The quest for truth is to realize God in truth.+

The quest for truth is to realize God in truth. You, search for the ‘Self’ you will find only the Soul. You, search for truth and you will find only the Soul. You, search for God you will find only the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness. Thus, the Soul is the Goal. The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God in truth.

God in truth is not he or she God in truth is the invisible Spirit. Do not physicalize Gods worship. Such worships of non-Vedic Gods are barred by Vedas. All God with forms and attributes are not God in truth. 

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. 

The Bhagavad Gita: ~ 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. 

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

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad:~ "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)

Max Müller says: ~ “The religion of the Veda knows no idols; the worship of idols in India is a secondary formation, a degradation of the more primitive worship of ideal Gods."

Hindus are idol worshipers of the large numbers of Gods and Goddesses whereas Vedas declares God is ‘ONE’ and that God is Atman. 

 

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) 

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

Rig Veda says God is ‘ONE’ and that God is Atman, then why to believe and worship anything else in place of real God. 

Thus, Atman the Self, is God in truth. Self-realization is real worship.  Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is necessary to get realization. 

Hindus are idol worshipers of the large numbers of Gods and Goddesses whereas Vedas declares God is ‘ONE’ and that God is Atman. 

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

According to Vedas the Atman the innermost ‘Self’’, is God.

Shiva is not Vedic God. All the God s and Goddesses with forms, names, and attributes belong to Hinduism, not of the Vedic religion or Santana Dharma.

God and Goddesses are religious concepts. Whatever seen, known, believed and experienced as a person within the dualistic illusion (world) is a falsehood. 

Thus, it refers to a formless and attributeless God, which is the Atman (Soul), the  Self within the false experience. Thus, it indicates clearly all the Gods with form and attributes are mere imaginations based on the false self. Thus, Atman or the Soul, the Self is God in truth.

The Vedas do not talk about idol worship. In fact, till about 2000 years ago followers of Vedism never worshiped idols. Idol worship was started by the followers of Buddhism and Jains. There is logic to idol worship. 

Vedas speak of one God that is the supreme ‘‘Self’’ in i.e. Atman or Soul but Hinduism indulges in worshiping 60 million Gods.

It indicates clearly all the Gods with form and attributes are mere imaginations based on the false self.

The Vedas as a body of scripture contains many contradictions and they are fragmentary in nature. For Hindus, scriptures like the Bhagavad-Gita, Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Puranas are more attractive and appealing than the Vedas. And also the Gods and Goddesses they worship differ considerably from the Vedic ones. The collection of hymns called Vedas is written in praise of certain deities by poets over several centuries does not seem to have much significance for the Hindus.

Yajur Veda says: ~

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. Griffith 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." (Yajurveda 40:9.)

So, Yajur Veda indicates that: ~

Those who worship visible things such as the earth, trees, bodies (humans and the like) in place of God are enveloped in still greater ignorance, in other words, they are extremely foolish. 

Thus, Atman the Self is God. Self-realization is real worship. Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is necessary to get realization. 

To acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, the seeker has to realize his inherited religion is adulterated in the past and it becomes a great obstacle is realizing the ultimate truth or Brahman. 

The seeker's aim is the search for the ultimate truth or Brahman. The search to find the non-dualistic or Advaitic truth that in actuality never was lost, only hidden.

Upanishad aspiration is best expressed in the following sutra: ~

OM Asato ma sad gaMaya, tamaso ma jyotir gaMaya, mrityor ma aamritaam gaMaya. Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.

"OM Lead me from ignorance to truth, from darkness to light, from death to immortality. Peace, Peace, Peace" (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (1/3/28)).

The belief system was coherent because it had a transcendent individualized God as a central doctrine, whereas in the realm of truth, an individualized God cannot be considered as the cause of the universe. After all, the Soul, the Self is the cause of the universe. 

First, one should not hold a God as the center of existence without verification. Both the theist and atheist are theories, nothing to do with ultimate truth or Brahman. : ~Santthosh Kumaar