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.
The beliefs of God, religion, yoga are based on the false Self, is nothing to do with the mental (inner) journey. The religious, rituals, worships, prayers glorifying God and Guru may be useful in the worldly life, for those who believe in the birth, life, death and the world as reality, but they are not useful tools in realizing the ultimate truth. On the base of consciousness (Soul) as the ‘Self’, everything other than the consciousness is mere an illusion. Thus, man and his experience of the world and his belief of God and religion are part and parcel of the mirage created out of the consciousness.
All God propagated by belief systems are nothing but imaginations. There is nothing so absurd which men have not worshipped in religion, every imaginable face has been given to God. If God is creator then it is foolish to worship anything as God from his creation because the creation is apart from the God.
Every belief system has its own idea and conviction of God. Every belief system is based on the false ‘Self’. Therefore, whatever is based on the false ‘Self’ has to be a falsehood? Thus, the idea of God of any belief system has is mere imagination based on the false ‘Self’.
In Yajurveda – chapter- 32:~ It has been said that 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.
God is formless, timeless and spaceless existence. According to the Vedas God neither has any neither image nor God resides in any particular idol or statue. God cannot be seen directly by anyone. God pervades all beings and all directions.
Mythological God and Goddesses based on the belief. The belief is no God. The belief implies duality. From the ultimate standpoint, duality is mere an illusion. Thus, whatever one sees, knows, believes and experiences within the dualistic illusion is bound to be an illusion.
Mythological stories are a myth. Whatever is based on myth is mere a superstition. Mythology was introduced in the past for the ignorant masses. It has to be discarded as one progress in his spiritual advancement.
All the mythological Gods are worshipped in the form of idols. The belief system which propagated ideas of many Gods and Goddesses Bhakti is the only way to God is simply tries to lead the people to darkness with its dogma and idea of many Gods, which is apart from the ‘Self’.
Mythology breeds superstition, blind belief and senseless rituals and most irrational and gives them divine outlook. Mythological stories are a myth. Whatever is based on the myth is mere a superstition. Mythology was introduced in the past for the ignorant masses. It has to be discarded if one has to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman or real God.
The Bhagavad Gita: ~ Brahmano hi pratisthaham ~ Brahman (God) is considered the all-pervading consciousness, which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material. (14.27).
When Bhagavad Gita says, God is considered the all-pervading consciousness which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material then nothing has to be accepted other than consciousness a God.
Lord Krishna Says Ch ~V: ~ “Those who know me in truth.". The last two words (tattvataha) are usually ignored by pundits, but they make all the difference between the ordinary concept of God and the truth about God.
The dualistic worship of "God” is only for the ignorant populace. The God in truth is only Atman, the innermost ‘Self’. In reality, there is no dualities, no differentiation. Only Atman exists.
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 it’Self’ 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).
Sage Sri, 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 as It is beyond the reach of the senses. Brahman is non-dual, one without a second. It has no other beside it. It is destitute of difference, either external or internal. Brahman cannot be described, because description implies distinction. Brahman cannot be distinguished from any other than It. In Brahman, there is not the distinction of substance and attribute. Sat-Chit-Ananda constitutes the very essence or Svarupa of Brahman, and not just Its attributes. The Nirguna Brahman of Sage Sri, Sankara is impersonal.
Sage Sri, Sankara: ~"That which permeates all, which nothing transcends and which, like the universal space around us, fills everything completely from within and without, that Supreme non-dual Brahman (God) ~ that thou art."
Sage Sri, 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 (verses-6)
Sage Sri, 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 life times of a hundred Brahmas put together (verses-6)
Sage Sri, Sankara’s wisdom is nothing to do with the orthodox belief systems. Some philosophers in the past dissented from this interpretation of Vedanta philosophy, holding that the incarnated Souls were separate from the Divine Essence and only finally merged with it after the cycles of birth.
All these theoretical philosophy is based on the imagination based on the false ‘Self’ (ego or you) within the false experience (waking).
