Advaitic Orthodoxy is path of ignorance. And ignorant worships mechanically perform the prescribed sacrifices without any thought as to why they are doing them.
That is why 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.
Religious believers claim that happiness and sorrow are felt through our sense organs. Eating drinking and making merry are reality. The above experiences will appear false to a Gnani because he is fully aware of the fact that, all the three states are mere illusion.
Advaitic orthodoxy is a sect within the Hinduism. The sect and religion are nothing to do with the Sage Sri, Sankara's Advaitic wisdom. Advaitic orthodoxy is based on the birth entity. The one which is born, lives and dies in the world is not the ‘Self’.
Sage Sri, Sankara says the world is mere an illusion Brahman alone is real and Atman is Brahman.
Thus, it proves the world in which the birth and death happens is mere an illusion. The Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness, is the cause of the world is real. The Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness, is the ultimate truth or Brahman.
Orthodoxy is the path of ignorance. And ignorant worships mechanically perform the prescribed sacrifices without any thought as to why they are doing them.
That is why 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.
The Advaitic orthodoxy is conduct oriented and trying to prove the truth on the base of scriptural authorities, whereas the ultimate truth is based on the Soul, the innermost ‘Self’.
The religion, concept of God and scriptures are a great obstacle to acquiring the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. The scriptural knowledge fuels the ego. And ego makes one experience the duality as reality. Duality makes one blind to the truth and makes one accept, the egocentric theories based on the false self as authority. The ultimate truth has to be proved without the scriptures.
The Advaitic Orthodoxy holds the caste, religious rites, worship of Gods and Glorifying the Gurus, scriptural studies, virtues, good deeds and physical conducts as the means to acquire the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.
The Advaitic orthodoxy believes in the worship of non-Vedic Gods barred by Vedas.
The Bhagavad Gita: ~ Brahmano hi pratisthaham ~ Brahman (God) is considered the all-pervading consciousness, which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material. (14.27).
When Bhagavad Gita says, God is considered the all-pervading consciousness which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material then nothing has to be accepted other than consciousness a God.
The Vedas confirms God is Atman (spirit), the innermost Self.
Rig Veda: ~ The Atman is the cause; Atman is the support of all that exists in this universe. May ye never turn away from the Atman the innermost Self. May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?" (10:48, 5)
The dualistic worship of "God” is only for the ignorant populace. The God in truth is only Atman, the innermost Self. In reality, there is no duality, no differentiation. Only Atman exists.
As per the Ish Upanishad: ~ those who worship Gods and Goddesses go into a deeper darkness because they seek rewards for their worship.
That is why Sage Sri, Goudpada says that:~ The merciful Veda teaches karma and Upasana to people of lower and middling intellect while Jnana is taught to those of higher intellect.
This clearly indicates that religion, which is based on individual conduct, prescribes karma and Upasana to people of lower and middling intellect, therefore religion is for the lower intellect. And wisdom is for those are capable of inquiring into their own existence. .
