The Karma Theory is the theory of ignorance and meant for the ignorant populace.+

All our daily activities are Karma. Religious-based karma theory has no value.   Karma is a reality within the dualistic illusion or Maya. No one can stay without karma whether it is religious or non-religious.  

Karma theory based on religion is theory based on the birth entity, which is a false self within the dualistic illusion or Maya.   All actions and inaction are karma. The Soul, the Self has no karma it is unborn eternal.

The ‘Self’ is not you but the Self is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. The karma theory is based on the birth entity whereas the Soul is birthless and deathless because it is the ever formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.  The Soul, the ‘Self’ is not limited to you because it pervades everything and everywhere in the world in which you exist. 

The Karma theory is based on form, time, and space. Without the form, time and space the doer, doing and the world ceases to exist.  From the standpoint of the Soul, the form, time and space are an illusion.  If the form, time and space are an illusion the doer, doing and the world is bound to be an illusion.  Thus, the Karma theory is based on the illusory reality is bound to falsehood.

The individual experiences within the practical world are a reality only within the waking experience but the waking experience itself is an illusion created out of the consciousness. If the waking experience is an illusion then practical life within the practical world bound to be an illusion.

The Karma theory is not meant for those who have chosen the religious and yogic path which are based on the birth entity whereas the Atmic path is pure spirituality is based on the birthless Soul, innermost Self.

The rituals mentioned in the karmakanda of the Vedas are sought to be negated in the jnanakanda which is also part of the same scripture. While the karmakanda enjoins upon you the worship of various deities and lays down rules for the same, the jnanakanda constituted by the Upanishads ridicules the worshipper of deities as a dim-witted person no better than a beast.

 This seems strange, the latter part of the Vedas contradicting the former part. The first part deals throughout with karma, while the second or concluding part is all about jnana. Owing to this difference, people have gone so far as to divide our scripture into two sections: the Vedas (that is the first part) to mean the karmakanda and the Upanishads (Vedanta) to mean the jnanakanda.

That is why Sage Sri Goudpada says that: - The merciful Veda teaches karma and Upasana to people of lower and middling intellect while Jnana is taught to those of higher intellect.

The Atmic path or the path of wisdom is an independent path.  The Soul has no karma, therefore; the karma theory is nothing to do with the Soul, which is birthless and deathless. Thus, the experience of birth, life, death, and the world is a dualistic illusion.  The Advaitic orthodoxy is stuck with the karma theory and rituals are stuck with the theory meant for the lower mindset think by glorifying their guru and conceptual God and indulging in all sorts non-Vedic (Puranic) rituals they get Moksha.

Religious orthodox think that through their good karma and performing rituals they get moksha.

According to Advaita Vedanta, the Veda addresses itself to two kinds of audiences -There are two kinds of audiences - the ordinary ones who desire the transitory heaven and other pleasures obtained as a result of ritual sacrifices, and the most advanced seeker who seeks to know the truth beyond the form, time and space. The Religious orthodoxy is meant for the first audience, to help lead its followers along the way. The Atmic path, with emphasis on the Advaitic wisdom, is meant for those who wish to go beyond such transient pleasures.

That is why 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 (versus-6)

Sage Sankara: ~ “Action (Karma) cannot destroy ignorance, for it is not in conflict with or opposed to ignorance. Knowledge does verily destroy ignorance as light destroys deep darkness. (Atma Bodha)

Sage Sankara says in Aparoksh Anubhuti: ~ “88. When the whole universe, movable and immovable, is known to be Atman, and thus the existence of everything else is negated, where is then any room to say that the body is Atman?

   89. O enlightened one; pass your time always contemplating on Atman while you are experiencing all the results of Prarabdha; for it ill becomes you to feel distressed.

   90. The theory one hears from the scripture, that Prarabdha does not lose its hold upon one even after the origination of the knowledge of Atman, is now being refuted.

   91. After the origination of the knowledge of Reality, Prarabdha verily ceases to exist, inasmuch as the body and the like become non-existent; just as a dream does not exist on waking.

   92. That Karma which is done in a previous life is known as Prarabdha (which produces the present life). But such Karma cannot take the place of Prarabdha (for a man of knowledge), as he has no other birth (being free from ego).

   93. Just as the body in a dream is superimposed (and, therefore, illusory), so is also this body. How could there be any birth of the superimposed (body), and in the absence of birth (of the body) where is the room for that (i.e., Prarabdha) at all?

   94. The Vedanta texts declare ignorance to be verily the material (cause) of the phenomenal world just as the earth is of a jar. That (ignorance) being destroyed, where can the universe subsist?

   95. Just as a person out of confusion perceives only the snake leaving aside the rope, so does an ignorant person see only the phenomenal world without knowing the reality?

   96. The real nature of the rope being known, the appearance of the snake no longer persists; so the substratum being known, the phenomenal world disappears completely.

   97. The body also being within the phenomenal world (and, therefore, unreal), how could Prarabdha exist? It is, therefore, for the understanding of the ignorant alone that the Shruti speaks of Prarabdha.

   98. “And all the actions of a man perish when he realizes that (Atman) which is both the higher and the lower”. Here the clear use of the plural by the Shruti is to negate Prarabdha as well.

   99. If the ignorant still arbitrarily maintain this, they will not only involve themselves in two absurdities but will also run the risk of forgoing the Vedantic conclusion. So one should accept those Shrutis alone from which proceeds true knowledge.

The above proves that karma is a reality only on the dualistic perspective.  From the nondualistic perspective, the Karma theory has no value.

The Advaitic orthodoxy is based on the birth entity so it accepts the Karma theory as a reality.  The Karma theory is the theory of ignorance.  If you accept the Karma theory as a reality, you will never be able to come out of ignorance. And ignorance makes you believe the cycle of birth, life, and death as a reality.  Thus, the freedom which you are seeking will remain a distant dream. The one who accepts birth, Karma, and death as reality is unfit to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana. :~Santthosh Kumaar