Manduka Upanishad:~ Reality and illusion together make Brahman: nothing can be left out.+

Sage Sankara gave religious, ritual, and dogmatic instruction to the orthodox populace, but Advaitic 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.

Manduka Upanishad:~ Reality and illusion together make Brahman: nothing can be left out.

Sage Sankara gave religious, ritual, and dogmatic instruction to the populace, but Advaitic wisdom only to the few who could rise to it.

If you mix Advaitic orthodoxy with Advaitic wisdom creates confusion, because they mix up the two viewpoints. Thus, they may assert that ritual is a means of realizing Brahman, which is absurd.

Indulging in Non -Vedic rituals(Puranic Rituals) in place of Vedic rituals are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time."

Thus,Puranic karmas are not Vedic karmas as per Yajur Veda. The Puranic karmas are introduced to suit the mass mindset of that time, by the founders of present-day Hinduism by keeping the Vedas as their base. They also introduced a new modified belief system on Puranic Gods with a new code of conduct to revive the Vedic religion, which was in ruins in the hands of Buddhism and Jainism.

Thus, present-day Hinduism with diverse beliefs is not a pure Vedic religion. This hotchpotch ideology is the greatest obstacle to the realization of the ultimate truth. That is why Buddha rejected the Vedas.

Sage Sankara says: ~ 11. As regards the rituals, 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 says:~ 11.1 ~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 viewed this as a distortion of the Upanishad ideals. To play down the prominence given to rituals by the Mimamsakas, Sage Sankara relied on the idea of Avidya He bracketed the ritualistic approach with Avidya and called it an “error”.

Thus Advaitic orthodoxy has to be discarded to realize the ‘Self’ hidden by the ‘I’, which is ignorance.

Sage Sankara states wisdom (Vidya) can eliminate ignorance (Avidya); but the ignorance it eliminates is not real, because it has no existence of its own. Once the error is removed the Brahman (God) will reveal of its own accord. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar