Sage Sankara says: ~ ‘The path of religion, the path of yoga and the path of wisdom were intended for different classes of people. The wisdom is for the advanced seekers of truth. It deals with the nature of the ultimate Truth and Reality. It is meant for superior aspirants who have an inner urge to know the truth and it is not for those who are immersed in earthly desires.
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 subject and object are consciousness, not subject alone.
Ish Upanishad declares: ~ “Those people who have neglected the attainment of ‘Self’-knowledge and have thus committed suicide 10/11/12
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?
Ish Upanishads: ~
MANTRA 10
Vidya and Avidya both are hindrances to Self -knowledge, but Vidya is even worse than Avidya. The word Vidya is used here in a special sense; here it means worshipping Gods and Goddesses. By worshipping Gods and Goddesses, you will go after death to the world of Gods and Goddesses. But will that help you? The time you spent there is wasted because if you were not there you could have spent that time moving forward towards Self’-knowledge, which is your goal. In the world of Gods and Goddesses, you cannot do that, and thus, you go deeper and deeper into darkness.
Avidya is Karma and, therefore, a hindrance. You perform Avidya - i.e., you perform Agnihotra and other sacrifices. This is a roundabout way of purifying the mind, and it is also groping in the dark. But it may not have as heavy a toll on your time and energy as the other.
Remember:~
All the orthodox views have to be bifurcated to get the pure essence of Sage, Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom.
The Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara can be summed up in the following statement: ~
Brahma Satyam, jaganmithya, jivobrahmaivanaparah ~ Brahman alone is real; the world is non-real, and the individual Self is essentially not-different from Brahman.
That is why 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.
Mundaka Upanishad 1.3:~ complete knowledge includes knowledge of the phenomenal world, the spirit behind it, and the source of both of them. When the cause of all causes becomes known, then everything knowable becomes known, and nothing remains unknown is Gnana.”
Sage Sankara says the seeker must first know what is before him. If he cannot know that, what else can he know or understand? If he gives up the external world in his inquiry, he cannot get the whole truth.
The interpretation of Sage Sankara's 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 wrote his commentaries on Manduka commentary first, and then as this revealed that he thoroughly understood the subject, his Gurus requested him to write the commentary on Badarayana's Brahma Sutras, which was a popular theological work universally studied by Advaitins. That is why his commentary is written from a lower dualistic point, for those who cannot rise higher, save that here and there Sage Sankara occasionally has strewn a few truly Advaitic sentences.
Sage Sankara's commentary on the Brahma Sutras is not on a philosophical basis, but on an orthodox and mystic basis, with the appeal to the 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 Sankara explains in Manduka that those who study the Sutras are orthodox minds, 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. A Gnani says the scriptures for children, but wise seekers will think rationally.
In Brahma Sutras Sage Sankara takes for granted, assumes that a world was created: He there mixes dogmatic theology with philosophy.
That God created the world is an absolute lie, nevertheless one will find Sage 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, dogmatism but in the commentary, Sage Sankara cleverly introduced some philosophy. If it is objected that many Upanishads are equally dogmatic because they also begin by assuming Brahman, only a few Upanishads do not but prove Brahman at the end of a train of proof.
Scholars' translation of Brahma Sutras in Sacred Books of East must be read cautiously as he has not understood its highest sense, e.g. for Advaita, they wrongly put "Unity" instead of “Non-duality."
Sage Sankara gave religion and scholasticism and yoga no less than philosophy, to the seeking world. He was great enough to be able to do so. His commentary on Manduka Upanishad is pure philosophy, but many of his other books are presented from a religious standpoint to help those who cannot rise up to philosophy.
Sage Sankara's commentary on Manduka Upanishad is pure philosophy, but many of his other books are presented from a religious standpoint to help those who cannot rise up to philosophy. North India is the home of mysticism and deification and South India of keen rational truth.
Sage Sankara says in Brahma Sutras: “Brahman is the cause of the world, whereas in Manduka he denies it. This is because he says that at the lower stage of understanding, the former teaching must be given, for people will get frightened as they cannot understand how the world can be without a cause, but to those in a higher stage, the truth of non-causality can be revealed.
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's basis of his Advaitic wisdom is either on reason independent of Shruti or on Shruti confirmed by reason."
Sage Sankara’s commentary on the Manduka Upanishad, II, 1:~ This (the unreality of duality) is borne out by the Shritis ... But it is possible also to show the unreality of the object world even from pure reasoning, and this second chapter is undertaken for that purpose.
Sage Sankara gave religious, ritual, or dogmatic instruction to the ignorant populace 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 himself has warned us not to use ambiguous words, and to practice semantic analysis in his book "Definition of one's own ‘Self’. (Page 199, v.24 of "Sankara's Selected Works)
Sage Sankara says the seeker must first know what is before him. If he cannot know that, what else can he know or understand? If he gives up the external world in his inquiry, he cannot get the whole truth.
That is why 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.
Mundaka Upanishad1.3:~ complete knowledge includes knowledge of the phenomenal world, the spirit behind it, and the source of both of them. When the cause of all causes becomes known, then everything knowable becomes known, and nothing remains unknown is Gnana.”
The orthodox Advaitic path is the path of ignorance and it is meant for the ignorant crowd. Orthodoxy is the home of mysticism and deification that is why they are not the keen rational truth. Orthodoxy has to be discarded if you want Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom. The orthodox Advaitic path is based on ignorance. The buried wisdom has to be discovered by the seeker himself.
It takes time for the seeker to gain a perfect understanding of ‘what is the truth and ‘what is untruth’. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar
