The Self-realization cannot be the result of good works any amount of charity or dip in holy rivers.+

First Mundaka - Chapter 2 (10):~  Ignorant fools, regarding sacrifices and humanitarian works as the highest, do not know any higher good. Having enjoyed their reward on the heights of heaven, gained by good works, they enter again this world or a lower one.

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.

First Mundaka - Chapter 2 (9):~Children, immersed in ignorance in various ways, flatter themselves, saying: We have accomplished life's purpose. Because these performers of karma do not know the Truth owing to their attachment, they fall from heaven, misery-stricken, when the fruit of their work is exhausted.

The world in which you exist is a dualistic illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. The only thing which is real and eternal in the world in which you exist is the Soul, the Self. Thus the Soul alone is real and eternal. Whatever is eternal is God.

The one who thinks he is independent apart from the world and believes in action (karma) is not aware of the fact that the world in which he exists is an illusion created out of the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Thus, all good karma performed with the dualistic illusion has no value because the karma performed within the dualistic illusion has only value in the state of ignorance.

 Self-realization cannot be the result of good works any amount of charity or dip in holy rivers or by visiting holy mountains or pilgrimaging or even hundreds of pranayamas all types of Kriya yogas.  

That is why Sage Sankara said:~ 'Neither by the practice of yoga nor philosophy, nor by good works nor by learning, does liberation come, but only through the realization that Atman and Brahman are one in no other way. (1) Vivekachoodamani v 56, pg~25

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)

Liberation cannot be the result of good works, for Sruti itself declares that there is no hope for immortality through wealth.  (Verses -7)

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. (Verse-13)

It is clear that liberation cannot be the result of good works, for Sruti itself declares that there is no hope for immortality by means of wealth.  (Verses -7)

Ultimate success in spiritual endeavors depends chiefly upon the qualifications of the seeker.  Auxiliary conveniences such as time And place all have a place indeed, but they are essentially secondary. (14)

He alone is considered qualified to enquire after the supreme Reality, who has discrimination, detachment, qualities of Calmness, etc., and a burning desire for liberation. The four-fold qualifications (verses 17)

Great sages have spoken of four qualifications for attainment which, when present, succeeds in the realization of Brahman and In the absence of which the goal is not attained. (18)

(While enumerating the qualifications), first, we count the ability to discriminate between the Real and the unreal; next, comes a spirit of detachment from the enjoyment of the fruits of actions here and hereafter; after that is the groups of six virtues beginning with  Calmness; and the last is undoubtedly an intense desire for liberation. (19)

A firm conviction that Brahman alone is Real and the phenomenal world is unreal is known as discrimination between the Real and The unreal. (20)

They have crossed the dreadful ocean of (embodied) existence through their own efforts and without any (personal) motives; they help others to cross it. (37)

Third Mundaka - Chapter 1 (8):~ Brahman is not grasped by the eye, nor by speech, nor by the other senses, nor by penance or good works. A man becomes pure through the serenity of intellect; thereupon, in meditation, he beholds the ‘Self’, which is without parts.

People are stuck to some Gurus and their ‘I’ centric teaching gets stuck permanently to the cage of ignorance thinking their Guru is sacred and their Gurus teaching as final. Such acceptance leads only to hallucination.  

You, your body, and the world in which you exist are within the dualistic illusion, which is present in the form of the ‘I’.

Remember:~ 

Realize you are not you, your body is not the body the world in which you exist is not the world but they are all made of single clay. That single clay is Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of the consciousness

Those who Gurus who propagated the ‘Self’ is within the body are erred. This mistake has to be rectified to realize the Soul, the Self, which is present in the form of the consciousness, is the fullness of consciousness.  By emotionally sticking to these ’I’-centric gurus and their teachings you will remain permanently in the domain of ignorance.

Because of ignorance, you think you are an individual separate from the world and the world that existed prior to you, you are born in it later on. The ‘I’ is inborn ignorance cause of experiencing the world in which you exist as a reality whereas the world in which you exist is the dualistic illusion.

Whatever belongs to dualistic illusion is bound to be an illusion. So, your experience of birth, life, death, and the world is bound to be an illusion.

Everyone is holding some teaching or teacher or their accepted truth as a yardstick. All the accumulated egocentric knowledge is inadequate or useless in unfolding the mystery of the mind or universe.

The ‘I’ is inborn samskara or conditioning, because of this inborn samskara or conditioning one has accepted the ‘I’ as the ‘‘Self’’, he is ignorant of the fact that the ‘I’ itself’ is the cause of ignorance. Because of this ‘I’   he has accepted illusion as a reality.   Therefore, there is a need to realize ‘what is this ‘I’?’ - in actuality. Without knowing ‘what is this ‘I’?’ in actuality it is impossible to unfold the hidden truth which is beyond the form, time, and space.

Till you hold the ‘Self ‘as the ‘I’ you will never be able to get Self-realization.  ‘I’ hides the Soul, which is the Self. :~Santthosh Kumaar