Prasthanatraya

The three foundational texts of Vedanta: the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Brahma Sutras.

Overview

The word prasthana literally means royal road. The prasthanatraya is the triple canon of vedanta — the three root texts on which the tradition is built:

• upanishads — the shruti prasthana, the Vedic source (see shruti)
• bhagavad-gita — the smriti prasthana, part of the Mahabharata and thus remembered rather than directly revealed (see smriti)
• brahma-sutras — the nyaya prasthana, the reasoning/logical text

Swami cites an image used by one swami: most Advaitic texts are pagdandi — narrow hill lanes, specialized methods and viewpoints. The Gita in contrast is a prasthana, a royal road — comprehensive, practical, answering a wide range of questions the narrower texts do not take up.

Related concepts

• Foundational to vedanta
• Components: upanishads, bhagavad-gita, brahma-sutras
• Categories: shruti, smriti

Lecture evidence

• Ep. 1 [25:07]: The three root texts of Vedanta — the triple canon.
• Ep. 1 [26:56]: Gita is a prasthana — a royal road, a freeway — where other texts are narrow lanes.