Vedas speak of one God that is the supreme Self, i.e., Atman.+
The Isa Upanishads indicate that: By worshipping gods and goddesses and going to the world of gods after death is of no use. The time one spends in ritualistic practices is wasted; one can spend the same time moving forward towards Self-knowledge, which is the main goal.
It also indicates that Religious Rituals [Avidya] is Karma [action] and therefore a hindrance. By performing Agnihotra and other sacrifices, [Avidya] is a roundabout way of purifying the mind, and it is also groping in the dark.
Even the Vedas indicate that the Self is consciousness:-
v Tat tvam asi: -Thou art That.- “Self is that” (Sam Veda).
v Prajnanam Brahma: - Consciousness is the ultimate reality (Rig Veda).
v Ayam Aatma Brahma: -The Self is the ultimate truth (Atharva Veda).
v Aham Brahma Asmi: -Self is the ultimate reality (Yajur Veda).
Vedic God is Athma.
It is for every seeker who is seeking truth that must first know what God is supposed to be in actuality according to the Vedas and Upanishads, and reject all non-Vedic Gods to realize the Atman is God in truth.
Bhagavad Gita:~ “All those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires worship many Gods. (7- Verse -20)
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~ Brahman (God in truth) is the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself.
Thus, it refers to a formless and attributeless God, which is the Atman (Soul), the ‘Self’ within the false experience.
Thus, it clearly indicates all the Gods with form and attributes are mere imaginations based on the false ‘Self’. Thus, Atman, or Soul, the ‘Self’ is God in truth.
The Vedas do not talk about idol worship. In fact, until about 2000 years ago, followers of Vedism never worshiped idols. Idol worship was started by the followers of Buddhism and Jainism.
There is logic to idol worship. Vedas speak of one God that is the supreme Self, i.e., Atman or Soul, but Hinduism indulges in worshiping 60 million Gods.
It clearly indicates that all the Gods with form and attributes are mere imaginations based on the false self.
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)
A great majority of Hindus are not in contact with their religious history; therefore, they believe their inherited beliefs to be as ultimate truth.
Hinduism is not an Ancient Vedic religion or Santana Dharma. All Hindus indulge in non-Vedic practices barred by the Vedas, introduced by the different founders of the different sects of Hinduism at different times, whereas the Vedic religion or Santana Dharma is ancient and has no founder.
Thus, to acquire Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, the seeker has to realize that his inherited religion is adulterated in the past, and it becomes a great obstacle in realizing the ultimate truth or Brahman.
While they do not accept the texts past the Vedas, they are still monists and uphold other Hindu views. In their reformations, they rejected Brahminical control and they were open to all castes and women.
Hinduism is based on myths, and thus, people in India are unaware of the facts of their inherited religious history.
The Vedic culture and Vedas are complete in themselves, but Hinduism, which is a non-Vedic belief system with all its ritual and conduct-oriented practices, has been contributed largely by the orthodox priests to suit their convenience!
Supreme Court of India:~ Hinduism, as a religion, incorporates all forms of belief without mandating the selection or elimination of any one single belief. “ It is a religion that has no single founder, no single scripture, and no single set of teachings. It has been described as Santana Dharma, namely, eternal faith, as it is the collective wisdom and inspiration of the centuries that Hinduism seeks to preach and propagate,” that Hinduism has no single founder or scripture: SC, The Times of India (Delhi), Dec 17, 2015
Hindus are idol worshipers of a large number of Gods and Goddesses.
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."
In the Vedas, God has been described as:~
People are being conditioned by the religious myth, which has made them non-thinkers. People need to come out of the religious myth by realizing God in truth.
Rig Veda: ~ 'Prajnanam Brahma': - Consciousness is the ultimate reality or Brahman or God in truth.
God in truth, is the Atman, the Self. Atman is present in the form of consciousness.
Do not accept any other God other than Atman nor worship other than Atman, which is ever nondual. Let these words be inscribed in your subconscious.
Nothing is real but God. Nothing matters but love for God in truth. God in truth, is everywhere and in everything.
God in truth, is hidden by the illusory universe. God in truth alone is, and all else is an illusion.
Yajurveda – chapter- 32:~God is Supreme Spirit has no ‘Pratima’ (idol) or material shape. He cannot be seen directly by anyone. He pervades all beings and all directions.
Thus, Idolatry does not find any support from the Vedas.
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 Self. May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?" (10:48, 5)
The Vedas, as a body of scripture, contain 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.
Also the Gods and Goddesses they worship differ considerably from the Vedic ones. The collection of hymns called Vedas written in praise of certain deities by poets over several centuries does not seem to have much significance for the Hindus.
Prohibition of idol worship in Yajurveda: ~
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 in 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." (Yajur Veda 40:9.)
So, Yajur Veda indicates that:~
Those who worship created things or visible things, such as the idols of earth, trees, and bodies (human and the like) in place of God, are enveloped in ignorance and are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time.
Why worship and glorify the non-Vedic Gods in place of Vedic Gods when the Veda bars such activities?
Vedic God is Atman. Atman is the cause of the illusory universe. The illusory universe ceases to exist as a reality when Advaitic wisdom dawns.
Thus, the Go, ds and Gurus have no place in the domain of the Advaitic reality. Advaita is the non-dual nature of the Atman, which is God in truth. Thus, Self-realization is the only way to God-realization.
By worshipping the religious Gods and Gurus, one will not get Self-realization or God-realization.
The Atman, the inner Guru, reveals ‘what is real’ and ‘what is unreal” when the seeker is receptive and ready.:~ Santthosh Kumaar
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