Verse 12.119

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

आत्मैव देवताः सर्वाः सर्वमात्मन्यवस्थितम् ।
आत्मा हि जनयत्येषां कर्मयोगं शरीरिणाम् ॥ ११९ ॥

ātmaiva devatāḥ sarvāḥ sarvamātmanyavasthitam |
ātmā hi janayatyeṣāṃ karmayogaṃ śarīriṇām || 119 ||

The Self alone is all the gods; everything subsists in the Self; it is the Self that brings about the connection of these embodied beings with actions.—(119)

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

All sacrificial rites, heaven and other rewards, and all the gods—should be looked upon as the ‘Self’: What is known as the ‘God Agni’ is the Self, apart from which there is no ‘God’—This is what is meant by such declarations as—(a) ‘This Self is found spoken of in various forms’;—(b) ‘the one Self is the God’;—(c) ‘Indra, Varuṇa, Mitra are described as Agni,’—‘One real entity the wise ones speak of in various ways’;—all which goes to show that when men have notions regarding the ‘gods,’ what they have is only the idea of the ‘Self’ in its various forms. The assertion that ‘the man has passed beyond all that exists’ indicates that one should look upon all ritualistic deities as the ‘Self.’

“Does this mean that in actual practice, these gods should not be treated as gods?”

All that is to be done is to be done as being done for the Self. And the reason for this lies in the fact that it is the Self that brings about ‘the connection of all beings with actions’;—and there is no other God, even approaching It in quality.—119