In plain words
This is the chief inner meaning of the Veda.
How have these Vedas taught worldly welfare? In the Vedas, what we can do and what is forbidden: this inner meaning we must inquire into. By what path does the welfare of the world come about, and what is the root cause of it all? From tomorrow we shall look at the principles that bring into daily life the Satya that is man's conduct. The students must grasp a little of the inner meaning of the great words found in the language of Vedānta. Today people merely utter the words. But there is no one who grasps their inner meaning. Nor is there anyone to teach it in a way that suits today's students. Even where there are those who teach, those who practise it are rarer still. So you must foster śraddhā and Bhakti to come to know well the inner meaning of the sacred words in Vedānta. Whatever we do, we must do it knowing what it is. At two o'clock they told the story of Tyāgarāja in the harikathā. Tyāgarāja too said, “Telisi rāma cintana cēyavē manasā.” You must not do it without knowing. If you just shut your eyes and say “Rām Rām Rām”, a tape recorder will sing that too. A gramophone record will sing it too. What is the use? You must know it, experience it, and contemplate Rāma. What does Rāma Rāma mean, what is its inner meaning? Ra means the Ātma. Ma means the jīva. The jīva and the Ātma, the two becoming one: that is the meaning of the word Rāma. The form of the union of the jīvātma and the Paramātma is itself the divine nāmasmaraṇa.
All the Vedas have taught the path of pravṛtti alone. Here, chemistry, botany, physics, economics and music: all these have come from the Vedas. All these teach pravṛtti alone. That is why the Vedas have been called dvaita. The Upaniṣads alone have taught the path of nivṛtti as well. That is, of man's four puruṣārthas, the Veda has taught only these three: Dharma, artha and kāma. The Upaniṣads determined that this can be recognised through vidyā alone. In this vidyā, too, there are two kinds of vidyā. Parā vidyā and aparā vidyā. All the learning we acquire in the world today is aparā vidyā. Mokṣa alone is parā vidyā. It is for that parā vidyā that we must strive. That alone, they said, is Vedānta.
The end of the Vedas is the Upaniṣad. The whole essence of all these Vedas lies in the Upaniṣads. Because the Upaniṣad is the end of these Vedas, it got the name Vedānta. The Vedas, all of them, are dvaita. Vedānta is Advaita. Advaita alone is the true seat of Ānanda.