Sage Sankara:~A firm conviction that Brahman alone is real and the phenomenal World is unreal is known as discrimination between the Real and the Unreal.+

First Mundaka - Chapter 2 (10) - Ignorant fools, regarding sacrifices and humanitarian works as the highest, do not know any higher good. Having enjoyed their reward on the heights of heaven, gained by good works, they enter again this world or a lower one.

As per the scriptures, the three "Ashrams" or stages in life were originally intended for three grades of intelligence thus:

v             Religion: low intellects had to do 'karmas' works, ritual actions, chanting of mantras and indulging in Bajans and prayers, etc.

v             Middle intellects:  Yoga: taking yellow robes, going to caves, ashrams, etc.

v             High intellects: wisdom who wanted the truth is concerned with no external rites no prayers or sanyasa but depend solely on the Soulcentric reasoning for their path.

Thus the seeker has to choose his path according to his choice.  Without an intense urge to know the truth and the sharpness to grasp the truth, it is difficult to tread the path of wisdom never mix different paths with each other, and make cocktails because it leads to all sorts of doubts and confusion. 

Remember:~

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

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 seeker of truth should be beware of everything that is untrue: stick to the truth and he shall succeed, maybe slowly, but surely.

People who argue that Soul does not exist are not aware of the fact that their own existence is dependent on the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

One should not conclude because some great thinkers said so or some philosophers say so. Without consciousness, the mind, which is present in the form of the universe ceases to exist. Man ceases to exist without the universe. 

The universe ceases to exist without the Soul, the Self. The Soul can exist with or without the universe. The universe itself is the dualistic illusion or Maya. 

Remember:~

Religion encourages one who can induce himself to feel convinced that he has realized the Self, or has an admirer who believes that he has done so, then it opens up for him the way for the founding of a new sect based on Guru-worship. 

People, too, have developed curious credulousness. Often they would install an earnest seeker and devotee, or a pious saint, on the throne of God and begin to offer him worship and homage even if he protested and resisted such acts. They would lay prostrate, sing hymns, wave lights (arati) and burn incense before him, and present to him food which was to be returned by him as Prasada, wash his toes and sip the wash. At times the disciple would go to the length of getting food, fruit, or a betel-nut leaf chewed by him and taking the morsel back from it.

Lord Krishna himself says that he can do nothing to make a man intelligent straight away. The adepts give Prasad, blessings, initiations, mantras, etc. only to confer temporary peace of mind, to help you to get rid of worries, but not to confer Gnana. The capacity to receive it must first be inborn in man by evolutionary degree.

People would place his photo in the private temples of their homes and perform all these rites and ceremonies which are usually offered to temple idols.  In this way, there might be at present in our country scores of individuals who are worshiped as living God, with the following varying in numbers.

If one is seeking truth one has to drop all religiously-based dogmas and blind beliefs ritualistic baggage and move forward in their pursuit of truth. 

Religion causes one to become crippled, Self-mortifying and Self-deprecating is not a religion, but the social system of controlling the populace through psychological deformation and retardation.

One can think only within the waking experience. Therefore, even if one stops thinking he still remains a man without the thoughts. The thoughts will not form without form, feeling, perception and mental formation, and consciousness. If one of these things is not there, then the thoughts will not form.

The thoughts will not stop until one becomes aware of the fact that, the Self is formless. It is impossible to get rid of the form without understanding ‘What is the mind?  and ‘What is the substance of the mind? ‘What is the source of the mind?

The Soul, the  ‘Self’, when known becomes an object. The Soul, when realized, then becomes consciousness. This is the distinction between knowing and realizing.

Remember:~

If you are seeking truth then you should not believe all the stories about the magical power of mantrams, visions and samadhis, and astral travel because they are a reality within the dualistic illusion.   Wherever there is duality there is no truth. 

When you know that everything is Brahman, there is no need for yogic control of the mind. Control presupposes a second, a duality.

Hence, yoga is in the sphere of duality and is unnecessary to one who knows non-duality.

If anyone talks of liberation he is forming an idea.  The idea belongs to duality. Those philosophers, who are so confused as to be unable to separate the subject from the object, talk of gaining liberation. But all such ideas are only the dualist illusion (object) which comes and goes, the Subject needs no liberation because the object is created out of the subject. Knowledge of the subject frees the subject from the illusory object.

The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is the ultimate truth.  The ultimate truth is Brahman or God.

The final state is that God is everything, the All; there is nothing but God, whereas to say "God is in me" is mysticism.

The world in which you exist is consciousness. Unless the world in which you exist is there in your realization, the Advaitic wisdom will not dawn.

Ignorance cannot go through merely knowing the Soul, for it is known in sleep and Samadhi. It can go only by the realization of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is the ultimate truth or Brahman because there is no second thing that exists other than consciousness.

Remember:~

Sage Sankara himself had often said that his philosophy was based on Sruti or revealed scripture. This may be because Sage Sankara addressed the ordinary man, who finds security in the idea of causality and thus with the idea of God~ and Revelation is indispensable to prove the latter. He believed that those of superior intelligence, have no need for this idea of divine causality, and can, therefore, dispense with Sruti and arrive at the truth of Non-Dualism by pure reason. 

Sage Sankara gave out what was of most use to the greatest number of people. Therefore, in the commentaries on the Upanishads, such as the famous Manduka Upanishads, he gave the highest non-dual message of the identity of Atman and Brahman, revitalizing the philosophy and the practice of Advaita, while in the commentaries on the Brahmasutra he gave lesser teaching, positing both higher and lower Maya and higher and lower Brahman (Ishvara) to explain creation for those of lesser intellects until they were ready for the highest truth. 

Sage Sankara:~  '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 (6)

It is clear that liberation cannot be the result of good works, for Sruti itself declares that there is no hope for immortality by means of wealth. (7)

Actions help to purify the mind, but they do not, by themselves, contribute to the attainment of Reality. The attainment of Reality is brought about only by Self-Inquiry and not in the least by even ten million acts. (11)

The fear and sorrow created by the delusory serpent in the rope can be ended only after fully ascertaining the truth of the rope through steady and balanced thinking. (12) 

Neither sacred baths nor any amount of charity nor even Hundreds of pranayamas* can give us knowledge about our own Self. The firm experience of the nature of the Self is seen to proceed from inquiry along the lines of the salutary advice of the wise. (13)

Ultimate success in spiritual endeavors depends chiefly upon the qualifications of the seeker. Auxiliary conveniences such as time and place all have a place indeed, but they are essentially secondary. (14)

He alone is considered qualified to enquire after the supreme Reality, which has discrimination, detachment, qualities of Calmness, etc., and a burning desire for liberation. The four-fold qualifications ( 17)

Great sages have spoken of four qualifications for attainment which, when present, succeeds in the realization of Brahman and In the absence of which the goal is not attained. (18)

(While enumerating the qualifications), first, we count the ability to discriminate between the Real and the unreal; next comes a spirit of detachment from the enjoyment of the fruits of actions here and hereafter; after that is the groups of six virtues beginning with Calmness, and the last is undoubtedly an intense desire for liberation. (19)

A firm conviction that Brahman alone is real and the phenomenal world is unreal is known as discrimination between the Real and the Unreal. (20)

They have crossed the dreadful ocean of (embodied) existence through their own efforts and without any (personal) motives; they help others to cross it. (37)

It takes time for the seeker to gain the perfect understanding of ‘what is the truth’ and ‘’what is untruth’.

Those who are weak and those who are not sharp enough to grasp the truth beyond form, time, and space advise 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.  : ~ Santthosh Kumaar