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Upanishads Bhagavad Gita Brahma Sutras Prasthanatrayi Upanishads Sruti Brahma Sutras Bhagavad Gita Smriti

The three foundational texts of Vedanta philosophy are the Upanishads, Bhagavada Gita, and Brahma Sutras. The Upanishads are considered the revealed wisdom, the Gita the remembered tradition, and the Brahma Sutras an attempt to synthesize the teachings of the Upanishads. All schools of Vedanta philosophy interpret these three texts. The key metaphysical concepts discussed are Brahman/Ishvara as the ultimate reality, Atman as the individual soul, and Prakriti as the empirical world. The different schools of Vedanta conceive of Brahman in different ways, such as the absolute and personal God, and influence their philosophical positions.

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89 views

Upanishads Bhagavad Gita Brahma Sutras Prasthanatrayi Upanishads Sruti Brahma Sutras Bhagavad Gita Smriti

The three foundational texts of Vedanta philosophy are the Upanishads, Bhagavada Gita, and Brahma Sutras. The Upanishads are considered the revealed wisdom, the Gita the remembered tradition, and the Brahma Sutras an attempt to synthesize the teachings of the Upanishads. All schools of Vedanta philosophy interpret these three texts. The key metaphysical concepts discussed are Brahman/Ishvara as the ultimate reality, Atman as the individual soul, and Prakriti as the empirical world. The different schools of Vedanta conceive of Brahman in different ways, such as the absolute and personal God, and influence their philosophical positions.

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16SA125.KaranThakkar
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Prasthanatrayi (the Three Sources)[edit]

The Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahma Sutras constitute the basis of Vedanta. All schools of Vedanta propound
their philosophy by interpreting these texts, collectively called the Prasthanatrayi, literally, three sources.[21][33]
The Upanishads,[b] or Śruti prasthāna; considered the Sruti, the "heard" (and repeated) foundation of Vedanta.
The Brahma Sutras, or Nyaya prasthana / Yukti prasthana; considered the reason-based foundation of Vedanta.
The Bhagavad Gita, or Smriti prasthāna; considered the Smriti (remembered tradition) foundation of Vedanta.
The Brahma Sutras attempted to synthesize the teachings of the Upanishads. The diversity in the teaching of
the Upanishads necessitated the systematization of these teachings. This was likely done in many ways in ancient India, but the
only surviving version of this synthesis is the Brahma Sutras of Badarayana.[21]
All major Vedantic teachers, including Shankara, Bhaskara, Ramanuja, Nimbarka, Vallabha, and Madhva have composed
commentaries not only on the Upanishads and Brahma Sutras, but also on the Bhagavad Gita. The Bhagavad Gita, due to its
syncretism of Samkhya, Yoga, and Upanishadic thought, has played a major role in Vedantic thought.[35]
Metaphysics[edit]
Vedanta philosophies discuss three fundamental metaphysical categories and the relations between the three.[21][36]
Brahman or Ishvara: the ultimate reality[37]
Ātman or Jivātman: the individual soul, self[38]
Prakriti/Jagat:[6] the empirical world, ever-changing physical universe, body and matter[39]
Brahman / Ishvara – Conceptions of the Supreme Reality[edit]
Shankara, in formulating Advaita, talks of two conceptions of Brahman: The higher Brahman as undifferentiated Being, and a
lower Brahman endowed with qualities as the creator of the universe.[40]
Parā or Higher Brahman: The undifferentiated, absolute, infinite, transcendental, supra-relational Brahman beyond all thought
and speech is defined as parā Brahman, nirviśeṣa Brahman or nirguṇa Brahman and is the Absolute of metaphysics.
Aparā or Lower Brahman: The Brahman with qualities defined as aparā Brahman or saguṇa Brahman. The saguṇa Brahman is
endowed with attributes and represents the personal God of religion.
Ramanuja, in formulating Vishishtadvaita Vedanta, rejects nirguṇa – that the undifferentiated Absolute is inconceivable – and
adopts a theistic interpretation of the Upanishads, accepts Brahman as Ishvara, the personal God who is the seat of all
auspicious attributes, as the One reality. The God of Vishishtadvaita is accessible to the devotee, yet remains the Absolute, with
differentiated attributes.[41]
Madhva, in expounding Dvaita philosophy, maintains that Vishnu is the supreme God, thus identifying the Brahman, or absolute
reality, of the Upanishads with a personal god, as Ramanuja had done before him.[42][43] Nimbarka, in his dvaitadvata philosophy,
accepted the Brahman both as nirguṇa and as saguṇa. Vallabha, in his shuddhadvaita philosophy, not only accepts the triple
ontological essence of the Brahman, but also His manifestation as personal God (Ishvara), as matter and as individual souls.[44]

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