Sage Sri, Sankara says:~ The scriptures dealing with rituals, the rewards are therefore addressed to an ignorant person***

Sage Sri, Sankara says:~ The scriptures dealing with rituals, rewards are therefore addressed to an ignorant person. Thus, the rituals are 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." Thus, it means  those who are wearing  the religious robe of 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 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 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 the 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 the consciousness. Thus the Soul or   the consciousness is the innermost Self.   If there is no consciousness, then there is no body, no ego, no universe, no religion and no conceptual God. 

Fools dwelling in darkness, but thinking they wise and erudite, go round and round, by various tortuous paths***

Upanishads:~ Fools dwelling in darkness, but thinking they wise and erudite, go round and round, by various tortuous paths, like the blind led by the blind. (Upanishads Nikilanada - Ch II-5 P-14)

The seeker has to overcome all the obstacles in pursuit of truth on his own.  They are so many scholars who mastered philosophy.  It is impossible to acquire Self-knowledge by studying Vedas and theoretical philosophy. Because their preaching is based on spirit and practices is based on ego (you).

Katha Upanishad: ~ This Atman cannot be attained by the study of the Vedas, or by intelligence, or by much hearing of sacred books. It is attained by him alone whom It chooses. To such a one Atman reveals Its own form. (Ch-II -23-P-20)

For the same reason Sage Sri, Raman Maharishi said fortunate are the one who do not lose themselves in the labyrinths of philosophy. Bhagwan says: Take Vedanta, for instance: it speaks of 15 pranas the names and functions of it   which the student is asked to commit memory. Will it not be sufficient if he thought only one prana does the whole work of maintaining the body? Again the antakaran is said to think, to desire, to will, to reason etc. Why all these details? Has anyone seen antakarana, or all these pranas? Do they really exist? They are conceptual divisions invented by teachers of philosophy by their excessive analysis. Where do all these concepts end? Why should confusion created and then explained away? Fortunate is the man who does not lose himself in the labyrinths of philosophy, but goes straight to the source from which they all arise. (GURU RAMANA .By S.S Cohen -vii Danger of philosophy-Page -58-59)

It is very difficult to talk to people about ultimate truth or Brahman because everyone thinks he knows the ultimate truth or Brahman. This- I know business is dangerous.  And whatever his reached conclusion is secondhand stuff.  Therefore, accepting accumulated knowledge without verification will lead the seekers to hallucinated realization based on the ego.  One may have some flashes of truth when someone tries to indicate it through fewer words. But it takes nearer to the  truth,  not  the realization of truth. 

Upanishad's say :~ "He who thinks he knows, does not know." This means that to know anything implies a second, an object of knowledge, hence duality, i.e. no Gnana.

Tripura Rahasya, 18: 89:~ Second-hand knowledge of the Self-gathered from books or Gurus can never emancipate a man until its truth is rightly investigated and applied; only direct realization will do that. Realise yourself, turning the mind inward.

The pursuit of truth is a mental (inner) journey. Deeper Self-search makes one aware of ‘what truth’ is and ‘what is untruth’ and the subconscious will be able to reject the untruth after knowing, what is Truth. Whatever prevails after rejecting the untruth is the ultimate truth or Brahman.

Advaitin Sage and Maya.+

It is erroneous to mix practical life and the practical world in the pursuit of truth.  The ups and downs of practical life within the practical world are nothing to do with the Soul, the Self. 

In Self-awareness, nothing disappears on the dawn of wisdom, but the unreal nature of the waking is exposed in the midst of the duality. 

Gnani sees his body as consciousness, his ego as consciousness, and the world as consciousness. Thus,  there is a unity in diversity in his understanding. In Self-awareness,  the unknown restlessness disappears.  Self-awareness brings stillness to the mind in the midst of action or duality.    

Thus, searching for the truth within an illusion with the illusory Self, within the illusory world is bound to be an illusion. 

The illusion is created and sustained and finally dissolves as the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.  Since there is no second thing other than the Soul or the consciousness; the consciousness itself is the ultimate truth or Brahman. 

Advaitin Sage and Maya

The King of the Hoysalas was a dualist and was greatly incensed at the doctrine taught by Advaitin Sage that everything here below is an illusion. He wanted to teach the exponent of this doctrine a lesson. So he invited the then Advaitin sage to his palace. That Advaitin sage went there and stoutly maintained that everything in this world was an illusion. The king had arranged to let loose an infuriated elephant against, Advaitin Sage. The beast rushed at Advaitin sage who took to a precipitate flight to save himself.

'Oh, Venerable Sir,' shouted the king, 'why do you run so fast seeing that the elephant is only an illusion?'

'Oh, king,' said Advaitin Sage in the course of his flight, 'my running too is an illusion. Everything in this world is an illusion.

---

Similarly, the practical life within the practical world is merely an illusion. All our hopes and desires or pleasure and pain are A reality within the illusion.  

We all are searching for truth within the illusion not being aware of the fact that the illusion is created out of single stuff which is the Soul or consciousness. 

The Soul is the Self.  When the waking entity realizes it is not the Self in the midst of the waking experience it enters the nondual Self-awareness, which is free from the illusory form, time, and space. 

A Gnani is fully aware of ‘what is truth’ and ‘what is untruth’. A Gnani e is fully aware of the fact that the experiences the pleasure and pain within the waking experience are merely an illusion because the waking experience itself is an illusion.

Thus, life within the waking experience will go on, on its own.  It is nothing to do with the Soul the  Self.  The waking or dream is merely an object to the formless witness. The Soul is the Self. 

The Soul is the witness. The Soul the witness is nothing to do with the three states because it is the witness of the coming and going of the three states or illusion. :~Santthosh Kumaar 

The Self is not you because you are bound by the experience of the birth, life, death and the world***

The experience of birth, life, death and the world is nothing to do with the Soul the innermost Self. When you are not the Self, then how can you relate the Self with your experience of the birth, life, death and the world. When the Soul wakes up with its own awareness, then you and your experience of the world becomes unreal same way as the dream becomes unreal when the waking takes place.

If you imagine within the dream it becomes unreal when the waking takes place. Your imagination within the dream remains a reality till the waking takes place. The same way you imagination within the waking remains reality till wisdom dawns. Wisdom dawns when you realize you are not the Self, but the Self is the formless Soul. If you are not the Self then your imagination has no value because you are the false Self within the illusion (waking).

When the “Self” is not you then what is the use dropping the ignorance. It is not you who have to drop the ignorance but the Soul, the innermost Self has wakes up from the sleep of ignorance. When The Soul, the innermost Self wakes up, then the world in which you exist cease to exist as a reality. 

First the seeker has to know ‘what is the subject’ and ‘what is the object’.  Deeper Self-search reveals the fact that”:  the world in which we exist is an object to the formless subject. The formless subject is the Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness.

Deeper verification reveals the fact that, the object and the subject are one in essence. That essence is the consciousness.  Thus, object only and illusion created out of the formless subject.  Thus, in reality, the subject is real and  exists eternally.

The look of an object will depend upon the medium through which the observer views it. In fact, our mental and intellectual conditions determine the object (three states), observed and experienced.  The commoner viewing the object (three states) will see differently from a Gnani viewing the same three states. Each one interprets the three states that they see in terms of their existing knowledge. The commoner sees everything based on the ego therefore object (the world in which he exists as a reality), whereas a Gnani sees everything as the consciousness and he is fully aware of the fact that, there is no second thing exists other than the Soul or the consciousness (subject). Thus, all the objective observation has to be bifurcated to realize the ultimate truth, which is beyond form, time and space. 

Some Gurus say scriptures says “Brahman = I" is an error because the ‘Self’ is not the ‘I’.***

Sage Sri, Goudpada says:  that whatever is seen, whether external or internal, whether by the ordinary persons or yogis is unreal.

The Gurus say scriptures says “Brahman = I" is an error because the ‘Self’ is not the ‘I’.    If the scriptures says ‘I’ wasn’t there it means there is no ‘I’.  Thus, do not hold ‘I’ as the ’Self’.   Do not use the word ‘I’, for the ‘Self’ because the ‘Self’ is the witness of the ‘I’.  

What is it that appears as the ‘I’ and disappears as the ‘I-less? It is the Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness.

Do not make the mistake of holding the ‘I’ as the Self because it is not permanent. ‘I’ disappears and becomes ‘I’-less.  The ‘I’ disappears as I-LESS.

Bhagvad Gita: ~ The permanent is always there, only the transient ‘I’ comes and goes. (2.18)

The ‘I’ hides the truth of the whole. The ‘I’ is an object to the Soul, which is the formless subject.

The earliest ancient sages used the word ‘I’ to the witness of the three states not to the ego as moderns use it and think the ‘I’ without the body is the Self. The seeker has to understand the fact that the fact that ‘I’ is not the Self, but the witness of the ‘I’ is the true Self, which is eternal. 

That is why Ashtavakra Gita 16:10:~ If you desire liberation, but you still say "I," If you feel the ‘Self’ is the ‘I’, You are not a wise man or a seeker. You are simply a man who suffers.