Mundaka Upanishad:~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.+

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.

The Orthodox 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.  And he is required to perform rituals all through his life. The scriptures dealing with rituals, rewards, etc. are therefore addressed to an ignorant person. 

The Soul, the ‘Self’ has no attributes or tags. Hence, the person who superimposes all those attributes on the changeless, eternal Soul, the ‘Self’ and identifies ‘‘Self’’ with the ‘I’ is confusing one for the other; and is, therefore, an ignorant person.

A person who engages in rituals with the notion “I” as the ‘Self’ is ignorant; the ‘I’ itself’ is an ignorance.   The ignorance can be removed by ‘Self’-knowledge.

The seeker of truth must have his belief in one eternal unchanging reality (Brahman) and the dualistic illusion.

A Gnani drives home the point that Self-knowledge deals not with rituals but with the knowledge of the Soul, the innermost ‘Self’.  Sage  Sankara gives us an insight into the essential nature of the ‘‘Self’’ which is identical with the Absolute, the Brahman.

Sage Sankara: ~ Atman, the innermost ‘Self’ is verily Brahman (God in truth), being equanimous, quiescent, and by nature absolute Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss. Atman is not the body that is non-existence itself. This is called true Knowledge by the wise. 

Realizing the universe is created out of single stuff and that single stuff is the Soul which is present in the form of consciousness leads to non-dualistic or Advaitic ‘Self’-awareness. ‘Self’-awareness is freedom or Moksha. Moksha is unity in diversity in the midst of the dualistic illusion.

Remember:~

If the inquiry does not include the universe then it is incomplete.  The universe itself is what God is all about. The totality of the universe is what God is all about. You just study the nature of the universe with all the seriousness and sincerity to unfold the mystery of the universe. That is all you have to do. The universe is the seeker's school.

Sage Sankara: ~ VC~.63-"Without knowing and examining the universe, one can’t know the Truth, as the idea that the external world exists, won't go. It can go only by an inquiry into the nature of the external world.

All the religious scriptures and holy books are irrelevant -- God's greatest book is just in front of you.

That is why Sage Sankara says you must first know what is before you. If you cannot know that, what else can you know or understand? If you give up the external world in your inquiry, you cannot get the whole truth.

You have to study the book of the universe carefully and find and realize God hidden in it.  

All religions claim that their books are not man-made? Hindus claim that the Vedas are Aporsheya: not made by man but revealed by God himself; and Sanskrit is the divine language, not human.

All religions have the same type of claim. Muslims say the Koran has descended from God, and so with Jews and Christians. Everybody is trying to claim that their book is the sacred book and nobody bothers to look at the real divine book.

This is what the real Veda, the real Koran, the real Bible is. This is the book, and all other books are man-made. Only this universe is the book that is authored by God because God is hidden by the universe. 

The universe is real Veda, the real Koran, the real Bible is.  The universe is the book, and all other books are man-made.

Only when you open the book of the universe the God hidden in the book will be revealed.  When you finish reading the book of the universe then the universe will become an illusion and God alone prevails as the ultimate reality.

Sage Sankara says: ~ “What is accepted without a proper inquiry will not lead a person to the final goal. On the contrary, such acceptance will result only in evil, in something which is detrimental to our spiritual progress. 

You are also part of the divine book of the universe! And whatever you have seen, known, believed, and experienced as an individual is part of it. :~Santthosh Kumaar