Even the salvation and kivalyam (Salvation means cutting the bonds with everything and everybody other than God. Kaivalyam means formation of the single highest bond with God. Both salvation and kaivalyam are essential) become useless, if you aspire them for the sake of your becoming God. You should aspire these two only to serve God and then only it is called as Nivrutti. Shankara included both Iham and Param (for this world or afterworld) in Pravrutti only (Ihamutra phala viragah). He included even the salvation in Pravrutti only, if it is towards selfishness, and discarded even such salvation (Namokshasyaakaankshaa).

Even the Kivalyam is for the service of God only and not for selfish enjoyment according to Shankara (Eswaraanugrahaadeva..). Therefore, selfishness limited to yourself and your family members is the only dirt that can pollute anything.
Sacrifice is the detergent that can clean this dirt. But, in the initial stage selfishness cannot be avoided and it is precipitated in the soul from millions of births. Therefore, in the first stage this selfishness of the souls is exploited to create the basic interest in God. Hence, Veda introduced the methods of worship (Yajnas) linking to this selfishness by introducing the fruits to the worship related to Iham like conquering enemies, achieving kingdom etc. The fruits related to Param were also in the same line like enjoying the pleasures in heaven. All this is the first phase called as karmakanda.

But, in due course, Veda slowly leads the human beings towards realization of spiritual knowledge giving more details about God so that the soul can slowly enter Nivrutti. This is the second phase called as Jnanakanda. The rituals in karmakanda are called as sacrifice (yajna) but the word sacrifice there is not related to its actual meaning. The word sacrifice is applied in its real meaning only in Jnanakanda, where you are preached about the sacrifice to be done for the sake of God. This sacrifice is based on the value given to God by you. Therefore, the important point is not to search for the actual form of God, but to develop the sacrifice for the sake of God.

The search for God does not give you anything. The sacrifice for God brings the full grace from God. The search for God is theoretical, where as the sacrifice for God is practical. You have to learn sacrifice through a training given in the world itself before you prove it before God. Therefore, the first step to learn this sacrifice is to develop practical sacrifice by helping the deserving co-human beings, who should be devotees of God. Leave the worship of God since it is useless as long as you center it on your selfishness. Try to learn sacrifice by helping the deserving devotees and once you are perfectly trained in this sacrifice, God will come to you in human form to conduct a test on you so that you will stand as example for other devotees. Therefore, you need not search for God. God Himself will search for you and meet you, once you are fully trained in the sacrifice by eradicating your selfishness.