In plain words
There is clay in the pot. But there are no pots in the clay. The pots are something made. So the seer is in the things seen, but the seen is not in the seer. So you must try to grasp well the truth, “You are the seer, you are the seer.”
The seer has many names. In the waking state, the ‘I’ itself is what pervades all. Because it is joined to many forms and names it is called Virāṭ Svarūpa; because it deals with every object, Vyāvahārika; because it has attachment to every thing, Viśva. These are the many names that come to the Ātma as the ‘I’.
In the dream state too the word ‘I’ has many names. It is called Svapnakalita; Pratyagātma, because it holds the mind alone as its support; and Cittaikāgra, because by its own insight it tries to know each principle; in this way names of the same meaning are given to the word “I”. In deep sleep, because by the power of the antaḥkaraṇa it is able to know everything, this word “I” is given yet another name, Prājña.
When you think ‘my body’, the body must be one thing and ‘I’ another. In the same way, when you say ‘my cloth’, the cloth is one thing and ‘I’ is another. So when you think “my body”, the body is not you. The body is a thing seen, the senses are a thing seen, the mind is a thing seen, the citta is a thing seen, the antaḥkaraṇa is another thing seen. So all of them are things seen. The universe that is known is the seen. The one who sees everything is the seer. That seer is “I”. There is nothing other, nothing beyond this. This is the truth. This is the essence of all the Vedas.
True Vedānta
What is Vedānta? Vedānta is not uttering some words whose meaning one does not understand. To know oneself is true Vedānta. Not to know oneself is forgetting. Forgetting is the seen. Awareness is Brahman. Awareness means knowledge. The wakefulness of the waking state is awareness. That is, knowledge in the waking state is what is called awareness. So we must always remain wakeful. The Ātma alone is the doer. The doer is ‘I’; this is the inner meaning the word ‘I’ teaches. In the Bhagavad Gītā it is said, “Giving up all dharmas, take refuge in Me alone.” All the dharmas bid you give up the principle called ‘you’. What does “all dharmas” mean? One must first know what dharma is! Only then can one leave all the dharmas behind. Here dharma means that each object has a quality that is its very life. That is the natural dharma of that object. For fire, heat is its dharma.