This is one of a series of introductory articles – please see the homepage of tomdas.com for more introductory articles. Also see: Recommended Reading: Books for Enlightenment, Liberation and Self-Realisation

There are many teachings and paths (as well as ‘non-paths’) that can be part of our journey to liberation. Whist we each all have our own unique spiritual journey, there are two broad categories of mistakes to avoid if you are genuinely looking for liberation.

Moreover, understanding just these two basic errors or distortions of spiritual teachings also allows us to understand multiple other distortions of the teachings that can occur, and this can save us much time on our spiritual journey, as is explained below.

I will also explain at the end of this article which of these 2 distortions is the most important for you as a seeker.

If you are NOT interested in liberation, then understanding these distortions become less important, and you can simply enjoy whichever teaching or path you want to.

But if you ARE interested in liberation, also known as Self-Realisation, Nirvana or becoming One with God (ie. yoga), then here are the two key ways in which liberating teachings are distorted or modified to make them non-liberating.

Why do these distortions of spiritual/liberating teachings occur?

Before we get to the 2 main distortions, why do these occur in the first place? Why would a liberating teaching be distorted into a non-liberating teaching?

Essentially truly liberating teachings, which are actually within us non-verbally always, when put into words, may sound irrational or unnecessary for the mind. Or the ego-mind may not be able to accept what the truly liberating teaching is saying, or the mind ego-may think that it knows what the liberating teaching is actually trying to say – and so the teaching is distorted accordingly.

Because the ego-mind cannot really know what the teachings are pointing to, when it hears the teaching, it naturally is prone to misinterpreting the teaching and misrepresenting the teaching. Even if it has the best of intentions, the ego-mind will often wrongly understand the nature of the True Teachings.

There are so many ways the teachings can therefore be distorted by the ego-mind, but they tend to fall into one of these two camps, that I will outline below.

A warning

When the ego-mind first hears a true teaching, meaning a truly liberating teaching, the first thing it tends to do is spew out dozens of thoughts, ideas and beliefs, that oppose that teaching, giving reasons why the teaching given is not true. This is because the ego-mind does not want to end in most cases, and often prefers to remain comfortable in what it thinks it knows. The ego is attached to its life and its things and typically doesn’t want to let these things go.

Therefore when reading the below, please bear this in mind. To give yourself the best chance of receiving these teachings, try to suspend your own judgements that may arise and instead read the teachings with an open and inquiring mind.

If you find the teachings below difficult to palate, it is probably your ego and its attachments kicking up a fuss and objecting!

You are, perhaps, attached to your life and your things – that is ego of course. You need to be radically honest with yourself here to see if this is true for you…

False teachings are not necessarily ‘bad’, they are just non-liberating

Many teachings can be helpful to us on our journey, and teachings that we now may consider to be false, may have served as a useful ‘stepping stone’ to where we are now. So false or distorted teachings may be useful to us at times, and are often part of our (apparent) journey. ‘False teachings’ or ‘distorted teachings’ here just means teachings that do not ultimately by themselves lead to liberation.

Guru Vachaka Kovai (Garland of Guru’s Sayings)

Throughout this post I quote extensively from the text Guru Vachaka Kovai (which you can download from this link) a collection of teachings from Sri Ramana Maharshi. It is widely accepted that the text Guru Vachaka Kovai presents the most precise, systematic and authoritative exposition of Sri Ramana Maharshi’s verbal teachings; Here is what Ramana Ashram states about the Guru Vachaka Kovai in the foreword of their publication of it:

‘[Guru Vachaka Kovai] provides the most precise, systematic and authoritative exposition of Sri Bhagavan’s teaching, explaining step by step the theory, the practice and the experience of jnana, the Truth supreme which is Being as Life Eternal, Pure Awareness, Perfect Bliss. Thus, the most comprehensive collection of the Maharshi’s sayings is Guru Vachaka Kovai.’

The 2 main ways the teaching is distorted

1. Not turning within

The first and most common distortion of spiritual teachings that prevents them being truly liberating teachings is that they do not advocate turning inwards to discover the Truth or Essence of what you truly are. They do not advocate turning within. They do not advocate turning away from gross objects (eg. tables, cars, stars, planets) and subtle objects (eg. thoughts, feelings, states of consciousness, experiences) and discovering the nature of the Subject or I Am.

