[Advaita-l] A Query

[U.K Anumula]

In Indian philosophy we come across concepts like "aatma",  "Paramaatma", 
"Brahman", and God by different names, e.g., "Brahma", "Vishnu" and "Siva" 
etc.   My question is this: Are God and Brahman the same or are they two 
different concepts?   If they are different, when "Brahma" is "satyam" and 
all else is "mithya", God also becomes "mithya".   I think it was in Devi 
Purana there is a slokam which says "maayaantu prakritim viddhi, maya 
maatram parameswaraha".   An understanding on these lines, as literally 
interpreted, would lead us to true Godlessness.   God, in such an 
interpretation, is a creature of human ignorance rather than one who is 
transcendentally real.  Idol worship and performance of various rituals have 
nothing to do with true advaita. One can be a true advaitin and at the same 
time a non-believer in God (and certainly in the various manifestations of 
God that Indian cosmogeny revels in.)  Yet at the same time, worship and 
belief in God, in whatever form, appears to be truly comforting and 
apparently even providing answers to a common man's several troubling 
questions.   Can one deny God and be a true Advaitin?