Brahma Sutras
The Brahma Sūtras, also known as the Vedanta Sūtra, or as Shariraka Sūtra, and Bhikshu-sūtra, are a Sanskrit text which criticizes the metaphysical dualism of the influential Samkhya philosophy, and instead synthesizes and harmonizes divergent Upanishadic ideas and practices about the essence of existence, postulating Brahman as the only origin and essence of everything. It is attributed to the sages Bādarāyaṇa, who is also called 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. The oldest version may be composed between 500 BCE and 200 BCE, with 200 BCE being the most likely date.
The Brahma Sūtras consist of 555 aphoristic verses in four chapters, dealing with attaining knowledge of Brahman. Rejecting the smriti as a base of knowledge, it declares that the Vedic Upanishads are the only acceptable source of truth, infallible 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 of, and upasanas of the essence of existence, stating they are actually synonyms for Brahman. It does so from a bhedabheda-perspective, arguing, as John Koller states: "that Brahman and Atman are, in some respects, different, but, at the deepest level, non-different, being identical."
The first chapter rejects Samkhya's view on pradhana, stating that an inert first principle cannot account for a universe which reflects purpose and intelligence. It harmonizes different views of Absolute Reality found in the Upanishads, subsuming them under the concept of Brahman. The second chapter reviews and addresses the objections raised by samkhya and other competing orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy, Nyaya, Yoga, Vaisheshika and Mimamsa, as well as heterodox schools such as Buddhism and Jainism. The third chapter compares the vidyas and upasanas found in the Upanishads, deciding which are similar and can be combined, and which are different. The last chapter states why such a knowledge is an important human need.
The Brahma Sūtras is one of three most important texts in Vedanta along with the Principal Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. It has been influential to various schools of Indian philosophies, but interpreted differently by the non-dualistic Shiva Advaita and Advaita Vedanta sub-schools, and the Vaishnava theistic Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita Vedanta sub-schools, as well as others. 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, The Vaishnava-exegetes Srinivasa, Ramanuja, Madhvacharya, Bhaskara, Baladeva Vidyabhushan, Ramanandacharya and the only Shaiva exegete Srikantha Sivacharya.
Author and chronology
The Brahma Sūtras or Brahmasutra are attributed to Badarayana. In some texts, Badarayana is also called Vyasa, which literally means "one who arranges".Badarayana was the Guru of Jaimini, the latter credited with authoring Mimamsa Sutras of the Mimamsa school of Hindu philosophy. This is likely, given that both Badarayana and Jaimini quote each other as they analyze each other's theories, Badarayana emphasizing knowledge while Jaimini emphasizes rituals, sometimes agreeing with each other, sometimes disagreeing, often anti-thesis of the other.
The Brahma Sūtras text is dated to centuries that followed Buddha and Mahavira, because it mentions and critiques the ideas of Buddhism and Jainism in Chapter 2. The text's relative chronology is also based on the fact that Badarayana quotes all major known orthodox Hindu schools of philosophy except Nyaya. The exact century of its composition or completion in final form is unknown. 200 BCE seems to be the most likely date for its initial composition, with scholars such as Lochtefeld suggesting that the text was composed sometime between 500 and 200 BCE, while Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Dasgupta independently suggest the 2nd century BCE as more likely. Paul Deussen places it between 200 BCE and 400 CE.
Hermann Jacobi in early 20th century suggested that Madhyamaka Buddhist concepts such as Sunyavada, acknowledged in the Brahma Sūtras, may be a late invention, and suggests that both Sunyavada and Brahma Sūtras may therefore have emerged between 200 and 450 CE. Daniel Ingalls disagreed with Jacobi chronology in his 1954 paper, critiquing Jacobi's assumptions and interpretation of sutras 2.2.28-32 in dating the entire document, and stating that "the Brahma Sūtras could not have been composed later than the start of the common era". According to Hajime Nakamura, the Brahma Sūtras were likely complete in the current form between 400 and 450 CE. The existence of earlier versions of the Brahma Sūtras, and multiple authors predating Badarayana, is supported by textual evidence.
Some scholars, such as Sengaku Mayeda, state that the Brahma Sūtras that have survived into the modern times may be the work of multiple authors but those who lived after Badarayana, and that these authors composed the currently surviving Brahma Sūtras starting about 300 BCE through about 400-450 CE. Nakamura states that the original version of Brahma Sūtras is likely very ancient and its inception coincides with the Kalpa Sutras period.
Natalia Isaeva states, "on the whole, scholars are rather unanimous, considering the most probable date for Brahma Sūtras sometime between the 2nd-century BCE and the 2nd-century CE.
Assigning a later date because of mention of concepts of Buddhism etc., is rejected by Madhvacharya in his work, Anuvyakhyana. He explains the mention of different philosophies and their criticism in the Brahma ''Sūtras'' as refutations of general ideas, which are eternal, and not of specific schools of thought like Buddhism etc. So, there is no necessity to assign a later date.
Structure
The Brahma Sūtras consist of 555 aphorisms or sūtras, in four chapters, with each chapter divided into four parts. Each part is further subdivided into sections called Adhikaraņas with sutras. Some scholars, such as Francis Clooney, call the Adhikaraņas as "case studies" with a defined hermeneutic process.Each Adhikaraņa of Brahma Sūtras has varying numbers of sutras, and most sections of the text are structured to address the following:
- Sangati : connection between sections, synthesis, or coming together of knowledge. Setting the context.
- Vishaya : subject, issue or topic
- Vismaya : doubt, uncertainty or perplexity. Also called Sandeha
- Purva-paksha : prima facie view, or prior part and arguments
- Siddhanta : theory and arguments presented, proposed doctrine, or conclusions
Sutras were meant to assist the memory of the student who had gone through long discussions with his guru, as memory aids or clues and maximum thoughts were compressed in a few words which were unambiguous, giving the essence of the arguments on the topic. The Sutras of the text, states Adi Shankara in his commentary, are structured like a string that ties together the Vedanta texts like a garland of flowers.
Contents
The text is part of the Prasthanatrayi, or the three starting points for the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy. The Principal Upanishads constitute the Sruti prasthāna or "starting point of heard scriptures," while the Bhagavad Gita constitutes the Smriti prasthāna or the "starting point of remembered canonical base", and the Brahma Sūtras constitute the Nyāya prasthāna or "starting point of reasoning canonical base."Sengaku Mayeda states that the Brahma Sūtras distills and consolidates the extensive teachings found in a variety of Upanishads of Hinduism, summarizing, arranging, unifying and systematizing the Upanishadic theories, possibly "written from a Bhedābheda Vedāntic viewpoint." The Vedic literature had grown into an enormous collection of ideas and practices, ranging from practical rituals to abstract philosophy, with different and conflicting theories on metaphysical problems, diverse mutually contradicting unsystematized teachings on rituals and philosophies present in the Upanishads. Traditions of textual interpretation developed. While Jaimini's Mimamsa-sutra focused on externalized rituals as the spiritual path, Badarayana's Brahma Sūtras, the only surviving work of several of such compendia, focused on internalized philosophy as the spiritual path.
The text reviews and critiques the major orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy as well as all heterodox Indian philosophies such as Buddhism; especially Samkhya and Yoga philosophies are noted, which seem to have been held in high regard in his time. It recurrently refers to them in all its four chapters, adding in sutras 2.1.3 and 4.2.21 that Yoga and Samkhya are similar. The text cites and quotes from the ten Principal Upanishads often, particularly the Kaushitaki Upanishad and the Shvetashvatara Upanishad in several sutras. Additionally, it also mentions Upanishads that are now unknown and lost. The contents of the text also acknowledge and analyze the various Vedic schools, and mentions the existence of multiple, diverging versions of the same underlying text.
The sutras of the Brahma Sūtras are aphorisms, which Paul Deussen states to be "threads stretched out in weaving to form the basis of the web", and intelligible "when the woof is added" with a commentary.