Self-realization is necessary to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth. Self-realization itself is God-realization.
People are ignorant and they are unaware of the reality of their true existence. Man and his experience of the universe is a dualistic illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.
The Soul is the Self. The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.
Mundaka Upanishad:~ “The rituals and the sacrifices described in the Vedas deal with lower knowledge. The sages ignored these rituals and went in search of higher knowledge. ... Such rituals are unsafe rafts for crossing the sea of Samsara, of birth and death. Doomed to shipwreck are those who try to cross the sea of Samsara on these poor rafts. Ignorant of their own ignorance, yet wise In their own esteem, these deluded men Proud of their vain learning go round and round Like the blind led by the blind.
All the scriptures indicate that Atman is Brahman, and Brahman is the ultimate truth. Therefore the Soul, which is in the form of consciousness, is the ultimate truth. Thus to realize the ultimate truth is the prime goal. A well-directed inquiry, analysis, and reasoning will lead one to his nondual destination.
Self-Realization is a direct realization of the ultimate truth or real God, in contrast with traditional paths, which are indirect. The other paths cannot lead to the ultimate destination because they are based on the false Self, which they hold as the real Self, and false experience as reality.
Until and unless one overcomes physical shackles it is impossible to understand and assimilate the nondual truth, which is beyond the physical existence or the universe. Consciousness itself is lord of itself though not of the universe. And having nothing it has all.
Sage Sankara says: ~ VC~ 56. Neither by Yoga, nor by Sankhya, nor by 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.
61. For one who has been bitten by the serpent of Ignorance, the only remedy is the knowledge of Brahman. Of what avail are the Vedas and (other) Scriptures, Mantras (sacred formulae), and medicines to such a one?
62. A disease does not leave off if one simply utters the name of the medicine, without taking it; (similarly) without direct realization one cannot be liberated by the mere utterance of the word Brahman.
63. Without causing the objective universe to vanish and without knowing the truth of the Self, how is one to achieve Liberation by the mere utterance of the word Brahman? — It would result merely in an effort of speech.
64. Without killing one’s enemies, and possessing oneself of the splendor of the entire surrounding region, one cannot claim to be an emperor by merely saying, ‘I am an emperor’.
65. As a treasure hidden underground requires (for its extraction) competent instruction, excavation, the removal of stones and other such things lying above it and (finally) grasping, but never comes out by being (merely) called out by name, so the transparent Truth of the Self, which is hidden by Maya and its effects, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, followed by reflection, meditation and so forth, but not through perverted arguments.
66. Therefore the wise should, as in the case of disease and the like, personally strive by all the means in their power to be free from the bondage of repeated births and deaths.
67. The question that thou hast asked today is excellent, approved by those versed in the Scriptures, aphoristic, pregnant with meaning and fit to be known by the seekers after Liberation.
The path of wisdom is the direct path to Self-realization and the seeker of truth has to avoid losing precious time and effort losing himself in philosophical studies, yoga, and other paths and practices. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar
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