Brahmasutras — The Systemization of Vedanta
The Brahmasutras (or Vedanta Sutras) of Badarayana (c. 200 BCE) systematize the teachings of the Upanishads into 555 aphorisms — the foundational text on which all major Vedantic schools wrote their commentaries.
The Brahmasutras (Vedanta Sutras, Shariraka Mimamsa) attributed to Badarayana (c. 200 BCE) are the second pillar of the Prasthana Trayi — a systematic synthesis of the Upanishadic teachings in 555 terse aphorisms (sutras) organized in four chapters: (1) Samanvaya (harmonization — showing that all Upanishads teach Brahman); (2) Avirodha (non-conflict — defending Brahman-Atman identity against objections from other philosophical schools); (3) Sadhana (means — the practice leading to Brahman-recognition); (4) Phala (result — the fruits of Brahman-recognition, liberation). The sutras are so terse as to be nearly unintelligible without commentary — which is why the major Vedantic schools (Advaita, Vishishtadvaita, Dvaita) all wrote elaborate commentaries, each generating a different philosophical tradition from the same source text. Shankara's Brahmasutra Bhashya (Shariraka Mimamsa Bhashya) remains the most influential and philosophically rigorous of all these commentaries.
Athato Brahma jijnyasa — Now, therefore, the inquiry into Brahman (begins).
Scholar George Thibaut's 19th-century translation of the Brahmasutras — the first systematic English presentation — introduced Western philosophers to the extraordinary breadth and technical sophistication of the Vedantic tradition, influencing early German Idealists' engagement with Indian philosophy.
Brahmasutras