This subject is about how to realize one’s true
nature as existence, consciousness and bliss according to the teachings of
non-dual Vedanta.
We do not question our own existence, but many
question the existence of God. Yet we will see that the proof of the existence
of God lies, in that it is the very light that illumines our own existence.
There is a popular saying:”When I searched for God,
I found myself – when I found myself, I found God.
Self illumined existence is called in Sanskrit
Aparoksha, that which is beyond sensory existence, it is that which illumines
the senses.
Many people will say, what I can’t experience
through my senses, does not exist.
Vedanta and Yoga teaches, only that which is
permanent exists and that which is impermanent is illusory. From this we can
infer, that what we see with our eyes is illusory or temporary; it is a
reflection of an ever changing world of matter on the gross realm.
Beyond this world of matter is the subtle realm.
Since we do not directly perceive this realm, we build our theories about it on
belief or inference. It is the source on which much of religion is based. An
example is heaven.
The realm beyond the subtle is Reality is changeless
Truth, Existence, Bliss, God. Vedanta and yoga state that, true religion is not
theory, it is God realization.
How
can one become enlightened and what criteria of enlightenment is our purpose?
Enlightenment for our purpose is Self and God
realization.
There have been instances where people became
enlightened in a flash, but this should not be taken as the norm. Most people
will need guidance, or a system of instruction to fallow, a spiritual path.
Following a spiritual path is not different from any other discipline which
requires dedicated study.
In our approach, we do not seek for God, we suggest
seeing God wherever we are. Scriptures speak of the omnipresence of God, yet
most people envision God at some remote place and apart from themselves.
Yet seeing God and the creative process everywhere
means that everything we need is here already, we only have to discover and be
conscious of it.
Guidelines
for those embracing the journey of enlightenment are:
Discrimination between what is real and what is unreal
and applying dispassion or letting go for the unreal.
Self control, forbearance, faith, tolerance
An intense desire for enlightenment, for Self and
God realization.
Austerity for the purification of the mind, performance
of one’s duties to social order and the different stages in life, practice of
daily devotion, worship and self-control.
The austerity of the mind consists of cultivation of
one’s inner life, such as kindness, silence and purity of heart.
Cultivate a peaceful in heart, by being unperturbed
by attachment and aversion when in contact with agreeable and disagreeable
objects or subjects.
Avoidance of craving for sensuous happiness in this
life or hereafter.
Abandonment of desires – restrained of the external
Spiritual fortitude, being content during the difficulties
of life.
Liberation – moksha, freedom from suffering.
Note: For anyone on the journey, there will be times
of Divine discontent until God realization is attained.
Obtaining
of spiritual knowledge
According to Vedanta and Yoga, the cause of
suffering in man is ignorance of his true nature. To obtain spiritual knowledge we need to cultivate a sattvic
inquiring mind, which is often referred to in religious terms as purity of
mind. A tamasic mind leads to external action and further involvement in the
realm of matter. We also need jnana –knowledge, as knowledge destroys ignorance.
Knowledge really means re-discovery of knowledge which always exists, knowledge
of not just reading books, but knowledge of the spiritual inquiry of who we really
are.
There are two kinds of philosophers, academic and
genuine. The genuine philosophers are puzzled by life, academic philosophers
are those puzzled by books – Schopenhauer.
Action cannot destroy ignorance, because it is not
in conflict with ignorance. Knowledge alone destroys ignorance, as light
destroys darkness.
Ignorance conjures up the multiplicity of the
relative world. Vedanta declares that the knowledge of the non duality of
Brahman (God) and Atman (Self, soul) is the only true knowledge; all else is
ignorance. As such the vision of a God or the experience of happiness in heaven
belongs to the realm of ignorance.
According to Non Dual Vedanta the Ultimate Reality
is Brahman (God), which is one without a second. It alone exists; names and
forms are illusory. One sees multiplicity on account of ignorance. Again under
the influence of ignorance one performs actions as the doer. By means of action
a man fulfills his various desires. Therefore action is in harmony with
ignorance and cannot destroy it. But if one is firmly established in the
Knowledge of Non Duality and if he realizes that he is the Absolute, the
embodiment of Freedom, Bliss and Perfection, then the false notion of his self
as a finite, physical entity which impels him to various actions disappears.
The action performed by the knower of Brahman (God) is free from the notion of
duality. The action of an ignorant person is selfish and egocentric.
It is only because of ignorance, that the Self
(soul) appears to be finite. When ignorance is destroyed, the Self, which does
not admit to any multiplicity whatsoever, truly reveals itself, by itself, like
the sun when the cloud is removed.
By means of contemplation and realization of the
truth contained in such Vedic statements as “The Self is Brahman,” “I am
Brahman”’ Brahman is Pure consciousness,” and “All this is verily Brahman”.
"Self-realization is the knowing – in body,
mind, and soul – that we are one with the omnipresence of God; that we do not
have to pray that it come to us, that we are not merely near it at all times,
but that God's omnipresence is our omnipresence; that we are just as much a
part of Him now as we ever will be. All we have to do is improve our
knowing."
Paramahansa Yogananda
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