Religion and mysticism are so much preferred to Advaitic wisdom because you have only to imagine, not to inquire. The first is easy, the second is hard.+

People are comfortable with the religious path or of authoritarianism merely because they are the easiest way. To seek for proof is troublesome and time-consuming. Religion and mysticism are so much preferred to philosophy because you have only to imagine, not to inquire. The first is easy, the second is hard.

Lord Krishna confesses that the oldest wisdom of India (Advaitic wisdom) has been lost: people misinterpret and falsify it today as they did then. It is not yoga but philosophic truth. But nobody knows it. The teachers of philosophy and leaders of mysticism or religion do not want to inquire into truth and have no time for it. (Gita –Chap- IV-v.2)

In Gita Chap.IV where Lord Krishna says: ~ "This yoga has been lost for ages" The word yoga refers to Gnana yoga, not other yogas: the force of the word this is to point this out.

Lord Krishna describes some of the other yogas but devotes this chapter separately to Gnana Yoga. So one sees even in those ancient days people did not care for Advaita; they wanted religion; hence Gnana got lost. That is why Krishna calls it "the supreme secret." Krishna points out that yoga must see "Brahman in action."

Gita Chap.IV: "He who achieves perfection in Yoga finds the Self in time." This means that after his yoga is finished, he begins the inquiry into ultimate truth, and in due course, this inquiry produces the realization of the universal spirit as a result. 

Religion and mysticism are a species of mesmerism affecting weaker or impressionable minds. The complete and impressive array of a Guru’s religious robes lifestyle creates the unconscious suggestion in the weaker mindset of superior power or magical knowledge.

Both poetry and religion are based on imagination. Imagination implies duality. Theology, religion, and poetry all belong to the same class~ appeal to belief, fancy, imagination, not the ultimate truth or Brahman.

When one cannot fully know other persons, how can he hope ever to know God, who is not universal, because each religion has its own idea of God? Then why bring such a God in?

Religions place God as the unknown reality” Some people place it as the unknown reality. Every religion has a different idea of God. Every man has a different idea of reality. Hence, there is a need for a definition before the study.

Mystics claim that God really is in every particle, and then every man will be able to create the universe because he will be God.

Suppose one sees God. How is he to know that He is God? His mere statement is not enough. He must have proof; He must show that He is God. How do religious believers know God and how do they know that he is everywhere when their God is an individual?

Even if one performs Japam in the name of the religious God and meditates on the religious God he will not be able to realize the ultimate truth or Brahman. Brahman is God. 

The Soul, the  ‘Self’ is the ultimate truth or Brahman. So, the Soul, which is present in the form of the Spirit or consciousness is God in truth.

Remember: ~

Religious people believe the stories of Jesus who raised the dead and Krishna who picked a mountain as a reality but Jesus who raised the dead and Krishna who picked a mountain within the dualistic illusion. Whatever belongs to a dualistic illusion is bound to be an illusion.

Mythological God and Goddesses are based on belief. The belief is not God. The belief implies duality. From the ultimate standpoint, the duality is merely 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 merely superstition. Mythology was introduced in the past for the ignorant masses. It has to be discarded as one progresses in his spiritual advancement.

Swami Vivekananda: ~ This bending the knee to superstitions, this selling yourself to your own mind does not befit you, the Soul. Self is infinite, deathless, and birthless. Because the Self is 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. Self is the entire world. Who can help you?

Mythology breeds superstition, blind belief, senseless rituals, and most irrational and gives them a divine outlook.

Swami Vivekananda: ~ If superstition enters, the brain is gone. Superstition is our great enemy, but bigotry is worse.

Mythological contains stories of people with 10 with seven heads, etc., which are fables, yet are taken seriously by pundits.  

All these stories are a reality within the dualistic illusion. The waking experience is a dualistic illusion. Whatever belongs to the dualistic illusion is bound to be a falsehood. In Advaitic reality, there is no duality because there is only Oneness. 

 
The ancient sages had miraculous occult power and books related stories of their feats are fairy tales were meant for children, women, and those whose minds had not developed.

When ‘Self’ is not ‘you’ then whatever you have seen, known believed, and experienced as reality is bound to be an illusion. Self-realization is necessary to realize your the present world in which you exist is merely an illusion. 

If the present world in which you exist is merely an illusion, then whatever you believe as real with the world in which you exist is bound to be an illusion.

Bhagavad Gita: ~ Brahmano hi pratisthaham ~ Brahman (God in truth) 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, that 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 as God other than consciousness. 

Religious Gods are not God in truth. One must know God in truth.

Lord Krishna says Ch ~V: ~ “Those who know the Self 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. God in truth is only Atman, the  ‘Self’. In reality, there is no duality, no differentiation. Only Atman exists. 

Vedas and Upanishads confirm the Soul, the Self, is present in the form of the Spirit or the consciousness. 

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 Self. May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?" (10:48, 5) 

The Bible says: ~ God is a Spirit and they that worship God must worship God in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24) 

The Spirit is the root element of the universe. The Spirit is present in the form of the Soul, the Self. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness. 

From the Spirit, the universe comes into existence. In the Spirit, the universe resides. And into the Spirit, the universe is dissolved. The Spirit is the parent of all that is there. 

Even Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~ Brahman (God in truth) is in the form of the Athma, which is indeed Athma itself. 

There is a clear-cut idea of God in the Vedas, Upanishad, and Bhagavad Gita. And also there is a clear-cut idea of what not to worship as God in place of real God.  Thus, it proves from a Vedic perspective the Puranic Gods are not Vedic Gods.

Vedas says never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar