Religion advocates extreme asceticism. Asceticism is a waste of time.
Religion makes people stick to false beliefs, dogmas, and superstitions.
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.
Sage Sankara says: ~ The scriptures dealing with rituals, rewards are
therefore addressed to an ignorant person. Thus, the rituals are meant for
ignorant people.
Upanishad says: ~ The human goal is to acquire Self-Knowledge and
they indicate the personal Gods, scriptures, worship, and rituals are not the
means to Self –Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Athma Gnana, then why anyone should
indulge in it. The religion, concept of individualized God, belief in physical
Guru scriptures are great obstacles to Self-realization because they are based
on false Self.
The seeker of truth has to search for the ultimate truth without losing
himself in the labyrinths of philosophy, through deeper Self-search and
assimilate and realize it.
That is why Sage Sankara, indicated in Bhaja Govindam says: ~ (Jnana Viheena Sarva Mathena Bajathi na Muktim
janma Shatena) - one without knowledge does not obtain
liberation even in a hundred births, no matter which religious faith he
follows.
Then it is no use going a roundabout way, trace the Brahman which is the
formless substance, and witness of the universe, which is in the form of mind.
By tracing the source of the mind or universe one will be able to realize the
Brahman.
Religion has become merely a matter of rituals, glorifying false
Gods as real God and ceremonies and individual conduct, it has become a prison
for the Soul, the Self.
People are making unlimited sacrifices and enduring unlimited suffering
in the name of protecting their religion and God. They are therefore ignorant
about the truth and incapable of understanding the ultimate truth, which is
universal God.
All organized religions have unequivocally claimed man for the
life in the truth; thus it is sheer folly to fight in the name of religion and
God.
It is high time that humanity had a fresh vision of truth that the mind,
is present in the form of the universe, is a myth and the consciousness is real
and eternal.
On the base of consciousness as the Self, the physical life is a vain and empty pursuit of illusory values.
Parental grooming is the main cause of religious influence upon the mass
mindset and it cannot be wiped out without knowing the truth of one’s true
existence.
Thus, teaching children to view and judge everything from the religious point of view by their parents, which warps the minds and destroys
the capacity to think beyond the belief system of their grooming.
People who are yearning for spiritual truth will not find what they
are seeking, in religion and yoga. Religious truth is individual truth and
it is not universal truth because religion is based on individuality.
Atmic path is not the religious and yogic path. Atmic path is nothing to
do with religion and yoga.
There is no need to walk in the mountains in search
of the truth.
There is no need to meet any Gurus.
There is no need to renounce family life.
There is no need to study the scriptures.
There is no need for glorifying the Gurus.
There is a need to spend the fortune to please the
Gurus.
Going to the mountains, searching for a Guru, renouncing the family
life, studying the scriptures, glorifying the personal Gods and Gurus are the greatest obstacle for Self-realization.
One need not be a monk, a sanyasi, or swami to acquire Self-knowledge or
Brahma Gnana or Athma Gnana. Religious rituals scriptural mastery are not a
qualification to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Athma Gnana.
Monkhood and sannyasa is great obstacle to Self- realization.
Guru, Swami, Yogi, Sadhu belongs to religious paths. Religious paths are
paths meant for the ignorant who blindly accept their experience the birth, life,
death, and the world as a reality because the universe is the product of
ignorance.
When the Advaitic wisdom dawns then the unreal nature of the world in
which you exist is exposed. Thus, whatever experiences take place within the
world in which you exist is bound to be a falsehood.
The Guru, Swami, Yogi, Sadhu, nothing to do with the ultimate truth or
Brahman because they are based on the false self (ego), and false experience
(waking).
The Path of wisdom is only for those who are seriously in search of ultimate truth or Brahman. Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana is the mother of all
knowledge
Some are intoxicated with the theory of karma; some are with the theory
of cause and effect, some with love alone, some with humanism, some with
service, and some with the rituals, worship, some with glorifying and
surrendering to the guru, some with their logical and intellectual conclusions,
some with their orthodoxy and some with their Yogic Samadhi. But all these are
the biggest hindrance, not the qualification to acquire Advaitic wisdom.
It is a waste of time to convince these people because they have already
had accepted something else as truth. Thus, they will not have any urge to know
the ultimate truth. Therefore, it is no use discussing with such a crowd and it
is better to avoid such a mindset if one seriously seeking the truth.
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.
It is high time to stop judging who is right and
who is wrong in this unreal world instead spend the same time to acquire
Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Athma Gnana to realize the world (Samsara) is
unreal the Brahman alone is real.
According to Advaita Vedanta, the Veda addresses
itself to two kinds of audiences - the ordinary ones who desire the transitory
heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices, and the
most advanced seeker, who seeks to know Brahman. Thus, the Purva mimam. sa, with
its emphasis on the karma kanda of the Vedas, is meant for the first audience,
to help lead its followers along the way. However, the Vedanta, with its
emphasis on the jnana kanda, is meant for those who wish to go beyond such
transient pleasures.
The orthodox people are ordinary people. Thus, the
ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures are obtained as
a result of ritual sacrifices. The karma kanda of the Vedas is meant for the
ordinary audience, to help lead its followers along the way.
The Modern mindset is more advanced and capable of
reasoning and discriminating. Thus, the modern mindset is the most advanced which
seeks to know the ultimate truth or Brahman.
It is high time for the highly educated religious
people to realize their religious path was meant for the ignorant in the past,
therefore, it is outdated not suited for the modern mindset.
Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom is most suited for the modern
mindset. The orthodox religious Advaitic path is nothing to do with the
ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.
Thus, getting stuck with the religious path is getting stuck with
duality. Getting stuck with duality is getting stuck with the falsehood.
Getting stuck with the falsehood is accepting the experience of birth,
life, death, and the world as a reality.
Thus, the people who want freedom or Moksha right here right now in this very life and in this very world must follow the path of wisdom or Soulcentric
reason.
Religion is the path of ignorance because it holds the illusory
experience of birth, life, death, and the world as a reality.
It is high time to stop judging who is right and who is wrong in this
unreal world instead one has to spend the same time to acquire Self-knowledge
or Brahma Gnana or Athma Gnana by realizing ‘what is real’ and ‘what is unreal’.:
~Santthosh Kumaar
