he scriptures are not needed in the pursuit of truth.+

Some Gurus declare that “Just by sitting quiet and knowing Self is without the words, nothing else has to be done, and shortly one arrives at his natural state”.

Such a declaration does not lead one to Advaitic Self-awareness. Such acts will not destroy, ignorance. Without getting rid of ignorance, wisdom will not dawn.

Only Advaitc wisdom leads to Self-awareness, in the midst of the duality. Only perfect understanding and realization of ‘what is what' leads to Advaitic Self-awareness.  

Ignorance will not vanish without Advaitic wisdom. It is not you who has to get rid of ignorance because you and you and your experience of the world are the product of ignorance.

The Soul, the Self is in ignorance of its own nondual true nature. Only through Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, the Soul, the Self, awake from the sleep of ignorance.

When the Soul remains in its own awareness of its own true nature, there is no division in the Soul or consciousness, there is unity in diversity.

The Gurus who advise getting rid of ignorance first must realize the fact that it is not the man who is in ignorance, but it is the Soul, which is in ignorance.

Thus, it is necessary to realize ‘what is what’ to realize the truth beyond form, time, and space.

The Gurus who think the Self is within the body are propagating half-baked knowledge. Their views and judgment of Advaita or nonduality are based on a dualistic perspective.

Only those who are able to view and judge the three states from a nondualistic perspective have perfect knowledge.

All accumulated Advaitic knowledge accumulated from different Gurus will not yield truth because they are not the verified truth. The seeker has to do his homework to realize the truth beyond form, time, and space.

Remember:~

Swami Vivekananda said: - “You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, and none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher, but your own Soul.”

The scriptures are not needed in the pursuit of truth. Even the Upanishads and the Sages of truth declare the same.

Katha Upanishad:~ This Atman cannot be attained by the study of the Vedas, or by intelligence, or by much hearing of sacred books. It is attained by him alone whom It chooses. To such a one Atman reveals Its own form. (Ch-II -23-P-20)

Mundaka Upanishad: - This Atman cannot be attained through the study of the Vedas, nor through intelligence, nor through much learning. He who chooses Atman—by him alone is Atman attained. It is Atman that reveals to the seeker Its true nature. (3 –page-70 Upanishads by Nikilanada)

The ultimate truth has to be ascertained without the scriptures by realizing the Self is neither the waking entity nor the dream entity, but the Self is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

 In the realm of truth, form, time, and space are one in essence. That essence is consciousness. Realizing the single stuff as the ultimate truth is Self-realization or truth realization. To realize this truth, there is no need for the scriptures.

The ultimate truth has to be realized first, and then only it is possible to know what the scriptures are saying.

Scriptures are being added from time to time. This process will go on. There is the final authority among them? One contradicts the other: duality reigns supreme.

I quote Scriptural citations only after verifying reality and proving truth, to point out that the scriptures teach the same thing. If one quotes them before having demonstrated the truth, then it is scholasticism. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar 

Sage Goudpada quotes from the Upanishads: ~ "There's no plurality here."+

Sage  Goudpada quotes from the Upanishads: ~ "There's no plurality here."  "The Soul through its powers appears to be many"; "those who are attached to the creation or production or origination go to utter darkness"; "the unborn is never reborn, for what can produce it?”

In the Bhagavad, Gita Krishna says: ~It is only one amongst thousands of people who strive for spiritual salvation. Even amongst such seekers, it is only the rare person who gets to know “Self” correctly.’ (7.3)

In Manduka Upanishad: ~ Brahman and Atman are defined as the same: ~

Manduka Upanishad, verse 2:~ All indeed is, this Brahman; This Atman is Brahman.

While Brahman lies behind the sum total of the objective universe, some human minds boggle at any attempt to explain it with only the tools provided by reason. Brahman is beyond the senses, beyond the mind, beyond intelligence, beyond imagination. Indeed, the highest idea is that Brahman is beyond both existence and non-existence, transcending and including time, causation, and space, and thus can never be known in the same material sense as one traditionally 'understands' a given concept or object.

Imagine a person who is blind from birth and has not seen anything. Is it possible for us to explain to him the meaning of the color red? Is any amount of thinking or reasoning on his part ever going to make him understand the sensation of the color red? Similarly, the idea of Brahman cannot be explained or understood through material reasoning or any form of human communication. Brahman is like the color red; those who can sense it cannot explain or argue with those who have never sensed it. : ~Santthosh Kumaar 

The ups and downs of the practical life within the practical world have nothing to do with the Soul, the Self.+

It is erroneous to mix practical life and the practical world in the pursuit of truth. The ups and downs of the practical life within the practical world have nothing to do with the Soul, the Self.

In Self-awareness, nothing disappears on the dawn of wisdom, but the unreal nature of the waking is exposed in the midst of the duality. One sees his body as consciousness, his ego as consciousness, and the world as consciousness. Thus, there is a unity in diversity in his understanding.

In Self-awareness, the unknown restlessness disappears.

Self-awareness brings stillness to the mind in the midst of the action or the duality.

Thus, the searching for the truth within illusion with the illusory Self, within the illusory world is bound to be an illusion. The illusion is created and sustained and finally dissolves as the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Since there is no second thing other than the Soul or consciousness; the consciousness itself is the ultimate truth or Brahman.  

Advaitin Sage and Maya

The King of the Hoysalas was a dualist and was greatly incensed at the doctrine taught by Advaitin Sage that everything here below is an illusion. He wanted to teach the exponent of this doctrine a lesson. So he invited the then Advaitin sage to his palace. That Advaitin sage went there and stoutly maintained that everything in this world was an illusion. The king had arranged to let loose an infuriated elephant against, Advaitin sage. The beast rushed at Advaitin sage who took to a precipitate flight to save himself.

'Oh, Venerable Sir,' shouted the king, 'why do you run so fast seeing that the elephant is only an illusion?'

'Oh, king,' said Advaitin Sage in the course of his flight, 'my running too is an illusion. Everything in this world is an illusion.’

---

Similarly, the practical life within the practical world is merely an illusion. All our hopes and desires or pleasure and pain are a reality within the illusion.

We all are searching for truth within the illusion not being aware of the fact that the illusion is created out of a single stuff which is the Soul or consciousness.

The Soul is the Self. When the waking entity realizes it is not the Self in the midst of the waking experience it enters the nondual-awareness, which is free from form, time, and space.

A Gnani is fully aware of ‘what is truth’ and ‘what is untruth’. A Gnani e is fully aware that the experiences the pleasure and pain within the waking experience are merely an illusion because the waking experience itself is an illusion.

Thus, life within the waking experience will go on, on its own. It has nothing to do with the Soul, the Self. The waking or dream is merely an object to the formless witness.

The Soul is the Self. The Soul is the witness. The Soul the witness has nothing to do with the three states because it is the witness of the coming and going of the three states or illusion. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar

If you are trying to become a Guru or a Monk then you are unfit to acquire Self-knowledge.+

If you are trying to become a Guru or a Monk then you are unfit to acquire Self-knowledge. Someone posing as a Gnani, because he is some Gurus’ direct disciple cannot be a Gnani. 

Those who pose themselves as Gnanis are not Gnanis. A Gnani never poses himself as a Guru, a swami, a sadhu or a yogi, or some Guru’s disciple.

Different Gurus and teachers are pointing out the understanding of the Advaitic truth from a different standpoint. All such understanding of Advaita is on a dualistic perspective accumulated from here and there.

Sage Sankara: ~ "Though I wear these robes of a Sanyasin, it is only for the sake of bread."

Sage  Sankara: ~ A Gnani "bears no outward mark of a holy man" (Stanza 539).

Thus, it proves that the religious Gurus and yogis are not Gnanis because they identified themselves as holy people.

A Gnani never claims himself as a Gnani, he guides the seekers, not posing himself as a Guru, and he does not force his wisdom on others.

Advaita is not a theory or a philosophy. Advaita is the nature of the Soul the  Self. There is no need for any theory or philosophy or scriptures to acquire Self-knowledge. Only a perfect understanding of ‘what is what’ is needed.

Sage Sankara:~ 'Like a servant who carries a lamp in front of you to find your way, and you have found it, so becomes the Veda to that person. What is the Veda? ~ utterances of those who have known the Truth. Here is one who has known the Truth; why should he or she depend upon the Veda further?

