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.
Sage Sankara:~ VC Let erudite scholars quote all the scripture, let Gods be invoked through sacrifices, let elaborate rituals be performed, let personal Gods be propitiated---yet, without the realization of one‘s identity With the Self, there shall be no liberation for the individual, not even in the lifetimes of a hundred Brahmas put together (verses-6)
It is clear that liberation cannot be the result of good works, for Sruti itself declares that there is no hope for immortality by means of wealth. (Verses -7)
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) Vivekachoodamani v 56, pg 25
All these experiences as a father, son, Guru, and pupil the world in which they all exist were one and the same consciousness appearing differently. All these distinctions disappear when one realizes the Self is not ‘I’ but the Soul. The Soul is the cause of this world in which we exist and it itself is uncaused.
Remember:~
People who think it their duty to the world to remove others' sufferings are thinking within the illusion. People who think the world is full of suffering are also unaware their physical existence is limited to the illusion. All good and bad situations in the world are happenings within the illusion.
Bhagavad Gita: ~ Even if you are most sinful of all the sinners, you will cross all the sins by the raft of the knowledge (IV-36)
All the happenings within the illusion are nothing to do with the Soul, the ‘Self’. The Soul is an ever formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. From the standpoint of the Soul, the Self the waking entity and the waking world are an illusion. The experience of birth, life, death, and the world is a reality within the illusory waking experience.
People who declare “I AM GOD or “I AM BRAHMAN" are merely repeating like parrot words that he has read in the scriptures or heard. It does not prove that he has realized God or Brahman. With bookish or hearsay knowledge it is unable to prove that everything is Atman. One has to do lots of homework to realize the ‘Self’.
The Self is not the ‘I’. The ‘I’ is present in the form of the mind. The origin of the mind is the Soul. The mind is present in the form of the universe. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. The root of the universe is consciousness.
Thus, saying ‘I AM God’ keeps one in duality. The duality is not reality. The duality is a product of ignorance. The body, ego, and the world are ignorant.
When wisdom dawns the ignorance disappears. When the ignorance disappears the duality will never be a reality even though there is duality, it is merely an illusion created out of single stuff. That single stuff is the Soul which is present in the form of consciousness.
The Soul is the Self. The Soul, the Self is God. It is not “I AM GOD, but it’s correct to say ‘the SELF IS GOD because the Self is not the ‘I’ or ’I AM” but the ‘Self’ is the witness of the ‘I’ or I AM”. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar
