The seeker of truth must know the difference between the religious God and the Spiritual God.+

Religion breeds superstition because religion is based on blind belief, not the truth. Religion causes one to become crippled, Self-mortifying and Self-deprecating is not a religion, but the social system of controlling the populace through psychological deformation and retardation.

Religions place God as a diverse idea and belief.  Every religious believer has a different idea of God. Every man has a different idea of the real.  There is a need to accept and verify the facts about the religious Gods before accepting anything as God.  There is in religion the element of imagination and sentiments. The ordinary man is happy because religion gives him satisfaction, and pleases his taste.

Every sect and creed concocts a God to suit its own purposes. Belief in such concocted Gods is a great hindrance in the pursuit of truth.  The man himself suggests that there must be a God. It is an auto-suggestion. Belief in religion weakens as man pays more attention to the facts of his practical life within the practical world.

One must distinguish between pantheism and Advaita. Pantheism means all ~ God. It is quite different from the Advaitic truth. What does God mean? If it means something different from the Soul, the  Self, then there are two beings.

How can you worship the Absolute? That implies two ~ the worshipper and the worshipped, whereas the Absolute is nondual. One can worship his idea of the Absolute only or realize his unity with it when he can’t worship it as a part. 

Lord Krishna confesses that the oldest wisdom of India (our true Advaita philosophy) has been lost: people misinterpret and falsify it today as they did then. It is not yoga but the philosophic truth. But nobody knows it. The teachers of philosophy and leaders of mysticism or religion do not want to inquire into truth and have no time for it. (Gita –Chap- IV-v.2)

In Gita Chap.IV where Lord Krishna says: - "This yoga has been lost for ages" the word yoga refers to Gnana yoga, not other yogas: the force of the word this is to point this out.

Lord Krishna describes some of the other yogas but devotes this chapter separately to Gnana Yoga. So one sees even in those ancient days people did not care for Advaita; they wanted religion; hence Gnana got lost. That is why Krishna calls it "the supreme secret." Krishna points out that yoga must see "Brahman in action."

Gita Chap.IV: "He who achieves perfection in Yoga finds the Self in time." This means that after his yoga is finished, he begins the inquiry into ultimate truth, and in due course, this inquiry produces the realization of the universal spirit as the result.

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.

Gita Chap.VII. Verse 4: "Earth etc." Thus he begins his analysis with the world, with the solid earth, not with remote Atman. In all these things earth, water, etc.  the Self is  the finality." "

A Gnani sees all as Athma." But to realize the Athma the nature of the universe must be examined and studied. 

The yogi' says "I do not care to know about the universe".  and the Gnani has to realize the universe is nothing but an illusion created out of Athma.   For a Gnani Nothing remains to be known for him.

Bhagavad Gita: 7: 19:~ "Such a man who has attained true knowledge, the knowledge of Self, the knowledge of Atman, worships ‘Self’ as~ Atman (God in truth) alone exists~ everything is Atman, there exists nothing except Atman. Such a man is extremely rare."

Swami Vivekananda~ ‘The masses in India cry to sixty million Gods and still die like dogs. Where are these gods?  - Swami Vivekananda   (Delivered In San Francisco, on May 28, 1900) -The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Lectures and Discourses/The Gita II

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 spend 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.   

Since it is eternal and infinite, it comprises the only truth. The goal of Vedic religion is to realize that the consciousness (Atman) is actually nothing but Brahman.

Remember:~

Swami Vivekananda: ~ “If superstition enters, the brain is gone. Superstition is our great enemy, but bigotry is worse.

 Upanishads say in effect that: ~ If you believe that the ‘the Soul, the innermost Self’ is one and God (Brahman) is another you cannot understand Truth.

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. 

People all over the world in the past and present accepted the idea of the existence of God.  The fear of God injected by religion was the root cause of worship, superstitions, and dogmas.  Religious belief is passed on to the populace from one generation to the next generation.

Mythology breeds superstition, blind belief, senseless rituals, and most irrational and gives them a divine outlook. Mythological stories are a myth. Whatever is based on myth is merely a superstition.  Mythology was introduced in the past for the ignorant masses. It has to be discarded if one has to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman or the real God.

Religious people Jesus who raised the dead and Krishna who picked a mountain within the dualistic illusion. Whatever belongs to a dualistic illusion is bound to be an illusion.

Mythological God and Goddesses are based on belief. The belief is not God. The belief implies duality. From the ultimate standpoint, the duality is merely an illusion. Thus, whatever one sees, knows, believes, and experiences within the dualistic illusion are bound to be an illusion.

Mythological stories are a myth. Whatever is based on myth is merely a superstition. Mythology was introduced in the past for the ignorant masses. It has to be discarded as one progresses in his spiritual advancement.

All the mythological Gods are worshipped in the form of idols.  The belief system which propagated ideas of many Gods and Goddesses Bhakti is the only way to God is simply tries to lead the people to darkness with its dogma and idea of many Gods, which is apart from the Self.

Mythology breeds superstition, blind belief, senseless rituals, and most irrational and gives them a divine outlook.

The Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, is the real God.  God cannot be expressed by speech because God is a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. 

God is prior to the existence of form, time, and space. God is the cause of the form, time, and space and God is uncaused.    Consciousness alone is Brahman or God and not that which people here worship as God with forms and names and symbols.

Religious Gods are not God in truth. Bible says “God is a Spirit, and they that worship God must worship God 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 of 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 consciousness itself is God which is hidden by the ‘I’, which is the dualistic illusion. 

Remember:~ 

The seeker of truth must know the difference between the religious God and the Spiritual God.

Religious Gods with forms and names belong to dualistic illusion whereas the Spiritual God is the Spirit.

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

Bible says: ~ “God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24)”,

 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.

In spirituality the ultimate truth is God. The Atman is the ultimate truth or Brahman or God.

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) and matter (the world in which we exist) are one.

 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 as God accepted 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 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 Vedas confirm God is Atman (Spirit), the  ‘Self’.

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: ~ “They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, or the heavenly sunbird Garutmat. The seers call in many ways that which is One; they speak of Agni, Yama, and Matarishvan.

Rig Veda 8/58/2:~ Only One is the Fire, enkindled in numerous ways; only One is the Sun, pervading this whole universe; only One is the Dawn, illuminating all things. In very truth, the One has become the whole world.

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

When Upanishad itself’ declares: ~ Sarvam khalvidam brahma ~ all this (universe) is verily Brahman. By following back all of the relative appearances in the world, we eventually return to that from which it is all manifest – the non-dual reality (Chandogya Upanishad).

Sage Sankara’s Supreme Brahman (God in truth) 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

Hindus assert their religion is monotheistic, even though they honor a number of Gods, including Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Shiva the Destroyer. Hindus claim these various Gods are all manifestations of the oneness of the universe. Hindu religious practices vary from place to place, but they frequently include yoga, physical and mental discipline to harmonize body and  Soul, and ritual bathing.

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 the real God.

Belief in multiple Gods, The worship of idols and the worship of images that are not God, The worship of sacred images, ancestor worship, pilgrimage, priestcraft, the belief in avatars or incarnations of God, the hereditary caste system on the grounds that all these lacks Vedic sanction.

Hinduism indulges non-Vedic beliefs such as idolatry, ancestor worship, pilgrimages, priestcraft, offerings made in temples, the caste system, untouchability, and child marriages. All these lack Vedic sanctions, therefore, Hinduism is not Ancient Vedic religion or Santana Dharma.

Realizing the universe is created out of single stuff and that single stuff is the Soul which is present in the form of consciousness leads to non-dualistic or Advaitic Self-awareness. Self-awareness is freedom or Moksha. Moksha is unity in diversity in the midst of duality.

It is very difficult to talk to people about the ultimate truth or Brahman because everyone thinks he knows the ultimate truth or Brahman. I know business is dangerous. And whatever his reached conclusion is second-hand stuff. Therefore, accepting accumulated knowledge without verification will lead the seekers to hallucinated realization based on the ego. 

One may have some flashes of truth when someone tries to indicate it through fewer words. But it takes nearer to truth, not realization. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar