It’s said that after composing the Upanisadis, Srila Vyasadeva wrote the Vedanta Sutra (or Brahma Sutras), giving there the conclusion of the Vedas. As devotees we hear a lot about the Vedanta Sutra, being it central to the discussions of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu with Sarvabauma Battacharya and Prakashananda Sarasvati, for example.
But what exactly is the Vedanta Sutra? The Vedanta Sutra is a relatively small book composed of 555 sutras that give a set of conclusions about the teachings of the Vedas. When we study the Bhagavad-Gita or the Srimad Bhagavatam we are used to studying verses containing four, or sometimes six lines, but the Sutras in the Vedanta Sutra are usually much more compact. Most include just one line, and some include just one word.
One example is the Sutra 1.1.9, which contains a single word, “svāpyayāt”. How are we supposed to understand something like that?
The point is that the Sutras are extremely dependent on the context and the definition of words. The word svāpyayāt, for example, is the result of a combination of two smaller words: sva (the Self) and apyayat (entering). We can see that even understanding the meaning of the words doesn’t help much. We need to also understand the context of what is being discussed.
All the different interpretations of the Vedanta Sutra (starting with the Sariraka Bhasya of Sankaracarya, and culminating with the Vaishnava interpretation of Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana) are based on giving a consistent explanation of the Sutras, giving the definition of the words and the context of each Sutra. This is the factor that makes the Vedanta Sutra so appealing to inquisitive minds since it poses a formidable intellectual challenge. For centuries great intellectuals in India have been inconclusively discussing the meaning of the Vedanta Sutra, and in this way debating about the conclusions of the Vedas.
For example, according to the Govinda Bhasya, the Vaishnava interpretation of Sri Baladeva, the 9th Sutra (svāpyayāt) appears in the context of a discussion about the nature of the Supreme Brahman.
Although transcendental, Brahman frequently comes to this material world. When He does so, he appears in a visible form, which which He performs activities. As Varaha, He lifted the Earth from the depths of the causal ocean, as Nrshinhadeva he fought with the powerful demon Hiranyakashipu who was terrorizing the Universe, and so on. One could argue that since Brahman assumes different forms and performs different activities, such forms must be material, but the word “svāpyayāt” (He merges into Himself) indicates that this is not the case.
If Brahman was a product of the material nature, He would merge back into the material nature, but as this verse explains, this is not the case. Brahman merges back into Himself, and this again proves that Brahman, including all avataras, is transcendental.
Some philosophers try to point out pradhana (the unmanifested total of material energy from where all the material universes appear) as the ultimate source, but this idea is contradicted here (as well as in the previous sutras). Pradana is not the source of the Supreme Brahman, rather Brahman is the source of Pradhana as well as of everything that exists.
We can see that in this way, when properly understood, the Vedanta Sutra deconstructs different mistaken ideas that one may have about transcendence. The problem is that incorrect interpretations are widespread, and thus the real meaning of the Vedanta Sutra remains covered for most people.
The answer to this is the Srimad Bhagavatam, the authorized commentary of the Vedanta Sutra written by Srila Vyasadeva Himself. Different from the Vedanta Sutra, wich gives conclusions in an extremely compact and cryptic way, the Srimad Bhagavatam describes the Supreme Personality of Godhead in an open and direct way.
The meaning of the first verses of the Vedanta Sutra (wich discuss the nature of the Supreme Brahman), for example, is given in the first verse of the Srimad Bhagavatam:
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
janmādy asya yato ’nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ svarāṭ
tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ
tejo-vāri-mṛdāṁ yathā vinimayo yatra tri-sargo ’mṛṣā
dhāmnā svena sadā nirasta-kuhakaṁ satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi
Srila Prabhupada translated this verse as: “O my Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, son of Vasudeva, O all-pervading Personality of Godhead, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. I meditate upon Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa because He is the Absolute Truth and the primeval cause of all causes of the creation, sustenance and destruction of the manifested universes. He is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations, and He is independent because there is no other cause beyond Him. It is He only who first imparted the Vedic knowledge unto the heart of Brahmājī, the original living being. By Him even the great sages and demigods are placed into illusion, as one is bewildered by the illusory representations of water seen in fire, or land seen on water. Only because of Him do the material universes, temporarily manifested by the reactions of the three modes of nature, appear factual, although they are unreal. I therefore meditate upon Him, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is eternally existent in the transcendental abode, which is forever free from the illusory representations of the material world. I meditate upon Him, for He is the Absolute Truth.”
We can see that when the Srimad Bhagavatam is accepted, there is very little space for misunderstanding. That’s why Prabhupada put emphasis on teaching the Srimad Bhagavatam instead of the Vedanta Sutra, seeing that this has a much greater potential in instructing the masses of people about the correct meaning of the scriptures.
Apart from discussing the nature of the Supreme Brahman, the Vedanta Sutra also discusses the nature of other topics. For example, what we should meditate upon when we chant the Gayatri mantra? What is the nature of space and light? What is the nature of the Gayatri? What is prana, the vital air? And so on. These are all topics discussed in the scriptures, and the Vedanta Sutra gives the conclusions.
Do we also need to study the Vedanta Sutra? It’s useful if one wants to debate in higher circles, especially in academic environments, but it is not necessary if one just wants to understand the scriptures. THe point is that the conclusions of the Vedanta Sutra are given in the Srimad Bhagavatam, and the commentary written by Srila Prabhupada makes the meaning extremely clear. Not only the nature of the SUpreme Personality of Godhead is revealed, but one can understand well the other conclusions of the Brahma Sutras, making a separate study unnecessary.