Here are some quotes for you demonstrating this important part of the path. Unless stated otherwise, the quotes are Sri Ramana Maharshi’s teachings from the text Guru Vachaka Kovai:

291. If one wants to be saved, one is given the following true and essential advice: just as the tortoise draws all its five limbs within its shell, so one should draw the five senses within and turn one’s mind Selfward. This alone is happiness.

One who is able to fully withdraw the senses from their objects, just as a tortoise withdraws its limbs into its shell, is established in Divine Knowledge (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, verse 58)

293. Know that these countless things are pictures in a dream and none is real apart from the beholder. Shun this phantom world of names and forms and dwell in the pure, blissful being of Awareness.

By expelling (from the mind) without any remainder all objects which are superimposed on one’s Atma, one becomes himself Parabrahman the full, the secondless and the actionless (Adhyatma Upanishad 1.21)

293. Having known for certain that everything which is seen, without the least exception, is merely a dream, and that it [the seen] does not exist without the seer, turn only towards Self – Sat-Chit-Ananda – without attending to the world of names and forms, which is only a mental conception.

391. Those who do not dive into the Heart and there confront the Self in the five sheaths hid are only students answering out of books clever questions raised by books, and not true seekers of the Self.

186. O miserable and extroverted people, failing to see the seer, you see only the seen! To dissolve duality by turning inwards instead of outwards is alone Blissful.

After knowing that by which you know this world, turn the mind inward, and then you will realise the effulgence of the Self. (Yoga Vasishta)

Strenuously withdrawing all thoughts from sense objects, one should remain fixed in steady, non-objective [ie. subjective] enquiry. This, in brief, is the means of knowing one’s own real nature; this effort alone bring about the sublime inner vision. (Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Ramana Gita)

So long as all objects are not renounced, the Self is not won. What remains after the renunciation of the entire objective manifold is said to be the Self. Therefore, in order to realize the Self, renounce everything. Having cast off all (objects), assimilate yourself to that which remains. (Annapurna Upanishad 1.45-1.46)

The Lord created the senses out-going: therefore, one sees outside and not the Self within. Some intelligent man, with his senses turned away (from their objects), desirous of immortality, sees the Self within. (Katha Upanishad 2.1.1)

In his commentary on this above verse (Katha Upanishad 2.1.1), Shankara writes:

‘…the perceiver sees the external objects which are not-Self/not the Atman, such as sound, etc., and not the Self within. Though this is the nature of the world, some (rare) discerning man, like turning back/ reversing the current of a river, sees the Self within…The group of sense organs, beginning with the ear, should be turned away from all sense-objects. Such a one, who is purified thus, sees the indwelling self. For it is not possible for the same person to be engaged in the thought of sense-objects and to have the vision of the Self as well.‘

647. If you refrain from looking at this or that or any other object then by that overpowering look into absolute Being you become yourself the boundless space of pure awareness which alone is Real Being.

420. The knowledge that ignores the Self, the Knower, and holds as true the field perceived, is but illusive folly…

Dwelling on external objects will only increase evil propensities, so wisely recognising this fact, one should abandon external objects and and constantly attend to one’s true nature within, the Atman [the Self]. (Shankara, Vivekachudamani)

One whose intellect has been withdrawn from all objects, gross and subtle, when this takes place, this is known as ‘inactivity of the sense organs’. Though this ‘inactivity of the sense organs’ one sees that glory of the Self. ‘Sees’ means he directly realises the Self as ‘I am the Self’ as thereby becomes free from suffering’ (Shankara in his commentary on Katha Upanishad verse 1.2.20)

– But how far within do we need to turn?

Sri Ramana Maharshi tells us in Guru Vachaka Kovai:

877. Only when the world-illusion goes does the blissful light of Self arrive. Life lived in this bright, blissful light is our true, natural life. Other ways of life are full of trouble and fear.

193. When the mind [i.e., the ego’s attention] which wanders outside, knowing only other objects [2nd and 3rd persons] – begins to attend to its own nature, all other objects will disappear, and then, by experiencing it’s own true nature [i.e. Self], the pseudo-‘I’ will also die.

Sri Ramana Maharshi also gives definitive teachings in the text he wrote called ‘Who am I?‘:

Q. When will the realization of the Self be gained?
A. When the world which is what-is-seen has been removed, there will be realization of the Self which is the seer.

Q. Will there not be realization of the Self even while the world is there?
A. There will not be.

Just as the knowledge of the rope, which is the base, will not be obtained unless the knowledge of the snake, the superimposition, goes, so the realization of Self (swarupadarsanam), which is the base, will not be obtained unless the perception of the world (jagat-drishti) which is a superimposition, ceases.

Therefore, when the world appears, Self will not appear; and when Self appears (shines), the world will not appear.

And

If, on the contrary, you withdraw your mind completely from the world and turn it within and abide thus, that is, if you keep awake always to the Self, which is the substratum of all experience, you will find the world, of which alone you are now aware, just as unreal as the world in which you lived in your dream. (Sri Ramana Maharshi, Maharshi’s Gospel)

The Upanishads and other traditional scriptures give us the same teaching:

The mind severed from all connection with sensual objects, and prevented from functioning out, awakes into the light of the heart, and finds the highest condition. The mind should be prevented from functioning, until it dissolves itself in the heart. This is Jnana, this is Dhyana, the rest is all mere concoction of untruth. (Amritabindu Upanishad)

As long as the objective universe is perceived one does not realise the Self. (Yoga Vasishta)

When the five organs of perception become still, together with the mind, and the intellect ceases to be active: that is called the Supreme State [Brahma-Vidya or Self Knowledge] (Katha Upanishad 2.3.10)

Shankara’s commentary on this above verse (Katha Upanishad, verse 2.3.10) states the following:

‘At the time when the five senses…, together with the mind…, which is now no longer functioning and thinking, are at rest in the Self alone, after turning away from objects, and with the intellect…no longer engaging with its functioning, that they call the highest state [Brahma-Vidya or Self-Knowledge].’

The Self (Atman) is beyond all expression by words beyond all acts of mind; It is absolutely peaceful, it is eternal effulgence free from activity and fear and it is attainable by Samadhi (Gaudapada, Mandukya Upanishad Karika 3.37)

Shankara’s commentary from the above verse from Gaudapada 3.37 states:

…The Self (Atman) is denoted by the word Samadhi as it can be realised only by the knowledge arising out of the deepest concentration (on its essence), Samadhi. Or the Self (Atman) is denoted by Samadhi because it is the object of concentration, the Jiva concentrates his mind on the Self (Atman)…

In the next verse Gaudapada writes in verse 3.38 of his Mandukya Karika:

There can be no acceptance or rejection where all mentation stops. Then knowledge is established in the Self and is unborn, and it becomes homogenous

Shankara’s commentary on this verse 3.38 is as follows:

…therefore there is no rejection or acceptance in It, where thought does not exist. That is to say, how can there be rejection or acceptance where no mentation is possible in the absence of the mind? As soon as there comes the realisation of the Truth that is the Self, then, in the absence of any object, knowledge (Jnanam) is established in the Self, like the heat of fire in fire. It is then birthless (ajati) and becomes homogenous.

-Objections to turning within and further reading:

I have written many post that deal with the common objections to this teaching. See these posts and the introductory articles on the homepage of tomdas.com which talk more about this aspect of the path:

Turn Within? Really? Isn’t this dualistic and doesn’t this just strengthen the ego?

If God is everywhere, why do we have to turn within? Why can’t we see God in the World?

The need to turn inwards according to Advaita Vedanta

How to end suffering (and why other ways tend not to work)

Sri Ramana Maharshi: turn within (quotes and guided meditation)

Sri Ramana Maharshi: the only worthy occupation

IN BRIEF: HOW TO ATTAIN LIBERATION (MOKSHA)

2. Turning back outwards (eg. to reintegrate with the body-mind/world)

If the first pitfall on the journey wasn’t controversial enough, this second pitfall is often very difficult for seekers of liberation to understand. After all, it only seems right that after liberation we should once again embrace world and integrate our realisation, fully embodying and expressing our new-found wisdom. ‘Before enlightenment chop wood carry water, after enlightenment chop wood carry water‘, and all that. (Note that this teaching about ‘chopping wood…’ was never present in the original chan/zen teaching but is a later distortion we only see many centuries later).

But this is all stuff of the ego-mind, well kind-of.

When we turn within to discover ourself, we must keep on sinking inwards, back back back, deeper and deeper, until we discover what we truly are. When that is done, THAT’S IT. THAT’S THE END OF THE JOURNEY.

But don’t you have to then integrate this understanding into daily life? No. If you have to integrate your understanding with daily life then that just means you have not yet discovered the Self, what you truly are.

Only whilst we are seeking, that is, only whilst we remain (apparently) in ignorance do we need to integrate and incorporate spiritual truths with our daily life. With liberation, there is no more daily life, there is no choice or duality, there is no more suffering or learning, although it may seem that way to ‘others’ – but in liberation there are no ‘others’!.

Integrating the teachings into daily life is only for the ego (separate self/jiva/person)

Only the ego/mind/person/jiva needs to or even can turn back out towards the world

When you have discovered the Self, then ‘you have achieved all there is to achieve’ (please forgive the goal-orientated language). Nothing else is thereafter required (nor is anything else possible!).

See these 3 quotes here, all teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi taken from the text Guru Vachaka Kovai:

630. Having felt the sun’s fierce heat the wise one tarries in the shade, and those who know the triple fire raging in the world will never leave the Heart and turn again towards the world

949. Those who with ego dead have gained Being, transcending bliss, have nothing further to attain, no effort to be made, no deed to do, for life’s fulfilment they have reached.

950. When one abides in one’s true state as effortless Eternal Goodness one has no further work to do. All deeds accomplished, such a one enjoys the perfect peace of bliss.

1238. Siva, who is Pure Awareness transcending thought, is only known to seers heroic who with minds extinct abide thought-free within the heart, and not to those whose minds are still engaged in thought.

Also Sri Ramana Maharshi’s teachings are recorded in Sri Ramana Paravidyopanishad:

411. Whoever obtains awareness of the real Self, for him this worldly life comes to an end. The others continue to wander here as before, remaining without awareness of the real Self.

554. These men do not know the truth of the transcendental state beyond time, in which the world has not come into being. Non-duality has neither beginning nor end. Duality, with space and time, is unreal, always.

569. In that state doubts do not arise since the sage is ever firm in his awareness of the true Self. There he remains without affirmations and vacillations, immersed in the depths of peace, the mind having become extinct.

585. By the dawn of right awareness of the real Self, the ego, the root cause of the appearance of forms, has been lost. Therefore for the sage, all forms are unreal, and hence this talk of forms is foolishness.

In ‘Who Am I?’ Sri Ramana Maharshi states:

Question: How long should self-inquiry be practised?
Sri Ramana Maharshi: As long as there are impressions of objects in the mind, so long the inquiry “Who am I?” is required.

Now I haven’t spent too much time here in this post explaining why this is the case, and answering all the questions that can arise from this. These above verses in this section are taken from this post which explains some of the reasoning behind these teachings further. The post also provides more quotes from Shankara and other teachers of this path as well as further explaining the need to turn within in more detail. Even more detail is given in the posts below.

Also see this post which explains how a Jnani can function given the above:

How can the Jnani (sage) function with NO THOUGHTS? Sri Ramana Maharshi

Other ways of formulating the 2nd mistake/distortion

This second distortion of the teaching, which I have formulated above as turning back out towards the body-mind-world once the self has been ‘realised’, can present in various different ways.

– ‘Liberation is only the beginning’

One example is the (false) teaching that ‘liberation is only the beginning’ or ‘self-realisation is only the beginning’. Again, if self-realisation is ‘only the beginning’, then that simply means that the self has not truly been realised. Self-realisation is the end, the final destination, the terminus of the spiritual journey. No sense of individuality or multiplicity or duality remains with liberation, as Sri Ramana taught:

‘Since multiplicity is experienced only in the state of ignorance, it is declared to be unreal’ (Sri Ramana Paravidyopanishad, verse 89)

and

“The mukta [liberated sage] like the rest of us perceives the world in all its vast variety and yet he sees non-difference in it”, so people say. This is not true.” (Sri Ramana Maharshi, Guru Vachaka Kovai, verse 931)

(ie. the idea that the liberated sage still perceives differences ‘like the rest of us’ but perceives an underlying unity despite various objects being seen is here being refuted.)

– ‘Constant unfolding’

‘Another way this false teaching can be expressed is to say ‘there is a constant unfolding of life after liberation’, or words to this effect. Constant unfolding means attention is on the changing objects, which are actually illusion, duality, also know as Maya (illusion; the literal meaning of ‘maya’ is ‘that which does not exist’).

Now even someone who is truly realised can say something like ‘life just unfolds by itself in liberation’, in order to explain liberation to someone who is not ready for the ultimate truth, but from an ultimate point of view (which is the only true point of view), this is also fiction.

In liberation, no illusion remains, no objects, no unfolding, no multiplicity, no duality. Let us read Sri Ramana Maharshi’s teachings as found in Guru Vachaka Kovai:

1089. Life you desire. But how to live you know not. Thinking that this sinking deep in this void, vain, illusive waking-dream is “life”, you proudly claim you “live”. Pierce this illusion, go, grasp the Truth, eternal life.

1095. Such a life of Grace alone Is life lived in full, real Being. This worldly life of false phenomena full of fear is sinking deeper in illusion, not authentic living.

1096. Those whose five senses turn no longer towards the world which once seemed real, those who have learned to live without their minds being moved by the illusive universe of forms, they need perform no penance.

131. Those who enjoy the ego’s life of false phenomena perish and die. The state of grace, supreme Awareness, the life lived in Self-Being, this alone is bliss worth seeking.

238. Knowing well that bliss serene is found in being the Self alone, and not in this illusory life, seek and attain the final heaven of grace, the state of Mouna [Silence], Pure Awareness.

360. Natural, unbroken, ever present, all maya gone, as strength of heart shines the pure I of muktas [liberated ones] seen in acts without the slightest trace of doership.

– Isn’t this rather bleak and life-denying?

At some point you may say this sounds rather bleak, rather life-denying. Of course, this is not the case at all. This is a wonderfully positive teaching when correctly understood, the most positive thing possible, in fact. It is everything you are truly looking for.

Most seekers of liberation, especially at the start of their journeys, want liberation but also want to enjoy life, just without the bad bits, and have the good bits only. Their concept of liberation may be something like ‘in liberation/realisation, everything just flows beautifully, like white silk sheets gently and peacefully floating on the wind’.

The issue is that in life (ie. in maya, the dream of being a body-mind living in a world), these white silk sheets always eventually touch the muddy ground. In Maya we always identify with a body-mind, and travel in a polar world, bouncing between the opposites of pleasure and pain, creation and destruction, life and death, suffering as we do so.

Eventually we come to realise there is no happiness whatsoever in the worldly objects, all happiness only coming from our very own Self, and that to find true everlasting happiness we must turn within and discover what we truly are:

Not in one single thing on earth can happiness be found. How could the muddled mind delude itself and think that happiness can be derived from objects in this world? (Sri Ramana Maharshi, Guru Vachaka Kovai, verse 78)

Only when the world’s allurement is lost will true Liberation be possible. Hence, to try to foist reality upon this world is to be just like an infatuated lover who tries to foist chastity upon a prostitute. (Sri Ramana Maharshi, Guru Vachaka Kovai, verse 74)

Coming back to the original question in this section, doesn’t this sound very bleak and life-denying? Well from the point of view of the ego or mind it does sound bleak and life-denying, but actually it is what we are truly looking for. Here Sri Ramana confirms that we are to give up the entirely of Maya and all it’s pleasures, but what we gain in return is far greater. It is in fact a wonderful bargain, trading suffering-ridden illusion for the eternally blissful and fulfilling reality:

What does one gain, you well may ask, by giving up the wealth immense of worldly pleasure and seeking only mere Awareness? The benefit of true Awareness is the unbroken prevalence of peace within the heart, the bliss of one’s own natural being. (Sri Ramana Maharshi, Guru Vachaka Kovai, verse 77)

Only mad folk perplexed because they deem the false world to be real find joy in this illusion. The truly wise find joy in nothing but Awareness which is Being. (Sri Ramana Maharshi, Guru Vachaka Kovai, verse 75)

– ‘Suffering does not fully end’ or ‘all suffering does not end’

Here we have another false teaching, namely that suffering (or ego) in some form continues in liberation. The Buddha taught that in nirvana, liberation, suffering ends once and for all. The Buddha said being born is suffering, illness is suffering, growing old is suffering and death is suffering, the implication being that all of these end in liberation. Liberation is truly something unfathomable (for the mind)!

