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)
Bhagavad Gita: ~ “All those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires, they worship many Gods. (7- Verse)
Vedas, Upanishad, and Bhagvad Gita Bible confirm the Soul, the Self, which is the present in the form of the Spirit or the consciousness is God.
It is for every seeker who is seeking truth must first know what God is supposed to be in actuality according to Vedas and Upanishads and reject all non-Vedic Gods to realize the Atman is real God.
Do not strive to become God. The world in which you exist is merely an illusion created out of the Soul, which is the real God. God is not the part because God is the fullness of the consciousness without the illusory division of the form, time, and space.
Everything is God because everything is created out of God, which is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.
Religion accepts the concept of God in many forms. Sages of truth declare the Atman is Brahman. That is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman. That is the ultimate truth is God. And the ultimate truth itself is worthy of Godhood.
The Soul, the Self itself is God in truth, the One without a Second:~
The Soul is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God. The Soul, God is present in the form of consciousness. Thus, consciousness itself is God.
Even 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).
The consciousness, the God is Self-evident. It is not established by extraneous proofs. It is not possible to deny God because God is the very essence of the one who denies God. God is the basis of all kinds of knowledge, presuppositions, and proofs.
Sage Sankara’s Supreme Brahman(God) 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
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.
Swami Vivekananda says: ~
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, and 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
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~ The Self is indeed Brahman (God), but through ignorance, people identify it with intellect, mind, senses, passions, and the elements of earth, water, air, space, and fire. This is why the Self is said to consist of this and that and appears to be everything.
Yajurveda says: - if one worships what is not God: ~
Translation 1.
They enter darkness, those who worship natural things (for example air, water, sun, moon, animals, fire, stone, etc.).
They sink deeper into 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 are 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 that: ~
They sink deeper into 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.
Someone has introduced the concept of God with attributes and attributeless Gods are non-Vedic Because Yajur Veda says: ~ 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. Therefore, all these add-ons prove that the form and attribute-based concepts are introduced by some sages of the past with a new belief system and code of conduct in the name of Vedas.
It clearly indicates that: -If the human goal is to acquire the Self -Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, then why indulge in rituals and glorify the conceptual Gods and Goddesses to go into deeper darkness. Instead, spend that time moving forward towards the Self -knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, which is one’s prime goal. It clearly indicates that: -If the human goal is to acquire the Self -Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, then why indulge in rituals and glorify the conceptual Gods and Goddesses to go into deeper darkness. Instead, spend that time moving forward towards the Self -knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, which is one’s prime goal.
Remember:
Religious Gods are not God in truth. Bible says “God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Rig Veda says may ye never accept another God in place of the Atman (Spirit) nor worship other than the Atman.
What is the use of arguing with religious believers? They think what they know as the ultimate truth.
Whatever is real in the world in which we exist is God. All that is real in the world in which we exist is the Soul, the Self.
Thus, by realizing the Self, which is the Soul, we discover the Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness itself is God which is hidden by the ‘I’, which is the dualistic illusion.
Yajurveda – chapter- 32:~ God is Supreme Spirit has no ‘Pratima’ (idol) or material shape. God cannot be seen directly by anyone. God pervades all beings and all directions.
Thus, Idolatry does not find any support from the Vedas.
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 innermost self. May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?" (10:48, 5)
Vedas itself says: May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman? Thus, to know the real God Self-realization is necessary. Self-realization is God-realization. Self-realization itself is real worship.
How can you worship God? That implies two ~ the worshipper and the worshiped, whereas God is nondual. One can worship his idea of God only or realize his unity with it when he can’t worship it as apart.
When Upanishads and Vedas declare that, “God is 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.
Even Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~ Brahman (God) is in the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself.
People, who worship the belief of God, are hallucinating that they become one with such God.
Those who indulge in a perverted argument from their own standpoint and opinion are not seeking the truth, which is beyond form, time, and space. They just want to exhibit their accumulated knowledge accumulated from here and there. They think what they know is the ultimate truth.
They think whatever they propagate is the ultimate truth. The question never occurs to them, “Is what I know is really the truth?
That is why Jesus said: ~ Do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. (Matthew -7:6)
~ Jesus meant knowledge of Spirit or God or Self-knowledge or Advaitic wisdom.
Spirituality is nothing to do with religion. Spirituality is based on the Spirit, the real God whereas religion is based on the false self (ego)within the false experience (waking).
The Bible says: ~ “God is a Spirit, and they that worship God must worship Godin Spirit and in Truth (John 4:24)”,
God is not physical. God is the Spirit. God is the Soul, the Self. God is birthless and deathless because God is formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.
The birth, life, and death happen within the illusory world, which is created out of God, which is present in the form of the Spirit. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar