Shruti: The Upanishads and Vedanta Sutras

Shruti: The Upanishads and Vedanta Sutras

Upanishads

Upanishad means “sitting near,” alluding to the tutorials given by a guru to his disciples (who would traditionally sit “at his feet’). The Upanishads are philosophical texts delineating some of the key concepts within Hinduism, including notions of the soul, reincarnation, karma, Brahman and liberation. The Upanishads are sometimes considered the beginning of direct spiritual instruction within the Vedas. The traditional number of Upanishads is 108, though there are many more, especially of recent origin. Of these, 13 are usually considered most important.

Vedanta Sutras

The Vedanta Sutras (also called the Brahma Sutras) are an attempt by the sage Vyasa (Badarayana) to systematise the teachings of the Upanishads. There are a total of 550 aphorisms divided between four chapters. Various authors wrote lengthy commentaries upon them, giving rise to the many different and often conflicting schools of Vedanta (see Vedanta and Mimamsa). Important commentaries – considered smriti – include the Shariraka Bhasya by Shankara, the Shri Bhasya by Ramanuja, the Shrikara Bhasya by Shripati, and the Govinda Bhasya by Baladeva.

Because people are less philosophically inclined in Kali-Yuga, the Upanishads and Vedanta Sutra are considered difficult to understand without the guidance of the supplementary smriti literature.