If man had seen God creating the world, he could admit it, but how could he have seen God before he came into existence.+

Q:~Dear Santthosh Sir Pranam. As ignorant I don't know what I believe myself as desiring thought for clarity or individual body. I doubt myself for what it is. But no result for convincing reality. Whatever is the truth words are typed to move forward as life is full of movement to experience whatever it can. Soul, the Self, consciousness, formless witness, Brahman so far these terms are used for something that is most important to be known for the individual person. Not only to know what these terms as but also the individuality of the person who initiates this search is advised to be false. With the Atmagyan everything is advised to be negated including the one who desires to know. The whole approach seems to block wherever the mind can interfere with its every instrument called thought. When one succeeds this way by any fortunate chance what is the outcome. It is not an experience of any kind. The mind can easily conclude there is nothing to hold onto. So the mind or seeker or person returns emptyhanded to live its habitual life. But some fortunate ones when return they are changed. At least it seems to be unfortunate ones. Something is lost for some and something is gained by some. However what is gained is not objective experience for those who could not achieve it. Maybe it's the loser's question what is that which is missed. I know there is no answer to this loser but you can do something that is this loser's trust. Thank you for spending time with Looser to move ahead in the right direction.

A:~Santthosh Kumaar:~Orthodoxy is the path of ignorance.  Ignorant people worship mechanically and perform the prescribed sacrifices without any thought as to why they are doing them.   

That is why Ish Upanishads says: ~ Such people no wonder they grope in the dark.” They are doomed unless someday the truth dawns on them that to save themselves they must seek Self-knowledge.

Dogmas and beliefs, rituals, and ceremonies are the essences of the religion, not of the spirituality. 

Religion has become merely a matter of external rituals and ceremonies. Religion hides the truth beyond form, time, and space.  Till the form, time and space are present the duality is present. The duality creates the illusory prison to the Soul, the   ‘Self’.

Religious rites and rigid ceremonies were passed down from one generation to the next as a practice or set customs and traditions and performed automatically with blind faith. Such worship based on the belief of God does not reach God.

Religious believers claim that happiness and sorrow are felt through our sense organs. Eating drinking and making merry are a reality. The above experiences will appear false to Gnani because he is fully aware that, all three states are merely an illusion.  

People think God is somewhere, up there, monitoring every act of the people, guiding the lost, and uplifting the poor. God is the one who punishes the evil and rewards the benevolent.

Some people even claim to see them in stone idols or some conceptual belief, in inanimate or living things. Is it our faith that makes us believe that there is some supreme power above us or is it a reality, that can never be answered?  Until this conviction is there one is in the grip of the dualistic illusion. 

The dualistic illusion keeps one in ignorance of our true existence.  Therefore, there is a need to verify that the ‘Self ‘, is not you but it is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. 

When you become aware  that, the ‘Self’ is the Soul, then you realize that whatever is known, seen, believed, and experienced on the base of the false self is an illusion.

You are the false self within the false experience.  You are not the Self because you are the birth entity whereas the Soul, the Self is birthless and deathless.  

The unborn  Soul is birthless and deathless because it is an ever-formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

From the standpoint of the Soul, the Self, you and your experience of the world and your religion and your religious God and your accumulated knowledge is a falsehood because the waking experience is merely an illusion.

The Bhagavad Gita: ~ Brahmano hi pratisthaham ~ Brahman (God in truth) 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. 

Sage Goudpada quotes from the Upanishads: ~"There's no plurality here"; "The Soul, through its powers, appears to be many"; "those who are attached to creation or production or origination go to utter darkness"; "the unborn is never reborn, for what can produce it?”

The Vedas confirm God is Atman (spirit), the Self.

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

Do not accept any other God other than the Soul. The Soul is God in truth. Nothing is real but the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Nothing matters but realizing God in truth. God in truth, is everywhere and in everything. Let these words be inscribed in your subconscious.

God in truth, is hidden by the illusory universe. God in truth alone, is real and eternal, and all else is an illusion.

Brahman is merely a word to indicate the ultimate truth or God in truth. The ultimate truth itself is God in truth.

People are not aware of the fact that there is no individual God exists, apart from the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

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)

The dualistic worship of "God” is only for the ignorant populace.  God in truth is only Atman, the Self.   In reality, there is no duality, no differentiation. Only Atman exists.

The Bible says: ~  God is a Spirit, and they that worship God m must worship God in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24) 

The Spirit is the root element of the universe. The Spirit is present in the form of the Soul, the Self. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness.  

From the Spirit, the universe comes into existence. In the Spirit, the universe resides. And into the Spirit, the universe is dissolved.   The Spirit is the parent of all that is there is.

Yajurveda – chapter- 32:~    God is  Supreme Spirit.

If the Spirit is God, then how does man know God created the world? There is no proof. If man had seen God creating the world, he could admit it, but how could he have seen God before he came into existence? (i.e. were created). : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

No religious God can exist apart from the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.+

No religious God can exist apart from the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. People are not aware that there is no individual God can exist, apart from the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The Soul is the Self. If there is no Soul, then there is no- physical body, no ego, no world in which you exist, no religion, and no religious Gods.

People think that there must be a creator of this universe. If one thinks the Self is ‘I’ then there is a creator, but if one thinks that the ‘Self’ is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, then there is nothing that exists other than consciousness.

If one objectifies and sees a universe, then he is bound to see many things besides himself and postulate a God, the creator.

You, your body, and the world in which you exist rise and set together from, and into, the Soul or consciousness.

 If God is apart from the Soul, the ‘Self’, then God would be selfless, that is, outside existence, that is, non-existent.

No one has seen God creating the world. No one can claim that it was the first Knower of the first created things.

How was that first ‘known’ substance generated?

There got to be at the very beginning of the creation someone or other who was the very first knower of the creation. There cannot be something ‘known’ in the absence of a ‘knower.’

If at all we said that there was a ‘Seen’ or ‘known’ substance produced at the beginning of creation, you may legitimately question us about its origin. But that has never been our argument. 

We are consistent in our assertion that there has been no legitimate cause behind anything ‘seen’ at the beginning of creation or even later on at any time. Hence, there is not- a thing ‘seen.’ Because there has been not- a thing seen,  consciousness is forever without bondage. Consciousness cannot be captured in words.

How did the “I” originate?

How did the "world” originate?

How does one know that he exists in this world?

There was no cause for the universe even at the very start. So nothing ever is really born. The entire universe is only an illusion. The universe in which you exist is merely an illusion created out of consciousness.

What exists is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness only. Consciousness cannot be expressed in words because it is the existence itself. It is eternal, self-effulgent and unblemished.

The illusion has no value. The universe is the illusory nature of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Mentally reduce the universe to consciousness by realizing the universe is nothing but an illusion created out of consciousness.

There is no reason behind the illusion! From the ultimate standpoint, there is no illusion at all! Everything is nothing but consciousness.

You are still going by an attempt to establish a sequence of cause-effect relationships. There has to be a touchstone that can establish the correctness or otherwise of the sequence of causes and effects. If we examine based on that yardstick, the causes will evaporate.

For example, a doubt is a cause for a question. The cause for the doubt is ignorance. If we can get rid of ignorance, there is no scope for doubt and the later questions.

So go on finding answers to your doubts on your own. When all the questions are resolved, you will automatically land in and be at ease as consciousness. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Advaita regards consciousness as permanent and all-pervading while Buddhists regard it as momentary.+

Advaita is very different from Buddhism. Advaita regards consciousness as permanent and all-pervading while Buddhists regard it as momentary.

Buddhism has not proved the truth of Nonduality because they did not believe in the existence of Athma they believed in emptiness. Without Athma there is no nonduality. Buddhist fail to recognize that emptiness is the nature of the Athma, the 'Self'.

Madhyamikas regard that a non-existent entity can appear in perception like it does in the snake in the rope illusion.

You cannot live without the physical world; it is the basis of your life, so it must be the starting point of your inquiry. Things, not imaginations, must be the truth seekers' material.

Without knowing the nature of the world in which you exist, it is impossible to know the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space. What is the use of trying to find our inner ‘Self’ before we understand the world, which confronts us?

You have to realize the fact that, this world that confronts you is also consciousness.

If you do not make his induction from facts from the world before you, then you are only drawing on your imagination.

By saying ‘Self’ is like this, or like that." but it will be only your imagination.

You must inquire into the nature of the ‘I’ i.e. matter. Second, he must inquire into the nature of the Soul, the ‘Self’.

To say the world in which you exist as an illusion without first examining them and inquiring into them thoroughly is to delude yourself.

This world is common to all of us, therefore you must begin your inquiry with it and not avoid it.

It is only after you have inquired into the nature of the objective world, that you should inquire into who is the knower.

If, however, you inquire into the knower before the inquiry into the world in which you exist, then it is mere mysticism.

‘What is the world?’ must precede ‘What is this I? in the Atmic path.

Look at everything in its essence because everything is made of consciousness. You should not avoid them, do not shut your eyes to the world in which you exist; do not shut yourself away from the world which is as much consciousness, as anywhere else.

Those who are weak and those who are not sharp enough to grasp the truth beyond form, time, and space advice others to be non-observant and to withdraw. Soulcentric reasoning will help, not hinder your pursuit of truth. There is no need to run away from worldly life in ascetic fear or shyness of them.

The yogi shuts his eyes against the world and then has the temerity to declare that he knows the world to be Brahman! Because he has not inquired into the world in which he exists, he knows nothing.

Yoga cannot remove ignorance. It is only a step. It removes obstructions.

Sage Sankara definitely says: ~ Yoga is not the means of liberation (pages 132-133 of his commentary on Brihadaranyakopanishad).

In Sutra Bhashya and Manduka: ~ Samadhi and sleep are identical.

Brihad Upanishad does not advocate Samadhi.

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana cannot come if anything is left out. The whole universe must be included. For only when all is known can all be known to be but ideation. Hence, yogis blotting all out in Samadhi cannot lead to Gnana.: ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom is a hidden treasure of the spiritual truth.+

Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom itself is Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom is the fairest flower of wisdom in the world.

Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom is a hidden treasure of the spiritual truth. Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom itself is Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

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 can be reached by getting tod of ignorance. 

Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom is the fairest flower of wisdom in the world. Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom is a hidden treasure of the spiritual truth.

Adyatma is nothing to do with religious sects or creeds and religious beliefs. Adyatma is pure spirituality. Knowledge of Atma is Adyatma. Advaita is Adyatma.

Adyatma is the knowledge of the truth hidden by the illusory form, time, and space. Bifurcate religion, yoga, and theoretical philosophy and base the truth on the Athma is Adyathma.

Adyatma is based on the ultimate truth, which is based on the Atman or Spirit, which is the Self. Sage Sankara's Advaitic wisdom is pure spirituality or Adyathma.

The Vedas and the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita speaks of the truth with a weak voice and they do not have the majesty found in the Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom ~ it is simply unparalleled. The influence of Sage Sankara’s wisdom is nothing to do with Advaitic orthodox belief systems.

The Advaitic wisdom has been lost: people misinterpret and falsify it, Advaitic wisdom is not yoga but it is the truth, which is hidden within the form, time, and space, but nobody knows it. The teachers of philosophy and religious Gurus and yogis do not want to inquire into the hidden truth and have no time for it.

Neither by the practice of yoga nor philosophy, nor by good works nor by learning, has freedom from experiencing the dualistic illusion come, but only through the Advaitic wisdom.

The most important thing is that neither society nor politics nor any other institution of human life has had any influence on Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom.

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 Advaitic wisdom there shall be no freedom for the Soul, which is caught up in the dualistic illusion.

The ultimate Truth which has no basis is usually religion or a mere catalog of ignorant opinions; people prefer it because it can be got more easily. All religious doctrines are based on the ego. Whatever is based on the ego is worthless because the truth is based on the Soul, the Self.

Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom is such a pure expression ~ transcending form, time, and space ~ there is nothing comparable.

Religion has been very influential. The first reason is that religion is a synthesis.

Religion is more concerned with synthesis than with truth. The desire for synthesis is so strong that if necessary religion doesn't mind sacrificing the truth to propagate the belief.

Religion is a hodgepodge containing everything; hence it suits everyone because there is something in it for everyone.

The truth does not belong to any religion. Religious truth is individual truth based on the false self.

The ignorant populace takes solace in their inherited religion. For religious people, Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom will prove very difficult.

The seeker has to know God in truth. The truth is ignored by religion.

The difference between the religious God, which is based on blind belief, and the truth about God, is based on the core of existence. :~Santthosh Kumaar 

The Soul, the ‘Self’ cannot be experienced because it is ever nondual and it is cause of the experience.+

Self-realization is not an experience because the ‘Self’ is not you but the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The Soul, the ‘Self’ cannot be experienced because it is the cause of the experience. The Soul, the Self is ever formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. Experience implies duality. Duality is nearly an illusion.

Experience requires experiencer. in non-dualistic reality, there is neither experience nor experiencer.

The Soul, the Self which is present in the form of consciousness, is prior to any experience. The experience is possible only in dualistic illusion. The world in which you exist is a dualistic illusion.

Consciousness is the cause of the dualistic illusion and it itself is uncaused. Consciousness is the only real thing within the dualistic illusion. Consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

Anubava in the Advaitic contest is not an experience but it is the realization of the 'Self' hidden by the dualistic illusion (Maya or illusory universe).

Remember the 'Self', is not an individual but the Self is a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. The experience is possible only in the domain of form, time, and space. In reality, form, time, and space are one in essence.

Individual truth is not a universal truth. An individual cannot claim that he has experienced the whole.

There is no proof he has seen it because the whole is not an individual experience.

The man and the world are within the whole. Therefore such claims of experiencing the Soul, the Self is hallucinations because the whole cannot be experienced. After all, the experience of form, time, and space is merely an illusion created out of the formless soul or consciousness.

All claims of experiencing ( anubava) the 'Self' or Brahman is a falsehood because experience implies duality and duality is a falsehood from the ultimate standpoint.

Thus, 'Self 'or 'Brahman' cannot be experienced because it is prior to any experience and there is no second thing that exists other than consciousness. 'Self' has to be realized by getting rid of ignorance through wisdom.:~Santthosh Kumaar

Gita says throughout the book, not to rely on Yoga, but to rely on reason (Buddhi) (discrimination between real and unreal).+

Self-realization cannot be achieved through egocentric knowledge or yoga because Self-realization is not the product of any action, but it is a mental (inner) journey and can be achieved only through perfect understanding and assimilation of ‘what is what’.

The novice seekers must understand that yoga is all right in its places and that it is good at the beginning of the pursuit of truth, but when yoga is made ends in itself and not means to acquire the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Yoga and meditation are not useless, they are useful to bring the restless ego under control. Yoga and meditation are not final. By indulging in yoga and meditation, it will lead not lead to the ultimate end of understanding. Yoga cannot remove ignorance. It is only a step. It removes obstructions.

Sage Sankara definitely says that yoga is not the means of liberation (pages 132-133 of his commentary on Brihadaranyakopanishad).

Gita Chapter 6 deals with meditation, verses 11 and 12. It says "Yoga is for purification." This means it is not for truth but for discipline.

Chap.5 deals with renunciation. Bhagavad Gita says throughout the book, not to rely on Yoga, but to rely on reason (Buddhi) (discrimination between real and unreal).

Lord Krishna confesses that the oldest wisdom of India (Advaita wisdom) has been lost: people misinterpret and falsify it today as they did then. It is not yoga but 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 Lord Krishna calls it "the supreme secret." 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.

Remember:~

First, the seeker has to realize the ‘Self, ‘ is neither the waking entity (ego) nor the dream entity, but the ‘Self’ is the formless witness of the three states.

The witness of the three states is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. The Soul witnesses, the coming and going of the three states.

The path of wisdom is the inner (mental) journey. Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana and wisdom are one and the same thing. Without an intense urge, it is difficult to tread this path.

Self-realization is not an experience because the ‘Self’ is not you but the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. The Soul, the ‘Self’ cannot be experienced because it is ever non-dual existence.

The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is prior to any experience. The experience is possible only in the dualistic illusion. The world in which you exist is a dualistic illusion.

Consciousness is the cause of the dualistic illusion and it itself is uncaused. Consciousness is the only real thing within the dualistic illusion. Thus, consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

The ‘I’ is blocking your realization of truth.+

Most of the Gurus and Yogis s approach was more practical, and they stuck with the reality of the 'I', they take it as real. All their teachings of Advaita are based on the dualistic perspective. They describe marvelously the goal but do not indicate the steps to be taken: their recurring phrases "unified consciousness" and "let go" and "'love alone" are not a roadmap. Such teaching will not yield the truth of the whole.

Many Gurus describe perfection is the awakening to Reality ~the realization that pure Consciousness alone is, that the perpetually fluctuating and evanescent contents of the mind derive from it. This awakening effectively happens in an instant. But in order for the lightning flash to take place, resulting in a firm and unshakable certitude, long labor is necessary, which they seem to underestimate. “Truth is formless is their answer.

Many Gurus' teachings seem essentially negative, potent but bitter medicine for those imprisoned by institutional cults. They break the disciple's bonds but then lead him to a vast desert where they abandon him.

The ‘I’ is blocking your realization of truth. The ‘I’ based teachings have to be discarded in order to realize the Advaitic reality.

The seeker has to make sure what is this ‘I’ supposed to be? The seeker has to make sure the unreal nature of the ‘I’ which comes and goes in order to realize the truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space

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

The ‘I’ hides the truth of the whole.

Where there is ‘I’ there is ignorance.

Where there is ignorance there is separation.

Where there is separation there is duality.

Where there is duality there is an illusion.

Where there is an illusion there is the mind.

Where there is the mind there is the universe.

Where there is the universe there is waking or dream.

Where there is the universe there is waking or dream there is form, time, and space

Remember:~

Where there is no ‘I’ there is no ignorance.

Where there is no ignorance there is no separation.

Where there is no separation there is no duality.

Where there is no duality there is an illusion.

Where there is no illusion there is no mind.

Where there is no mind there is no universe.

Where there is no universe there is no waking or dream.

Where there is no waking or dream there is no form, time, and space

When there are no divisions of form, time, and space there is the Advaitic reality.

Perfect understanding of ‘what is what leads to the realization of Advaitic truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space.

Without knowing ‘what the mind is in actuality how you can know the consciousness? Playing with words is not spirituality. The consciousness is the cause of the mind and it itself is uncaused.

Preaching teaching is not wisdom. only through perfect understanding and the realization of ‘what is what leads to the realization of the truth, which is hidden within the form, time, and space and it is without the form, time, and space.

Consciousness is not an object but it’s the subject. Knowledge of both the object and the subject is ‘Self’-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar