Sage Sankara severely criticized the ritualistic attitude and those who advocated such practices.+

Detachment from the illusory attachment of form, time, and space is impossible without Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Sage Sankara gave religious, ritual, or dogmatic instruction to the populace, but pure wisdom 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.

One of Sage Sankara’s missions was to wean people away from the ritualistic approach advocated by Mimamsakas and to project wisdom (jnana) as the means of liberation in the light of Upanishad teachings. Sage Sankara criticized severely the ritualistic attitude and those who advocated such practices. However, the texts that combined rituals with wisdom (jnana_karma_samucchaya) more in favor of the Mimamsaka position came into vogue, projecting Sage Sankara as the rallying force of the doctrine.

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 a part.

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 based on the belief of God does not reach God.

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

Religious rites and ceremonies, yagnas and homa-havans, or any other forms of rituals formal observance has long since set in.

Religious rites and ceremonies, yagnas and homa-havans, or any other forms of ritual are meant for the ignorant populace. In the Atmic path, the seeker has to discard

Sage Sankara says: ~ The scriptures dealing with rituals, and rewards are therefore addressed to an ignorant person.

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. 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, a 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.

Arguing with religious believers is fruitless.

Belief in tradition and the scripture as if they were true or factual quite clearly is a delusion, but the payoff for holding such delusions is, for those who hold them, extremely compelling ~ the avoidance of the "wrath of God," the hope of heaven or salvation, or the imagined "end of suffering."

"God" exists because the ‘Self’ exists, not vice versa. When awake to true nature then this is known immediately.

That is why Sage Sankara:~ VC- 61- For one who has been bitten by the serpent of Ignorance, the only remedy is the knowledge of Brahman. Of what avail are the Vedas and (other) Scriptures, Mantras (sacred formulae), and medicines to such a one?

Ignorance is the cause of experiencing the world in which we exist as a reality. When you realize the ‘Self’ is you but the ‘Self ‘is the Soul then you will realize the world in which you exist is an illusion.

Whatever is not happening is happening within the dualistic illusion. All your happiness and sorrow are a reality within the illusion.

Ignorance is the cause of experiencing the illusion as a reality. Thus, eradicating ignorance is necessary to realize the truth hidden by the illusory world in which you exist. And this is possible only through Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

There is no other road to freedom other than Advaitic Gnana. There is no other entrance other than Advaitic Gnana. Ignorance will vanish only when the Advaitic Gnana dawns.

Sage Sankara disagrees with Buddhists who say, there is nothing - a nonentity. Sage Sri, Sankara believes there is some reality, even though things are not what they appear to be. If one knows the truth, he will know what to do to find inspiration for action. The seeker of truth‘s subject is to know what is it that is Real.

Buddhism says that all things are illusory and nothing exists. However, Advaita avers that it is not so. It says that the universe, of course, is illusory, but there is Brahman (consciousness), that exists forming the very substratum of all things (illusion or universe). ~Santthosh Kumaar