Satsangha is not hearing the religious and yogic discourses. All the religious and yogic discourses are not Advaitic wisdom.
Gurus can only lecture for giving out falsehood (duality), but it is a waste of time to deliver a public lecture giving out the truth. It is the illusions that appeal to the taste of the audience because they are ignorant about the world in which they exist, is merely an illusion from the standpoint of the Soul, the ‘Self’.
For a crowd at a venue will contain men of varying capacities to understand, of whom only one or two might be seekers for truth or receptive to receive Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.
If one wants to interview a Gnani then he must be ripe enough to understand what a Gnani is pointing at.
A Gnani will be withholding the truth because he is aware that, the unready people will not understand what he is saying.
That is why Bhagavad Gita says:- "Don't unsettle the minds of the ignorant by revealing the esoteric truth."
A Gnani may travel provided he is actively engaged in helping the seekers.
Sage Sankara: ~ "Though I wear these robes of a Sanyasin, it is only for the sake of bread." (Select Works of Sage Sankara" also his commentary on Brihad)
Thus, the above passage proves that all those who wear the sanyasin robes are wearing them for the sake of bread belong to the religion; they have nothing to do with Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.
There is no need to criticize and condemn the Gurus, yogis, and swamis because they are needed for the welfare of the ignorant masses in the dualistic world.
Sage Sankara in Viveka Chudamani (2), states that the Knower of the Atman (i.e., a Gnani) "bears no outward mark of a holy man" (Stanza 539).
It means the Gurus, Swamis, and Yogis who identify themselves as holy people are not Gnanis.
Those who are seeking truth need not follow any religion, sect, Guru, or any teaching.
The one who thinks of himself as a Guru and the one who thinks of himself as a chela (disciple) will not be able to acquire Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana because both of them accept themselves as the body. And all their understanding, practices, and knowledge are based on the false self (ego or you). Therefore, the Guru–Shisya concept is a great obstacle in the pursuit of truth. A Gnani never accepts himself as a Guru or accepts anyone as his disciple.
There was no division in Gnani's consciousness even though he was in the midst of the dualistic illusion (world).
That is why Sage Sankara:~ VC- v6~ 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.
Sage Sankara says: ~ VC 56. Neither by Yoga, nor by Sankhya, nor by good work, nor by learning, but by the realization of one's identity with Brahman is Liberation possible, and by no other means.
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.
Advaita is the nature of the Soul. Advaita is second to none. Advaita is universal wisdom revealed on its own to all the serious and sincere seekers of truth.
The real Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara is Soulcentric knowledge. Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is Soulcentric knowledge that destroys ignorance.
Remember:~
Remember:~
Scriptural knowledge is conceptual divisions invented by teachers of philosophy by their excessive analysis. All these concepts are a great obstacle in the pursuit of truth. Why should confusion be created and then explained away? Fortunate is the man who does not lose himself in the labyrinths of philosophy but goes straight to the source from where the ‘I’ arises.
Blinded by the illusion very few grasp the nondualistic or Advaitic truth. Only a few escape from the web of illusion, and only a few will be able to acquire nondualistic or Advaitic wisdom.
The nonduality has to be grasped in the midst of the waking experience (duality or mind or universe). That is, being aware of the truth and untruth, reality and unreality. And one can establish oneself in the truth and be able to view and judge, the three states, on the base of the Soul, the Self. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. The consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman.
Unfortunately, people are stuck with their accumulated ideas based on the false Self, imagine nonduality, and say nothing exists other than the source. But a Gnani says everything exists (illusion) but everything is created out of the Soul (spirit or consciousness).
Everything rises from the Soul (Spirit or consciousness) and subsides as the Soul (Spirit or consciousness). Thus, the whole diversity has no relevance, from the standpoint of the Soul as the Self.
Everything (universe or illusion or matter) is the consciousness (Soul or Spirit) realizing the three states are created out of consciousness (Soul or Spirit).
For the benefit of those who think from the lower standpoint of the world of duality, the Gnani tells them to follow their chosen path and when they are convinced that their chosen paths are inadequate and useless in quenching their inner thirst they only take the path of wisdom or reason.
The Gnani is not a sanyasi or Guru or Swami or Sadhu or Monk. He does not belong to any ashrams." Both Gnani and the ignorant see the multiplicity, but Gnani does not take the differences he sees as being real. That is the difference between them. The Gnani see the unity behind the differences within the realm of form, time, and space by knowing that form, time, and space are one in essence.
A true Gnani can never renounce anything. It is impossible. He has only renounced the idea of a separation of form, time, and space.
Gnanis have ignored the opinions of whole peoples in their independent search for truth and questioned all beliefs, all scriptures, and all authorities until they could be proven to be true.
Even the arguments that religions have been followed since time immemorial make no difference to them because if people have believed a false thing over thousands of years, the length of time does not prove it true.
The ultimate truth does not belong to the religion because the religion and its belief in religious ideas of God and its scriptures are a reality within the scope of form, time, and space whereas the ultimate truth is beyond form, time, and space.
Remember:~
The Gnani accepts the sameness in pleasure and pain because he is fully aware that pleasure, pain, and the world are made of the same stuff and that stuff is consciousness.
Without consciousness, there is no pleasure, pain, and the world. Gnani’s position is that if enjoyment comes, he accepts it; if it does not, he keeps quiet. Even when he is taking pleasures, however, he is not deluded by them and he regards them as a game he is playing for he knows their unreality: he does not take them seriously.
Clouds do not affect the sky, although they appear to; so the pleasure and pain do not change the Gnani because he is fully aware that, the pleasure and pain belong to the world. And the world is merely an illusion from the standpoint of the Soul, the Self. From the standpoint of the Soul, the Self the illusory world is merely a passing show.
The Gnani will follow whatever occupation he wishes according to circumstances. There are no prohibitions for him. He may be a peasant or a billionaire.
Gnanis do not perform miracles to attract attention to the truth. If one performed Miracles in a dream the dream becomes unreal when waking takes place. Similarly, the waking becomes unreal when Advaitic wisdom dawns.
Advaitic wisdom dawns when the waking entity (you) realizes it, itself is not the self but the self is the formless soul, which witnesses the coming and going of the three states. The witness of the three states and the three states are one in essence. That essence is the soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.
Even whilst in the midst of the experience of objects, the Gnani have an awareness of the Soul, the Self. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.
In Self-awareness, there is no separation of form, time, and space from the other because the form, time, and space are one in essence.
A person who has realized the ultimate truth or Brahman will throw off his religious robe and his religious identity and become Avadhuta and live as he wishes. : ~Santthosh Kumaar
