Canonicals of Vedanta

The canonicals of Vendanta are three – the Upanishads, the Gita and the BrahmaSutra.

1.   Shruti: (Revelation): The upadesha prasthana or injunctive texts are the Upanishads. They are the starting point of revelation.

Upanishads are the Gjana Kanda or the ‘chapters of Knowledge’ within the Vedas (the other being the Karma Kanda or the rituals).

Each of the four Vedas can be broadly divided into two:

a.   The Karma Kanda (or Brahmanas) or chapters dedicated to Karma or action

b.   The Gjana Kanda or the chapters dedicated to Gjana or wisdom 

The Karma Kanda deals with the rituals and customs that one has to perform to attain something. For example, to attain a job, a child, neutralize bad luck etc. In terms of Vedanta, this translates to duality or Dvaita -  You and god. Meaning that there is two and you do things to attain god.

The other part is the Gjana Kanda which is Advaita or non-duality. You and god are one – everything is a part of the Brahman – the absolute. The Gjana Kanda are the Upanishads.

Upanishad is derived from ‘upa’, ‘ni’ and ‘shad’ – Upa meaning ‘sit’, ‘ni’ meaning destroy and ‘shid’ meaning ignorance or in total translating to ‘sit down (with a guru) and destroy ignorance’

The ‘Guru’ is the ‘destroyer of ignorance’. Vedanta defines a ‘guru’ as someone who possesses two qualities:

a.   Has to be self realized and

b.   Has to be well versed in the Upanishads. 

The ‘shishya’ (disciple) of the above guru is defined in four qualities that are needed:

a.   Viveka (discrimination – especially between real and unreal)

b.   Vairagya (dispassion, detachment)

c.   Calmness of mind

d.   Yearning for liberation

It must be noted that in Advaita Vedanta, the philosophy does not deny duality. In fact it states that there are two of everything (ignorance/knowledge; light/darness; real/maya, jeevatma/paramatma). But that both are Brahman or that they are one and the same.

To-date, there have been about 200 upanishads that have been discovered. The earliest ones called the mukhya (or most important) upanishads are a part of the Vedas.

Many western philosophers like Schopenhauer have called it the ‘highest human wisdom’. Transcendentalists like Emerson and Thoreau have noted many similarities between the doctrines of the Upanishads and those of Plato and Kant.

2.   Smrithi: (Recollection): Sadhana prasthana or practical text is the Bhagavad Gita. This deals with everything that is stored in the subconscious mind and can be recalled to one’s consciousness.

I will explain this in detail over my later series of blogs on the Bhagavad gita.

3.   Brahmasutras: Also know as Vedanta Sutras, They are the Nyaya prasthana or Yukti prasthana or logical text. They apparently provide the ‘logic-based starting point’. They are intended to be a summary of the teachings of the Upanishads. They are often referred to as the Uttara-Mimamsa or the investigation of the later part of the Vedas as differentiated from the Mimamsa or the earlier part of the Vedas (Brahmanas) that deal with the Karma-Kanda. The author of the Brahmasutra is Badarayana. He is sometimes known as Krishna Dwaypayana Vyasa to the Vaishnavaites, the author of the epic Mahabharatha.

The attempt of the Brahma Sutras is to reconcile the seemingly contradictory and diverse thoughts across the various Upanishads and the Gita. Sutra or ‘thread’ means to stich the various pieces of Vedanta together. 

The Brahmasutras consist of 555 aphorisms (a pithy observation that contains a general truth or the concise statement of a scientific principle) or sutras in four Adhyaya or chapters. Each chapter has four quarters or padas and each pada has groups of sutras called  Adhikaranas.

The first chapter is the Samanvaya or Harmony. This talks about Brahman, the ultimate reality and goal of life. The second is the Avirodha or non-confict. This talks about the possible objections to Vedanta and counters each of them. The third is the Sadhana or the means of achieving moksha or liberation. The fourth chapter is Phala or the fruit. This talks about the state that is achieved once we attain liberation.

Commentaries have been written on the Brahmasutras by many enlightened souls like Sankara, Padmapada, Ramanuja, Madhvacharya, Jayatirtha, Bhaskara etc. Each one has written it from a different point of view while the core subject and pretext remains the same.