Foundational text of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy
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The Brahma Sūtras (Sanskrit: ब्रह्मसूत्राणि), also known as the Vedanta Sūtra (Sanskrit: वेदान्त सूत्र),[1][note 1]Shariraka Sūtra,[note 2] and Bhikshu-sūtra,[note 3] are a Sanskrit text which synthesizes and harmonizes Upanishadic ideas and practices. It is attributed to the sages Bādarāyaṇa and Vyāsa, but probably an accumulation of incremental additions and changes by various authors to an earlier work, completed in its surviving form in approx. 400–450 CE.[5][note 4] The oldest version may be composed between 500 BCE and 200 BCE,[6][7] with 200 BCE being the most likely date.[8]
The Brahma Sūtras consist of 555 aphoristic verses (sutras) in four chapters,[9] dealing with attaining knowledge of Brahman.[1][10] Assuming that the Upanishads are unfallible revelations describing the same metaphysical Reality, Brahman, which cannot be different for different people, the text attempts to synthesize and harmonize diverse and sometimes apparently conflicting vidyas ("knowledges") of, and upasanas (meditation, worship) on Brahman. It does so from a bhedabheda-perspective,[1] arguing, as John Koller states: "that Brahman and Atman are, in some respects, different, but, at the deepest level, non-different (advaita), being identical."[11] The first chapter unifies the different views of Brahman or Absolute Reality found in the Upanishads. The second chapter reviews and addresses the objections raised by the ideas of competing orthodox schools of Hindu philosophies such as Nyaya, Yoga, Vaisheshika and Mimamsa as well as heterodox schools such as Buddhism and Jainism.[12] The third chapter compares the vidyas and upasanas found in the Upanishads, deciding which are similar and can be combined, and which are different.[13] The last chapter states why such a knowledge is an important human need.[6]
The Brahma Sūtras is one of three most important texts in Vedanta along with the Principal Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita.[1][4][web 1] It has been influential to various schools of Indian philosophies, but interpreted differently by the non-dualistic Advaita Vedanta sub-school, the theistic Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita Vedanta sub-schools, as well as others.[web 1] Several commentaries on the Brahma Sūtras are lost to history or yet to be found; of the surviving ones, the most well studied commentaries on the Brahma Sūtras include the bhashya by Adi Shankara,[1] Ramanuja, Madhvacharya, Bhaskara, Baladeva Vidyabhushan, Ramanandacharya and many others.[14]
^ abcdeLochtefeld (2002), p. 124.
^Deussen (2015), pp. 3–4.
^Radhakrishna (1960), p. 22 with footnote 2.
^ abcIsaeva (1992), p. 35, with footnote 30.
^ abNakamura (1989), p. 436.
^ abLochtefeld (2002), p. 746.
^Klostermaier (2010), p. 501.
^Collinson & Wilkinson (1994), p. 48.
^Radhakrishna (1960), pp. 23–24.
^Radhakrishna (1960), p. 21.
^Koller (2013), p. 99.
^Darling (2007), pp. 161–164.
^Sivananda (1977), pp. 465–467.
^Radhakrishna (1960), pp. 26–27.
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The BrahmaSūtras (Sanskrit: ब्रह्मसूत्राणि), also known as the Vedanta Sūtra (Sanskrit: वेदान्त सूत्र), Shariraka Sūtra, and Bhikshu-sūtra, are a Sanskrit...
are attributed to Shankara; of these texts, the BrahmaSutra Bhasya (commentary on the BrahmaSutras), the commentaries on the principal Upanishads, and...
manual or text. Sutras are a genre of ancient and medieval Indian texts found in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. In Hinduism, sutras are a distinct type...
rejected this theory. Nicholson (2010, p. 26) considers the BrahmaSutras as a group of sutras composed by multiple authors over the course of hundreds of...
into four texts, as well as the author of the eighteen Puranas and the BrahmaSutras. He is one of the immortals called the Chiranjivis, held by adherents...
and suffers. A version of the problem of evil appears in the ancient BrahmaSutras, probably composed between 200 BCE and 200 CE, a foundational text of...
commentary synthesizing Vedanta views on the BrahmaSutras. In his commentary on Chapter 3 of the BrahmaSutras, Sivananda notes that karma is insentient...
concentration (dhāraṇā: Yoga Sutras, III: 1) necessary for the mind to become introverted in meditation (dhyāna: Yoga Sutras, III: 2). In deeper practice...
Vyasa. Traditionally attributed to be the author of the Mimamsa Sutras and the Jaimini Sutras, he is estimated to have lived around 4th to 2nd century BCE...
part of the Bhishma Parva of the Mahabhārata. The BrahmaSūtras (also known as the Vedānta Sūtras), systematize the doctrines taught in the Upanishads...
Yoga Sutras of Patañjali (IAST: Patañjali yoga-sūtras) is a collection of Sanskrit sutras (aphorisms) on the theory and practice of yoga – 195 sutras (according...
1st century CE. He cites similar quotes in the dharmasutra texts, the Brahmasutras, and other literature to conclude that the Bhagavad Gita was composed...
unborn and all-pervading. — Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 10, verse 12 The BrahmaSutras state janmādy asya yatah, meaning that 'The Absolute Truth is that from...
three courses"), namely the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the BrahmaSutras are to be interpreted in a way that shows this unity in diversity, for...
for a unified universal view of Vedanta. Shankara's commentary on the BrahmaSutras is the oldest surviving. However, in that commentary, he mentions older...
commentaries on the Principal Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the BrahmaSutras (Prasthanatrayi), and is credited with thirty seven works in Sanskrit...
Jainism is comparable with that of the BrahmaSutras and Yoga Sutras of Patanjali in Hinduism. In an aphoristic sutra style of ancient Indian texts, it presents...
central teleological issue are found in Shankara's commentaries of the BrahmaSutras & his Vivekachudamani. In Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 3.9.26 it mentions...
and all of them accept Upanishads and BrahmaSutras as standard texts. Vyasa wrote a commentary on the Yoga Sutras called Samkhyapravacanabhasya.(Radhankrishnan...
commentaries on the Prasthānatrayī (literally, 'the three sources') – the Brahmasūtras (the original scripture of Vedānta), the Bhagavad-gītā (part of the...
undertaken by Badarāyana in the BrahmaSutras which was composed around 200 BCE. The cryptic aphorisms of the BrahmaSutras are open to a variety of interpretations...
form between 450 BCE and 200 CE, its sutras assert that yoga is a means to attain "subtlety of body". The Nyaya Sutras—the foundation text of the Nyaya school...
source" of anything in other contexts. For example, the Vedanta text BrahmaSutras metaphorically refers to the metaphysical concept Brahman as the "yoni...
consists of Brahma- the Creator, Vishnu- the Preserver, and Shiva- the Destroyer. Their feminine counterparts are Saraswati- the wife of Brahma, Lakshmi-...
Upanishad. Ramanuja himself wrote influential texts, such as bhāsya on the BrahmaSutras and the Bhagavad Gita, all in Sanskrit. His Vishishtadvaita (qualified...