Panchadasi: ~ The impossibility of yoga arrives at a successful end to its practices.+

Bhagavan Buddha gave up his austerities of yoga as impossible and useless. (Page.70/71 "Buddhism in Translation” by Warren)

Bhagavan Buddha got enlightenment only after he gave up Yoga. Unless one exercises his reason--there is no chance of getting the truth.

When the yogi enters this highest Nirvikalpa (effortless) Samadhi, he will at once enter deep sleep. This will make plain to him after he wakes, that the inner ‘Self’ he sought and found, the Atman, is reached only when all his ideas are refunded into it, when there is then all the features of non-duality, one without a second. However, the yogi must later wake up, and emerge from Samadhi and there is duality again, for the world of objects confronts him. So now he has to work on the next stage which is to find consciously in the waking experience the same non-duality that he unconsciously knew in sleep. This is done by learning that the universe is or idea or an object for the formless subject, and then refunding the universe, ~idea back into its source, which is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Only at this final stage, he says "Atman, which is present in the form of the consciousness is the same as the Brahman. Brahman is the ultimate truth. " Now he is fully aware of it.

All yogic visions, however, wonderful will pass away; they go as they come. They have the value of dreams. They are not the truth which is un-passing and beyond change.

One can’t shut his eye to the universe, which confronts him as in Samadhi of yoga and sees supreme reality. One can know it only by keeping himself’ clear and open.

 Sage  Sankara says: - The yogi must add discrimination to his quest.

Nirvikalpa Samadhi and deep sleep are the same from the standpoint of the Soul, the innermost ‘‘Self’’ the absence of the known. The knower was there.

How does Samadhi give Gnana? Only by preparing yourself to see that the world disappears and re-appears and, that non-duality is here and duality there, to convince the man that in non-duality one won’t disappear as he doesn't disappear in Samadhi or deep sleep. Another advantage of Samadhi is one gets the capacity to forget the external world and to treat it as an idea.

Yoga can never give you the fundamental thing, that the world is an illusion. Only Gnana can give it. Nirvikalpa Samadhi is unquestionably the same as deep sleep, and all ideas are refunded back there too. One must learn what ideas are when all the ideas of the universe's existence go back into one’s mind through Yoga. Then one learns this. How has he learned that the entire universe is the consciousness of Brahman if he stops at Nirvikalpa Samadhi? Without perceiving the universe, and having a duality before him, it is impossible.

Nirvikalpa has no duality, hence it cannot tell you about the universe. The yogi who emerges from Samadhi and says he found Gnana there, says it to a second person, hence there is duality again. If he were a real Gnani, there would be nobody for him to tell that he had experienced Gnana.

Self-knowledge will interest only a few people the rest are interested in Religion, yoga other paths, and pleasure hunting. 

Remember 

The Gurus of the past and present who profound Advaita holding the Self as ‘I’. Their teaching based on the ‘I’, is based on the dualistic perspective. Whatever teachings are based on the dualistic perspective is speculated imagination.

Most of these bands of Gurus are half religious and half spiritual. They have not reached anywhere but they think they are Gnanis and propagate their cocktail teaching collected from different sources. They are just playing with the emotions of people.

Religion has nothing to do with Spirituality. If you mix religion and yoga with Spirituality, you will never be able to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. 

Those who are stuck with religion and yoga are not fit to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. 

Religion and yoga are based on the matter, not on the Spirit therefore, they are useless in the pursuit of truth.

Yoga Vasistha:~ "Teachers, interpretations of sacred texts, the force of religious merit--none of these lead to the realization of that Ultimate Truth which is revealed in the clear reflection of the heart, engendered from contact with the good."

All yogic teachings are based on the body, and thus have nothing to do with Gnana. Yoga helps only to remove mental and physical stress.

Panchadasi: ~ The impossibility of yoga arrives at a successful end to its practices. (P.509 v, 109)

Remember:~

Manduka Upanishads:~ Even the Gods cannot find out who is a Gnani because he bears no external mark. Neither nudity nor the yellow robe has anything to do with him.

“Some Gurus declare watch the ‘I. The reality is just behind it. Keep quiet and keep silent, it will emerge or rather it will take you in.”

The seeker of truth read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider and discover the truth by using his own reason. The greatest and noblest pleasure that a seeker can have is to discover new truths and drop old prejudices and accumulated knowledge.

That is why Bhagavan Buddha: ~ “We ourselves must walk the path.

By relaxing and watching the ‘I’ you will not realize the reality hidden by the ‘I. Without knowing what this ‘I’ is supposed to be in actuality ignorance will prevail. By relaxing or by keeping quiet or being silent within the dualistic illusion the ignorance will not vanish. Without getting rid of the ignorance the wisdom will not dawn.

Most people believe that all enlightened people have exactly the same experience and merely express it differently depending on a deep study of the scriptures but this is just an assumption.

No one can really know the truth beyond form, time, and space because the ultimate truth or Brahman is beyond experience. If anyone says that, he has experienced the Self, then he is only hallucinating. The Soul, the innermost Self cannot be experienced, because there is neither any experience nor any experiencer when the Soul, the innermost self, remains in its own awareness.

One Guru says the ‘I’ as the self and another Guru holds the ‘I’ as the witness. Both of these Gurus hold the Self as the ‘I’. So, both the Gurus are not gone deep enough because holding the ‘I’ itself is an error. So both have built their teaching based on imagination holding the self as the ‘I’.

The ‘I’ is ignorance. Till one holds the ‘I’ as the Self, it is impossible to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. Thus, the seeker has to get rid of ignorance, which is present in the form of ‘I’, to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

What is this ‘I’?

The ‘I’ is not a thought. The ‘I’ is the mind. The mind is the whole universe. The universe appears as the waking or dream (duality) and disappears as deep sleep (non-duality). 

The one that appears as waking or dream (duality) and disappears as deep sleep (nonduality) is the Soul, the  Self. 

The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. Consciousness pervades everything and everywhere in all three states.

Without knowing what the mind is, it is impossible to realize the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space. People think the mind is within the body, but deeper self-search reveals the fact that the world in which you exist itself is the mind. 

When the ‘I’ is there then only the mind is there. If the mind is there then only the universe is there. If the universe is there then only the waking is there. Thus, it is very much necessary to realize the ‘what ‘I’ is in actuality. 

Without knowing ‘what is this ‘I’ it is impossible to realize the ‘I-less’ truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

Until you hold the ‘Self ‘as the ‘I’ you will never be able to get Self-realization. ‘I’ hides the Soul, which is the innermost Self. ‘

'I’ is ignorance.

‘I’ is the duality.

‘I’ is form, time, and space.

‘I’ is the universe.

‘I’ is the waking.

‘I’ is the dream.

‘I’ is the illusion.

‘I’ is the experience of birth, life, death, and the world.

Remember:~

Without the ‘I’ there is no ignorance.

Without the ‘I’ there is no duality.

Without the ‘I’ there is no form, time, and space.

Without the ‘I’ there is no universe.

Without the ‘I’ there is no waking.

Without the ‘I’ there is no dream.

Without the ‘I’ there is no illusion.

Without the ‘I’ there is no experience of birth, life, death, and the world.

The ‘I’ hides the Soul, the Self, which is the cause of the ‘I’.

That is why Ashtavakra Gita 16:10:~ If you desire liberation, but you still say ‘I,’, If you feel the ‘Self’ is the ‘I’, you are not a wise man or a seeker. You are simply a man who suffers.

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

It is time to discard the ‘I’. Never use the word the ‘I’ or I AM, for the Self. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar