Sage Sankara: ~ The path of religion, the path of yoga, and the path of wisdom were intended for different classes of people.+

As per Sage Sankara: ~The path of religion, the theory of karma, the path of yoga, and the path of wisdom were intended for different classes of people.

The wisdom is for the advanced seekers of truth. It deals with the nature of the ultimate Truth and Reality. It is meant for superior aspirants who have an inner urge to know the truth and it is not for those who are immersed in earthly desires.

The one who is born lives and dies in this world is not the Self. the world in which we exist is the dualistic illusion created out of the Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of consciousness. Thus, whatever karmas perfumed within the dualistic illusion is bound to be an illusion.

Sage Sankara says in Aparoksh Anubhuti: ~88. When the whole universe, movable and immovable, is known to be Atman, and thus the existence of everything else is negated, where is then any room to say that the body is Atman?

89. O enlightened one, pass your time always contemplating on Atman while you are experiencing all the results of Prarabdha; for it will cause you to feel distressed.

90. The theory one hears from the scripture, that Prarabdha does not lose its hold upon one even after the origination of the knowledge of Atman, is now being refuted.

91. After the origination of the knowledge of Reality, Prarabdha verily ceases to exist, inasmuch as the body and the like become non-existent; just as a dream does not exist in waking.

92. That Karma which is done in a previous life is known as Prarabdha (which produces the present life). But such Karma cannot take the place of Prarabdha (for a man of knowledge), as he has no other birth (being free from ego).

93. Just as the body in a dream is superimposed (and therefore illusory), so is also this body. How could there be any birth of the superimposed (body), and in the absence of birth (of the body) where is the room for that (i.e., Prarabdha) at all?

94. The Vedanta texts declare ignorance to be verily the material (cause) of the phenomenal world just as the earth is of a jar. That (ignorance) being destroyed, where can the universe subsist?

95. Just as a person out of confusion perceives only the snake leaving aside the rope, so does an ignorant person see only the phenomenal world without knowing the reality?

96. The real nature of the rope being known, the appearance of the snake no longer persists; so the substratum being known, the phenomenal world disappears completely.

97. The body also being within the phenomenal world (and therefore unreal), how could Prarabdha exist? It is, therefore, for the understanding of the ignorant alone that the Shruti speaks of Prarabdha.

98. “And all the actions of a man perish when he realizes that (Atman) which is both the higher and the lower”. Here the clear use of the plural by the Shruti is to negate Prarabdha as well.

99. If the ignorant still arbitrarily maintain this, they will not only involve themselves in two absurdities but will also run the risk of forgoing the Vedantic conclusion. So one should accept those Shrutis alone from which proceeds true knowledge.

Thus, the karma theory is based on the birth entity and it is a reality only for those people who believe in the individual experience of birth, life, death, and the world as a reality. Sage Sankara says the world is an illusion.

If the world is an illusion then the individual experience of birth, life, and death which takes place within the illusory world is bound to be an illusion.

If the world is an illusion all the karmas performed within the illusory world are bound to be an illusion.

Sage Goudpada says:~ The merciful Veda teaches karma and Upasana to people of lower and middling intellect, while Jnana is taught to those of higher intellect.

Sage Sankara: ~ “Action (karma) cannot destroy ignorance, for it is not in conflict with or opposed to ignorance. Knowledge does verily destroy ignorance as light destroys deep darkness. -Atma Bodha

The main purpose of Self-realization is to get rid of ignorance. If karma does not destroy ignorance then what is the use of sticking to karma theory. Only people of lower and middling intellect stick to karma and Upasana and those of higher intellect choose the path of wisdom or the Atmic path. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar