Sage Sankara: ~ Neither sacred baths nor any amount of charity nor even Hundreds of pranayamas* can give us the knowledge of the Self. +

Religion is regarded as sacred and real by the common people, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.

As one goes deeper into the annals of history he becomes aware of the fact that the so-called present Hinduism has adopted many things from Buddhism, the religion of Abraham, Jainism, and Islam. If one goes deeper enough he will become aware everything is mixed up and messed up in time.

No one is taken pains to rectify it because; because people have been inherited them, from their ancestors and they think it is blasphemy even to hear anything against their inherited religion and belief. Once one gets involved with the religious class it is the end of the pursuit of truth.

The theistic (orthodoxy) Advaita is based on a dualistic perspective but Advaita wisdom bifurcated from the theistic(dualistic) perspective is the real Advaita(nondualistic) propagated by Sage Sankara.

Fron Vedic perspective Lord Krishna is not God because Rig Veda says: ~ The Atman (Soul or Spirit) is the cause; Atman is the support of all that exists in this universe. May ye never turn away from the Atman, the Self. May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?

God is not what you religiously believe and worship. He who worships God as an entity entirely separate from the Self does not know the God in truth.

Bhagavad Gita Chapter: ~ “All those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires, they worship many gods. (7- Verse)

God is in everything and everywhere in the universe because the universe is an illusion created out of God.

When Bhagavad Gita says, God is considered the all-pervading consciousness (Spirit) which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material then nothing has to be accepted as God other than consciousness.

The God you worship and pray is not God in truth. Rituals, ceremonies, and prayers in churches and mosques, and worship in temples will not bring any result without knowing God in truth.

Hinduism is not Vedic religion or Santana Dharma.    Hindus do idol-worship, while Vedas bars idol worship.  God pervades in everything and everywhere in all three states.

To be considered an orthodox Hindu one need only accept the authority of Shruti, however, there is no universal agreement among Hindus on what constitutes Shruti. Vedantins consider the Vedanta, i.e., the Upanishads as Shruti but also include the Bhagavad-Gita and Brahma Sutras as authoritative. For some Vaishnavas the Bhagavata Purana is to be considered Veda. Some consider the Tantras are considered Veda. Thus we find that there is ample scope for different philosophies and practices under the very broad umbrella of Hinduism.

Hindus indulge non-Vedic beliefs and practices such as idolatry, ancestor worship, pilgrimaging, priestcraft, offerings made in the temple, the caste system, untouchability, and child marriage. All these lack Vedic sanction therefore Hinduism is not Ancient Vedic religion or Santana Dharma. 

All Hindus indulge in non-Vedic practice barred by the Vedas introduced by the different founders of the different sects of Hinduism at different times, whereas the Vedic religion or Santana Dharma is ancient and has no founder.

Thus, to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, the seeker has to realize his inherited religion is adulterated in the past and it becomes a great obstacle in realizing the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.    

The seeker's aim is the search for the Ultimate Truth or Brahman or God in truth. The search to find the non-dualistic or Advaitic truth that in actuality never was lost, only hidden.

Remember:~

Sage Sankara says ~ VC 56- Neither by Yoga, nor by Sankhya, nor by good work, nor by learning, but by the realization of one's identity with Brahman is Liberation possible, and by no other means.

First Mundaka - Chapter 2 (8) - Fools, dwelling in darkness, but wise in their own conceit and puffed up with vain scholarship, wander about, being afflicted by many ills, like blind men led by the blind.

Ish Upanishad declares: - Those people who have neglected the attainment of Self-knowledge and have thus committed suicide 10/11/12

The religious orthodox people who have neglected the attainment of Self-knowledge and have thus committed suicide, as it were, are doomed to enter those worlds after death.

This is a condemnation of people who do not try to attain Self-knowledge. They are, in a real sense, committing suicide, for what can be worse than being a slave to sense enjoyment, completely oblivious of the real purpose of life, which is to be one’s own master?

The obsession with "our sins" having been "washed away by the water of river would be regarded as evidence of a serious mental illness in an individual within any sane society, but when this is an obsession of millions of people it becomes "religious faith", held by many others to be something that should never be criticized.

Sage Sankara: ~ Neither sacred baths nor any amount of charity nor even Hundreds of pranayamas* can give us the knowledge of the Self. The firm realization of the nature of the Self is seen to proceed from inquiry along the lines of the salutary advice of the wise. (13)

By dipping in the rivers, the diverse are getting polluted. All these religious propagated myths are noting but superstion.

It was desperately important for the believers of their belief system for some reason that others shared their beliefs because they assume that their religious doctrine is literally true, and then justify their beliefs because "God says so in their doctrine ".

It is no use in arguing with someone who has faith in his belief system because for him there can be no possible refutation of what he believes, so a rational argument is entirely useless. He clings to his belief so strongly that he makes no distinction between the truth and his belief.

One has to know the fact that the religious God cannot exist without his existence. The truth does not depend on Gods’ existence but it entirely depends on man’s existence. Thus it is foolish to venture into knowing the truth of God's existence without verifying the facts about his own existence. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar