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॥ श्री गुरुभ्यो नमः हरिः ॐ॥

॥ श्री बादरायणाभिधेयश्रीवेदव्यासमहर्षिप्रणीतानि श्री ब्रह्मसूत्राणि॥

ब्रह्म सूत्र is one of the three शास्त्र that comes under the trio called as प्रस्थान त्रय (the other two being the श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता and the उपनिषद्). To be recognized as a scholar, a person had to write a भाष्य on the प्रस्थान त्रय. प्रस्थान means मार्ग (and more particularly, a मार्ग that has been crossed by or used by many before them). What is the destination? ब्रह्मज्ञान; and therefore, while three मार्ग are talked about since these are three different ग्रंथ; all these have one मार्ग only viz ज्ञान मार्ग. 

There is another way to see these trio – the उपनिषद् is called as श्रुति प्रस्थान (since उपनिषद् as वेदान्त is part of श्रुति viz the देव), श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता is called as स्मृति प्रस्थान (since the ideas of वेद are “remembered” to convey the शास्त्र) and ब्रह्मसूत्र is understood as न्याय प्रस्थान (since तर्क or युक्ति is applied on the ideas of the उपनिषद् for doing मनन on these). Some महात्मा therefore postulate that one must do श्रवण of the उपनिषद्, मनन by going through the ब्रह्मसूत्र and निधिध्यास using the श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता. 

What are the conditions of a सूत्र शास्त्र? That which measures is a सूत्र. It measures what? It measures or gives shape to the दृष्टि of the reader. ब्रह्मसूत्र is thus enabling its reader to mould his or her दृष्टि to understand ब्रह्म. 

1. अल्पाक्षरम् – it must use limited अक्षर (brevity)
2. असंधिग्धम् – despite using limited अक्षर, one must not be left with any संदेह (or doubt) after listening to the सूत्र (meaning it must be fully clear and not raise any new questions – it must provide all answers in a satisfactory manner)
3. सारवत् – it must avoid unnecessary aspects into the सूत्र – its focus is the core or essence for which the सूत्र is being conveyed – in this case, it must focus on ब्रह्म ज्ञान only and not distract its reader. 
4. विश्वतोमुखम् – it must be comprehensive. It means that the entire ज्ञान relating to ब्रह्म contained in all शास्त्र must be included in the सूत्र – nothing must be left out. 
5. अस्तोभं – it must not contain even a single सूत्र that may seem as a wasted line.
6. अनवद्यं – it must not have any दोष (error).

When one creates an index of the ब्रह्मसूत्र, it contains 555 सूत्र with these divided into four अध्याय, each अध्याय has four पाद therefore totalling to 16 पाद in all four अध्याय and it also has 191 अधिकरण. The first अध्याय is called as समन्वय अध्याय, second called as अविरोध अध्याय, third called as साधना अध्याय and fourth called as फल अध्याय. 

The most popular and referenced text on ब्रह्म सूत्र is the भाष्य by आदिशंकर. While there were दर्शन by the name of भेद, अभेद and भेद-अभेद before आदिशंकर, all those भाष्य became eclipsed by the भाष्य by आदिशंकर and this became the reference point for all future भाष्याकार. The tradition of भाष्य on ब्रह्मसूत्र did not end with आदिशंकर – the popular ones were done by Ramanuja (Vishishtha अद्वैत), Madhava (द्वैत), Sridhara, Vigyanabhikshu, Bhaskara, Nimbarka, Srikantha, Vallabha and Baladeva. Later, a scholar by the name of Chidghanananda Puri studied all these भाष्य to decide or arrive at which one singularly or collectively convey the ideas of ब्रह्म सूत्र in the best manner and concluded that आदिशंकर भाष्य is the most effective one among all of them. More recently, another scholar by the name of Bellamkonda Ramaraya Kavi also studied all the भाष्य and concluded that the भाष्य by the आदिशंकर is the most worthy भाष्य while all others are to be seen as infants before the one by आदिशंकर. The first शिष्य of आदिशंकर – Padmapada also wrote a भाष्य called as Panchapadika – but instead of giving a भाष्य on all the 555 सूत्र, it focused on the first four only (stating that the first four alone contain the essence of all other सूत्र) – it is also known by the name of Chatusutri. As a follow-up, there are many other भाष्य which took Chatusutri as the base and wrote more on the same text. Another very popular भाष्य goes by the name of Bhamati by Vachaspati Mishra (he is seen as an अवतार of Sureshwaracharya, another first शिष्य of आदिशंकर). Another one which studied all the pre-existing भाष्य and reinforced the भाष्य of आदिशंकर as the most appropriate is by another scholar by the name of Advaitananda Swami who called his text as Brahmnavidya Bharanam. Above all, one must also remember one of the most scholarly work on various शास्त्र including that on ब्रह्मसूत्र by Appayya Dikshitar who was seen as equal to आदिशंकर by none other than the great Kanchi Paramacharya Sri Chandrasekharasaraswati.

॥ अथ प्रथमोऽध्यायः॥ (known as समन्वय अध्याय)

Every अध्याय has a category called as अधिकरण – some of these अधिकरण may have one सूत्र, some other times, a higher number. अधिकरण is described as – विषयोविशयश्चैव पूर्वपक्ष: तदोत्तरम् संगतिश्चेति पञ्चांगम् शास्त्रेय अधिकरण स्मृतम्. विषय (subject) is conveyed here and such विषय is discussed in a manner that the doubts that one may come across while listening to the विषय are placed within the सूत्र; then पूर्वपक्ष followed by उत्तरपक्ष (meaning argument favouring the doubt raised earlier followed by the response to the argument) is placed here. उत्तरपक्ष is also conveyed as सिद्धान्त. Las comes संगति (or connection) where the purpose for which the topic is being discussed is conveyed here. Thus, each अधिकरण has five parts – विषय, संशय, पूर्वपक्ष, उत्तरपक्ष (or सिद्धान्त) and संगति. 

The first अधिकरण has only this single सूत्र called as जिज्ञासा अधिकरण. Before getting into the सूत्र, आदिशंकर gives a long भाष्य called as अध्यास भाष्य. सूत्र means thread and आदिशंकर stated that बादरायण took वेदान्त वाक्य as the कुसुम and सूत्र was used to connect the various वेदान्त वाक्य within the उपनिषद् into a beautiful garland. बादरायण says elsewhere that if the entire उपनिषद् corpus has to be summarized in one line, this line will be – सर्वम् ब्रह्ममयम् जगत्. And what are its लक्षण? It is नित्य, शुद्ध, निर्मल, अद्वितीय, भेद-रहित and निर्गुण. So what does अध्यास mean? That which is perceived as something which it is not, is अध्यास – and this “something” is assigned attributes and properties wrongly which are not innate to such a “something” is also to be understood as अध्यास. अध्यास can also be understood as superimposition. There are two aspects – there is a विषय (subject of discussion understood) and विषयी (the one who is engaging with the subject). विषयी, or the idea of “me”. विषयी is called as अस्मत् प्रत्यय while विषय, (experienced as the “other”) is called as युष्मत् प्रत्यय. And mixing of the धर्म of विषय and विषयी with one another is called as अध्यास. विषय is आत्मा (the “I” चैतन्य) and if one takes a जीव, शरीर is commonly mistaken as अस्मत् प्रत्यय or विषयी while वेदान्त says that other than आत्मा which is the only विषयी or अस्मत् प्रत्यय, all else including one’s शरीर or मन or बुद्धि is युष्मत् प्रत्यय. अध्यास in this case is therefore the false superimposition on one’s शरीर, मन & बुद्धि as me while, in reality, both are not the same and the धर्म of both are different. And because of this अध्यास, all the धर्म connected with the अन्त:करण (viz दुःख, सुख, काम, निश्चय, संकल्प, etc) are imputed onto myself whereas, these are disconnected. And since when has this अध्यास come about? शास्त्र says that this अध्यास is अनादि (it’s beginning cannot be determined) – this अध्यास has become the स्वभाव of the जीव owing to this association (of अन्त:करण with आत्मा) becoming a habitual way of life for many lives. Another term for अध्यास is अविद्या. Then what is विद्या? Using विवेक, when one is able to arrive at the real स्वरूप of any वस्तु, such ज्ञान that comes from विवेक is विद्या. And ब्रह्म सूत्र is a शास्त्र to enable one to arrive at what is really to be understood as अस्मत् प्रत्यय, viz आत्मा (and separate everything else as an expression of अविद्या). 

How does knowledge happen? There is a trio that needs to be known – प्रमाता, प्रमाण and प्रमेय. प्रमाता refers to the knower, प्रमाण refers to the proof that is applied to know while प्रमेय is that which is the known. This is the त्रिपुटी (trio) and all those experience अध्यास live with the presence of this त्रिपुटी within themselves. And all those who experience अध्यास require a शास्त्र to help them get out of अध्यास. And what happens when अध्यास is removed? Then, one realizes one’s own आत्मा as ज्ञान स्वरूप – there is no “other” – that is the ज्ञान स्थिति that is the goal of शास्त्र. 

Towards whom is the ब्रह्म सूत्र oriented to? All people who experience अध्यास in their way of living need this शास्त्र. They may be normal लौकिक or even पण्डित who may know the सूत्र very well but if their conduct at a व्यवहार level displays अध्यास, they may continue to derive value from this शास्त्र. This दृष्टि is seeing the word as well as our शरीर as separate from ourselves is called as परिच्छिन्न दृष्टि. Says आदिशंकर – I am writing the भाष्य on ब्रह्मसूत्र to get rid of all हेतु (aid/ support) of अनर्थ – अनर्थ refers to that which has no प्रयोजनम् (utility) and is a दुःख-कारक and the हेतु of अनर्थ is अध्यास. An example will be useful here:

आत्मा refers to “I” चैतन्य. अनात्मा refers to that which is experienced by the आत्मा. Let us analyze सूर्य कान्ति which is falling on a tree. The same tree was not visible at night-time but once the कान्ति lights it up, the tree is fully visible with branches, root, leaves, flowers and fruits. Then when one zooms further on each of the leaves, some are fully green, some are just born, some have become brown, etc. Same goes for flowers or other parts of the tree. Note here that the सूर्य कान्ति is not just making the tree visible, the tree attains पुष्टि and the leaves attain their green colour owing to the कान्ति. We can therefore create a table to explain these concepts:

सूर्य	ब्रह्म
सूर्य कान्ति	आत्मा or “I” चैतन्य
वृक्ष	प्रपञ्च
Various types of leaves, flowers, branches, etc	All kinds of उपाधि present within प्रपञ्च

Note above that the same कान्ति is giving green colour to leaves, red to flowers, yellow to fruits, brown to branches, etc. But did the कान्ति assume all these colours? No. But the same कान्ति has given each उपाधि its own धर्म. At the same time, on a beautiful morning – we make a statement “The tree is glowing in beauty and splendour”. Question is – Is the tree glowing? Does the कान्ति assume all these various colours? What is happening here is that we impute the glow of the light onto the tree and equally, we impute the various colours to the कान्ति – this is classic अध्यास – imputing the धर्म of one onto the other and thereby wrong mixing the धर्म of both. And this has been going on for many lives – hence, अध्यास is deeply embedded into our persona. And therefore, the I चैतन्य that lights up each and every part of the प्रपञ्च starts believing that there are multiple आत्मा – however, the reality is that the कान्ति is only one and it is the one चैतन्य that lights up all of diversity everywhere within the प्रपञ्च. And while the individual aspects of प्रपञ्च keep changing, being born, grow and decay on a continuing basis, the कान्ति is merely an observer, a साक्षी that always remains the changeless one. Taking this one step further, where does कान्ति obtain its glow? It obtains from the सूर्य – and is सूर्य itself separate from the कान्ति? No – since both are really one only. Similarly, the I चैतन्य and ब्रह्म are non-different – they are not divisible (they are अखण्ड). We have to conclude via this example that ब्रह्म (or सूर्य) is the only reality – there is no other.

To be continued………