Rituals, prayers and ceremonies of different religions and cults are not the tool for Self-realization or Truth-realization or God-realization.+

Sage Sankara pokes fun at ascetics and points out that all their austerities do not cause desires to go (Altar Flowers" Page 205, v.2 P.207 v.4)

Bhagavad Gita Chapter: - All those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires, they worship many Gods. (7- Verse -20)

Thus, by sticking up to the Gods, which are not God in truth, you are sticking up to the illusion. Sticking up to illusion means sticking up to ignorance. sticking up to ignorance means you are not qualified to acquire self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

Unless you find it on your own, you will not be able to realize the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space. Without a perfect understanding of ‘what is what’ it will take you nowhere.

Religious God is not God in truth. You must know God in truth according to your own scriptures.

The Bible says: ~ “God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24) 

The Spirit is the root element of the universe. The Spirit is present in the form of the Soul, the innermost Self. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. From the Spirit, the universe comes into existence. In the Spirit, the universe resides. And into the Spirit, the universe is dissolved. The Spirit is the parent of all that is there

Meher Baba said: ~ God is your innermost Self. Do not search for God outside of you. Let these words be inscribed in your heart. Nothing is real but God. Nothing Matters but love for God. God is everywhere and does everything. God is beyond us and is everything. God alone is and all else is an illusion. 

The essence of Mundaka is: Do not be satisfied with rituals, yoga, etc. which are good in their own way but inquire. Into what? Brahman and Atman are things you can never see. So do not inquire into them. Inquire into the world around you, which you can see. Science tells you it is passing away every second. Everything is dying repeatedly. Where is it going? Thus you follow up your inquiry into what you can lay your hands on. How can you inquire into Atma which you cannot see? So first we deal with the known and seen, this inquiry leads up to the unknown in the end.

Sage Sankara said:~Talk as much philosophy as you like, worship as many Gods as you please, observe ceremonies, and sing devotional hymns, but liberation will never come, even after a hundred aeons, without realizing the Oneness.

Rituals, prayers, and ceremonies of different religions and cults are not a tool for Self-realization or Truth-realization, or God-realization. They keep the Soul, the 'Self' in the cage of ignorance.

Attachment to the rigid devotion to the religious belief of God limits one to think within the framework of the illusory division of form, time, and space.

Diverse beliefs of religion and its diverse idea of God create divisions between one religion and another. The rituals and ceremonies become an obstacle to realizing the religious God one believes and worships is not God in truth.  Religion becomes an obstacle to realizing the real God hidden by ignorance.

The seeker of truth is keener to realize the ‘Self' hidden by the dualistic illusion. The seeker of truth keeps only one desire and longing — that of union with the Soul, God. A seeker is never entangled in with the religion, rituals, yoga, and physical Gurus  and never allows himself to be overpowered by  any attachment emotions and sentiments

Isa Upanishads says:~  The time one spends in ritualistic practices is wasted; one can spend the same time moving forward towards Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, which is the main goal.

There is no second thing that exists other than the Soul, the Self. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. the Soul is the real God. God is the only reality, the Soul, the God is the indivisible reality. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar