Introduction to Vedānta-sūtra

satyaṁ jñānam anantaṁ
brahma-śivādi-stutaṁ bhajad-rūpam
govindaṁ tam acintyaṁ
hetum adoṣaṁ namasyāmaḥ

“Lord Govinda is the Supreme Brahman, the absolute transcendental reality. He is transcendental knowledge. He is the original cause of all causes. He is limitless and faultless. Lord Śiva and all the demigods praise Him. The devotees worship His transcendental form. We offer our respectful obeisances unto Him.”

sūtrāṁśubhis tamāṁsi
vyudasya vastūni yaḥ parīkṣayate
sa jayati satyavataye
harir anuvṛtto nata-preṣṭhaḥ

“All glories to Śrīla Vyāsadeva, the son of Satyavatī. Vyāsadeva is the incarnation of Lord Hari, and He is very dear to the devotees. With the effulgence of His Vedānta-sūtra He has dispelled the darkness of ignorance and revealed the truth.”

During the Dvāpara-yuga the Vedas were destroyed. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, responding to the prayers of Lord Brahmā and the other bewildered demigods, appeared as Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa, restored the Vedas, divided them into parts, and composed the Vedānta-sūtra in four sections to explain them. This is described in the Skanda Purāṇa.

At that time many fools propounded various misinterpretations of the Vedas. Some said that the highest goal of life was to act piously in order to reap the benefits of good karma. Some said that Lord Viṣṇu is Himself bound by the laws of karma. Some maintained that the fruits of good karma, such as residence in svarga [the upper material planets] were eternal. Some said the jīvas [individual living entities] and prakṛti [material energy] acted independently, without being subject to any higher power, or God. Some said the jīvas [individual living entities] are actually the Supreme Brahman [God], and that the jīvas are simply bewildered about their identity, or that the jīvas are a reflection of God, or separated fragments of God. Some said that the jīva becomes free from the cycle of repeated birth and death when He understands his real identity as the perfectly spiritual Supreme Brahman [God].

Vedānta-sūtra presents and then refutes all these misconceptions, and establishes Lord Viṣṇu as supremely independent, the original creator and cause of all causes, omniscient, the ultimate goal of life for all living entities, the supreme religious principle and the supreme transcendental knowledge.

The Vedānta-sūtra describes five tattvas [principal ontological categories of existence]: 1. īśvara [the Supreme Personality of Godhead]; 2. jīva [the individual living entity, or spirit soul]; 3. prakṛti [matter]; 4. kāla [time]; and 5. karma [action]. The īśvara or Supreme Lord is omniscient, but the jīva soul has only limited knowledge. Still, both are eternal beings, are aware of the spiritual reality, and have a variety of spiritual qualities. Both are alive, have personality, and are aware of their own identity.

At this point someone may object: “In one place you have said that the Supreme Godhead is omniscient, and in another place you have said that He is knowledge itself. This is a contradiction, for the knower and the object of knowledge must be different. They cannot be the same."

To this objection I reply: Just as a lamp is not different from the light it emanates, and its light reveals not only other objects but also itself by its luminescence, in the same way the Supreme Personality of Godhead is simultaneously the supreme knower and the supreme object of knowledge. There is no contradiction inherent in the concepts that God is pure consciousness, and at the same time Self-conscious.

Now let us consider the five tattvas or ontological categories of existence given above.

1. Īśvara or the one Supreme Personality of Godhead is supremely independent. He is the master of all potencies. He creates the universe, then enters and controls it. He arranges for the material suffering and enjoyment of the living entities residing in material bodies through the laws of karma, and awards ultimate liberation to qualified individual spirit souls [jīvas]. Although He is one, He manifests in many forms. They who understand the transcendental science maintain that although He is one and indivisible, He is not different from His innumerable transcendental forms and qualities. Although He cannot be perceived by the material senses, He can be perceived by bhakti [devotional service]. He is changeless. He reveals His own blissful spiritual form to His devotees.

2. The many jīvas [individual spirit souls] are situated in different conditions of existence. Some are averse to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and turn their faces from Him. Such jīvas are bound by material illusion. Other jīvas are friendly to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and turn their faces to Him. These jīvas become free from the bondage of material illusion, which hides both the Supreme Lord’s form and His qualities, and in this way they become able to see the Supreme Personality of Godhead face-to-face.

