Vedic God is Athma, which is Advaita.+

Vedic God is Advaita.

The religion of the Veda knows no idols. It means the Vedic God is invisible and nondua because it is a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence. That means the Vedic God is Advaita.

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 idol gods."

Yajurveda – chapter- 32:~ God Supreme or 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.

In the Vedas, God has been described as: ~ Rig-Veda 1-164-46 and Y.V 32-1 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?

The Vedas confirm that God is Atman (Spirit), the Self.

Rig Veda:~ Prajnanam Brahma: - Consciousness is the ultimate reality 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)

How can you worship God? That implies two ~ the worshiper 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 say:~ “God is present in the form of the Athma, and God is indeed Athma itself” then why accept another God in place of the Atman or worship other than the Atman.

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; it is beyond the reach of the senses. Brahman is non-dual, one without a second.

Belief in multiple Gods, the worship of idols and 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, because all these lack Vedic sanction.

Religious people indulge in 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 sanction; therefore, Hinduism is not an Ancient Vedic religion or Santana Dharma.

Realizing the universe is created out of single stuff and that single stuff is the invisible Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, leads to non-dualistic or Advaitic 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 they know the ultimate truth or Brahman. This, I know, business is dangerous. And whatever his conclusion is second-hand stuff. Therefore, accepting accumulated knowledge without verification will lead the seekers to a 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 us nearer to the truth, not realization

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

Yajurveda 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 worshipers. They sink to darkness deeper yet who on sambhuti is 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:~

They sink deeper in darkness those who worship sambhuti. (Sambhuti means created things, for example, table, chair, idol, etc. (Yajurveda 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.)

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.

In India, the founders of different castes, sects, and cults in the past introduced the concept of God with attributes and attributeless Gods with diverse rituals to the deities.

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)

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 were introduced by some sages of the past with a new belief system and code of conduct in the name of the Vedas.

Thus, devotion to such conceptual Gods and Goddesses is non-Vedic. By indulging in non-Vedic practices, one will remain ignorant. The main aim of the Vedas is to acquire self-knowledge.

All the add-ons and attribute-based knowledge, which are inferior, have to be bifurcated and excluded to know the ultimate truth.

Sage Goudpada says ~ “The merciful Veda teaches karma and Upasana to people of lower and middling intellect, while Jnana is taught to those of higher intellect.

This clearly indicates that religion, which is based on individual conduct, prescribes karma and Upasana to people of lower and middling intellect; therefore, religion is for the lower intellect. And wisdom is for those who are capable of inquiring into their own existence to know and realize the ultimate truth, which is Brahman.

Bhagavad Gita: ~ “Brahmano hi pratisthaham” ~ Brahman is considered the all-pervading consciousness, which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material. (14.27)

If Brahman is considered the all-pervading consciousness, then it is necessary to realize consciousness as the Self, which pervades all three states, to realize the fact that there is no second thing that exists other than consciousness. Thus, consciousness (Atman) is the ultimate truth (Brahman).

Sage Sankara’s notion of Maya, the cosmic illusion, which must be transcended to realize the truth of Brahman, which means the ultimate truth or God in truth. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar