If the God is a creator then why worship anything of God’s creation.
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."
Therefore, there was no individual God or temples and worships in Vedic religion, which existed prior to Buddhism. Thus, the individualized Gods and temples must have been built later on when the worship of idols was introduced. Thus, the Vedic religion which existed in the past was free from idol and nature worship and idol worshiping rituals.
Thus, the present day’s worship of individual Gods created things, nature, and human are against Vedic teachings, and it looks like it has been fabricated and introduced by priest -craft. Since it, has passed on from one generation to the next it is hard for the people to believe the truth of their own religion, because they have sentimentally and emotionally involved in it and they refuse to accept anything else other than their inherited beliefs.
The Vedas confirms God is Atman (spirit), the innermost ‘Self’.
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 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 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 real God.
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).
It proves the Vedic Gods are not the Gods with attributes because Vedic God is the Supreme Spirit which Atman. Remember Gods worshiped in the temples and households are not Vedic Gods. Vedas declare never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?
One must remember that for all periods the Vedas are the final goal and authority, and if the Puranas differ in any respect from the Vedas the Puranas is to be rejected without mercy.
That is what Yajurveda says: ~ “Not to worship the things which are part of the falsehood.
Yajurveda
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 Prakriti -- the material cause of the world -- in place of the All-pervading God, But those who worship visible things born of the Prakriti, 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.)
Yajur Veda indicates that they sink deeper in darkness those who worship idols. The idols of attributed Gods are not Vedic Gods. Those who worship visible things born of the Prakriti, such as the earth, trees, bodies human and the like in place of Atman, the innermost Self 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.
Sage Sri, Sankara said:~ Talk as much philosophy as you like, worship as many gods as you please, observe ceremonies and sing devotional hymns, but liberation will never come, even after a hundred aeons, without realizing the Oneness.