3. Prakṛti [material nature] is the total material nature, consisting of the three modes: goodness, passion and ignorance. Prakṛti is known by many names, such as tamaḥ [ignorance] and māyā [illusion]. When the Supreme Personality of Godhead glances at prakṛti, she becomes able to perform her various duties. Prakṛti is the mother of many variegated material universes.

4. Kāla [time] is the origin of past, present, future, simultaneity, slowness, quickness, and many other similar states. Kāla is divided by the Vedic literature into many different units, from the extremely brief truṭi [about 0.0006 second] to the extremely long parārdha [50 years of Lord Brahmā, or about 155,100,000,000 terrestrial years]. Turning like a wheel, time is the cause of repeated creation and annihilation of the universes. Time is an unconscious, unintelligent substance; unlike the three previous tattvas, it is not a person.

These four tattvas [īśvara, jīva, prakṛti, and kāla] are eternal. This is confirmed by the following scriptural quotations:

aham evāsam evāgre
nānyad yat sad-asat param
paścād ahaṁ yad etac ca
yo 'vaśiṣyeta so 'smy aham

“Brahmā, it is I, the Personality of Godhead, who was existing before the creation, when there was nothing but Myself. Nor was there the material nature, the cause of this creation. That which you see now is also I, the Personality of Godhead, and after annihilation what remains will also be I, the Personality of Godhead.” [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.9.33]

sad eva saumyedam agra āsīt

“My dear saintly student, please understand that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is eternal. He is existed before the manifestation of this universe.” [Chāndogya Upaniṣad 6.2.1]

nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām
eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān
taṁ pīṭha-gaṁ ye 'nupaśyanti dhīrās
teṣāṁ śāntiḥ śāśvatī netareṣām

“Of all the eternal living entities, one [the Supreme Personality of Godhead] is the supreme eternal. Of all conscious entities one [the Supreme Personality of Godhead] is the supreme conscious entity who supplies the needs of everyone else. The wise souls who worship Him in His abode attain everlasting peace. Others cannot.” [Śvetāśvatāra Upaniṣad 6.13 and Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13]

gaur anādy anantavatī

“Prakṛti is like a cow who was never born and never dies.” [Culika Upaniṣad, Mantra 5]

aham evākṣayaḥ kālo

“I am time, which is certainly inexhaustible.” [Bhagavad-gītā 10.33]

The jīvas, prakṛti, and kāla are subordinate to īśvara, and subject to His control. This is confirmed by the following statement of Śvetāśvatāra Upaniṣad [6.16]:

sa viśva-kṛd viśva-vid ātma-yonir
jñaḥ kāla-kāro guṇi sarva-vid yaḥ
pradhāna-ksetrajña-patir guṇeśaḥ
saṁsāra-mokṣa-sthiti-bandha-hetuḥ

“The Supreme Personality of Godhead [īśvara] is the creator of the material universes. He is the creator of everything that exists within the universes. He is the father of all living entities. He is the creator of time. He is full of all transcendental virtues. He is omniscient. He is the master of pradhāna [the unmanifest material nature]. He is the master of the guṇas [three modes of material nature]. He is the master of the individual spirit souls residing in material bodies [kṣetrajña]. He imprisons the conditioned souls in the material world, and He also becomes their liberator from bondage.”

5. Karma [the result of fruitive action] is not a conscious, living person. It is the mechanical material principle of cause and effect. Although no one can trace out its beginning, it has a definite end at some point in time; therefore it is not eternal, and that is our hope of deliverance. It is known by the name adṛṣṭa [the unseen hand of fate] and many other names such as destiny, fortune, etc.

These four [jīva, prakṛti, kāla, and karma] are all potencies of īśvara, the supreme master of all potencies. Because everything that exists is the potency of the Supreme, the Vedic literatures declare: “Only Brahman exists, and nothing is separate from Him.” This fact is nicely explained in the four Adhyāyas [divisions] of the Vedānta-sūtra. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is the perfect commentary on Vedānta-sūtra, the Supreme īśvara and His potencies are described in the following words:

bhakti-yogena manasi
samyak praṇihite ‘male
apaśyat puruṣaṁ pūrṇaṁ
māyāṁ ca tad-apāśrayam

“Thus he fixed his mind, perfectly engaging it by linking it in devotional service [bhakti-yoga] without any tinge of materialism, and thus he saw the Absolute Personality of Godhead along with His external energy, which was under full control.”

yayā sammohito jīva
ātmānaṁ tri-guṇātmakam
paro ‘pi manute ‘narthaṁ
tat-kṛtaṁ cābhipadyate

“Due to this external energy, the living entity, although transcendental to the three modes of material nature, thinks of himself as a material product and thus undergoes the reactions of material miseries.”

anarthopaśamaṁ sākṣād
bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje
lokasyājānato vidvāṁś
cakre sātvata-saṁhitāṁ

“The material miseries of the living entity, which are superfluous to him, can be directly mitigated by the linking process of devotional service. But the mass of people do not know this, and therefore the learned Vyāsadeva compiled this Vedic literature, which is in relation to the Supreme Truth.” [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.7.4-6]

dravyaṁ karma ca kālaś ca
svabhāvo jīva eva ca
yad-anugrahataḥ santi
na santi yad-upekṣayā

“One should definitely know that all material ingredients, activities, time and modes, and the living entities who are meant to enjoy them all, exist by His mercy only, and as soon as He does not care for them, everything becomes nonexistent.” [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.10.12]

That Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the commentary on Vedānta-sūtra is confirmed by the following statement of Garuḍa Purāṇa:

artho ‘yam brahma-sūtrānām

“Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the commentary on Vedānta-sūtra.”

An Adhikārī or person who is qualified to study Vedānta-sūtra is one whose heart is peaceful, pure, self-controlled, pious, and free from material desires, who is eager is associate with saintly devotees, who has faith in the Lord and the scriptures, who is eager to discharge his religious duties, and who is decorated with saintly qualities, is qualified to study the scriptures and strive after Brahman.

The Sambandha or relationship expressed in Vedānta-sūtra is that the scriptures describe Brahman, and Brahman is the object described in the scriptures. The Viṣaya or subject matter of Vedānta-sūtra and other Vedic scriptures is the description of Brahman as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose form is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss, who is the master of unlimited inconceivable potencies, and who possesses unlimited pure, transcendental attributes. The Prayojana or result of properly understanding the Vedānta-sūtra and other Vedic scriptures is that the spiritual aspirant becomes free from all material imperfections, and able to see the Supreme Brahman, the Personality of Godhead, face-to-face.

The Vedānta-sūtra, which consists of aphorisms revealing the method of understanding Vedic knowledge, is the concise form of all Vedic knowledge. It begins with the words athāto brahma jijñāsā: “Now is the time to inquire about the Absolute Truth.” The human form of life is especially meant for this purpose, and therefore the Vedānta-sūtra very concisely explains the human mission. This is confirmed by the words of the Vāyu and Skanda Purāṇas, which define a sūtra as follows:

alpākṣaram asandigdhaṁ sāra-vat viśvato-mukham
astobham anavadyaṁ ca sūtraṁ sūtra-vido viduḥ

“A sūtra is a compilation of aphorisms that expresses the essence of all knowledge in a minimum of words. It must be universally applicable and faultless in its linguistic presentation.”

Anyone familiar with such sūtras must be aware of the Vedānta-sūtra, which is well known among scholars by the following additional names: [1] Brahma-sūtra, [2] Śārīraka, [3] Vyāsa-sūtra, [4] Bādarāyaṇa-sūtra, [5] Uttara-mīmāṁsā and [6] Vedānta-darśana.

There are four sections [Adhyāyas] in the Vedānta-sūtra, and there are four divisions [pādas] in each chapter. Therefore the Vedānta-sūtra may be referred to as ṣoḍaśa-pāda, or sixteen divisions of aphorisms. The theme of each and every division is fully described in terms of different subject matters [adhikaraṇas], which have five divisions technically called pratijñā [declaration], hetu [cause], udāharaṇa [example], upanaya [bringing closer] and nigamana [scriptural quotes]. Every theme must necessarily be explained with reference to pratijñā, or a solemn declaration of the purpose of the treatise. The solemn declaration given in the beginning of the Vedānta-sūtra is athāto brahma jijñāsā, which indicates that this book was written with the solemn declaration to inquire about the Absolute Truth. Similarly, each adhikaraṇa in Vedānta-sūtra displays all five syllogistic parts: the theme must be declared [pratijñā] and any objections or counter-arguments discovered and counteracted, reasons must be expressed [hetu], examples must be given in terms of various facts [udāharaṇa], the theme must gradually be brought nearer for understanding [upanaya], and finally it must be supported by authoritative quotations from the Vedic śāstras [nigamana].

According to the great dictionary compiler Hemacandra, also known as Koṣakāra, Vedānta refers to the purport of the Upaniṣads and the Brāhmaṇa portion of the Vedas. Professor Apte, in his dictionary, describes the Brāhmaṇa portion of the Vedas as that portion which states the rules for employment of hymns at various sacrifices and gives detailed explanations of their origin, sometimes with lengthy illustrations in the form of legends and stories. It is distinct from the mantra portion of the Vedas. Hemacandra says that the supplement of the Vedas is called the Vedānta-sūtra. Veda means knowledge, and anta means the end. In other words, proper understanding of the ultimate purport of the Vedas is called Vedānta knowledge. Such knowledge, as given in the aphorisms of the Vedānta-sūtra, must be supported by the Upaniṣads.

According to learned scholars, there are three different sources of knowledge, which are called prasthāna-traya. According to these scholars, Vedānta is one of such sources, for it presents Vedic knowledge on the basis of logic and sound arguments. In the Bhagavad-gītā [13.5] the Lord says,

ṛṣibhir bahudhā gītaṁ
chandobhir vividhaiḥ pṛthak
brahma-sūtra-padaiś caiva
hetumadbhir viniścitaiḥ

“That knowledge of the field of activities and of the knower of activities is described by various sages in various Vedic writings—especially in the Vedānta-sūtra—and is presented with all reasoning as to cause and effect.”

In the Vedic literature there are three divisions of transcendental knowledge, called prasthāna-traya. Knowledge which is proved by Vedic instruction like the Upaniṣads is called śruti-prasthāna. Authoritative books indicating the ultimate goal and written by liberated souls like Vyāsadeva—for example, Bhagavad-gītā, Mahābhārata and the Purāṇas, especially Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the Mahā-Purāṇa—are called smṛti-prasthāna. From Vedic literatures we understand that the Vedas originated from the breathing of Nārāyaṇa. Vyāsadeva, who is an incarnation of the power of Nārāyaṇa, has compiled the Vedānta-sūtra. Therefore the Vedānta-sūtra is known as nyāya-prasthāna, the Upaniṣads are known as śruti-prasthāna, and the Gītā, Mahābhārata and Purāṇas are known as smṛti-prasthāna. All scientific knowledge of transcendence must be supported by śruti, smṛti and a sound logical basis [nyāya].

It is said that both the Vedic knowledge and the supplement of the Vedas called the Sātvata-pañcarātra emanated from the breathing of Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Vedānta-sūtra aphorisms were compiled by Śrīla Vyāsadeva, a powerful incarnation of Śrī Nārāyaṇa. The Nārada-pañcarātra, a directory of devotional service, and Vedānta-sūtra express the same opinions. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore confirms that there is no difference in opinion between the two, and He declares that because the Vedānta-sūtra was compiled by Śrīla Vyāsadeva, it may be understood to have emanated from the breathing of Śrī Nārāyaṇa. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura comments that while Vyāsadeva was compiling the Vedānta-sūtra, seven of his great saintly contemporaries were also engaged in similar work. These saints were Ātreya Ṛṣi, Āśmarathya, Auḍulomi, Kārṣṇājini, Kāśakṛtsna, Jaimini and Bādarī. In addition, it is stated that Pārāśarī and Karmandī-bhikṣu also discussed the Vedānta-sūtra aphorisms before Vyāsadeva.

As mentioned above, the Vedānta-sūtra consists of four Adhyāyas or sections. The first two Adhyāyas discuss the relationship of the living entity with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is known as sambandha-jñāna, or knowledge of the relationship. The third Adhyāya describes how one can act in his relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is called abhidheya-jñāna. The relationship of the living entity with the Supreme Lord is described by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu: jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa’. “The living entity is an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme God.” [Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 20.108] Therefore, to act in that relationship one must perform sādhana-bhakti, or the prescribed duties of service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is called abhidheya-jñāna. The fourth Adhyāya describes the result of such devotional service [prayojana-jñāna]. This ultimate goal of life is to go back home, back to Godhead. The words anāvṛttiḥ śabdāt in the Vedānta-sūtra indicate this ultimate goal.

Śrīla Vyāsadeva, a powerful incarnation of Nārāyaṇa, compiled the Vedānta-sūtra, and in order to protect it from unauthorized commentaries, he personally composed Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam on the instruction of his spiritual master, Nārada Muni, as the original commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra. Besides Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, there are commentaries on the Vedānta-sūtra composed by all the major Vaiṣṇava ācāryas, and in each of them devotional service to the Lord is described very explicitly. Only those who follow Śaṅkara’s commentary have described the Vedānta-sūtra in an impersonal way, without reference to viṣṇu-bhakti, or devotional service to the Lord, Viṣṇu. Generally people very much appreciate this Śārīraka-bhāṣya, or impersonal description of the Vedānta-sūtra, but all commentaries that are devoid of devotional service to Lord Viṣṇu must be considered to differ in purport from the original Vedānta-sūtra. In other words, Lord Caitanya definitely confirmed that the commentaries, or bhāṣyas, written by the Vaiṣṇava ācāryas on the basis of devotional service to Lord Viṣṇu, and not the Śārīraka-bhāṣya of Śaṅkarācārya, give the actual explanation of the Vedānta-sūtra.

The Structure of Vedānta-sūtra

The structure of Vedānta-sūtra consists of four divisions called Adhyāyas; each Adhyāya has four parts called Pādas; each Pāda contains several Adhikaraṇas, or topics; each Adhikaraṇa contains one or more sūtras.

Adhikaraṇas—Vedic syllogisms—consist of five parts: 1. viṣaya [thesis, or statement]; 2. saṁśaya [the arisal of doubt in the tenability of the statement]; 3. pūrvapakṣa [presentation of an antithetical view opposing the original statement] 4. siddhānta [determination of the actual truth, the final Vedic conclusion, in the form of a sūtra], and 5. saṅgati or consistency.

Saṅgati requires that each Adhikaraṇa remain harmonious with the Vedic literature. The saṅgati of an Adhikaraṇa is of four kinds:

• śāstra-saṅgati [confirmation of the final conclusion established by quoting from the Vedic scriptures];

• adhyāya-saṅgati [consistency with the theme or subject of the whole Adhyāya];

• pāda-saṅgati [consistency with the entire Pāda];

• adhikaraṇa-saṅgati [consistency with previous and subsequent Adhikaraṇas].

The subject of the entire Vedānta-sūtra, and indeed the entire Vedic literature, is Brahman; therefore to maintain śāstra-saṅgati, the interpretation of each sūtra must remain consistent with the subject of Brahman. Each Adhyāya in Vedānta-sūtra has a particular topic.

• The First Adhyāya explains that Brahman is the subject matter discussed in all Vedic literatures.

• The Second Adhyāya explains that all Vedic literatures, although variegated, do not actually contradict each other; they present the same conclusion.

• The Third Adhyāya describes how to attain Brahman

• The Fourth Adhyāya explains the result of attaining Brahman.

Therefore to maintain adhyāya-saṅgati, each passage must remain consistent with the theme of its Adhyāya. Maintaining pāda-saṅgati is similar; each Adhikaraṇa must show consistency with the theme of the Pāda in which it appears.

Besides these three kinds of saṅgati, adhikaraṇa-saṅgati shows that each Adhikaraṇa is consistent with the preceding and following Adhikaraṇas. Each of the Adhikaraṇas in a particular Pāda leads to the next through a particular association, relationship or progression of thoughts. Adhikaraṇa-saṅgati is thus of six kinds:

• ākṣepa-saṅgati [objection]

• dṛṣṭānta-saṅgati [illustration]

• prati-dṛṣṭānta-saṅgati [counter-illustration]

• prasaṅga-saṅgati [incidental illustration]

• utpatti-saṅgati [introduction]

• apavāda-saṅgati [exception]

We will note the type of adhikaraṇa-saṅgati at the beginning of each Adhikaraṇa.

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