Bhagavad Gita :~ All those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires, they worship many Gods.+

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 eons, without realizing the Oneness.

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 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. 

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

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.

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. 

Chandogya Upanishad Chapter: ~”ekam evaditiyam- God is only one without a second. (6- Section- 2- Verse- 1)

Swethaswethara Upanishad:~ “Na casya kasuj janita na cadhipah, which means of him of Almighty God, there are no parents they have got no lord. Almighty God has no true father, he has no true mother, he has no true superior. (Chapter-6- Verse -9)

Swethaswethara Upanishad: ~ “Na Tasya Pratima Asti- of that God there is no Pratima, there is no likeness, there is no image, there is no picture, there is no photograph, there is no sculpture, there is no statue. (Chapter -4- Verse- 19)

Swethaswethara Upanishad:~ “No one can see the Almighty God (Chapter -4, Verse -20)

Yajurveda – chapter- 32:~  God is  Supreme Spirit.

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

There is a clear-cut idea of God in the Vedas, Upanishad, and Bhagavad Gita. And also there is a clear-cut idea of what not to worship as God in place of  God in truth.

That is why 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.

Vedas and Upanishad confirm the Soul, the innermost Self, is present in the form of the Spirit or the consciousness.

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)

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.

Sage Sankara’s Supreme Brahman is impersonal, Nirguna (without Gunas or attributes), Nirakara (formless), Nirvisesha (without special characteristics), immutable, eternal, and Akarta (non-agent). It is above all needs and desires. It is always the Witnessing Subject. It can never become an object as it is beyond the reach of the senses. Brahman is non-dual, one without a second. It has no other beside it. It is destitute of difference, either external or internal. Brahman cannot be described because the description implies a distinction. Brahman cannot be distinguished from any other than It. In Brahman, there is not a distinction between substance and attribute. Sat-Chit-Ananda constitutes the very essence or Svarupa of Brahman, and not just Its attributes. The Nirguna Brahman of Sage Sankara is impersonal.

The religion preaches that God is one and the ways to God are many. It simply tries to lead them to darkness with its dogma and idea of many Gods, which is apart from the Self. Religion is based on the false self (ego) and false experience (world) thus; all religion-based beliefs are a falsehood.

Religious Gods are based on belief. Belief is not God. Religious God cannot be considered as a center because, the Soul, the ‘Self’ is the center of all that exists. 

Without the Soul the world in which you exist ceases to exist, which means the religious God is dependent on the Soul for his existence. God in truth is only the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad declares: ~ “He who worships the deities as entities entirely separate from him does not know the truth. For the Gods, he is like a pasu (beast)". (1. 4. 10)

No mantras help to get rid of ignorance. All the mantras and rituals are meant for the ignorant populace, which strongly believes, the world in which he exists as a reality. For one who wants to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, the mantas will not help to realize the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space.

That is why Sage Sankara: ~ “VC~.61. For one who has been bitten by the serpent of Ignorance, the only remedy is the knowledge of Brahman. Of what avail are the Vedas and (other) Scriptures, Mantras (sacred formulae), and medicines to such a one?

VC- v6~ 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

Sage Sankara goes on to say: ~A sickness of not cured by saying the word “medicine.” You must take the medicine. Liberation does not come by merely saying the word “Brahman.” Brahman must be experienced.

Until you allow this apparent universe to dissolve from your consciousness until you have realized Brahman, how can you find liberation just by saying the word Brahman? The result is merely noise. Until a man has destroyed his enemies and taken possession of the splendor and wealth of the kingdom, he cannot become a king by simply saying “I am a king.”

A buried treasure is not uncovered by merely uttering the words: “Come forth.” You must follow the right directions, dig, remove the stones and earth from above it, and then make it, your own. In the same way, the pure truth of the Atman, which is buried under Maya and the effects of Maya, can be reached by meditation, contemplation, and other Spiritual disciplines but never by subtle arguments.

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 darkness.

It clearly indicates that:~ ‘ If the human goal is to acquire Self-Knowledge then why one has to indulge in rituals and glorifying 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.: ~Santthosh Kumaar