Isn’t that what all the teachings say – that liberation is unfathomable, ineffable? But yet how we sometimes struggle when we cannot in our minds understand the nature of liberation! The following are Sri Ramana’s teachings from Guru Vachaka Kovai:

953. Our real Being, the Sun that never can see the darkness of illusion, knows no trace of pain or suffering.

954. Blissful, auspicious is the Self, our real Being. One who knows this sees in life no trace of suffering or pain

956. The goal, the Truth, is Self-Awareness. Reaching it is annihilation of the painful illusion of birth.

1067. As the pearl-fisher single-thoughted, weighted with a stone, dives deep into the sea and grasps the pearl most precious, and rejoices, dive into the Heart with stern vairagya [dispassion for sense objects], gain the Self-treasure, and so end all suffering and sorrow.

– The ego continues in some form after liberation

As I hinted above, saying that suffering continues in some form after liberation is the same as saying that the ego continues in some form after liberation. This too, of course, is a false teaching. In liberation, the ego ends once and for all, the ego defined as being the sense ‘I am the body’ or ‘I am a limited body-mind entity’:

225. Unfailing immortality accrues only to those who have destroyed the ego

133. He, who by questing inward for the Knower, has destroyed the ego and transcended so-called knowledge, abides as the Self. He alone is a true knower, not one who has not seen the Self and therefore has an ego still.

161. When ego ends, then one becomes a devotee true; when ego ends, one becomes a knower too; when ego ends, one becomes Being supreme. When ego ends, grace fills all space.

174. In meditation deep, while yet a trace of ego lingers, fear and trembling may sometimes occur. But when the ego dies at last in Pure Awareness, quaking stops. Stillness alone prevails.

– Adding to the teaching, taking away from the teaching

The last way I will mention here that the teachings can be distorted is either by adding to the teaching or taking things away from the teaching.

Adding to the teaching includes false teachings like: ‘yes, Self- enquiry is the way, but self-enquiry is very difficult and only for the few. Here are some things you have to do before self-enquiry [and then go into detail about preparatory exercises]’

Here the principle teaching of self-enquiry is acknowledged, but extra teachings are added prior to the teaching.

Another example of adding to the teaching is this: ‘Yes, we must turn within and discover the self, but then we must thereafter turn towards the world in order to reintegrate the teaching into daily life’. As we have already discussed (this is the 2nd of the main two mistakes discussed above), this is a distortion of the teaching, but here the principle teaching of turning within has been acknowledged, but the addition of a 2nd step to be performed after has been inserted, and this equally distorts the teaching.

An example of taking away things from the teaching is by stating: ‘yes, turning within is a very good way, but we don’t have to do that. Here is an even better way that doesn’t involve turning within at all…’.

Gere the primary teaching of turning within has been acknowledged, initially at least, but then it is later ‘superseded’ and so taken away in the subsequent (false) teaching that has been given. Of course the initial acknowledgement of the principle teaching may not be there, this being just an example of how teachings can be distorted.

Further characteristics of false or non-liberating teachings, and further questions/objections answered:

I have compiled a list of videos which you can watch on this topic here:

Exploring False Teachings.

Also see this link and the links cited therein to better understand the above teachings – the links in the following post go to some way in explaining many common objections and questions you may have:

The nature of liberation

IMPORTANT: Of these 2 mistakes, which is more important to note?

The first mistake is the key one, and therefore the teaching emphasised by all true spiritual teachings is to turn within. Sometimes this is expressed as the need to meditate deeply or enter deeply into Silence or Stillness. If this is done properly and until the end, then the second mistake of coming back to the body-mind-world will naturally not occur. So even if you do not agree about my 2nd pitfall above, as long as you turn within and truly discover your self, you will be fine.

This is also why great sages like Sri Ramana Maharshi, whilst they taught correctly about both points above, they emphasised turning within, for they knew that once we have done that properly, all will be well. As Sri Ramana stated in his text ‘Who Am I?’:

Question: How long should self-inquiry be practised?
Sri Ramana Maharshi: As long as there are impressions of objects in the mind, so long the inquiry “Who am I?” is required.

I hope you find this information useful and helpful

Best wishes and namaste