By worshipping a God based on blind faith, repeating mantras is like watering barren soil. +

By worshipping a God based on blind faith, repeating mantras is like watering barren soil. The seeker of truth should not waste life in empty formalities.

Without realizing the world in which he exists is an illusion, it is impossible to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana, or Atma Gnana.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says: ~It is only one amongst thousands of people who strive for spiritual salvation. Even amongst such seekers, it is only the rare person who gets to know the Self correctly.’ (7.3)

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.

How can you worship the Absolute? That implies two ~ the worshiper and the worshiped, whereas the Absolute is nondual. One can worship his idea of the Absolute only or realize his unity with it when he can’t worship it as apart.

Religious rites and rigid ceremonies were passed down from one generation to the next as a practice or set customs and traditions, and performed automatically with blind faith. Such worship of God based on blind belief does not reach God in truth.

Religious rites and ceremonies, yagnas and homa-havans, or any other forms of ritual, are meant for the ignorant populace.

Belief in God without knowing God in actuality holds the worshiper more firmly in the grip of ignorance.

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

Orthodoxy is the path of ignorance. And ignorant worship mechanically performs the prescribed sacrifices without any thought as to why they are doing them.

That is why the Ish Upanishads says: - Such people, no wonder they grope in the dark. They are doomed unless someday the truth dawns on them that to save themselves, they must seek Self-knowledge.

And also, it says:~ Worse, however, is the situation of those who worship vidya. The word Vidya ¸ usually means "knowledge, but here it is used to mean "gods and goddesses. Some people worship gods and goddesses so that they may someday attain the same status. They may get their desire fulfilled, but this will only delay their liberation. That is why the Upanishad says that they will be in deeper darkness.

Religious believers are sentimentally attached to their religion, religious ideas of God, scriptures, and religious code of conduct; they will not accept anything else as truth other than their accepted truth.

There is no use in discussing with such a mindset because nothing can be gained from such a discussion.

Religious believers are unfit for the Atmic path unless they drop all their accumulated knowledge.

All sect-based beliefs are dualistic and unphilosophical, nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman. In spirituality, the ultimate truth is God. Sage Sankara’s wisdom has nothing to do with orthodox belief systems.

Sage Sankara: ~ VC- Let erudite scholars quote all the scripture, let Gods be invoked through sacrifices, let elaborate rituals be performed, let personal Gods be propitiated---yet, without the realization of one‘s identity with the Self, there shall be no liberation for the individual, not even in the lifetimes of a hundred Brahmas put together (verses-6)

In Spirituality, the ultimate truth is God in truth. The Atman is the ultimate truth or Brahman, or God in truth.

Sage Sankara’s wisdom has nothing to do with orthodox belief systems. Sage Sankara is the only sage who has final authority on the Advaitic truth. The Advaitic truth is rational truth and scientific truth without dogma.

The Advaitic orthodoxy is not the means to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. Advaitic orthodoxy is meant for the ignorant populace that is unfit to grasp the highest truth. The Advaitic orthodoxy has nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman.

All sect-based beliefs are dualistic and unphilosophical, nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman. In Spirituality, the ultimate truth is God.

Thus, the Advaitic orthodoxy is a sect that has nothing to do with the Advaitic wisdom of the Sage Sankara. Advaitic orthodox sect is meant for the ignorant populace.::~ Santthosh Kumaar