| Adhyāya 1 Outline |
This outline shows the structure of the first major division of Vedānta-sutra, including the four Pādas, their Adhikaraṇas and Sūtras. |
| Adhyāya 1 Pāda 1: Words which, taken by themselves, would not necessarily refer to Brahman, but in the Vedic context certainly refer to Brahman. |
The first Adhikaraṇa or topic of Vedānta begins the inquiry into the Absolute [Brahman or the Universal Quantum Wave Function]. Everyone should inquire very seriously about the Absolute. Why? Because knowledge of the Absolute—the science of consciousness—is the only source of unconditional happiness. There is no other means to obtain perfect, uninterrupted, endless happiness, because consciousness is the fundamental existential issue. Such exalted happiness is possible only through understanding and practicing the recondite truths of Vedānta in regard to one’s personal relationship with the Absolute. Because without happiness life is not worth living, one should inquire extensively about the Absolute until one reaches a conclusive practical understanding. In other words, one should dedicate a significant portion of one’s time and resources to inquiring about the science of consciousness and practicing transcendental knowledge until one attains self-realization, the source of unlimited happiness. This will bring the greatest satisfaction obtainable in human life. Pāda 1 includes the following Adhikaraṇas [topics]:
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| Adhyāya 1 Pāda 2: Certain other words, though less clearly related to Brahman, also describe Him. |
The First Pāda of this Adhyāya teaches that one should inquire about the Supreme Brahman, the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the creator of all universes. Certain words used in Vedic literature clearly refer to that Supreme Brahman. The Second and Third Pādas will demonstrate that certain other words, although less clearly related to Brahman, also describe Him. Pāda 2 includes the following Adhikaraṇas [topics]:
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| Adhyāya 1 Pāda 3: Some scriptural texts that may seem to describe the jīvas or some other topic actually describe the Supreme Brahman |
In this Third Pāda will be considered some scriptural texts that may seem to describe the jīva or some other topic but in truth describe the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Pāda 3 includes the following Adhikaraṇas [topics]:
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| Adhyāya 1 Pāda 4: Some scriptural texts that may seem to describe the jīvas or some other topic actually describe the Supreme Brahman (continued) |
Previously the sūtras affirmed that the Supreme Brahman is He the knowledge of whom brings liberation, He who is the seed of the birth, maintenance, and destruction of the material universes, who is different from both the jīvas and dead matter, who possesses innumerable inconceivable potencies, who is all-knowing, who possesses all auspicious qualities, who is free from all inauspiciousness, who possesses unlimited opulences, and who is supremely pure. Now we will consider the theory that the pradhāna [primordial material nature] and the pum [individual living entities] together comprise all that exists [and there is no God separate from them], which is propounded in the Kapila-tantra and perhaps also seen in some branches of the Vedas. Pāda 4 includes the following Adhikaraṇas [topics]:
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Adhyāya 2 Pāda 1:
Disproves the speculative Sāṅkhya theories of the theistic Kapila, but these proofs also apply to all such materialistic theories of creation. |
All theories attempting to establish a material cause, such as pradhāna, for the creation of the universe, are incorrect; it will also show that the conflicts between the Smṛti-śāstra and such theories are due to the fallacious reasoning of those theories, and that the views of the Vedānta texts are the only possible correct view. Pāda 1 includes the following Adhikaraṇas [topics]:
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Adhyāya 2 Pāda 2:
taking an aggressive attitude, the author attacks the positions of His opponents, refuting their systems by proving the uncritical and unphilosophical nature of their doctrines. |
The author first takes up the atheistic Sāṅkhya philosophy and refutes it. Then He analyzes the various schools of Buddhism, Jainism and the sectarian worshipers of various demigods. Pāda 2 includes the following Adhikaraṇas [topics]:
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Adhyāya 2 Pāda 3:
the various elements of the material world are manifested from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and they merge into Him at the end. |
This Third Pāda will show the truth that the various elements of the material world are manifested from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that they merge into Him at the end, that the individual spirit souls always existed, there not being a point in time when they were created, that the individual spirit souls have spiritual bodies full of knowledge, that the individual spirit souls are atomic in size although by their consciousness they are all-pervading within the material body, that the individual spirit souls are part-and-parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that Matsya-avatāra and the other avatāras are directly the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and that the variety of situations into which the conditioned souls are placed is caused by the previous karma. These will all be proved by refuting the ideas of they who claim that these statements are not true. Pāda 3 includes the following Adhikaraṇas [topics]:
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Adhyāya 2 Pāda 4:
contradictory passages describing the prāṇas will be harmonized. |
In the Third Pāda contradictory scriptural passages describing the elements were harmonized. In the Fourth Pāda contradictory passages describing the prāṇas [life-force and senses] will be harmonized. Pāda 4 includes the following Adhikaraṇas [topics]:
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Adhyāya 3 Pāda 1:
spiritual practices that should be followed in order to attain the Supreme Personality of Godhead. |
In the first pāda, the various defects of material existence are explained, to show that one should renounce the world. In this connection the description of the soul’s travels from one kind of material body to another kind of material body are quoted from the Pañcāgni-vidyā chapter of the Chāndogya Upaniṣad. Pāda 1 includes the following Adhikaraṇas [topics]:
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Adhyāya 3 Pāda 2:
Devotional service, by performing which one falls in love with the Supreme Personality of Godhead and attains His association, will be described in this pāda. |
In order to strengthen the soul’s love and devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Lord’s glorious creation of dreams and other states of being, the Lord’s identity with His many incarnations, His appearance as the all-pervading Supersoul, His non-identity with His worshipers, who are still one with Him in quality, His being attained only by devotional service, His appearance in both spiritual and material worlds, His transcendental blissfulness, His coming before His devotees according to the devotees’ love for Him, His supremacy over all, His supreme generosity, and a great host of the Lord’s other virtues and glories will also be described here. When a person desires to love, the beloved’s glories must be understood. Otherwise there can be no love. Pāda 2 includes the following Adhikaraṇas [topics]:
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Adhyāya 3 Pāda 3:
In this Pāda will be revealed the way of worshiping the Lord’s transcendental attributes. |
As in a vaidūrya jewel many splendid colors are always manifest, so in the Supreme Personality of Godhead many different transcendental forms, all perfect and without beginning, are also manifest eternally. Understanding that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is supremely perfect, complete, and pure, has many different forms, a devotee becomes attracted to one of the Lord’s forms and directs his worship to that form. If the various scriptures describe transcendental virtues present in that form of the Lord, all those virtues may also be ascribed to that single chosen form. Thus a person who worships the Supreme Personality of Godhead as present in His powers and opulences, such as the mind and the other powers of the world, should review the scriptures’ descriptions of the various qualities of these forms, but not of other forms of the Lord. Pāda 3 includes the following Adhikaraṇas [topics]:
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Adhyāya 3 Pāda 4:
transcendental knowledge is independent of Vedic rituals; that Vedic rituals are merely one subordinate aspect of transcendental knowledge; persons who have attained transcendental knowledge are divided into three classes. |
This Pāda will reveal the truths that transcendental knowledge is independent of Vedic rituals; that Vedic rituals are merely one subordinate aspect of transcendental knowledge; that persons who have attained transcendental knowledge are divided into three classes, and other similar truths. Pāda 4 includes the following Adhikaraṇas [topics]:
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Adhyāya 4 Pāda 1:
the results obtained by one who has transcendental knowledge |
Although some of the sūtras discuss the methods by which transcendental knowledge is obtained, because most discuss the results obtained by transcendental knowledge, this chapter bears the title “The Results of Transcendental Knowledge.” Pāda 1 includes the following Adhikaraṇas [topics]:
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Adhyāya 4 Pāda 2:
how a person enlightened with transcendental knowledge leaves his material body. |
In the next Pāda will be described the way the soul travels to the world of the demigods. In this Pāda will be described the way a person enlightened with transcendental knowledge leaves his material body. Pāda 2 includes the following Adhikaraṇas [topics]:
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Adhyāya 4 Pāda 3:
the path that leads to the realm of the Supreme Personality of Godhead |
In this Pāda will be described the nature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the path that leads to the realm of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Pāda 3 includes the following Adhikaraṇas [topics]:
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Adhyāya 4 Pāda 4:
the original forms of the liberated souls; their glory, opulence, bliss, and other features |
In this Pāda will be described first the original forms of the liberated souls, and then their glory, opulence, bliss, and other features. Pāda 4 includes the following Adhikaraṇas [topics]:
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