God must be independent of religion. Sage Sankara himself says the Saguna Brahman or a personal God is part of the illusory world and the Nirguna Brahman is the only eternal reality.
God is universal because God is impersonal. God does not belong to any religion because religious Gods are based on personal beliefs. God has to be realized not worshiped.
How can you see God without knowing what God is in actuality? When the ‘Self not you how can you find God within you? God is not within you. Those who say God is within you just propagating half-baked knowledge.
First, realize the ‘Self is not within you. You are bound by the experience of birth, life, death, and the world whereas the ‘Self’ is birthless and deathless because it is an ever formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.
The Soul is the Self. The Soul is present in the form of Consciousness. Consciousness is the cause of the world in which you exist and it itself is uncaused.
Consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth. On the standpoint of the Soul, the Self the world in which you exist is merely an illusion. Thus, the world in which exists hides the Soul, which is God in truth.
Till you think the ‘Soul, the Self’ is within you, you will never be able to realize God. God is not limited to you but it pervades in everything and everywhere in the world in which you exist.
In 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 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 is.
There is no God in duality but God in truth, which is ever nondual. There is no God because the world in which we exist is merely an illusion created out of God, the Spirit. Call it with any name God is universal. God belongs to the whole of humanity because God is Advaita.
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 the GOD is the cause of the world is real and eternal.
God alone is real and all else is an illusion. There is no second thing that exists other than the Spirit of God in truth, Thus, God is Advaita.
Religion belongs to you. The religious belief of God belongs to you. All religious code of conduct belongs to you. Religious rituals belong to you. But remember you belong to the dualistic illusion because the world in which you exist is an illusion 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 is divine, only held in the bondage of the 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.
Know and realize God in truth:~
Rig Veda: ~ 'Prajnanam Brahma'- Consciousness is the ultimate reality or Brahman or God in truth.
Religious Gods are based on blind faith or 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, it 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.
Even Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~ Brahman (God) 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, it 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 innermost self. May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?" (10:48, 5)
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says:~ "He who worships the deities as entities entirely separate from him does not know the truth. For the Gods, he is like a pasu (beast)". (1. 4. 10)
Nirguna Brahman is nothing to do with religion because Nirguna Brahman is Atman, the real God is not the God people believe and worship.
Atman is Brahman (God). The Atman is the innermost Self is non-dual because there is no second thing that exists other than the Atman. Atman is present in the form of consciousness. The consciousness is the only true reality, and everything else, which appears as form, time, and space is merely an illusion.
Your religion is nothing to with the Soul, the Self because the Soul is a universal God.
The God you believe and worship is nothing to with the Soul, the Self because the Soul itself is God in truth.
God in truth is only the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.
Different Religions call God by different names. In Spirituality, the ultimate truth is called Brahman or God. The words and their meaning belong to plurality are illusory. The words are necessary to indicate the truth. The word God is the best word to express because most of the populace is attached to the word God.
Religious people use the word God for their religious blind belief based God. In spirituality, we have to use the word God for the ultimate truth.
Words cause the mind to ramble. The seeker should earnestly try to mentally grasp the truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space, indicated by the words.
Brahman -The English use of the word real as applied to the material world, whereas we Advaitins use it as applied to unseen Atman or Consciousness. Hence, many errors have arisen in translations from the Sanskrit.
Brahman ~ “The word Brahman or Sat has no proper equivalent in English. The nearest is the ultimate reality or ultimate truth. The west, however, applies reality to individual objects or the multiplicity of them all: whereas Advaitins apply it to the non-duality. Brahman is called "That" because it is something not known yet by the seeker.
The words are used for communication purposes. On the non-dualistic perspective, the words are meaningless. The words are used within the dualistic to indicate the truth, which is beyond the form, time, and space.
Everything is Consciousness and Consciousness is everything. Consciousness encompasses everything.
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 itself 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.
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.
The path of wisdom is not for the religious populace. It is difficult for religious people to accept the truth because they already accepted something else as truth because of their samskara or conditioning. It is difficult for them to accept anything other than their inherited conditioning.
Even Sage Sankara appears personally and tells them what they have accepted as truth is not truth; they will never be able to accept anything other than their accepted truth.
Religious people must follow their chosen path which makes them happy and gives them satisfaction. Without instance urge to acquire Self-knowledge it is impossible to tread the path of wisdom.
Bhagavad Gita says: ~ Among thousands of men, scarcely one strives for perfection; and of those who strive and succeed, scarcely one knows the ‘Self’ in truth.
The path of wisdom attracts only those who are in search of truth and they appreciate it greatly. The ignorant are not spiritually matured the receive Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. The ignorant indulge in argument and provocation and personal attack, which hinders their realization of the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.
Bhagavad Gita says: ~ “Don't unsettle the minds of ignorant by revealing the esoteric truth."
Swami Vivekananda: ~ “Advaita encompasses everything. Since Advaita requires heavy-duty intellectualism, it had to be progressively simplified. (From 'The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda)
Bhagavad Gita:~ All those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires, they worship many gods. (7- Verse -20)
Humanity has to awaken to the reality of its true existence by realizing the world in which humanity exists is merely an illusion created out of consciousness through Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.
Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana frees the Soul, the Self from the cage of the dualistic illusion or Maya.
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.
People dwelling in ignorance, but thinking themselves wise and erudite, go round and round by various blind beliefs and tortuous paths and practices, like the blind led by the blind.
Swami Vivekananda said:~ "The Vedas teach that the Soul is divine, only held in the bondage of matter; perfection will be reached when this bond will burst, and the word they use for it is, therefore, Mukthi - freedom, freedom from the bonds of imperfection, freedom from death and misery."
The Advaitic truth is very simple, but it is very difficult to grasp because of ignorance. You have to only realize the world in which you exist is created out of single clay. And that single clay is the Soul, which is present in the form of Consciousness.
Thus, you and your body and the world in which you exist are nothing but consciousness because they are merely an illusion created out of consciousness. A perfect understanding of ‘what is what’ is needed.
A Gnani can point at the sky, but the seeing of the star is the seeker's work.
It is necessary to reflect on the same truth again and again till it becomes a reality. One needs to constantly reflect on the subject until he gets a firm conviction of what is what. Words are needed until one gets a firm conviction of ‘what is what’. People need reading and hearing the words of wisdom to think reason and reflect deeply and reach the ultimate end.
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 the form, time, and space.
The Soul, the Self is the only Ancient One. Realize the ‘Self’ is not you but the ‘Self is the Soul. God is not a belief that you worship because the Soul itself is God in truth. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar
