Sage Sankara strongly advocated the study of Upanishads and at the same time cautioned that the study of Upanishads alone would not lead to moksha. In matters of such as spiritual attainment, one’s own realization was the sole authority and it cannot be disputed
Sage Sankara also said the study of Upanishad was neither indispensable nor a necessary prerequisite for attaining the human goal, the moksha.
Sage Sankara pointed out; even those who were outside the Upanishad fold were as eligible to moksha as those within the fold were. He declared that all beings are Brahman, and therefore the question of discrimination did not arise. All that one was required to do was to get rid of ignorance (Avidya or duality).
Sage Sankara: ~ VC- 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.
Scriptural citation quoted as authoritative only after verification and which helps to acquire Advaitic wisdom. Advaitic truth is uncontradictable and proved the truth.
Scriptures are of value only when dealing with persons who are incapable of understanding the truth. They have no value as authority for those who use reason.
The Upanishads are self-contradictory. Scholars even give conflicting interpretations of them. Common sense says that the final authority, therefore, is using your own reason. This does not mean you need to give up the scriptures, but you should apply your reason to them. The reason is common to all.
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."
How do you know that the scriptures of any religion contain the truth, without knowing what is truth and what is the untruth?
How do you know that the Guru you quote knew the truth without knowing what is Gnana? And what is ignorance?
If you say scripture is infallible then ask yourself, What is it? A book of words! What is a word? A thought; Can you see into another man’s mind? No. Then it is impossible to see if the authors of the scripture thoughts are founded in fact or not.
How do you know that the authors of the religious holy books have spoken only the truth? How can you look into their minds when they have passed away hundreds of years ago? You cannot even look into the minds even of the living persons and know fully what is in them, how much less of a dead person? Observe how one religion is inimical towards another. Why has God created them so?
One part of your scriptures say Soul is changing, another that it is immortal. How to resolve such contradiction?" Hence even by faith, you cannot arrive at fixed notions of certitude. It is possible only by reason. Scripture can be interpreted in a thousand different ways and hence can never finally determine the truth.
Max Muller or Sage Sankara, each has different interpretations. Most people take their own interpretations and call it Vedanta.
People take to the path of belief or of authoritarianism merely because they are the easiest ways. To seek proof is troublesome and time-taking.
The seeker of truth should not begin with God (Brahman). God has to be proved, not assumed. Hence, so-called philosophers who take God (Brahman) for granted are not Gnanis at all.
The scholastic or mystic arguments are endless. If one says “God (Brahman) is Nirguna" another will say, "No, God is Saguna! If one says "This religion is higher" another will say, "No, it is lower." It is impossible to get anywhere with such talk because both sides are merely imagining.
Authoritarianism merely assumes as true what another says, but what has yet to be proved.
Most of the self-proclaimed Gurus are open liars; their trade is to exaggerate; only they want to tell pleasant lies.
Many Gurus will teach you that all is yourself, but none of them can show that this is so, none has analyzed it scientifically, and none can prove it. Sage Sankara’s method is a rational proof so that you arrive at knowing truth i.e. Advaitic Gnana. Scholars’ knowledge is mere dogma, parrotism, repetition of what they read in scripture.
How can the mystics know that their experience is the highest? May not be that there is a higher one beyond their experience because the truth is prior to any experience?
You may believe in a position, but you are required to prove the truth of your belief. A belief is a feeling, the truth is knowledge hidden by ignorance.
The Vedas talk about Brahman which refers to the ultimate truth or ultimate reality. The consciousness is the ultimate truth, therefore, the consciousness is Brahman and Brahman is God.
Vedic God is Atman. The nature of Atman is Advaita. Advaita is God, one without the second.
Remember:~
Yajurveda – chapter- 32: - God is Supreme Spirit has no ‘Pratima’ (idol) or material shape. He cannot be seen directly by anyone. He pervades all beings and all directions.
Thus, Idolatry does not find any support from the Vedas.
Vedas do not permit idol worship. All the idols are of the Puranic Gods priests are referring to the Puranic Brahma as God they are ignorant of the God in Vedas even though they speak of Vedas.
Priests do not understand the meaning of the Brahman, which is present in the form of consciousness.
Vedic Gods, hardly have any significance in the present-day Hindu belief system. The Gods and Goddesses important to the Hindus of today are Ram, Krishna, Kali, Ganesh, Hanuman, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, and the respective consorts of the last three, namely, Saraswati, Lakshmi, and Shakti. None of these deities figured prominently in the Vedic pantheon and some of them are clearly non-Vedic.
Yajur Veda indicates that: ~
They sink deeper into darkness those who worship sambhuti. Sambhuti means created things, for example, table, chair, idol, etc. (Yajurveda 40:9)
Those who worship visible things born of the prakrti, such as the earth, trees, bodies (human and the like) in place of God are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time." (Yajurveda 40:9.)
Why worship and glorify the non-~Vedic Gods in place of Vedic God when Veda bars such activities and it also warns people who indulge in such activities are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time.
God exists prior to form, time, and space. The form, time, and space cease to exist as a reality when wisdom dawns. Thus, the Gods and Gurus have no place in the domain of the Advaitic reality. Advaita is the nature of the Soul, which is the real God. Thus, Self-realization is the only way to God-realization.
Bhagavad Gita itself says: ~ Brahmano hi pratisthaham ~ Brahman (God) is considered the all-pervading consciousness, which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material. (14.27).
When Bhagavad Gita says, God is considered the all-pervading consciousness which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material then nothing has to be accepted as God other than consciousness.
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.
The dualistic worship of "God” is only for the ignorant populace. The God in truth is only Atman, the Self. In reality, there is no duality, no differentiation. Only Atman exists.
Bhagavad Gita: ~ “All those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires, they worship many God s. (7- Verse -20)
Bhagavad Gita Chapter:~ “All those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires, they worship many Gods. (7- Verse -20)
The Vedas confirm God is Atman (Spirit), the Self.
Rig Veda: ~ The Atman is the cause; Atman is the support of all that exists in this universe. May ye never turn away from the Atman the innermost self. May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?" (10:48, 5)
How can you worship God? That implies two ~ the worshipper and the worshipped, whereas God is nondual. One can worship his idea of God only or realize his unity with it when he can’t worship it as apart.
Kena Upanishad (6) Chapter I: ~ “That which cannot be apprehended by the mind, but by which, they say, the mind is apprehended-That alone know as Brahman, and not that which people here worship.
Kena Upanishad (7) Chapter I: ~ “That which cannot be perceived by the eye, but by which the eye is perceived-That alone know as Brahman and not that which people here worship.
Kena Upanishad (8) Chapter I:~ “That which cannot be heard by the ear, but by which the hearing is perceived-That alone know as Brahman and not that which people here worship.
Kena Upanishad (9)- Chapter I:~ “That which cannot be smelt by the breath, but by which the breath smells an object-That alone know as Brahman, and not that which people here worship.
Even in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~ “Brahman (God) is in the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself’.
Thus, it clearly indicates that God is without the form and attributes and ever free. The real God is stolen by ignorance and people worship ignorance as God.
When Upanishads and Vedas declare that, “God is in the form of the Athma, and God is indeed Athma itself” then why accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar
