It is for every seeker who is seeking truth must first know what God supposed to be in actuality according to Vedas and Upanishads and reject all non-Vedic Gods to realize the Atman, God in truth.
Bhagavad Gita:~ “All those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires, they worship many Gods. (7- Verse -20)
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~ Brahman (God) is present in the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself’.
Thus, it refers to formless and attributeless God, which is the Atman (Soul), the innermost ‘Self’ within the false experience. Thus, it indicates clearly all the Gods with form and attributes are mere imagination 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, 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 imagination based on the false ‘Self’.
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 idolized Gods."
In Vedas, God has been described as:-
Yajur Veda – Chapter- 32: - God is 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 innermost ‘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 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 are 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 in darkness than 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:~
They sink deeper in darkness than 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.)
Then why worship and glorify the non-~Vedic Gods in place of Vedic God when Veda bars such activities and it also warns people who indulge in such activities 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.
Remember:~
Sage Sankara:~ VC Let erudite scholars quote all the scripture, let gods be invoked through sacrifices, let elaborate rituals be performed, let personal gods be propitiated---yet, without the realization of one‘s identity With the ‘Self’, there shall be no liberation for the individual, not even in the lifetimes of a hundred Brahmas put together (6)
It is clear that liberation cannot be the result of good works, for Sruti itself’ declares that there is no hope for immortality by means of wealth. (7)
Actions help to purify the mind, but they do not, by themselves, contribute to the attainment of Reality. The attainment of the Reality brought about only by ‘Self’-Inquiry and not in the least by even ten million acts. (11)
The fear and sorrow created by the delusory serpent in the rope can be ended only after fully ascertaining the truth of the rope through steady and balanced thinking. (12)
Neither sacred baths nor any amount of charity nor even Hundreds of pranayamas* can give us the knowledge about our own ‘Self’. The firm experience of the nature of the ‘Self’ is seen to proceed from inquiry along the lines of the salutary advice of the wise. (13)
Ultimate success in spiritual endeavors depends chiefly upon the qualifications of the seeker. Auxiliary conveniences such as time and place all have a place indeed, but they are essentially secondary. (14)
He alone is considered qualified to enquire after the supreme Reality, who has discrimination, detachment, qualities of Calmness, etc., and a burning desire for liberation. The four-fold qualifications (17)
Great sages have spoken of four qualifications for attainment which, when present, succeeds in the realization of Brahman and In the absence of which the goal is not attained. (18)
(While enumerating the qualifications), first, we count the ability to discriminate between the Real and the unreal; next comes a spirit of detachment from the enjoyment of the fruits of actions here and hereafter; after that is the groups of six virtues beginning with Calmness, and the last is undoubtedly an intense desire for liberation. (19)
A firm conviction that Brahman alone is Real and the phenomenal world is unreal is known as discrimination between the Real and the unreal. (20)
They have crossed the dreadful ocean of (embodied) existence through their own efforts and without any (personal) motives; they help others to cross it. (37)
The most valuable contribution of Sage Sankara is that he gained general consciousness on the issue that the authoritative explanation of Upanishads, Gita, and Brahma Sutra was the final say in the matter of religion. Anything that goes contrary to the trio is not authentic. He also made a clear distinction between Vedas and Upanishads in his commentary on Gita. He stated that the Karma Kanda of the Vedas deals with the injunctions relating to the performance of duties and actions. These are for ordinary householders.
The path of religion, the path of yoga, and the path of wisdom were intended for different classes of people. The wisdom is for the advanced seekers of truth. It deals with the nature of the ultimate Truth and Reality. It is meant for superior aspirants who have an inner urge to know the truth and it is not for those who are immersed in earthly desires.
Sage Sankara’s whole wisdom can be summed up in one sentence, ‘There is nothing else but Brahma. He says that the Absolute Existence, Absolute Knowledge, and Absolute Bliss is Real. The universe is not real. He says that Brahma and Atman are one. The ultimate and the Absolute Truth is the ‘Self’, which is one though appearing as many in different individuals. The individual has no reality. Only the ‘Self’ is real; the rest, mental and physical are but passing appearances.
In fact, Sage Sankara states a paradox- the world is and is not. It is neither real nor unreal. It leads us to recognize the existence of Maya. He thinks that the world is illusory from one perspective and from the second it is nothing but Brahma, Itself’ in manifestation. This apparent world is Maya and has its basis in Brahman, the Eternal. It looks as real. It has names and forms and actually, it is not real In the light of true knowledge, it disappears, and ‘Self’-alone shines as real. However, Sage Sankara’s Mayavada has not been accepted by many preachers and philosophers.
When Sage Sankara says clearly, the universe is not real. He says that Brahman and Atman are one. The ultimate and the Absolute Truth is the ‘Self’, which is one though appearing as many in different individuals. The individual has no reality. Only the ‘Self’ is Real; the rest, mental and physical are but passing appearances, then it indicates the form (waking/duality/mind) is unreal the formless is real (Soul/Spirit/Witness). Therefore, only Atman is real because there is no second thing other than Atman.
Sage Sankara also clearly mentions that: ~ The path of religion, the path of yoga, and the path of wisdom were intended for different classes of people. The wisdom is for the advanced seekers of truth. It deals with the nature of the ultimate Truth and Reality. It is meant for superior aspirants who have an inner urge to know the truth and it is not for those who are immersed in earthly desires. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar
