If the universe is an illusion then you, your religion, your karma, sin, heaven, and hell are bound to be an illusion.+

SageSankara: ~ “VC~ All this universe which through ignorance appears as of diverse forms, is nothing else but Brahman (Consciousness) which is absolutely free from all the limitations of Maya.

When you finally realize the ‘‘Self’ ‘is not you but the ‘‘Self’’ is the Soul then you will realize the world in which you exist is merely an illusion created out of the Soul. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness.

Sage Sankara says: - VC-47- All the effects of ignorance, root, and branch, are burnt down by the fire of knowledge, which arises from discrimination between these two—the Self and the non-Self.

If the universe is an illusion then you, your religion, your karma, sin, heaven, and hell are bound to be an illusion. Consciousness, which is the cause of the illusory universe alone is real and eternal.

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

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; 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.

Consciousness is infinite and eternal. Consciousness is an absolute reality that transcends any attempts to explain or comprehend it.

Consciousness is indescribable and indefinable. Consciousness is a perfect being, perfect wisdom, and perfect awareness. consciousness is the cause of the universe and is the source of the universe.

Consciousness is not different from the universe. Consciousness is not an independent reality. The universe is dependent on the consciousness of its existence. From the standpoint of the Soul, the Self, and the universe is unreal.

The differences between the universe and the Soul are also unreal and real because the universe is nothing but an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Consciousness is ever-present. Without consciousness, the world, in which you exist ceases to exist.

Consciousness is Self-evident. It is not established by extraneous proofs. It is not possible to deny consciousness because it is the very essence of the one who denies it.

Consciousness is the basis of all kinds of knowledge, presuppositions, and proofs. Consciousness is everything. Thus, consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

Religion and scholasticism and yoga are for those who help who are incapable of grasping the truth, which is hidden by ignorance.+

Religion blocks the realization of truth because religion is built on the foundation of the illusory form, time, and space, whereas the ultimate truth is based on formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

Religion is the home of mysticism and deification which is why they are not keen on the rational truth.

Religion and scholasticism and yoga are for those who help who are incapable of grasping the truth, which is hidden by ignorance.

Religion is based on dogmatism, not philosophy. One finds philosophical insights here and there in religious doctrine. All the religious doctrines are dogmatic because they also begin by assuming their Gods based on blind belief. 

Gods based on blind- belief  becomes a center of the religion, thus every religion has its idea of God thus there is no universality in religious beliefs.

Religion takes the position that God as a separate entity outside us, i.e. God exists separately from us. Orthodox people are afraid to go deeper and refuse to accept anything other than their religious authority because of punishment by God.

Remember:~

Religions are centered on propagating the belief in personal God and worship of personal Gods. Religion preaches what to do and how to live their lives, with the aim of convincing people that conformity to religion-oriented life with religious guidelines will bring some intangible reward in the afterlife.

Heaven, hell, sin, and karmas are religious-injected fables. The idea of heaven, hell, sin, karma afterlife has been so ingrained into the human psyche that all religious people cannot see beyond this limiting paradigm to any other possibility.

All religious propagated ideas of God, heaven, hell, sin, and karma are imagination based on the birth entity, whereas the Soul, the Self is birthless and deathless because it is a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.

Every religion propagates that their religion is one and the only way to eternally accept their God as the savior, no other religious God or religion is valid.

Personal Gods, rituals worship, haven, hell, karma, sin and Hell, and belief in life after death are ideas injected by the religions are based on imagination, based on the false self(ego) within the false experience(waking).

People think of God's grace without knowing what God suppose to be in actuality.

Belief in life after death is connected to the reward and punishment performance of karma in the present life. Religion is a guilt-producing control business. Religion is always in the control business, and that’s something the ignorant populace does not really understand.

Heaven is the place where one is rewarded for good karma, and Hell is the place where one is punished for his evil Karma.

The religious people speak about the stories of places like Heaven and Hell as if they have gone and seen heaven and hell on a conducted tour.

Many religious people follow religion for solace and guidance for practical life within the practical world.

Religious people don’t want to know what God is supposed to be in actuality because they think their inherited belief is the ultimate truth.

No one can really confirm are bound after death, so why believe in religions that created stories of personal Gods, Heaven and Hell, paradise, sin, and karma without knowing what God is supposed to be in actuality.:~Santthosh Kumaar

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 he is born, his age, the stage of his life, his standing in society.+

Sage Sankara pointed out that those rituals could in no way bring about wisdom, much less Moksha.

Religious rites and ceremonies, yagnas and homa-havans, or any other forms of ritual are meant for the ignorant populace. In the Atmic path, the seeker has to discard.

All worship and the ceremonies and rituals performed on the base of non-~Vedic Gods will not yield any fruits. Deeper self-search reveals the fact that worshiped, the worship, the worshiper, and the world are merely an illusion created out of consciousness.

Religious rites and ceremonies, yagnas and homa-havans, or any other forms of ritual formal observance have long since set in.

Sage Sankara says: ~ The scriptures dealing with rituals, and rewards are therefore addressed to an ignorant person.

Sage Sankara:~ (11) 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 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 Self with the body is 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

The orthodox Advaitins consider, birth, life, death, rebirth, heaven, hell, sin, karma, and the world as a reality, whereas Sage Sankara declares the world in which we exist is merely an illusion. If the world is an illusion, then birth, life, death, rebirth, heaven, hell, sin, karma, and the world, is bound to be an illusion.

Without Sage Sankara, there is no Advaita (non-duality). Since it was mixed up with Advaitic orthodoxy there is a lot of confusion.

Sage Sankara’s quotes (selected verified) are quoted in my blogs and postings to show what Sage Sankara meant, and ‘what is blocking the seekers from realizing the ultimate truth or Brahman. There are so many non-dualistic masters of the east and also from the west who expound Advaitic or non-dualistic knowledge, but none of them are helpful to reach the ultimate end.

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.

Sage Sankara's commentary to Brahma Sutras (Chap.3.4.50) shows that the Gnani "should pass through life", not run away from life, and should take a middle course between seeking worldly honor and worldly abasement.

Sage Sankara varied his practical advice and doctrinal teaching according to the people he was amongst. He never advised them to give up their particular religion or beliefs or metaphysics completely; he only told them to give up the worst features of abuse: at the same time, he showed just one step forward towards the truth.

Sage Sankara was extremely precise and careful in his choice of words.

Sage Sankara gave religious, ritual, or dogmatic instruction to the mass, but Advaitic wisdom only to the few who could rise to it. Hence the interpretation of his writings by commentators is often confusing because they mix up the two viewpoints. Thus, they may assert that ritual is a means of realizing Brahman, which is absurd.

Sage Sankara says in the commentary in Vedanta, sutra that what is accepted without a proper inquiry will not lead a person to the final goal. On the contrary, such acceptance will result only in evil, something detrimental to our spiritual progress.

Seekers of truth should not believe blindly in traditional orthodox Advaita without verifying all the facts from every angle.

Orthodoxy has nothing to do with spirituality, which is based on the Soul or spirit. One has to reflect through reasoning over and over again without getting tired of the process. :~Santthosh Kumaar

India is a spiritual supermarket. In the guise of the Guru, swamis, yogis, sanyasis, and Godmen most fraudsters thrive in India.+

India is a spiritual supermarket. In the guise of the Guru, swamis, yogis, sanyasis, and Godmen most fraudsters thrive in India.

If you are seeking truth nothing but the truth then you must seek the truth independently.

If you are sticking up to gurus, yogis and intellectuals then you are sticking up to ignorance. They do not have the truth which you are seeking. They have plenty of information to seduce you to remain in ignorance forever.

Without discarding, the religion propagated truth it is impossible to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Sage Sankara says: ~ VC-162- There is no liberation for a person of mere book knowledge, howsoever well-read in the philosophy of Vedanta, so long as one does not give up the false identification with the body, sense organs, etc., which are unreal.

Sage Sankara says: ~ VC-47- All the effects of ignorance, root, and branch, are burnt down by the fire of knowledge, which arises from discrimination between these two—the Self and the not-Self.

Sage Sankara says: ~VC-162- There is no liberation for a person of mere book-knowledge, howsoever well-read in the philosophy of Vedanta, so long as one does not give up the false identification with the body, sense organs, etc., which are unreal.

All your egocentric accumulated cocktail knowledge is not Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana soulcentric knowledge is not available in the spiritual supermarket.

All accumulated knowledge is mental Garbage is no use in the quest for truth. The seeker has to discard all the accumulated knowledge and start afresh.

A perfect understanding of ‘what is what’ through deeper thinking and reasoning helps to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Remember:~

Guru, swamis, yogis, sanyasis, and Godmen who belong to the religion are not Gnanis.

People in India believe the one who wears a religious robe and religious symbol is swamis and Godmen. People want to hear about the religious worship of God rituals, miracles, heaven, hell, karma, sin, astrology, afterlife, and prayers. This is what the ignorant populace wants to hear.

The majority of people who go after Swamis and yogis are fortune seekers or seeking peace of mind or some solution for their worldly problems.

Swamis, yogis, and Godmen are involved in criminal activities that have become phenomena in India, which include rape, illicit relationships, and amassing wealth through dishonorable means – but this has not deterred the populace from approaching these Swamis, yogis, and Godmen.

The followers and those who go after such Swamis, yogis, and Godmen are the ignorant populace Swamis, yogis, and Godmen are using religion to become rich and conduct other antisocial activities.

Ignorant people believe that, they need the help of an outside agency to reach God and bribe God and amass wealth, cure diseases, solve their problems of life and above all know the future.

People are searching for the Ultimate truth in all the wrong places, always seeking It outside of the Self in various rituals, temples, forests, and mountaintops, not realizing that for which they seek is already hidden within the world in which they exist.

The ultimate truth or Brahman (God in truth) dwells within the three states like fragrance in the flower; Musk lies within the Musk-deer yet seeks it afar." Until one traces the truth within the three states the illusion of birth, life, death, and the world is experienced as reality.:~Santthosh Kumaar

Without their religious scriptures, holy books, and gods based on blind faith blind belief, religion ceases to exist.+

You are being conditioned by the religious myth which has made you a non-thinker. Come out of the religious myth by realizing God in truth. 

Religion is regarded as sacred and real by the common people, by the wise as false, and by the politicians as useful.

The religion injects false beliefs as reality and makes hallucinate with its dogmas. Religion is always successful in brainwashing its followers with its imaginary ideas of ‘what happens after death, which nobody can deny it. And also, if any religious head claims that he has seen God by intuition~ the religious believers never disprove it. The onus of proof is on those who make an assertion.

Religionists and mystics are required to prove; that the burden to disprove is not on their critics.

Why have there been so many conflicting religions, or so many divisions and subdivisions of religion, if it is true

The truth does not come from religion. Religions are not based on truth but on blind faith or blind belief.

Blind faith or belief is not the truth. The dualistic knowledge does not count for anything.

Perfection comes through Self-realization. Self-realization is possible only through perfect understanding and assimilation of ‘what is what’.

Religion is based on blind faith or blind belief. But in pursuit of truth, doubt is the main ingredient.

The ultimate truth is not dependent on any books or any religion or belief of God or religious rituals.

All religions are dependent on their religious scriptures or holy books and their Gods based on blind belief.

 Without their religious scriptures, holy books, and gods based on blind faith blind belief, religion ceases to exist.

Religion holds its scriptures and holy books as proof. The truth is hidden by the universe in which we exist. No books or Guru can help us to find the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

Religious truth is limited by form, time, and space whereas the ultimate truth is formless, timeless and spaceless existence. Thus, religious truth is nothing to do with the ultimate truth.

Even without the scriptures and holy books, we can get the truth of the whole, which is beyond the form, time, and space. Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is not had by resorting to a Guru nor by the study of scripture, nor by good deeds, it is attained only by means of inquiry and reasoning inspired by words of wisdom of Gnanis.

Most people have the desire to know the truth but the capacity to understand and assimilate it is limited. The result is that people resolve the conflict by jumping to the first and simplest and easiest conclusion as the correct one, and smugly but unjustifiably thinking “I know”: Thus, they commit the fallacy of primitivity.

The person who is following the path of wisdom has to discard all his religious and traditional background. Religion, religious Gods and yoga, and mysticism are nothing to do with the path of wisdom or the Atmic Path.

The path of yoga and path of devotion is the lower steps meant for the innocent people who are incapable of grasping the truth which is beyond the experience of birth, life, death, and the world. There are still higher steps.

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 bhajans and prayers, etc.

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

v High intellects:- Wisdom who wanted truth is concerned with no external rites or sanyasa but depends solely on the intelligent inquiry for their path.

People have been misguided because of their inherited religious conditioning. The path of wisdom leads to a truth beyond the experience of birth, life, death, and the world

The seeker needs proof to accept anything as truth. Every Guru intellectuals, pundit, or yogi statements have to be verified before accepting them as ultimate truth or Brahman. Their claims have to be verified before accepting them as truth

Religion, religious Gods, religious rituals, karma, sin, heaven, and hell are based on blind belief, not God in truth.

Religion belongs to the dualistic illusion. From the standpoint of the Soul, the Self, the duality is merely an illusion. Therefore, whatever belongs to the dualistic illusion is bound to be an illusion.

Dualistic knowledge is not Self-knowledge or Burma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

The dualistic knowledge is based on practical life, the practical world, and religion and religious beliefs.

From the standpoint of the Soul, the Self, the duality is merely an illusion.

The illusion is present in the form of the universe in which we exist. Thus, whatever knowledge we accumulated from the dualistic perspective is illusory knowledge based on the false self (ego or you).

Only when you realize the whole universe is created out of a single clay and that single clay is consciousness, which is the ultimate truth or God in truth. Other than Consciousness everything else is an illusion.

The illusion is dualistic because consciousness is identified as many whereas consciousness alone is real and eternal because it is ever nondual. :~Santthosh Kumaar

God is merely a word used by the religion that believed there is a higher power that is the cause of the creation. Different religions used different words for the same thing. +

God is merely a word used by the religion that believed there is a higher power that is the cause of the creation. Different religions used different words for the same thing. The idea depends on the man’s imagination. God is an English word. Different languages used different words for the same thing. 

The words are there for only communication purposes. Sages of truth called the ultimate truth as Brahman. For then the ultimate truth is God in truth. 

The earliest uses of the word God in Germanic writing are often cited to be in the Gothic Bible or Wulfila Bible, which is the Christian Bible as translated by Wulfila (a.k.a. Bishop Ulfilas) into the Gothic language spoken by the Eastern Germanic, or Gothic Tribes. The oldest part of the Gothic Bible, contained in the Codex Argenteus, is estimated to be from the fourth century. During the fourth century, the Goths were converted to Christianity, largely through the efforts of Bishop Ulfilas, who translated the Bible into the Gothic language in Nicopolis ad Istrum in today's northern Bulgaria. The words guda and guþ were used for God in the Gothic Bible.~wiki

Yajurveda – chapter- 32:~ God is Supreme Spirit. 

Bible says: ~ “God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24) 

The Spirit is the root element of the universe. The Spirit is present in the form of the Soul, the innermost Self. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. From the Spirit, the universe comes into existence. In the Spirit, the universe resides. And into the Spirit, the universe is dissolved. The Spirit is the parent of all that is there. 

There is no God but God. There is no God because the world in which we exist is merely an illusion created out of God, the Spirit. Call it by any name God is universal. God belongs to the whole of humanity. 

Religion creates separation God is unity in diversity. God is one which the cause of the whole world in which humanity exists. there is no God but God means the world in which we exist is an illusion GOD is the cause of the world is real and eternal. God alone is real and all else is an illusion. There is a second thing that exists other than the Spirit, God thus, God is Advaita. 

Religion belongs to you. The religious Gods based on blind faith or blind belief belong to you. All religious code of conduct belongs to you. Religion belongs to you. But remember you belong to the falsehood because the world in which you exist is created out of the Spirit, the God, which is present in the form of the Soul. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. 

God in truth is divine, only held in the bondage of ignorance (matter); perfection will be reached when this bond will burst, and the word they use for it is, therefore, freedom, freedom from the bonds of imperfection, freedom from ignorance. 

Realize God in truth. 

Religious Gods are based on blind faith or blind beliefs. Belief is not God. Religious God cannot be considered as the center because the Soul the ‘Self’ is the center of all that exists. 

Without the Soul the world in which you exist ceases to exist, which means the religious God is dependent on the Soul for his existence. God in truth is only the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. 

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

Even Bhagavad Gita says: ~ Brahmano hi pratisthaham ~ Brahman (God) is considered the all-pervading consciousness, which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material. (14.27). 

When Bhagavad Gita says, God is considered the all-pervading consciousness which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material then nothing has to be accepted as God other than consciousness. 

Even Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~ Brahman (God in truth) is present in the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself. 

Religious Gods are mere beliefs. Religious God cannot be considered as the center because the Soul the innermost ‘Self’ is the center of all that exists. Without the Soul the world in which you exist ceases to exist, which means the religious God is dependent on the Soul for his existence. 

Even Rig Veda: ~ The Atman is the cause; Atman is the support of all that exists in this universe. May ye never turn away from the Atman, the Self. May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?" (10:48, 5)

Rig Veda: ~ 'Prajnanam Brahma'- Consciousness is the ultimate reality or Brahman or God in truth.

God in truth is the Atman, the Self. Atman is present in the form of consciousness.

Do not accept any other God other than Atman not worship other than Atman.

Let these words be inscribed in your subconscious.

Nothing is real but God. Nothing Matters but love for God in truth. God in truth is everywhere and in everything.

God in truth is hidden by the illusory universe. God in truth alone is and all else is an illusion. 

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: "He who worships the deities as entities entirely separate from the Self does not know the truth. For the Gods, he is like a pasu (beast)". (1. 4. 10) 

All these experiences as a father, son, guru, pupil, and the world were one and the same consciousness appearing differently. All these distinctions disappear when one realizes the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth. : ~Santthosh Kumaar 

Sage Sankara says you must first know what is before you. If you cannot know that, what else can you know or understand?+

First, know ‘what is the truth’ and ‘what is untruth’ for sure. Without realizing what untruth truth is, it is difficult to know what truth is.

When the sky, clouds, and the world in which you exist are made of single clay then there is no second thing that exists, other than that clay. That clay is the Soul, which is formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. 

Reality is hidden by unreality. The world in which we exist hides the truth.  Whatever belongs to you is unreal. 

Jesus said: ~” Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you. (THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS- Saying 5)

Jesus said:~"Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all." (Gospel of Thomas 2)

It takes time for the seeker to gain the perfect understanding of ‘what is truth’ and ‘’what is untruth’. It takes time for the Soul, the Self to wake up from the sleep of ignorance, and it takes time for one realizes the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

The Soul has to wake up from the sleep of ignorance, and then only it is possible to realize that form, time and space are one in essence. That essence is the Soul or consciousness. If the form, time, and space are one in essence, then there is no division in consciousness.

If there is no division in consciousness, then there is no duality, if there is no duality then there is unity in diversity.

Ignorance is the cause of experiencing duality as reality. Realizing Soul as the Self leads to Advaitic Self-awareness.

The Soul, the Self is Absolute Knowledge, which cannot be negated. The nature of the Soul is Advaitic awareness.

You and the world that confronts you are an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. It means you along with the world confronting you created out of single clay, which is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Sage Sankara says you must first know what is before you. If you cannot know that, what else can you know or understand? If you give up the external world in your inquiry, you cannot get the whole truth.

Sage Sankara: ~ VC~63- "Without knowing and examining the universe, one can’t know the Truth, as the idea that the external world exists, won't go. It can go only by an inquiry into the nature of the external world.

Look into the nature of the universe. And you will be able to see that universe by its very nature is illusory. The moment you understand that the universe is illusory, ignorance disappears and Self-awareness arises.

Self-awareness is the state of non-dual reality. That is the state of Advaita.

Mentally hold on to the Soul and mentally reduce the world in which confronts you as the consciousness by realizing the world in which you exist is nothing but consciousness.

Mentally reducing the whole world in which you exist as consciousness leads to Advaitic Self-awareness. : ~Santthosh Kumaar