Sage Sri, Sankara says ~ “What is accepted without
a proper inquiry will not lead a person to the final goal. On the contrary,
such acceptance will result only in evil, in something which is detrimental to
our spiritual progress.
Advaitic wisdom rises
gradually by the weakening of ignorance as understanding and realization of
‘what is what’ matures.
If the inquiry does not
include the universe then it is incomplete. The universe itself is what
God is all about. The totality of the universe is what God is all about. You
just study the nature of the universe with all the seriousness and sincerity to
unfold the mystery of the universe. That is all you have to do. The universe is
the seeker's school.
Sage Sri, Sankara: ~ VC~.63- "Without knowing and
examining the universe, 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.
All the religious scriptures
and holy books are irrelevant -- God's greatest book is just in front of you.
That is why Sage Sri, Sankara says you must first know
what is before you. If you cannot know that, what else can you know or
understand? If you give up the external world in your inquiry, you cannot get
the whole truth.
Sage Sri, 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.
Until you think you are an
individual separate from the world and the world existed prior to you and you
are born in it afterward the ignorance will prevail as a reality. Till
ignorance is there the universe prevails as reality.
Sage Sri, Sankara says ~ “The exercise in
discrimination between real and unreal and renunciation of the false is real
meditation, then why you are indulging in other types of meditation.
Perfect understanding and
realization of ‘what is what’ leads Self-awareness. By holding onto theories
one remains in the realm of duality. You have to mentally go on dropping what is
not the truth through deeper Self-search. Finally when you become aware of the
fact that, your ego, your body, and the world are one in essence then there is
Self-awareness in the midst of duality.
Remember:~
Sage Sri, Sankara makes a distinction between
the absolute view and the relative view of things.
Genuine philosophy must
be independent of religion, that in Sage Sri, Sankara himself the Saguna
Brahman or a personal God is only a part of the phenomenal (if not illusory)
world and the Nirguna Brahman is the only reality and has nothing to do with
religion.
The Brahma Sutras
together with Sage Sri Sankara's commentary thereon do not contain the higher wisdom. They are
intended for those who are incapable of thinking rationally.
Sage Sri, Sankara's commentary on the Brahma
Sutras is not on a philosophical basis but on an orthodox and mystic basis,
with an appeal to the Vedas as the final authority.
In Brahma Sutra Sage Sri, 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 Sri, 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 Sri, 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 Sri, 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 Sri, Sankara cleverly introduced some
philosophy. If it is objected that a number of 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 Sri 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 is pure philosophy,
but many of his other books are presented from a religious standpoint to help
those who cannot rise up to philosophy.:~Santthosh Kumaar
