Orthodox people think that those who followed the orthodox worship and rituals get Moksha.***

In most of the orthodox families, today live in the prison of superstition and dogmas. The orthodox people expect their clan to follow a certain outdated religious code of conduct (Shastras) and live dogmatically following the traditional lifestyle. Orthodox people think that those who followed the orthodox worship and rituals get Moksha.

There are two kinds of audiences ~ the orthodoxy 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 the ultimate truth or Brahman. Thus, orthodoxy emphasis on the Karma and Upasana is meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. However, the path of wisdom is meant for those who wish to go beyond such transient pleasures.

The orthodox people are ordinary people. Thus, the ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices. The path of karma and Upasana is for the ordinary audience.

The Orthodox path is meant for the ignorant people who have the sheepish mentality and blindly accepting the inherited dogmas and superstition.
From the ultimate standpoint, the belief of God itself is the superstition. Thus, all religious idea of heaven, hell, sin, karma, are mere an imaginary theory meant for the ignorant people of the ancient times.

That is why Sage Sri, 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.

First Mundaka - Chapter 2 (10):~ Ignorant fools, regarding sacrifices and humanitarian works as the highest, do not know any higher good. Having enjoyed their reward on the heights of heaven, gained by good works, they enter again this world or a lower one.

It is high time to stop judging who is right and who is wrong in this unreal world instead spend the same time to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana to realize the world (Samsara) is unreal the Brahman alone is real.

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.

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)

Sage Sri, Sankara' gave religious, ritual or dogmatic instruction to the mass, but pure philosophy 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.

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 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 Self with the body is 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.

Sage Sri Sankara: ~ Atman, the innermost self is verily Brahman (God), being equanimous, quiescent, and by nature absolute Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss. Atman is not the body which is non-existence itself. This is called true Knowledge by the wise.

So, they clearly indicate rituals and theories are not meant for those who are searching for the higher knowledge or wisdom. The path of wisdom is the only means.

All the orthodox Advaitins indulge and immersed themselves in ritualistic oriented life -styles 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 lifestyles leads to Moksha (liberation). The orthodox Advaita is not the means to acquire Self –knowledge or nondual wisdom. Those who are seeking truth have to do their own homework in order to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.