teaching, 16). He says that without the healthy opposition of active participation in the world’s affairs, they [mystics] have no means of knowing whether they were living in a realm of sterilized self-hallucination or not. (Hidden Teaching, 19)

Brunton cites Aurobindo with approval:~

Trance is a way of escape--the body is made quiet, the physical mind is in a state of torpor, and the inner consciousness is left free to go on with its experience. The disadvantage is that trance becomes indispensable and that the problem of the waking consciousness is not solved, it remains imperfect (Hidden Teaching, 27).

Brunton refers to Zen as more sensible and practical. Young men are trained for 3 years; during that time they are given active tasks. They are not allowed to pass the day in lazy, futile or parasitical existence.” A half-hour of meditation daily is sufficient after their departure from the monastery to keep them in contact with spiritual peace; their worldly life did not suffer but as enriched (Hidden Teaching, 28).

This criticism reflects a rather naïve view of Vedanta. Brunton had discussed this issue with Ramana as early as December 1935 (Talks, 106, par. 112). Brunton’s own later teaching moves from a personal to an impersonal Absolute. And instead of “Who am I?” Brunton refers to “What am I” as being more scientific (Hidden Teaching, 17).

Finally, Brunton seems to criticize Ramana for a lack of originality. He says, "some years after I met Maharishi I discovered in an old Sanskrit text the same Who Am I method" [101]. This is also a strange criticism, in view of the fact that Brunton was not really interested in Ramana’s ideas at all, except as a peg for his own ideas. Nevertheless, there is some point to the criticism, for Ramana’s disciples have often assumed more originality in Ramana than is warranted by the facts. Ramana relied on many previously written works, including some tantric works, as I have shown in Jivanmukta.

Although Brunton left the ashram and wrote publicly about his disagreements with Ramana, he nevertheless expressed his "loving devotion and profound reverence for him”: As I wrote in a London journal when he died in 1950: "He was the one Indian mystic who inspired me most…The inner telepathic contact and close spiritual affinity between us remained vivid and unbroken… (Hidden Teaching, 33)

It should be noted that even in this appreciative comment, Brunton is emphasizing special occult powers, such as telepathy.

In his Notebooks, Brunton wrote that he regretted saying some of the things he did about Ramana. He says that he regrets the criticism of Ramana, and says that this criticism was occasioned “more by events in the history of the ashram than by his own self.” [102] But although he continued to admire Ramana as a mystic, Brunton did not change his views about the importance of ethics. 

This review from My Father's Guru: A Journey Through Spirituality and Disillusion (Paperback) by BY E. VERRILLO

I picked up this book, not because I was interested in Paul Brunton (I'm not that kind of girl), but because I was intrigued by Jeffrey Masson. After reading three of Jeffrey Masson's controversial books on psychology, I wanted to know what inspired him to challenge one of the legends of our time: Sigmund Freud. This book not only answered that question but several others I had not thought of asking.

This book, unlike Masson's others, is a personal memoir. It recounts the long, strange relationship Masson's family maintained with their "guru", Paul Brunton. For reasons that are not entirely clear, though tantalizingly hinted at, Masson's father "adopted" Brunton, inviting him into their home, and becoming his disciple. Eventually, every member of the family ended up walking Brunton's "Path to Enlightenment." Ultimately, the family's association with Brunton proved disastrous, involving financial loss, a precipitous move to Uruguay to avoid "WWIII", and the permanent estrangement of Masson's uncle, Bernard. Although having Brunton as a live-in guru was not ultimately as harmful as joining the Moonies or following Jim Jones to South America, Masson does point out the similarities.

In his Epilogue, Masson writes: "To see deep into the structure of one tyranny is to understand something basic about all forms of oppression. It is totalitarian. Like other authoritarian systems, it requires a suspension and suppression of critical questioning, it demands unquestioning submission to a rigid hierarchical structure, it centers on a cult of personality, and it engenders personal intrusion and abuse." This was the point of Masson's memoir, and it completely explains why Masson joined the Freudian cult of psychoanalysis, and why he ultimately rejected it. In Freud, Masson saw a reflection of Brunton's appeal but found himself unable to suppress his critical faculties yet again. One charlatan in Masson's life was enough. 

We can, and should, apply Masson's object lesson whenever we encounter anyone who requires that we suppress inquiry--whether he be a priest or a president. Such "gurus", according to Masson, always lead us down the primrose path to disaster. It is a lesson worth bearing in mind, and one which Masson's personal experience so amply demonstrates.

Paul Brunton's contribution is very valuable to the seeking world. People all over the world long enjoyed Paul Brunton's book ‘A SEARCH IN SECRET INDIA’, which was instrumental in making Sri, Ramana Maharishi famous, Meher Baba wince. This book is an all-time bestseller at the time and continues to sell to this day.

In the 1940s and 1950s, Brunton lived with American author and former psychoanalyst Jeffrey Masson, the son of a Jewish American friend of Brunton,^[10] as Masson's parents were among a handful of Brunton's close disciples. Masson published a memoir of his childhood under the title My Father's Guru. Initially influenced by Brunton, Masson gradually became disillusioned with him. According to Masson, Brunton singled him out as a potential heir to his spiritual kingdom. In 1956, Brunton decided that a third world war was imminent and the Massons moved to Montevideo since this location was considered safe. From Uruguay, Masson went at Brunton's bidding to study Sanskrit at Harvard. Brunton himself did not move to South America, instead of spending some time living in New Zealand.^[11] Masson subsequently became proficient in Sanskrit and realized that Brunton did not have the facility with the language that he claimed.^[12]wiki

Paul Brunton's books can still be read with merit, but one should not ignore  Masson’s expose simply because we have accepted Brunton's writing as a yardstick in our pursuit of truth. Everything has to be verified before accepting anything as truth. 

C/N

Atoms, the electron, the atomic nucleus, earth, planets, stars, galaxy, air, water and the sun are nothing but consciousness. Without consciousness, they cease to exist..+*****

M.K. Q:- The Vedanta and the Sankhya hold the key to the laws of mind and the thought process which are co-related to the Quantum Field, i.e. the operation and distribution of particles at atomic and molecular levels.” -Prof. Brian David Josephson  Welsh physicist, the youngest Nobel Laureate.

Santthosh Kumaar:~ Both modern science and religion offer hypotheses and theories but there is one vital difference--science begins with facts which it collects; religion begins with fancies. Science evolves its hypotheses from such facts, religion from fancies.

Max Planck: ~ “Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we are part of nature and therefore part of the mystery that we are trying to solve”

***

All the scientific inventions are based on the dualistic perspective whereas the ultimate truth of existence is based on the nondualistic perspective.

Scientific inventions are limited to the domain of form, time, and space whereas the truth is formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

The scientists and the world in which they exist and their inventions are created out of single stuff. And that single stuff is consciousness. Knowledge of the single stuff is Advaita.

Advaita is the rational truth, scientific truth, the ultimate truth, and universal truth cannot be contradicted. The Advaitic truth was declared by the Sage Scientist Sankara 1200 years back.

One day the scientist also will confirm and declare that the universe is nothing but consciousness.

Remember:~

Science declares that oxygen combines with hydrogen to give water. And it also declares oxygen is protons or electrons. But in pursuit of the truth,  the whole physical existence (universe or mind) is considered as an illusion, and science and their inventions, which are based on physical existence is limited to physical existence. The truth is within but it is beyond the physical existence.  Science demands physical proof.  But the physical proof is part of the illusion. Hence,  science cannot go beyond physicality because the truth cannot be traced with laboratory conditions.  Deeper Inquiry, analysis,  and reasoning are required if one wants to push its quest deeply enough.

The modern man appears to have acquired admirable knowledge in various fields of inventions in the physical world. However, what man has acquired is limited to the physical world not beyond.  The man has to admit the fact that he cannot investigate the truth of his own existence through scientific inventions because it is possible only through a deeper thinking process. Above all, acquired physical-based knowledge and power do not assure man of lasting happiness in the worldly life and peace evades him at every moment.

Sage  Sankara says ~ VC- 56- Neither by Yoga, nor by Sankhya, nor by work, nor by learning, but by the realization of one's identity with Brahman (consciousness) is Liberation possible, and by no other means. 

The Mind and thought process are co-related to the Quantum Field, i.e. the operation and distribution of particles at atomic and molecular levels.- all these ideas are true on the physical base. The physical base is the base of the duality. The duality is not a reality from the ultimate standpoint. in reality,  there is no second thing that exists other than consciousness.  Thus, all these theories based on the false self (ego) hold no water from the ultimate standpoint.   

There is a need for facts of physical proof in scientific invention, whereas in pursuit of truth the proof has to be grasped mentally and realized.  Therefore, the truth is realized only by a few who take this mental pursuit.  “Whatever facts revealed, which is uncontradictable has to be accepted as truth.

So long as you are in the realm of duality, you have to explain how or why one thing came from another; and contradictory views are expressed. But when the Advaitin shows there is no second, there is no production, and the contradictions do not arise at all when the ultimate thing is Brahman alone.

Dualists say matter existed along with God, who took it and made it into the world like the potter with clay. But when you go deep into it, you must ask how do you know that these two things existed together and who created God? Reason gives no ultimate causation; therefore,  we drop God, First Matter, etc.

Determinism in classical physics: We can measure the energy in a cause and in an effect, i.e. that a certain thing produces a particular effect. Newton said that all happenings are completely determined and with certainty. This means that man’s will is not free, that materialism is true. The quantum theory has upset this theory of determinism and says that certainty has vanished, and probability or averages have replaced it. This weakens or demolishes the law of causality. Science can now describe only, not explain. Explanation depends on causality, on the "how." The description merely says what happens during the process.

Nobody knows nor can anybody ever know how a seed becomes a tree. We know only one antecedent fact--the planting of the seed--and one consequent fact--the growing of the tree. Hence,  we know no causes, only antecedents.

Atoms, the electron, the atomic nucleus, earth, planets, stars, galaxy, air, water, and the sun are nothing but consciousness. Without consciousness, they cease to exist. The scientific invention that takes place within the world, in which we exist, is nothing but an illusion created out of consciousness.

Thus, consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman, which Sage Sankara declared 1200 years back. 

Dualists saw this difficulty and said, as we can’t know let us use faith from this point onwards. Advaitic Sages has solved the difficulty.

Remember:~ 

The universe is merely an illusion created out of the Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of consciousness. The universe hides the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

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.

Sage Sankara says: ~   A buried treasure is not uncovered by merely uttering the words: “Come forth.” You must follow the right directions, dig, remove the stones and earth from above it, and then make it your own. In the same way, the pure truth of the Atman, which is buried under Maya and the effects of Maya can be reached by meditation, contemplation, and other spiritual disciplines but never by perverse arguments.

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.

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

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

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.:~  Santthosh Kumaar

Some of the beliefs that are held in the religion but contrary to the idea of personal Gods are being set aside by Sage Sankara himself. +

As the seeker proceeds deeper self-search. The seeker will come to the final conclusion there are no such Gods exists with forms and names.  The God in actuality will reveal only when one drops the orthodoxy and starts thinking on the unorthodox way.

No one can stop anybody from believing in their religious belief of God if that is what people want to stick to it.

People dedicated their lives to devotion to religion, cult, caste and creed and their religious belief of by so many wasted years of unanswered prayers worships and rituals never given any fruits.

When all these outdated dogmas introduced in the past by religion no longer have any value because it is lost its luster.   Everyone is free to choose to live their life how they want.   

Sage Sankara’s wisdom is nothing to do with the 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 imagination based on the false ‘Self’ (ego or you) within the false experience (waking). 

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 has hidden his wisdom.   

That is why Sage Sankara: ~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 come 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.

Therefore, the seeker should personally strive by all the means to be free from the bondage of experiencing the dualistic illusion as a reality.

Sage Sankara’s wisdom is nothing to do orthodox belief systems. Sage Sri, Sankara is the only sage who has final authority on the Advaitic truth. The Advaitic truth is rational truth and scientific truth without dogma.

The Advaitic orthodoxy is not the means to acquire ‘Self’-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.  Advaitic orthodoxy is meant for the ignorant populace that is unfit to grasp the highest truth.   The Advaitic orthodoxy is nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman.

All sect based beliefs are dualistic and unphilosophical nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman.  In spirituality the ultimate truth is God.  Thus, the Advaitic orthodoxy is a sect is nothing to do with the Advaitic wisdom of the Sage Sankara. Advaitic orthodox sect is meant for the ignorant populace.

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) Vivekachoodamani v 56, pg~25

Mundaka Upanishad condemns rituals.  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)

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

Some of the beliefs that are held in the religion but contrary to the idea of personal Gods are being set aside by Sage Sankara himself who orthodox people consider him as the founder of their religion.

All God propagated by belief systems are nothing but imaginations.  There is nothing so absurd which men have not worshipped in religion, every imaginable face has been given to God.  If God is creator then it is foolish to worship anything as God from his creation because the creation is apart from God. 

Every belief system has its own idea and conviction of God.  Thus, every belief system is based on the false ‘Self’.  Therefore, whatever is based on the false ‘Self’ has to be a falsehood? Thus, the idea of God of any belief system has is mere imagination based on the false ‘Self’.

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.

Remember:~ 

God is formless, timeless and spaceless existence. According to the Vedas God neither has any neither image nor God resides in any particular idol or statue. God cannot be seen directly by anyone. God pervades all beings and all directions.

Mythological gods and Goddesses are based on belief. The belief is no God. The belief implies duality. From the ultimate standpoint, the duality is merely an illusion. Thus, whatever one sees, knows, believes, and experiences within the dualistic illusion are bound to be an illusion.

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

All the mythological Gods are worshipped in the form of idols.  The belief system,  which propagated ideas of many Gods and Goddesses and  Bhakti is the only way to God is simply try to lead the people to darkness with its dogma and idea of many Gods, which is apart from the ‘Self’.

Mythology breeds superstition, blind belief, and senseless rituals and most irrational and gives them divine outlook. Mythological stories are a myth. Whatever is based on myth is merely superstition.  Mythology was introduced in the past for the ignorant masses. It has to be discarded if one has to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman or real God. :~Santthosh Kumaar 

You are mortal because the ‘Self’ is not you.+

You are mortal because the ‘Self’ is not you.  You are not the ‘Self’ because you are bound by birth, life, death, and the world.  The Soul, the ‘Self’ is immortal because it is birthless and deathless. It is birthless and deathless because it is a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.   

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

The Soul is Self. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. The consciousness is Self-illumined. So how can the body which is inert (insentient) and illumined by an external agent by consciousness, which is present only in the waking or dream?

The Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of Consciousness is apart from the three states and permanent, as it endures even after the death of the body and the world within the waking or dream.

Remember:~ 

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: ~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.

The universe hides the Soul, the Self. If you realize the nature of the universe then you will know the truth hidden by the universe.

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

In deep sleep there is nothing to observe when there is only the observer left, then the observer itself becomes the observed -- because there is nothing else to observe. Deep sleep is still a state of ignorance because we become aware of the deep sleep experience only in waking experience, which is the state of ignorance.

Only through Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana Self-awareness is possible.

In Self-awareness, the witness simply witnesses itself.

The seer sees itself. There are no thoughts, no objects. The Soul becomes still; it simply becomes a light unto itself. There is nothing that it lights, it lights only itself, the Soul, the Self is surrounded by silence, surrounded by Stillness. It is the objectless awareness in the midst of objects.

The Soul becomes the Soul in Self-awareness. Self-awareness itself is enlightenment. The Soul consciously remains aware of itself in the midst of the dualistic illusion (form, time, and space).

The ‘I’ has dissolved as the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The ‘I’ has dissolved means the mind has dissolved as the Soul.

The mind has dissolved means the form, time and space have dissolved as the Soul.

The form, time, and space dissolved as the Soul - means the universe has dissolved as the Soul or consciousness. 

The universe has dissolved means the waking has dissolved as the Soul.

The waking has dissolved as the Soul means the individual experience of the birth, life, death, and the world has dissolved as the Soul.

The individual experience of birth, life, death, and the world has dissolved as the Soul means the dualistic illusion is dissolved as the Soul.

The Soul alone exists as the formless, timeless, and spaceless eternal existence.

The seeker must first know the Soul is the only reality and that the world in which he exists is an illusion. The seeker must reason upon this truth from all points of view and up all further argumentation and realize the truth. This realization comes from being certain that Soul is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth alone is real and the world in which he exists is merely an illusion created out of consciousness. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar