Sage Sankara, is one of the greatest geniuses of all time. This world owes him a deep debt of gratitude. He not only consolidated the classical values of life but also spiritual wisdom.
Sage Sankara is the only Sage who has final authority on the Advaitic truth. The Advaitic truth is rational truth and scientific truth without dogmas.
Unfortunately, few philosophers in the world are as misunderstood and misinterpreted as Sage Sankara. Ironically, most of the harm came from his admirers and followers of Advaitic orthodoxy because they propagated rituals as a means to attain lower knowledge which is meant for those who believed in the physical existence (universe or waking) as a reality.
The Advaitic orthodoxy is dualistic and it is not the means to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. The Advaitic orthodoxy is meant for the ignorant mass that is unfit to grasp the highest truth. Thus, the Advaitic orthodoxy is nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman. Those who have chosen the Atmic path have to discard orthodoxy in order to get the pure essence of Advaita
Sage Sankara is Jagadguru for the ignorant populace and Brahma Gnani for the seeking world.
Sage Sankara’s wisdom is nothing to do orthodox sect. Sage Sankara is the only sage who has final authority on the Advaitic truth. The Advaitic truth is rational truth and scientific truth without dogma.
Religion is nothing to do with Advaitic wisdom. Advaitic sect belongs to religion. Advaita is pure spirituality. Advaitic sect is dualistic is nothing to do with the Advaitic truth which is hidden by the illusion. Mixing religion and spirituality is like mixing oil and water.
Religion is regarded as sacred and real by the common people, by the wise as false, and by the politicians as useful.
Religion and its sects are based on form, time, and space whereas Spirituality is based on the Atman the formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.
Religions hold birth, life, death, and the world as a reality. From the ultimate standpoint, the world in which we exist is an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.
The seeker must know the difference between religion and spirituality.
Sage Sankara says:~ The Advaitic orthodoxy is meant for ignorant people. The orthodox people are ignorant people.
Sage Sankara says the scriptures dealing with rituals are addressed to an ignorant person. Those who are stuck to the rituals and worshiping the personal Gods are ignorant people.
Upanishad aspiration is best expressed in the following sutra:~ OM Asato ma sad gaMaya, tamaso ma jyotir gaMaya, mrityor ma aamritaam gaMaya. Shanti, Shanti, Shanti
"OM Lead me from ignorance to truth, from darkness to light, from death to immortality. Peace, Peace, Peace" (Brhadaranyaka Upanishad (1/3/28)).
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 more 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.
Those who lack the intelligence to discriminate between formless witness (subject) and three states (object) will not be able to grasp what is real and what is unreal. Both subject and object are the consciousness, not subject alone.
Those people who have neglected the attainment of ‘Self’-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana and have thus committed suicide, as it were, are doomed to enter those worlds after death.
This is a condemnation of people who do not try to attain ‘Self’-knowledge. They are, in a real sense, committing suicide, for what can be worse than being a slave to sense enjoyment, completely oblivious of the real purpose of life, which is to be one’s, own master?
The Brahma Sutras together with Sage Sankara's commentary thereon do not contain higher Vedanta. They are intended for duffers.
Sage Sankara's commentary on Brahma Sutras is not on a philosophical basis, but on a religio-mystic one, with an appeal to Vedas as a final authority.
In Brahma Sutra Sage Sankara takes the position that there is another entity outside us, i.e. the wall really exists separately from the mind. This was because Sage Sri, Sankara explains in Mandukya that those who study the Sutras are religious minds, and intellectual children, hence his popular viewpoint to assist them. These people are afraid to go deeper because it means being heroic enough to refuse to accept Sruti, and God's authority, in case they mean punishment by God.
Sage Sankara says: Keep the scriptures for children but throw them on the fire for wise seekers.
In Brahma Sutras Sage Sankara takes for granted, and assumes that a world was created: He there mixes dogmatic theology with philosophy.
