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

Those who come to India in search of truth must know the truth they are seeking is not available in Himalayas or Ashrams or with any Gurus or yogis, but it is hidden by the world in which they exist. All the paths and practices available in India are not meant for those who are seriously seeking the truth of their true existence.

Sage Sankara says: ~ “Atman is Brahman. The Atman alone is real is not religious truth. 

Sage Sankara declared this Advaitic truth, which is the ultimate truth to the whole world, many centuries back is the rational truth, scientific truth, and ultimate truth.

Thus, the Atman which is present in the form of the consciousness is real and eternal, the world in which we exist is merely an illusion.

Sage Sankara already declared ‘what is the truth’ and ‘what is untruth’.

Ataman is Brahman ~ “That is the Soul the ‘Self’ is the ultimate truth”.

The world is unreal ~ “The unreal hides the truth because the world is created out of the real.

Sage Sankara: ~ “VC 65. As a treasure hidden underground requires (for its extraction) competent instruction, excavation, the removal of stones and other such things lying above it and (finally) grasping, but never comes out by being (merely) called out by name, so the transparent Truth of the Self, which is hidden by Maya and its effects, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, followed by reflection, meditation and so forth, but not through perverted arguments.

Sage Sankara:~ VC~ 63. Without causing the objective universe to vanish and without knowing the truth of the ‘Self’ how is one to achieve Liberation by the mere utterance of the word Brahman? — It would result merely in an effort of speech.

Atman which is present in the form of the consciousness is real and eternal, the world in which we exist is merely an illusion.

Sage Sankara says the transparent Truth of the Self, which is hidden by the illusion, is to be attained through the instructions of a knower of Brahman, (Gnani)

Sage  Sankara clearly indicates in Viveka Chudamani (2) that the Knower of the Atman (A Gnani) "bears no outward mark of a holy man" (Stanza 539).

Vedas declares not to accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman but people are unaware of their own sacred Vedas and worship non-Vedic Gods as real Gods.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~ Brahman (God) is present in the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself.

Even Bhagavad Gita says: ~ Brahmano hi pratisthaham ~ Brahman (God) is considered the all-pervading consciousness, which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material. (14.27).

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

Religious Gods are based on blind belief. Religious God cannot be considered as a center because the Soul, the ‘Self’ is the center of all that exists. Without the Soul the world in which you exist ceases to exist, which means the religious God is dependent on the Soul for his existence.

Even Rig Veda: ~ The Atman 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?" (10:48, 5)

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad:~ "He who worships the deities as entities entirely separate from him does not know the truth. For the Gods, he is like a pasu (beast)". (1. 4. 10)

The Gods worshiped in India today are not God in truth. Believing and worshipping in non-Vedic Gods barred by Vedas.

That is why Swami Vivekananda: ~ “The masses in India cry to sixty million Gods and still die like dogs. Where are these Gods?

Be aware of what you are searching for. Be aware of what you are seeking. The truth will reveal itself to you if you move in the right direction. You are making it complicated by accepting the untruth propagated as truth.

There is nothing but water in the Holy Rivers. Even if you dip million times and by indulging in performing pranayama, your ignorance will not vanish.

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

All the Gods sculpted of stone and metal will not be pleased with your devotion and offering. People are praying out to them.

Sage Sankara: ~ VC- Let erudite scholars quote all the scripture, let Gods be invoked through sacrifices, let elaborate rituals be performed, let personal Gods be propitiated---yet, without the realization of one‘s identity with the Self, there shall be no liberation for the individual, not even in the lifetimes of a hundred Brahmas put together (verses-6) 

The Sacred Books of the East are nothing but words you will not find the truth in it.

Sage Sankara says: ~ “Keep the scriptures for children but throw them on the fire for wise seekers.

Mundaka Upanishads: ~ “So-called spiritual pundits and learned are called children because a child takes whatever it thinks as truth. The question never occurs to children “Is what I have seen or thought really the truth?" (P.334 line 9)

People have lived through indulging in all these priestcraft beliefs dogmas and superstitions, something, it is not true.

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.

Mundaka Upanishad says: ~ “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.

If you are seeking truth and you are trying to get it from yoga and following some teaching and following some Guru and other paths then you are dwelling in ignorance and go round and round, by various tortuous paths, like the blind led by the blind.:~Santthosh Kumaar