Actual realization takes you beyond books. At a certain stage, books become a botheration. The Upanishad itself says that the 'words are only so much of distraction for such minds'

Bhagavan Buddha: ~ Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.

You need not become a Guru or a monk to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. You have not to renounce the world or leave anything ~ your wife, children, job, responsibilities. You do not have to renounce anything! 

The only thing you have to realize is the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space by realizing that form, time, and space are the product of ignorance. When ignorance vanishes, the unreality of the form, time, and space are exposed. :~ Santthosh Kumaar 

Turiya is Atman (Soul) the Self itself. From the standpoint of the Atman, the Self, There is no fourth state.+

Turiya is Atman (Soul) the  Self itself. From the standpoint of the Atman, the Self, There is no fourth state. From the standpoint of Atman, the three states are merely an illusion

The Atman, which is present in the form of consciousness alone, is real and eternal.

To realize this truth the seeker has to realize first “What is the truth? and “What is untruth?” between the dual (waking/dream) and nondual (deep sleep) experiences. All accumulated bookish, scriptural knowledge is not wisdom.

Holding some Guru's teaching as wisdom without verification blocks the realization of the Advaitic truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

That is why Sage Sankara says: ~ What is accepted without a proper inquiry will not lead to the final Goal. (Commentary on Vedanta Sutra).

Sage Sankara:~ VC-63 - Without knowing and examining the external world, 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.  

Remember:~ 

Sage Gaudapada: - The non-dual Atman is realized when the individual self (jiva) is awakened from its ignorance. Atman is unborn, dreamless, sleepless, and motionless; and is beyond duality. It is cognition at its purest. It is Brahman- Ayam Atma Brahma, this Atma is that Brahma; Thus epitomizing the core of Upanishad teachings. 

Sage Gaudapada expands further on these states of consciousness. The Self is AUM. It represents manifest and un-manifest aspects of Brahman. It is the single syllable that symbolizes and embodies Brahman, the Absolute Reality. It is the Pranava that pervades all existence and is our very life-breath. 

Vaisvanara in waking state is the first part of AUM, One, who realizes this, attains his desires.

Teijasa in the dream state is U the second part of AUM. One, who realizes this, attains knowledge. 

Prajna in deep sleep is M the third part of AUM, concluding the sounds of the earlier two parts. One, who realizes this, attains a compressive understanding of all. 

The Syllable AUM in its entirety stands for the fourth state, Turiya the one beyond the phenomenal existence, supremely blissful and non-dual. 

AUM in its integral whole stands for the fourth state which is transcendental, devoid of phenomenal existence; and is the source of all existence. AUM represents the ultimate reality.AUM is thus verily the Self itself. One who realizes this merges into that Self. Meditate on AUM as the Self. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar 

The Atmic path helps the seekers move on their inner path.+

The Atmic path is not the yogic path. Everyone has to move on to their chosen path.  The Atmic path helps the seekers move on their inner path. Mixing up yoga and religion in Atmic discussion is mixing water and oil.

Sage Sankara said: ~ Neither by the practice of yoga nor philosophy, nor by good works nor by learning, does liberation come, but only through the realization that Atman and Brahman are one in no other way.(1) VivekaChudamani v 56, pg 25

Lord Krishna confesses that the oldest wisdom of India (our true Advaitic wisdom ) has been lost: people misinterpret and falsify it today as they did then. It is not yoga but the philosophic truth. But nobody knows it. The teachers of philosophy and leaders of mysticism or religion do not want to inquire into truth and have no time for it. (Gita –Chap- IV-v.2)

In Gita Chap.IV where Lord Krishna says: ~ "This yoga has been lost for ages" The word yoga refers to Gnana yoga, not other yogas: the force of the word this is to point this out.

Lord Krishna describes some of the other yogas but devotes this chapter separately to Gnana Yoga. So one sees even in those ancient days people did not care for Advaita; they wanted religion; hence, Gnana got lost. That is why Krishna calls it "the supreme secret." Lord Krishna points out that yoga must see "Brahman in action."

Gita Chap.IV: "He who achieves perfection in Yoga finds the Self in time." This means that after his yoga is finished, he begins the inquiry into ultimate truth, and in due course, this inquiry produces the realization of the universal spirit as a result.

Lord Krishna says Ch. V:~ “Those who know the Self in truth.". The last two words (tattvataha) are usually ignored by pundits, but they make all the difference between the ordinary concept of God and the truth about God.

There is no need for any practice to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth. A perfect understanding of assimilation of ‘what is what’ is very much necessary to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman, which is God in truth.

Sage Sankara: ~ VC~"All this universe which through ignorance appears as of diverse forms, is nothing else but Brahman which is absolutely free from all the limitations of human thought.

Sage Sankara said:~ Talk as much philosophy as you like, worship as many Gods as you please, observe ceremonies, and sing devotional hymns, but liberation will never come, even after a hundred eons, without realizing the Oneness.

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.

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 the subject and object are the consciousness, not the subject alone. ~Santthosh Kumaar 

If God is a creator then why worship anything of God’s creation.+

If God is a creator then why worship anything of God’s creation.

Max Müller says: ~ “The religion of the Veda knows no idols; the worship of idols in India is a secondary formation, a degradation of the more primitive worship of ideal Gods."

Therefore, there was no individual God or temples and worship in the Vedic religion, which existed prior to Buddhism. Thus, the individualized Gods and temples must have been built later on when the worship of idols was introduced. Thus, the Vedic religion which existed in the past was free from idol and nature worship and idol worshiping rituals.

Thus, the present day’s worship of individual Gods, created things, nature, and humans is against Vedic teachings, and it looks like it has been fabricated and introduced by priestcraft. Since it, has passed on from one generation to the next it is hard for people to believe the truth of their own religion, because they are sentimentally and emotionally involved in it and they refuse to accept anything else other than their inherited beliefs.

The Vedas confirm God is Atman (spirit), the ‘Self’.

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 1-164-46 and Y.V 32-1 clearly mention that God is “One”.

Rig Veda declares God is ‘ONE’ and God is Atman, then why believe and worship in place of the real God.

Brihad Upanishad: ~ “If you think there is another entity, whether man or God there is no truth."

When Upanishad itself declares: ~ Sarvam khalvidam brahma ~ all this (universe) is verily Brahman. By following back all of the relative appearances in the world, we eventually return to that from which it is all manifest – the nondual reality (Chandogya Upanishad).

It proves the Vedic Gods are not the Gods with attributes because the Vedic God is the Supreme Spirit which Atman. Remember Gods worshiped in the temples and households are not Vedic Gods. Vedas declare never to accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?

One must remember that for all periods the Vedas are the final goal and authority, and if the Puranas differ in any respect from the Vedas the Puranas is to be rejected without mercy.

That is what Yajurveda says: ~ “Not to worship the things which are part of the falsehood.

Yajurveda

Translation 1

They enter darkness, those who worship natural things (for example air, water, sun, moon, animals, fire, stone, etc.)

They sink deeper in darkness those who worship sambhuti. (Sambhuti means created things, for example, table, chair, idol, etc.) (Yajurveda 40:9)

Translation 2

"Deep into the shade of blinding gloom fall asambhuti's worshippers. They sink to darkness deeper yet who on sambhuti are intent." (Yajurveda Samhita by Ralph T. H. Griffith pg. 538)

Translation 3

"They are enveloped in darkness, in other words, are steeped in ignorance and sunk in the greatest depths of misery who worship the uncreated, eternal Prakriti -- the material cause of the world -- in place of the All-pervading God, But those who worship visible things born of the Prakriti, such as the earth, trees, bodies (human and the like) in place of God are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time." (Yajur Veda 40:9.)

Yajur Veda indicates that they sink deeper in darkness those who worship idols. The idols of attributed Gods are not Vedic Gods. Those who worship visible things born of the Prakriti, such as the earth, trees, bodies human, and the like in place of Atman, the innermost 'Self' are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time.

Sage Sankara said:~ Talk as much philosophy as you like, worship as many gods as you please, observe ceremonies, and sing devotional hymns, but liberation will never come, even after a hundred aeons, without realizing the Oneness.

Thus truth realization is Self-realization. Self-realization is God-realization. God-realization is real worship. :~Santthosh Kumaar