Let us contemplate on realizing Brahman and what are the means for that.
I am doing selfless service, karmayoga, or yajna, selfless service. Will it help in Brahman realization? It will help in Brahman realization…but that is not Brahman realization. Because, this selfless service or yajna, will help you to purify your mind. Purification of the mind is the aid to the realization of Brahman, but that is not Brahman realization. I am doing devotion, I have a devotion, without devotion you cannot achieve anything in life, without devotion you cannot attain the Self. Devotion is a requirement, devotion to Atma jnana, devotion to Brahman, devotion to Bhagwan is very necessary.
Devotion means love. Even if you have to study for some subject say engineering or mathematics, if you don’t have love, you cannot study. It becomes hard. A person who teaches also should have a love for the subject, then only teaching will become good. How can you realize God, without love for God? That love is called Devotion or Bhakthi. The devotion helps in keeping your focus. Again the focus is related to the mind. Devotion purifies you. But that itself is not realization. No..no..no..I do a lot of breathing practice, pranayama, my mind becomes silent, my breathing stops, when the mind stops, by doing kriyayoga or rajayoga process, using prana, you can still the mind, it is called ‘Manolaya’ The mind becomes silent. But the ignorance of the mind has not gone. So, pranayama can help you, the breathing practice can help you. It does help you to calm your mind. Does it help you to realize Brahman? No…
I have read all the scriptures from Vedanta, will it help me? Definitely, it will help you. It will help you to remove ignorance of the Self. Jnana can nullify ignorance, ajnana. But, it cannot give prajnana. Prajnana is what you are. Atma jnana is helpful in removing the ignorance of the mind, which means purification of the budhi. These are all, the karma yoga, jnana yoga, bhakti yoga,kriya yoga are all helpful practices. They are purification practices. But, Self-realization is not a result of any action. Karmayoga, bhakti yoga, jnana yoga, kriya yoga are all actins. Karmayoga is a physical action, bhakti yoga is mental action, jnana yoga is intellectual action and kriya yoga is action at the energy level. Brahmajnana or atmajnana is not a result of any action, because Brahmanjnana or atmajnana is effortless. It is your own nature. It is a direct experience.
So, body, mind, intellect, and energy are related to karma yoga, bhakti yoga, jnana yoga and kriya yoga. These yogas help you to purify. But, Brahmajnana or Brahmanubhuti or Aparokshanubhuti is a direct experience. These practices help you to calm your mind, purify your mind. But, direct experience is effortless. It is immediate. It is not the result of some action. If it is the result of your action, then you will say, no ..no..no..i will do some million times of breathing and then I will get Brahman. No..no..no..i will do some million times Japa, then I will get Brahman. They will help you to purify your mind, they will help you to make your mind calm, but Brahman experience is not ‘cause and effect’.
“Cause and effect” is there in the empirical world. Time is there in the empirical world. Brahman realization is beyond time, space, and effort. It is direct, it is immediate. It is acausal.