Without Advaitic wisdom, one remains ignorant. Without Advaitic Gnana ignorance will not vanish.+

Most people believe that following some doctrine, dogma, or egotistical Self-appointed "agent of God" makes them religious, when in fact following anything blindly without verifying the validity of their inherited belief is superstition.

Not being able to think to verify the validity of their belief is not a mark of great religious piety, but a sign of being cut off from knowing the reality of their true existence.

No person blindly following the religious or yogic-oriented life prescribed by a religious doctrine is close to the non-dualistic or Advaitic truth.

In fact, not knowing the true 'Self' represents ignorance. Human experience and the world exist only in ignorance.

Thus, the religious experiences that are based on ignorance have no value in the realm of nondualistic or Advaitic truth.

Till the Advaitic wisdom dawns, one is caught up in the experience cycle of birth, life, and death in the illusory world. Without Self-knowledge, the Advaitic wisdom will not dawn.

Without Advaitic wisdom, one remains ignorant. Without Advaitic Gnana ignorance will not vanish.

Religion belongs to the world of emotions. That is why everyone likes it. You will always find it in primitive times, as now, linked with music, dancing, and art--both emotional expressions. Religion changes as it appeals to different emotions.

You will find at one pole the nude monk is admired; at the other, the gorgeously dressed swami is revered.

The craving for religion, the fear that not following its rites and dogmas will bring punishment, and the inability to give up the notion of its truth even when your reason demonstrates its fallacies and absurdities are merely forms of mild obsessions, i.e. a thought constantly repeating itself automatically; hence religious believers are intoxicated with their ignorance.

Adhyasa Bhashya of Sage Sankara:~ (11) As regards the rituals, Sage Sankara says, that 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 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

Sage 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. Sage Sankara calls this adhyasa. The scriptures dealing with rituals, rewards, etc. are, therefore, he says, addressed to an ignorant person.- Adhyasa Bhashya

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

Sage Sankara: ~ (12) Sage 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.Adhyasa Bhashya

Sage Sankara: ~ Atman, the Self is verily Brahman (God in truth), 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. ~Santthosh Kumaar