People say Aham Brahmasmi -- I am God, I am Brahman. But when Brahman is, how can "I" remain? Only Brahman remains, not I.
If you say I AM GOD it is an error. God without the form and attributes. God is not within you because God is hidden by the universe. Holding God is within you is a great error.
You are not God because the Self is not you but the Self is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.
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 present in the form of consciousness. Nothing matters but to 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.
Remember:~
The Soul is not you to say I AM God. It is erroneous to use the word ‘I’ for the Self, because ‘I’ represents the form, time, and space whereas the Soul, the innermost Self is a formless, timeless, and spaceless existence.
Bhagavad Gita: ~ The permanent is always there, only the transient ‘I’ comes and goes. (2.18)
To understand the false nature of the ‘I’, the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is necessary.
The Self is not ‘I’, but the Self is the Soul which is the witness of the ‘I’. By holding the’ Self’ ‘I' leads to hallucination based on the imagination.
Remember:~
Do not strive to become God. The world in which you exist is an illusion created out of the Soul, which is the real God. God is not the part because God is the fullness of consciousness without the illusory division of the form, time, and space.
Everything is God in truth because everything is created out of God in truth. The Soul, the Self is God in truth which is present in the form of consciousness.
Religion accepts the concept of God in many forms. Sages of truth declare the Atman is Brahman. That is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness is the ultimate truth or Brahman. That is the ultimate truth is God. And the ultimate truth itself is worthy of Godhood.
Kena Upanishad (6) Chapter I:~ That which cannot be apprehended by the mind, but by which, they say, the mind is apprehended-That alone know as Brahman and not that which people here worship.
Kena Upanishad (7) Chapter I:~ That which cannot be perceived by the eye, but by which the eye is perceived-That alone know as Brahman and not that which people here worship.
Kena Upanishad (8) Chapter I:~ That which cannot be heard by the ear, but by which the hearing is perceived-That alone know as Brahman and not that which people here worship.
Kena Upanishad (9)- Chapter I:~ That which cannot be smelt by the breath, but by which the breath smells an object-That alone know as Brahman, and not that which people here worship.
Swami Vivekananda: ~ The masses in India cry to sixty million Gods and still die like dogs. Where are these gods?
Knowing this, stand up and fight! Not one step back that is the idea. ... Fight it out, whatever comes. Let the stars move from the sphere! Let the whole world stand against us! Death means only a change of garment. What of it? Thus, fight! You gain nothing by becoming cowards. ... Taking a step backward, you do not avoid any misfortune. You have cried to all the gods in the world. Has misery ceased? The masses in India cry to sixty million Gods and still die like dogs. Where are these gods? ... The Gods come to help you when you have succeeded. So what is the use? Die game. ... This bending the knee to superstitions, this selling yourself to your own mind does not befit you, my Soul. You are infinite, deathless, and birthless. Because you are the infinite spirit, it does not befit you to be a slave. ... Arise! Awake! Stand up and fight! Die if you must. There is none to help you. You are the entire world. Who can help you? ~ Swami Vivekananda (Delivered In San Francisco, on May 28, 1900) -The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Lectures And Discourses/The Gita II
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~ The Self is indeed Brahman (God), but through ignorance, people identify it with intellect, mind, senses, passions, and the elements of earth, water, air, space, and fire. This is why the Self is said to consist of this and that and appears to be everything.
Yajurveda says: - if one worships what is not God: ~
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)
"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. Giffith pg 538)
"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 into darkness those who worship sambhuti. (Sambhuti means created things, for example, table, chair, idol, etc ~(Yajurved 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.)
The Hindus believed in polytheism, believing all of their Gods to be separate individuals, which were introduced much later by the founders of Hinduism which contains diverse beliefs caste, and creed.
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.
Someone has introduced the concept of God with attributes and attributeless Gods are non-Vedic because 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 are introduced by some sages of the past with a new belief system and code of conduct in the name of Vedas.
It clearly indicates that: -If the human goal is to acquire the Self -Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, then why one has to indulge in rituals and glorifying the conceptual Gods and Goddesses to go into deeper darkness. Instead, spend that time moving forward towards the Self -knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana, which is one’s prime goal. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar