Brahma Sūtra
ब्रह्मसूत्र
Also written: brahma sutra · vedanta sutra · badarayana · brahmasutra shankara
The Upaniṣads are many, composed in different schools, and they say apparently different things. The Brahma Sūtra is the attempt to show that they say one thing — and it is written so tersely that its meaning is genuinely underdetermined, which is why the great schools of Vedānta could each claim it.
The four adhyāyas
| Chapter | Sanskrit | Subject |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Samanvaya | समन्वय | Harmony — that all Upaniṣadic texts converge on Brahman as the cause |
| 2. Avirodha | अविरोध | Non-contradiction — answering the objections of Sāṅkhya, Vaiśeṣika, Buddhist and Jaina schools |
| 3. Sādhana | साधन | The means — meditation, the qualified aspirant, the disciplines |
| 4. Phala | फल | The fruit — liberation, and the path after death |
The first four sūtras alone — the catuḥsūtrī — carry the weight of the whole. 'Now therefore the enquiry into Brahman.' 'That from which the origin and so forth of this.' 'Because scripture is the source.' 'But that, because it is the main purport.'
अथातो ब्रह्मजिज्ञासा।
athāto brahma-jijñāsā
Now, therefore, the enquiry into Brahman.
The commentaries are the schools
| Ācārya | Commentary | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Śaṅkara (8th c.) | Śārīraka Bhāṣya | Advaita — non-duality; Brahman alone is real, the world is name and form |
| Rāmānuja (11th c.) | Śrī Bhāṣya | Viśiṣṭādvaita — qualified non-duality; souls and world are the body of Brahman |
| Madhva (13th c.) | Pūrṇaprajña Bhāṣya | Dvaita — irreducible difference between God, souls and matter |
| Nimbārka (13th c.) | Vedānta Pārijāta Saurabha | Dvaitādvaita — difference and non-difference, both real |
| Vallabha (16th c.) | Aṇubhāṣya | Śuddhādvaita — pure non-dualism without māyā as illusion |
| Baladeva (18th c.) | Govinda Bhāṣya | Acintya-bhedābheda — inconceivable difference-in-identity, for the Gaudīya school |
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Last revised 2026-08-16. Corrections are welcome — see how this site is written.