Sage Sri, Sankara criticized severely the ritualistic attitude and those who advocated such practices.*****

Sage Sri, Sankara Says:~ The religion is meant for ignorant people. And Advaitic wisdom is meant for the serious seekers of truth.

Sage Sri, 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" (Brhadaranyaka 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 most 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 the consciousness, not subject alone.

Ish Upanishad 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?

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

Sage Sri, Sankara's commentary on Brahma Sutras is not on the philosophical basis, but on a religio-mystic one, with an appeal to 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 Mandukya that those who study the Sutras are religious 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.

Sage Sri, Sankara say: Keep the scriptures for children but throw them on the fire for wise seekers.

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, you 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 intelligently introduced some philosophy. If 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 these are for religious people only. Religion is only for those who are unable to understand truth beyond the form, time and space. Religion is not final. It only gives satisfaction to the populace. The ‘Self’ - knowledge is for the whole humanity to free them from experiencing the birth, life, death and 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 pot and its maker, but not in the case of the world.

This is following prescription prescribed by orthodoxy in the name of Sage Sri, 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 as an every day as a 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 (IshvarArpanna Buddhi)

4. Gradually give up performance of Selfish actions

5. Filter sinful/adharmic likes and dislikes

6. Recognize the inherent defects of material pursuits

7. Seek moksha with 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 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 Sri, Sankara Says, that, the orthodoxy is meant for ignorant people.

Sage Sri, 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."

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.

One of Sage Sri, 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 Sri, 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 Sri, Sankara as the rallying force of the doctrine.

That is why Adhyasa Bhashya of Sage Sri, Sankara:~ (11) As regards the rituals, Sage Sri, Sankara says, the person who performs rituals and aspires for rewards will view him’Self’ 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 of Sage Sri, 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. Sankara calls this adhyasa. The scriptures dealing with rituals, rewards etc. are, therefore, he says, addressed to an ignorant person.

Adhyasa Bhashya of Sage Sri, Sankara:~ (11.2) In short, person who engages in rituals with the notion “I am an agent, doer, thinker”, according to Sage Sri, Sankara, is ignorant, as his behaviour 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 of Sage Sri, Sankara: ~ (12) Sage Sri, 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.

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 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 no body, no ego, no universe, no religion and no conceptual God. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar