VEDANTA

The word Vedanta is dissected as "Veda + Anta". "Veda" is the ancient Sanatan book of wisdom, and "Anta" means the culmination, the end. Vedanta thus stands for the ultimate philosophical message of Vedas. The Upanishads (part of Vedas), being the source of this divine vision, are also called as Vedanta.

A closer look at the word "Vedanta" is revealing: "Vedanta" is a combination of two words: "Veda" which means "knowledge" and "anta" which means "the end of" or "the goal of". In this context the goal of knowledge isn't intellectual—the limited knowledge we acquire by reading books. "Knowledge" here means the knowledge of God as well as the knowledge of our own divine nature. Vedanta, then, is the search for Self-knowledge as well as the search for God.