Do Vedas refute Dualism?

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Mr. SUBRAMANI SIVAKUMAR writes in response to one of the columns on Ramanuja's life thus:

"Without becoming emotional, all of us would need to understand that teachers like Ramanuja and Madhva, by propagating dualism, have gone against the basic tenet of the Vedas. Vedas declare that one who believes in dualism would not get redeemed. I don't know if they lacked the intellectual skills to understand the Vedas and Upanishads, which unequivocally proclaim non-dualism, as between Jivas and Brahman-Atman..."

Traditional Indian society had a wonderful practice of debating new ideas and theories which were propounded by philosophers. Such debates, called Shastrarthas were held in centres of learning like Kashi. The new philosophy was critically tested by the Vedic scholars before it was accepted into the mainstream. Hence, pioneers like Ramanuja and Madhva had to establish their theories in assemblies of great Vedic scholars and defeat existing schools of thought (purvapaksha) before their new ideas were accepted.

Philosophers like Madhva and Ramanuja who founded new schools of Vedanta, supported their arguments by quoting extensively from the Vedas, Upanishads and by interpreting the Prasthana Trayi texts like the Brahma Sutras and Bhagavad Gita in the light of their new insights gained through tapas. In fact, every school of thought in Indian philosophy has its own well-established epistemology and dialectics.

For instance, to support the Vedic origins of Vaishnavism in his debate with the Advaitic scholar Yadavaprakasa, Ramanuja's disciple Kuresa quotes extensively from the Vedas and other scriptures: "Like those who go to the abode of Vishnu, being marked by the insignia of discus etc., we too shall be impressed by the emblems of Vishnu and gain affluence here and hereafter."

(From Sama Veda as quoted by Vedanta Desika in his Saccaritra Raksha)

"Narayana is the Supreme Brahman. He is the Ultimate Reality." (Taittiriya Narayanopanishad, 93).

"Narayana alone was. Then none of Brahma, Siva, Earth, Sky, Star, Water, Fire, Death or Sun was there." (Mahopanishad, 2)

"Arjuna, I am the Universal Self seated in the heart of all beings; so I alone am the beginning and middle and also the end of all beings." (Bhagavad Gita, chapter 10, verse 20)

This view is also supported historically. Archaeologists who discovered cities of the Indus-Saraswati Civilization point out worship of divine forms was prevalent from the very origins of Indian civilizations. Terracotta figures of the Mother Goddess and Shivalingams have been found in plenty in many sites.