Brahma Sutra or Vedanta Sutra

 The Brahma Sutras, or Vedanta Sutras, is a short treatise written by Srila Vyasadeva to transmit the ultimate conclusions of the Vedas. The Vedanta Sutra is usually taken as an incredibly complicated work because Sankaracarya wrote an extremely complex commentary with the goal of covering the real meaning. With the goal of bringing the followers of Buddha back into accepting the Vedas, he developed a philosophy that is very similar to Buddhism, but based on the Vedas. 

However, Srila Prabhupada calls our attention to the direct interpretation of the verses of the Vedanta Sutra, which was used by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to defeat stalwart Mayavadis such as Prakasananda Sarasvati and Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya and bring them to the proper understanding of the sastras. Srila Prabhupada gives us glimpses of these discussions in the Caitanya Caritamrta, as well as the Teachings of Lord Caitanya. 

This direct interpretation of the Vedanta Sutra is explained by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana in his Govinda Bhashya, and it is quite an invaluable tool when explaining Krsna Consciousness since many people who are resistant to accept direct statements from the Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam become easily attracted by the beautiful logic of the Vedanta Sutra. 

This is a short explanation of the first 11 sutras based on the explanations left by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana. I will publish half of it today, and the other half tomorrow. You can also find the two parts merged into a single article on the Path of Bhakti website. 

- The nature of the absolute 

1.1.1

"athāto brahma-jijñāsā"

- Now it's time to enquire about Brahman.

During our day-to-day struggles, we may not notice it, but the human form of life is very valuable. The Vedas explain that there are 8,400,000 forms of life in this universe, distributed amongst aquatics, plants, insects, lower animals, humans, and also higher beings, all the way up to Brahma, the creator of the universe we live in. 

Before attaining the human form, the soul has to pass through an extremely long evolutionary process, going through the millions of different forms of plants and animals. In all these different species there is something to be learned by the soul (insects don't care for their babies, for example, while mammals do), but only human beings have the higher intelligence necessary to understand philosophical topics. In all the lower species of life, the soul is fully immersed in the assumption that he is the body, and thus works tirelessly just to maintain it. Only in the human form of life, there is the possibility of understanding our real nature as spiritual beings transcendental to the body. 

This understanding of our transcendental nature has two components. The first component is to understand our nature as spiritual beings, transcendental to the body. The second is to understand Brahman, which is both our origin and our destination. The nature of this transcendental Brahman is the main topic of the Vedanta Sutra, and this first verse invites us to properly use our human intelligence to try to understand Him, not wasting our precious human existence by just taking care of the body like the animals. 

However, even when we come to the point of trying to understand Brahman there are many traps. Many consider Brahman to be just an impersonal force, in which we are supposed to just merge, liquidating our individual existence. This idea may sound attractive to the ones who are frustrated with material life, but this kind of spiritual suicide is not the main message of the Vedas. There is a superior understanding of Brahman, as a source of unlimited spiritual relationships, which is understandable only to the ones who have devotion to Him. In this way, Brahman can be understood only through the association of devotees. This superior meaning is picked up by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana, who translates this first verse in his Govinda Bhashya as: "After attaining association with devotees, one begins the inquiry concerning the Lord."

1.1.2

"janmādy asya yataḥ"

- From Him, everything emanates.

The first verse speaks about the importance of using our human intelligence to inquire about Brahman, but who or what is Brahman? Would Brahman be some kind of impersonal object? Would Brahman be some kind of conscious being? Would Brahman be a person like us? 

The second verse gives us the first clue to understanding the transcendental nature of Brahman, explaining that He is the source of everything, including us (as spirit souls) and the material Universe (including our bodies and everything else that exists). This has two very profound implications:

The first is that if Brahman is the source of the material nature, including all the material universes, this means Brahman is transcendental to the material nature. If an artist makes a painting, this proves that his nature is different from the painting. If the artist would also be a painting, he would not have hands to paint it. Therefore, the fact that Brahman is the source of the material nature and of the material universes proves that He is different from it. In other words, Brahman is transcendental. 

The second implication is that Brahman must be a conscious being. If I say that "Sergey created this car" this implies that Sergey is a person (or at least some kind of conscious being), since a rock or a lamp would not be capable of creating a car. I may not know who Sergey is, but just from the fact he created a car, I can understand that He is a person.

Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana translates this verse as: "From that Brahman arise creation, maintenance and destruction of this universe."

1.1.3

"śāstra-yonitvāt"

- He can be known through the sastras.

After understanding that Brahman is a person, where can we find more about Him? This is answered in the third sutra, "śāstra-yonitvāt", meaning that Brahman can be understood through the Sastras, or in other words, through the Vedas. 

The fact that the Vedas exist implies that Brahman created the Vedas (since the first verse explains that Brahman is the creator of everything that exists). This further contradicts the idea that Brahman is some kind of impersonal light since lamps can't write books. The most important meaning however is that although transcendental, Brahman can be understood by us, not through our limited imagination, but by studying the guidebooks He himself left in the form of the sastras, which include books such as the Bhagavad-Gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam. 

This ultimate meaning is picked up by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana, who translated this verse as: "The Lord cannot be known by reasoning because the source of understanding the Lord is the Upaniṣads."

1.1.4

"tat tu samanvayāt"

- (He is understood) by the harmony of different statements (from the sastras)".

The Vedas are a very extensive body of literature, which includes books that speak about different topics and give different conclusions that appear contradictory to the layman. This verse however emphasizes that the scriptures led to a logical conclusion and that such conclusion is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. 

In his Tattva Sandarbha, Srila Jiva Goswami carefully analyzes the different books that compose the Vedic literature and concludes that most of the books that compose the Vedas are too extensive and indirect to be understood by common men. He points to the Puranas as the way to understand the Vedas and concludes that the Srimad Bhagavatam is the ultimate conclusion of the Vedas. The Vedanta Sutra is a small treatise directed to inquisitive persons, which is more thoroughly explained through the 18,000 verses of the Srimad Bhagavatam. 

The Srimad Bhagavatam, in turn, can only be properly understood through the process of disciplic succession, an unbroken chain that brings us the proper conclusions of the verses, going all the way up to Srila Vyasadeva, the author himself. 

In this way, this 4th sutra indicates that the sastras lead to a logical conclusion and that such a conclusion is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. However, to reach such a conclusion one has to study the sastras through the proper process, receiving the proper conclusions from a spiritual teacher who is part of the proper disciplic succession since Brahman can't be understood through our limited imagination. 

This idea that the sastras ultimately lead to the Supreme Personality of Godhead (Lord Vishnu) is emphasized by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana, who translates this verse as: "But Viṣṇu is the conclusion because of the agreement of other scriptures as well."

1.1.5

"īkṣater nāśabdam"

- Brahman is not inexpressible (in words).

Two negatives make a positive. "Brahman is not inexpressive" indicates that Brahmana can indeed be explained by words. This contradicts the idea that Brahman can't be understood. This sutra makes it clear that it is possible to understand the transcendental nature of Brahman, but that there is a process for it. 

The nature of Brahman is explained in detail in the scriptures, especially in the Upaniṣads. The Bhagavad-Gita, for example, is considered one of the 108 Upanisads, and it contains a great deal of information about the Supreme Personality of Godhead, explained by Lord Krsna Himself. 

Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana translates this verse as: "Brahman is not inexpressible because scriptural statements to the contrary are seen in the Upaniṣads."