Sage Sankara gave religious rituals or dogmatic instruction to the mass but pure wisdom only to the few who could rise.+

Religion is based on ignorance. Whatever belongs to religion is bound to be ignorance. Holding religion as the ultimate is a great error. Those who are stuck to religion are stuck to ignorance.

Without breaking away from religion and ancient traditions, it is impossible to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. Religion and tradition will keep one locked in ignorance.

Those who are stuck up with orthodoxy believing it will get them Advaitic moksha will never be able to realize the Sage Sankara’s Advaita and they will rot in the prison of ignorance.

Religion is meant for the ignorant populace and religion will keep them permanently in the domain of ignorance.

Those who want Advaitic wisdom have to discard the theistic Advaita which propagates falsehood as truth without mercy.

Adyatma is nothing to do with religious sects or creeds and religious beliefs. Adyatma is pure spirituality. Knowledge of Atma is Adyatma. Advaita is Adyatma.

Adyatma is the knowledge of the truth hidden by the illusory form, time, and space. Bifurcate religion, yoga, and theoretical philosophy and base the truth on the Athma it is Adyathma.

Adyatma is based on the ultimate truth, which is based on the Atman or Spirit, which is the Self.

Sage Sankara's Advaitic wisdom is pure spirituality or Adyathma.

Remember:~ 

Sage Sankara gave religious rituals or dogmatic instruction to the ignorant populace, but pure wisdom only to the few who could rise to it. Hence, the interpretation of his writings by commentators is often confusing because they mix up the two viewpoints. Thus, they may assert that ritual is a means of realizing Brahman, which is absurd.

Sage Goudpada: ~ “The merciful Veda teaches karma and Upasana to people of lower and middling intellect while Jnana is taught to those of higher intellect.

It is high time to realize the truth of their own inherited religion is full of adulteration and they are simply indulging in worships and activities barred by the Vedas. Vedas warns not to indulge in non-Vedic activities.

So, they clearly indicate the rituals and theories are not meant for those who are searching for higher knowledge or wisdom. The path of wisdom is the only means. Thus, it proves that the Advaitic orthodoxy is not the means to acquire Self-knowledge it is meant for lower and middling intellect.

The orthodox dualist and nondualists sects are nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman.

The orthodox Advaita considers, birth, life, death, rebirth, heaven, hell, sin, karma, and the world as a reality, whereas Sage Sankara declares the world in which we exist is merely an illusion. If the world is an illusion, then the birth, life, death, rebirth, heaven, hell, sin, karma, and the world, is bound to be an illusion.

Without Sage Sankara, there is no Advaita (non-duality). Since it was mixed up with orthodoxy there is a lot of confusion. Sage Sankara’s quotes (selected verified) are quoted in my blogs and postings to show what Sage Sankara meant and ‘what is blocking the seekers from realizing the ultimate truth or Brahman.

There are so many non-dualistic masters of the east and also from the west who expound on Advaitic or non-dualistic knowledge, but none of them are helpful to reach the ultimate end.

All the orthodox Advaitins indulge and immerse themselves in a ritualistic oriented lifestyle and follow the path of karma and Upasana which is meant for lower and middling intellect and not for realizing the Advaitic truth. Many chose these orthodox scholars as their Gurus. But these Gurus are good to learn the conceptual Advaita meant for those Orthodox who believe their conduct-oriented lifestyle leads to Moksha [liberation].

Orthodox Advaita is not the means to acquire Self –knowledge or nondual wisdom. Those who are seeking truth have to do their own homework without scriptures in order to acquire Advaitic wisdom or Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

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.

Religious rites and ceremonies, yagnas and homa-havans, or any other forms of ritual are meant for the ignorant populace. In the Atmic path, the seeker has to discard.

All worship and ceremonies and rituals performed on the base of non-~Vedic Gods will not yield any fruits. Deeper self-search reveals the fact that worshiped, the worship, the worshiper, and the world are merely an illusion created out of consciousness.

Religious rites and ceremonies, yagnas and homa-havans, or any other forms of ritual formal observance have long since set in.

Sage Sankara says in Brahma Sutras: that Brahman is the cause of the world, whereas in Mandukya he denies it. This is because he says that at the lower stage of understanding, the former teaching must be given, for people will get frightened as they cannot understand how the world can be without a cause, but to those in a higher stage, the truth of non-causality can be revealed.  

Thus, those who are frightened to accept the world is merely an illusion should never indulge path of wisdom.  

The rituals mentioned in Karmakanda of Vedas are sought to be negated in the Gnana Kanda, which is also part of the same scripture. While Karmakand enjoins upon you the worship of various deities and lays down the rules for the same, Gnana Kanda constituted by the Upanishads ridicules worshipers of deities as a dim-witted person no better than the beast. This seems strange, the latter part of Vedas contradicting the former part. The first part deals throughout with karma, while the second or concluding part is all about Jnana. Owing to differences, people have gone so far as to divide them into two sections: the Vedas (that is the first part) which means the Karmakanda, and Upanishads (Vedanta) to mean the Gnana Kanda.

Sage Sankara says:~ The scriptures dealing with rituals, and rewards are therefore addressed to an ignorant person. Thus, the rituals are 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." Thus, it means those who are wearing the religious robe for the sake of bread.

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 form, time, and space.

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.

That is why Adhyasa Bhashya of Sage Sankara: ~ (11) As regards the rituals, Sage Sankara says, 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, the 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 religious God can exist, apart from consciousness. People are not aware of the fact that there is no individual God that can exist, apart from the Soul, which is in the form of consciousness.

Certain principles are common to all orthodox Advaitic thought, that are taken for granted. Orthodox people assume that the doctrine of karma is valid because they accept the experience of birth, life, death, and the world as reality.

If they accept the birth, life, death, and the world as a reality then whatever Sage Sankara declaration: ~ Brahman is the truth The World is Unreal everything is Truly Brahman and nothing else has any value. Thus, the Advaitic orthodoxy is nothing to do with the Advaitic truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

The Advaita is the Soul ~ the One without A Second

Advaita is the nature of the Soul. The Advaita is the Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness itself. The Advaita is the spiritual heart. Advaita is Self-evident. It is not established by extraneous proof. It is not possible to deny the Advaita because It is the very essence of the one who denies It. Advait is the basis of all kinds of knowledge, presuppositions, and proofs.

Advaita is present in the form of consciousness and is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

Those who are stuck up with orthodoxy believing it will get them Advaitic moksha will never be able to grasp Sage Sankara’s Advaitic wisdom they will rot in the prison of ignorance. The path meant for ignorance will keep them permanently in the domain of ignorance.

Those who want Advaitic wisdom have to discard the theistic Advaita which propagates falsehood as truth without mercy. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar