If the 'Self ' is not you, but the 'Self' is the Soul, then the religion you follow, the God in which you believe and your practical life within the practical world has no value.+

If the 'Self ' is not you, but the 'Self'  is the Soul, then the religion you follow,  the God in which you believe, and your practical life within the practical world have no value.   Religion is based on the false self (you) within the false experience (waking).  The religion and its idea of God and its code of conduct and its rituals have importance only in the domain of ignorance.

The paradise or heaven exists according to the imagination, of the religious believers.  But where people have got a little inquiring capacity, they begin to disbelieve through the contradictions of various contending religious claims and descriptions.

Religious scholars say God is a perfect being, but they have never known God, never proved his existence; hence their ascription of the perfection of God is purely self-imagined.

Religion is so strong and popular because it makes no demand on the intelligent: It simply requires belief in the religious idea of God. Has it ever struck a religious believer to doubt whether his religion is true?  Religious believers never use their reason because they start and conclude that, their religion alone is true because they never question.

If one says "his religion is higher" another will reply, "No, it is lower." It is impossible to get anywhere with such talk because both sides are merely imagining.

Spirituality is nothing to do with religion. Spirituality is realizing the truth beyond form, time, and space.

That is why Swami Vivekananda:~

The masses in India cry to sixty million gods and still die like dogs. Where are these gods?

Knowing this, stand up and fight! Not one step back that is the idea. ... Fight it out, whatever comes. Let the stars move from the sphere! Let the whole world stand against us! Death means only a change of garment. What of it? Thus, fight! You gain nothing by becoming cowards. ... Taking a step backward, you do not avoid any misfortune. You have cried to all the gods in the world. Has misery ceased? The masses in India cry to sixty million gods and still die like dogs. Where are these gods? ... The gods come to help you when you have succeeded. So what is the use? Die game. ... This bending the knee to superstitions, this selling yourself to your own mind does not befit you, my soul. You are infinite, deathless, birthless. Because you are the infinite spirit, it does not befit you to be a slave. ... Arise! Awake! Stand up and fight! Die if you must. There is none to help you. You are the entire world. Who can help you? ~ Swami Vivekananda  (Delivered In San Francisco, on May 28, 1900) -The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Lectures And Discourses/The Gita II

As indicated in ISH Upanishads:~  By worshipping gods and goddesses you will go after death to the world of gods and goddesses. But will that help you? The time you spent there is wasted because if you were not there you could have spent that time moving forward towards Self-knowledge, which is your goal. In the world of gods and goddesses, you cannot do that, and thus, you go deeper and deeper into the darkness.

It clearly indicates that:-If the human goal is to acquire Self-Knowledge then why one has to indulge in rituals and glorify the conceptual Gods, Goddesses, and Gurus to go into deeper darkness. Instead,   spend that time moving forward towards Self-knowledge, which is one’s prime goal.   

Since it is eternal and infinite, it comprises the only truth. The goal of Vedic religion, through the various yogas, is to realize that consciousness (Atman) is actually nothing but Brahman.

The Vedic pantheon of gods is said, in the Vedas and Upanishads, to be the only higher manifestations of Brahman. For this reason, "ekam sat" (all is one), and all is Brahman.

Thus, the goal is to realize Atman (consciousness).  If Atman (consciousness) is nothing but Brahman and by realizing Atman (consciousness) as Brahman (ultimate truth) is truth realization or Self-Realization, then there is no need to follow a religion, study scriptures or glorify Gods or Gurus and follow the path of doubts and confusion by losing oneself in the labyrinths of philosophy, when there is an easier path.  By mentally tracing the source of the mind from where it rises and subsides one becomes aware of the fallacy of the mind, which rises as waking or dream and subsides as deep sleep.  The mind rises from the soul  (consciousness) and subsides as the soul ( consciousness).

Yajurveda says: - if one worships what is not God in truth:~  

Translation 1.

They enter darkness, those who worship natural things (for example air, water, sun, moon, animals, fire, stone, etc.).

They sink deeper in darkness those who worship sambhuti. (Sambhuti means created things, for example, table, chair, idol, etc.)~ (Yajurveda 40:9)

Translation 2.

"Deep into the shade of blinding gloom fall asambhuti's worshippers. They sink to darkness deeper yet who on sambhuti is intent. ("Yajurveda Samhita by Ralph T. H. Giffith pg 538)

Translation 3.

"They are enveloped in darkness, in other words, are steeped in ignorance and sunk in the greatest depths of misery who worship the uncreated, eternal prakrti -- the material cause of the world -- in place of the All-pervading God, But those who worship visible things born of the prakrti, such as the earth, trees, bodies (human and the like) in place of God are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time." ~(Yajur Veda 40:9.)

So, Yajur Veda indicates:~

They sink deeper in darkness those who worship sambhuti. (Sambhuti means created things, for example, table, chair, idol, etc. ~(Yajurved 40:9)

Those who worship visible things born of the prakrti, such as the earth, trees, bodies (human and the like) in place of God are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time.~(Yajur Veda 40:9.)

The Hindus believed in polytheism, believing all of their Gods to be separate individuals, which were introduced much later by the founders of Hinduism which contains diverse beliefs caste, and creed.  

When the religion of the Veda knows no idols then why so many gods and goddesses with different forms and names are being propagated as Vedic gods. Why these conceptual gods are introduced when the Vedic concept of God is free from form and attributes. 

Vedic religion was modified and reintroduced with new add-ons by Sri, Sankara a great Advaita Master to uplift the Vedic culture and Santana Dharma,  which was in ruins in the clutches of Buddhism. 18 Puranas are introduced in the name of Veda Vyasa not by Sri, Sankara but someone else because the Puranic gods are non-Vedic Gods. The worship of Such Gods has barred Vedas.  

As one goes deeper into the annals of history, it indicates the fact that somewhere someone has added the Puranas in the name of Veda Vyasa the grandmaster of Vedas. It is impossible to accept and believe that Veda Vyasa authored and introduced Puranas which have all conceptual Gods. 

Remember:~ 

The Vedas talk about Brahman which refers to the ultimate truth or ultimate reality. The consciousness is the ultimate truth, therefore, the consciousness is Brahman and Brahman is God.

In Yajurveda – chapter- 32: - God Supreme or Supreme Spirit has no ‘Pratima’ (idol) or material shape. He cannot be seen directly by anyone. He pervades all beings and all directions.

Thus, Idolatry does not find any support from the Vedas. Vedas do not permit idol worship. All the idols are of the Puranic Gods priests are referring to the Puranic Brahma as God they are ignorant of the God in Vedas even though they speak of Vedas.

Priests do not understand the meaning of the Brahman, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Vedic Gods, hardly have any significance in the present-day Hindu belief system. The Gods and Goddesses important to the Hindus of today are Ram, Krishna, Kali, Ganesh, Hanuman, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, and the respective consorts of the last three, namely, Saraswati, Lakshmi, and Shakti. None of these deities figured prominently in the Vedic pantheon and some of them are clearly non-Vedic.

Why worship and glorify the non-~Vedic Gods in place of Vedic God when Veda bars such activities and it also warns people who indulge in such activities are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time.

God in truth exists prior to form, time, and space. The form, time, and space cease to exist as a reality when wisdom dawns. Thus, the Gods and Gurus have no place in the domain of the Advaitic reality. Advaita is the nature of the Soul, which is  God in truth. Thus, Self-realization is the only way to God-realization.

The Bhagavad Gita itself 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.

Lord Krishna Says Ch ~V: ~ “Those who know the Self in truth.". The last two words (tattvataha) are usually ignored by pundits, but they make all the difference between the ordinary concept of God and the truth about God.

The dualistic worship of "God” is only for the ignorant populace. The God in truth is only Atman, the innermost Self. In reality, there is no duality, no differentiation. Only Atman exists.

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

The Vedas confirm God is Atman (Spirit), the Self.

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)

How can you worship God? That implies two ~ the worshiper and the worshiped, whereas God is nondual. One can worship his idea of God only or realize God's unity with it when God can’t worship it as apart.

Kena Upanishad (6) Chapter I: ~ “That which cannot be apprehended by the mind, but by which, they say, the mind is apprehended-That alone know as Brahman, and not that which people here worship.

Kena Upanishad (7) Chapter I:~ That which cannot be perceived by the eye, but by which the eye is perceived-That alone know as Brahman and not that which people here worship.

Kena Upanishad (8) Chapter I:~ That which cannot be heard by the ear, but by which the hearing is perceived-That alone know as Brahman and not that which people here worship.

Kena Upanishad (9)- Chapter I:~ That which cannot be smelt by the breath, but by which the breath smells an object-That alone know as Brahman, and not that which people here worship.

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

Thus, it clearly indicates the God is without the form and attributes and ever free. The real God is stolen by ignorance and people worship ignorance as God.

When Upanishads and Vedas declare that, “God is present in the form of the Athma, and God is indeed Athma itself” then why accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar