The Upanishad says: the human goal is to acquire Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.+

Innumerable people all over the world have been killed and being killed in the name of religion and God. This is because people are not aware of the ultimate truth of their true existence. People take their inherited beliefs as the ultimate truth without verifying the validity of their beliefs. 

Does God exists or not is the question that succeeds not only dividing people but creates a tug of war within every individual thinker.  Ironically, if one believes in the concept of God then nothing else matters and if one is an atheist, too nothing else matters. 

Those who have implicit faith in God bow their heads in submission to what they call divine will. They believe the world is testing ground and sorrows must be borne with patience in order to prove their love to God. 

On the other hand, the Atheist claims the whole world is random creation arising, so to speak from chemical gravy that is accidental.  Both these arguments are based on the ‘false self’ (ego) within the false experience (waking).

On the base of the Soul, the Self, the waking experience itself is merely an illusion.  The man and his experience of the world are a reality within the waking experience.  The waking experience is a mere dream witnessed by the Soul. 

Thus, all the physical-based theories are mere imagination based on the false self within the false experience. The formless substance and witness of the false experience, which is the Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness is real and eternal.

God is not physical. God is present in the form of the Spirit. The Spirit is the cause of the world and the Spirit itself is uncaused.

From the standpoint of the Spirit, the form, time, space, and name are merely an illusion. The spirit alone is real and all else is an illusion.  In reality, the spirit (God) matter (the world in which we exist) are one.

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

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

Rig Veda: ~ 'Prajnanam Brahma'- Consciousness is the ultimate reality or Brahman or God in truth.

God in truth is the Atman, the Self. Atman is present in the form of consciousness.

Do not accept any other God other than Atman not worship other than Atman.

Let these words be inscribed in your subconscious.

Nothing is real but God. Nothing Matters but love for God in truth. God in truth is everywhere and in everything.

God in truth is hidden by the illusory universe. God in truth alone is and all else is an illusion.

Rig Veda: ~ The Atman (Soul or Spirit) is the cause; Atman is the support of all that exists in this universe. May ye never turn away from the Atman the innermost self. May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?" (10:48, 5)

Rig-Veda 1-164-46 and Y.V 32-1 clearly mention that God is “One”.

Rig Veda declares God is ‘ONE’ and God is Atman, then why believe and worship in place of real God.

Brihad Upanishad: ~ “If you think there is another entity, whether man or God there is no truth."

Bhagavad Gita: ~ Brahmano hi pratisthaham ~ Brahman (God in truth) is considered the all-pervading consciousness (Spirit), 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 (Spirit) 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 famous peace invocation of Isa Upanishad says: ~

Om Purna- madah, purna-midam purnat-purnam-udacyate Purnaysa purna-madaya purna-meva-vasisyate

This means ~ All this is full /from fullness, fullness comes when fullness is taken from fullness/ fullness still remains.

 This belief is all- comprehensive and all-absorbing. There is nothing that is not God.

One of Sage Sankara’s missions was to wean people away from the ritualistic approach advocated by Mimamsakas and to project wisdom (jnana) as the means of liberation in the light of Upanishad teachings. 

Sage Sankara criticized severely the ritualistic attitude and those who advocated such practices. However, the texts that combined rituals with wisdom (jnana_karma_samucchaya) more in favor of the Mimamsaka position came into vogue, projecting Sage Sankara as the rallying force of the doctrine.

Religion, religious Gods' rituals, and the sacrifices deal with lower knowledge. The sages of truth ignored religion, religious Gods, rituals and the sacrifices and went in search of the truth of their true existence. 

The religion, religious Gods rituals, and the sacrifices are unsafe rafts for crossing the sea of ignorance which is the cause of experiencing the birth, life, death, and the world as a reality.  Doomed to shipwreck are those who try to cross the dualistic illusion (form, time and space) on these poor rafts.

Ignorant of their own ignorance, yet wise in their own esteem, these deluded men Proud of their inherited beliefs in their religion wage war and violence against humanity in the name of protecting their God and belief system.   

Those who blindly accept the religion and its God as truth are like the blind led by the blind.

Even the Upanishads confirm: ~ It is impossible to find and realize the truth, which is beyond the form, time and space via religion, rituals and scriptural study.

Upanishad says:  the human goal is to acquire Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana and they also indicate that personal Gods, scriptures, worship, and rituals are not the means to Self –Knowledge, then why anyone should indulge in it.

The religion, individualized God and scriptures are greatest obstacles for self-realization.  the religion and its religious idea of Gods are based on false Self (ego).  The seeker of truth has to search for the ultimate truth without losing himself in the labyrinths of philosophy, through deeper, inquiry, analysis, and reasoning, and assimilate and realize it.

That is why Sage Sankara, indicated in Bhaja Govindam says: - (Jnana Viheena Sarva Mathena Bajathi na Muktim janma Shatena) ~ one without knowledge does not obtain liberation even in a hundred births, no matter which religious faith he follows.

Then it is no use going a roundabout way, trace the Brahman which is the formless substance, and witness of the universe, which is in the form of the mind(I).  By tracing the source of the mind or universe one will be able to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman.:~Santthosh Kumaar