That God created the world is an absolute lie; nevertheless, you will find Sage Sri, Sankara (in his commentary on Vedanta Sutras) clearly says this! He has to adapt his teachings to his audience, reserving the highest for philosophical minds.
The text of Brahma Sutras is based on religion, and dogmatism, but in the commentary Sankara cleverly introduced some philosophy. If it is objected that a number of Upanishads are equally dogmatic because they also begin by assuming Brahman, but a few Upanishads do not but prove Brahman at the end of a train of proof.
The causality and creation, but these are for religious people only. Religion is only for those who are unable to understand the truth beyond the form, time and space. Religion is not final. It only gives satisfaction to the populace. The ‘Self’ - knowledge is for the whole humanity to free them from experiencing the birth, life, death, and the world as reality.
People of small intelligence follow religion and believe that the world was created by God. But how do they know that He did so? When a pot is created, one can see both pot and its maker, but not in the case of the world.
Sage Sankara says, that, orthodoxy is meant for ignorant people.
Sage Sankara: ~ "Though I wear these robes of a Sanyasin, it is only for the sake of bread."
~ This shows Sage Sankara: was wearing the religious robe only for the sake of bread."
Sage Sankara criticized severely the ritualistic attitude and those who advocated such practices. However, the orthodox texts that combined rituals with wisdom (jnana_karma_samucchaya) more in favor of the Mimamsaka position came into vogue, projecting Sage Sankara as the rallying force of the doctrine.
Sage Sankara:~As regards the rituals, Sage Sankara says, the person who performs rituals and aspires for rewards will view himself in terms of the caste into which he is born, his age, the stage of his life, his standing in society etc. In addition, he is required to perform rituals all through his life. However, the ‘Self’ has none of those attributes or tags. Hence, the person who superimposes all those attributes on the changeless, eternal ‘Self’ and identifies the ‘Self’ with the body is a confusing one for the other; and is, therefore, an ignorant person. The scriptures dealing with rituals, rewards, etc. are therefore addressed to an ignorant person. (Adhyasa Bhashya-11)
Sage Sankara:~This ignorance (mistaking the body for ‘Self’) brings in its wake a desire for the well-being of the body, aversion for its disease or discomfort, fear of its destruction and thus a host of miseries(anartha).This anartha is caused by projecting karthvya(“doer” sense) and bhokthavya (object) on the Atman. Sankara calls this adhyasa. The scriptures dealing with rituals, rewards etc. are, therefore, he says, addressed to an ignorant person. (Adhyasa Bhashya-11.1)
Sage Sankara:~ In short, a person who engages in rituals with the notion “I am an agent, doer, thinker”, according to Sage Sri, Sankara, is ignorant, as his behavior implies a distinct, separate doer/agent/knower; and an object that is to be done/achieved/known. That duality is Avidya, an error that can be removed by Vidya. -(Adhyasa Bhashya-11.2)
Sage Sankara affirming his belief in one eternal unchanging reality (Brahman) and the illusion of plurality, drives home the point that Upanishads deal not with rituals but with the knowledge of the Absolute (Brahma Vidya) and the Upanishads give us an insight into the essential nature of the ‘Self’ which is identical with the Absolute, the Brahman. (Adhyasa Bhashya-12)
No personal God propagated by religion can exist, apart from consciousness. People are not aware of the fact that there is no personal God that can exist, apart from Soul, which is in the form of consciousness.
Rig Veda: ~ 'Prajnanam Brahma'- Consciousness is the ultimate reality or Brahman or God in truth.
Do not accept any other God other than the Soul. The Soul is God in truth, Nothing is real but the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Nothing matters but realizing God in truth. God in truth is everywhere and in everything. Let these words be inscribed in your subconscious.
God in truth is hidden by the illusory universe. God in truth alone is real and eternal and all else is an illusion. Brahman is merely a word to indicate the ultimate truth or God in truth. The ultimate truth itself is God in truth. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar
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