Rig Veda: ~ 'Prajnanam Brahma'- Consciousness is the ultimate reality or Brahman or God in truth.
Do not accept any other God other than the Soul. The Soul is God in truth, Nothing is real but the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Nothing matters but realize God in truth. God in truth is everywhere and in everything. Let these words be inscribed in your subconscious.
God in truth is hidden by the illusory universe. God in truth alone is real and eternal and all else is an illusion.:
Brahman is merely a word to indicate the ultimate truth or God in truth. The ultimate truth itself is God in truth.
The path of wisdom is divided into three parts:~
First:- Hearing the truth that the consciousness is the only reality and that the universe along with you is merely an illusion or Maya.
Second:- Reasoning upon these words of wisdom of Sage Sankara from all points of view.
Third:- Giving up all further argumentation and realizing the truth. This realization comes from being certain that consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.
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)
Remember:~
Religious Gods are based on blind faith or blind belief. Gods based on blind faith or blind belief are not God in truth
Religious God cannot be considered as the cause of the universe because the Soul, the ‘Self’ is the cause of the universe.
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.
Even The 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 present in the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself.
Religious Gods are based on myths. 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.
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad:~"He who worships the deities as entities entirely separate from the Self 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. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar