In plain words
For man's worldly progress, and to show him the path to his ultimate goal, religion is indispensable. Religion points to the relation and kinship that lies between the jīva and God. Just as a mighty torrent lies between two hills, needing some kind of bridge to cross it, so too, when one journeys from the mountain called 'jīva' to the mountain called 'God', what stands between them — what is called Prakṛti — is that mighty torrent. To cross this beginningless, endless torrent, religion is the one secure bridge. And just as bridges themselves exist in great variety, religions too flourish in many different forms. The faith that flourishes in Bhārat is called the Sanātana faith, called so because its beginning is not known. It arose out of the Vedas, which are themselves without beginning or end; for this reason it is also called the Veda-faith, and likewise the Ārya-faith. As to who founded this faith, many people have carried out all manner of researches, and even today they remain unable to trace its founder. Finding it truly beyond them, they concluded that the founder of this sacred, eternal faith must be none other than the very author of the Vedas — and since the author of the Vedas is the Supreme Lord Himself, they settled it firmly that the founder of the Ārya faith is the Supreme Lord Himself. This faith, therefore, is of divine making. The world holds many religions. All religions are indeed sacred; all are indeed divine. But we are bound to say that the other religions are not, in this same sense, of divine authorship. Why so? Because for each of those religions we can point to a particular founder — one who is called a divine messenger. These founders may also be called the foremost among men.