Brahma Sutras

The third root text of Vedanta — the nyaya prasthana, handling logic and reasoning.

Overview

The Brahma Sutras are the third of the three root texts of vedanta — the prasthanatraya. They are the nyaya prasthana: nyaya means logic or reasoning. While the Upanishads are the mystical source and the Gita is the accessible synthesis, the Brahma Sutras handle the philosophical and logical work of Vedanta.

Swami notes in passing that the Brahma Sutras are a very difficult text — “you don’t know how lucky you are” — and leaves them aside for the lecture series. The Gita, he says, takes up many of the same questions in more lucid language.

Related entities and concepts

• One of the prasthanatraya
• Alongside upanishads and bhagavad-gita as root texts of vedanta

Lecture evidence

• Ep. 1 [25:49]: Brahma Sutras — nyaya prasthana, logic/reasoning; a very difficult text.