Sage Sankara says: The religion is meant for ignorant people. And Advaitic wisdom is meant for the serious seekers of truth.+

Religion is based on belief, not on the truth. From the ultimate standpoint, there is no truth in religion. Advaitic Gnana is for the whole of humanity.  Advaitic Gnana is the truth of God (Spirit) hidden by ignorance.

Religious orthodox think they have mastered the scriptures and they have finished all the karmas so they have Self- realized.

Ashtavakra Gita: ~ “Truly the dualism is the root of suffering. There is no other remedy for it than the realization that all this that we see is unreal and that the Soul, the Self, is the one stainless reality, consisting of the consciousness. 2:16

Ashtavakra Gita: ~ “The Self is pure awareness though through ignorance the ‘Self' has imagined itself to have additional attributes. By continually reflecting like this, the Self’s dwelling place is in the unimagined. 2:17

Ashtavakra Gita: ~ “For the Self, there is neither bondage nor liberation. The illusion has lost its basis and ceased. Truly all this exists in me, though ultimately it does not even exist in the Self. 2:18

Advaita is not any type of teaching or philosophy. Advaita is the knowledge of your true existence. Advaita is the nature of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.  Advaita is the ultimate reality, Brahman, or God. Advaita is God itself.  

Upanishad says: ~ “The human goal is to acquire Self-Knowledge and they indicate that belief in the personal Gods, yoga scriptures, worship, and rituals are not the means to acquire Self –Knowledge, then why anyone should indulge in it.

Religion and its idea of a personal God and scriptures are the greatest obstacles to realizing non-dual truth or Self-realization because they are based on a false self.  

The seeker of truth has to search for the ultimate truth without losing himself in the labyrinths of philosophy, through deeper Self-search, and assimilate and realize it.

That is why Sage Sankara said:~Talk as much philosophy as you like, worship as many Gods as you please, observe ceremonies, and sing devotional hymns, but liberation will never come, even after a hundred aeons, without realizing the Oneness.

Lord Krishna confesses that the oldest wisdom of India (Advaitic wisdom) has been lost: people misinterpret and falsify it today as they did then. It is not yoga but the philosophic truth. But nobody knows it. The teachers of philosophy and leaders of mysticism or religion do not want to inquire into truth and have no time for it. (Gita –Chap- IV-v.2)

In Gita Chap.IV where Lord Krishna says: - "This yoga has been lost for ages" The word yoga refers to Gnana yoga, not other yogas: the force of the word this is to point this out.

Lord Krishna describes some of the other yogas but devotes this chapter separately to Gnana Yoga. So one sees even in those ancient days people did not care for Advaita; they wanted religion; hence Gnana got lost. That is why Krishna calls it "the supreme secret." Krishna points out that the yoga must see "Brahman in action."

Sage Sankara says:  The religion is meant for ignorant people. Advaitic wisdom is meant for the serious seekers of truth.

Sage Sankara says the scriptures dealing with rituals are addressed to an ignorant person.

Upanishad aspiration is best expressed in the following sutra: ~

OM Asato ma sad gaMaya, tamaso ma jyotir gaMaya, mrityor ma aamritaam gaMaya. Shanti, Shanti, Shanti

"OM Lead me from ignorance to truth, from darkness to light, from death to immortality. Peace, Peace, Peace" (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (1/3/28)).

According to Advaita Vedanta, the Veda addresses itself to two kinds of audiences - the ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices, and the more advanced seeker who seeks to know Brahman. Thus, the Purva mimam. sa, with its emphasis on the karma kanda of the Vedas, is meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. However, the Vedanta, with its emphasis on the jnana kanda, is meant for those who wish to go beyond such transient pleasures.

Those who lack the intelligence to discriminate between formless witness (subject) and three states (object) will not be able to grasp what is real and what is unreal. Both subject and object are consciousness, not subject alone. 

Ish Upanishad declares: - Those people who have neglected the attainment of ‘Self’-knowledge and have thus committed suicide ~10/11/12

Those people who have neglected the attainment of Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana and have thus committed suicide, as it were, are doomed to enter those worlds after death.

This is a condemnation of people who do not try to attain Self-knowledge. They are, in a real sense, committing suicide, for what can be worse than being a slave to sense enjoyment, completely oblivious of the real purpose of life, which is to be one’s, own master?

Remember: 

The Brahma Sutras together with Sage Sankara's commentary thereon do not contain higher Vedanta. They are intended for duffers.

Sage Sankara's commentary on Brahma Sutras is not on a philosophical basis, but on a religious-mystic one, with the appeal to Vedas as the final authority.

In Brahma Sutra Sage 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  Sankara explains in Manduka that those who study the Sutras are religious minds, and 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.

Sage  Sankara says:- Keep the scriptures for children but throw them on the fire for wise seekers.

In Brahma Sutras Sage Sankara takes for granted, and assumes that a world was created: He there mixes dogmatic theology with philosophy.

That God created the world is an absolute lie; nevertheless, you will find Sage  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 and dogmatism, but in the commentary, Sage Sankara cleverly introduced some philosophy. It is objected that a number of Upanishads are equally dogmatic because they also begin by assuming Brahman, but a few Upanishads do not but prove Brahman at the end of a train of proof.

The causality and creation, but are for religious people only.  Religion is only for those who are unable to understand the truth beyond form, time, and space. Religion is not final. It only gives satisfaction to the populace. The ‘Self’ - knowledge is for the whole of humanity to free them from experiencing birth, life, death, and the world as reality.

People of small intelligence follow religion and believe that the world was created by God. But how do they know that He did so? When a pot is created, one can see both the pot and its maker, but not in the case of the world.

Remember:~

The following prescription is prescribed by orthodoxy in the name of Sage  Sankara.  The orthodoxy has listed down in 5 verses, 40 steps of Sadhanas (discipline) to be followed to achieve the (only meaningful) goal of human life Moksha, liberation.  Use it every day as contemplative prayer.

1. Study the scriptures (Vedas) daily

2. Perform diligently the duties (sva dharma) ordered by the scriptures

3. Dedicate all the actions thus performed (as above) to Ishvara (Isvararpana Buddhi)

4. Gradually give up the performance of ‘Selfish actions

5. Filter sinful/adharmic likes and dislikes

6. Recognize the inherent defects of material pursuits

7. Seek moksha with the consistent endeavor

8. Get out from the bondage of activity (specified to the ones which end up entangling us)

9. Seek companionship with men of wisdom

10. Be established in firm devotion to Ishvara and perform Upasana

11. Gain mind control, sense control, withdrawal, forbearance, faith, and focus

12. Give up karma and Upasana when they are not required any longer for spiritual growth

13. Seek Knowledge from a satguru

14. Serve his lotus feet

15. Ask for Brahma Vidya

16. Listen in-depth, to the Upanishadic declarations

17. Analyze the meanings of Upanishadic commandments

18. Perform such analyses by sticking to scriptures

19. Get away from the logic-based system (logic is good when it corroborates scripture, in the sense, don't try to substitute it)

20. Dwell upon the discriminative rationale of Shruti (basically, develop Viveka)

21. Constantly remain steeped in the fact that you are Brahman

22. Renounce pride/vanity/arrogance

23. Give up the delusionary misconception- "I am the body"

24. Do not argue with wise men

25. Consider hunger as a disease

26. Treat hunger, the disease, by taking bhiksha food

27. Beg no delicious food

28. Live contentedly with whatever comes your way as prasadam

29. Endure all pains of opposites- heat/cold, likes/dislikes, pleasure/pain.

30. Avoid wasteful talk

31. Be indifferent and avoid groupism

32. Don't get attached to either someone's love or criticism

33. In solitude also, live joyously

34. Quieten your mind in Ishvara

35. Realize and see the ‘Self’ in everything, everywhere

36. Recognize the universe as a finite projection of the ‘Self’

37. Destroy the effects of deeds done in earlier lives (sanchit karma) through the strength of knowledge

38. Through wisdom, become detached from AgAmi karma (give up doership/enjoyership)

39. Experience and exhaust the prarabdh, fruits of past actions

40. Thereafter, live eternally as Brahman

But

Sage Sankara says,   that, orthodoxy is meant for ignorant people.

Sage Sankara: ~ "Though I wear these robes of a Sanyasin, it is only for the sake of bread."

~ “This shows he was wearing the religious robe only for the sake of bread."

Mundaka Upanishad: ~ “The rituals and the sacrifices described in the Vedas deal with lower knowledge. The sages ignored these rituals and went in search of higher knowledge. ... Such rituals are unsafe rafts for crossing the Sea of Samsara, of birth and death. Doomed to shipwreck are those who try to cross the Sea of Samsara on these poor rafts. Ignorant of their own ignorance, yet wise in their own esteem, these deluded men Proud of their vain learning go round and round like the blind led by the blind.

All the rituals based on the false belief of Gods will not yield any fruits and they are meant for the ignorant populace who are unable to grasp the God beyond the form, time, and space.

Mundaka Upanishad condemns rituals.  The Para or Higher knowledge is the knowledge of the Supreme Being while the Apara or Lower Knowledge is that of following sacrificial rites and ceremonies. (1/2/ 1 – 6)

Even after so many centuries have passed since Sage Sankara appeared, it is very hard to find his wisdom understood anywhere in the world because so few could rise to his level. Hence, the dualist sages came to supply the common demand.

One of Sage  Sankara’s missions was to wean people away from a ritualistic approach advocated by Mimamsakas and to project wisdom (jnana) as the means of liberation in the light of Upanishad teachings.

Sage Sankara criticized severely the ritualistic attitude and those who advocated such practices. However, the orthodox texts that combined rituals with wisdom (jnana_karma_samucchaya) more in favor of the Mimamsaka position came into vogue, projecting Sage Sankara as the rallying force of the doctrine.

Sage Sankara:~ (11) As regards the rituals, Sage Sankara says, that the person who performs rituals and aspires for rewards will view himself in terms of the caste into which he is born, his age, the stage of his life, his standing in society, etc. In addition, he is required to perform rituals all through his life. However, the ‘Self’ has none of those attributes or tags. Hence, the person who superimposes all those attributes on the changeless, eternal ‘Self’ and identifies the ‘Self’ with the body is a confusing one for the other; and is, therefore, an ignorant person. The scriptures dealing with rituals, rewards, etc. are therefore addressed to an ignorant person. -Adhyasa Bhashya

Sage  Sankara:~ (11.1) This ignorance (mistaking the body for ‘Self’) brings in its wake a desire for the well-being of the body, aversion for its disease or discomfort, fear of its destruction and thus a host of miseries(anartha). This anartha is caused by projecting karthvya(“doer” sense) and bhokthavya (object) on the Atman. Sage Sankara calls this adhyasa. The scriptures dealing with rituals, rewards, etc. are, therefore, he says, addressed to an ignorant person. -Adhyasa Bhashya

Sage Sankara:~ (11.2) In short, a person who engages in rituals with the notion “I am an agent, doer, thinker”, according to Sage Sankara, is ignorant, as his behavior implies a distinct, separate doer/agent/knower; and an object that is to be done/achieved/known. That duality is Avidya, an error that can be removed by Vidya. -Adhyasa Bhashya

Sage Sankara: ~ (12) Sage Sankara affirming his belief in one eternal unchanging reality (Brahman) and the illusion of plurality, drives home the point that Upanishads deal not with rituals but with the knowledge of the Absolute (Brahma Vidya) and the Upanishads give us an insight into the essential nature of the ‘Self’ which is identical with the Absolute, the Brahman.-Adhyasa Bhashya

No conceptual God can exist, apart from consciousness.  People are not aware of the fact that there is no individual God can exist, apart from the Soul, which is in the form of consciousness. 

Thus, the Soul or   Consciousness is the true ‘Self’.   If there is no consciousness, then there is nobody, no ego, no universe, no religion, and no conceptual God.

All these beliefs in religious non-Vedic Gods and rituals are outdated. The modern mindset is sharp enough to grasp the Advaitic truth hidden by the Advaitic Sages. It is high time to discard the outdated belief and worship and accept the Advaitic wisdom of Sage Sankara, which is universal.   

Mundaka Upanishad 1.3:~ “Complete knowledge includes knowledge of the phenomenal world, the spirit behind it, and the source of both of them.  When the cause of all causes becomes known, then everything knowable becomes known, and nothing remains unknown is Gnana”. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar