Brahma Sutras

The Brahma Sutras are a concise Sanskrit work that arranges and interprets teachings from the Upanishads about Brahman, the self, and liberation.

Upanishads: A collection of late Vedic texts exploring ultimate reality, the self, and liberation. Their teachings are the primary scriptural material the sutras organize.
Adhikarana: A structured unit of Indian philosophical analysis that addresses a particular interpretive question. The sutras are commonly read as a series of these question-centered units.
Advaita Vedanta: A Vedanta school that teaches the ultimate nonduality of Brahman and Atman. Shankara’s interpretation makes the sutras support nondualism.
Badarayana: The traditional author of the Brahma Sutras, whose identity and historical date remain uncertain. Indian tradition attributes the sutras to Badarayana.
Brahman: The ultimate reality or ground of existence in many Hindu philosophical traditions. The sutras examine what the Upanishads teach about Brahman.
Purvapaksha: An opposing or preliminary position presented before a philosophical argument’s conclusion. Commentators often reconstruct objections that each sutra unit must answer.
Vishishtadvaita: A Vedanta school that understands Brahman as qualified by real selves and the world. Ramanuja interprets the sutras as affirming unity without erasing distinctions.
Adi Shankara: An influential Indian philosopher whose commentary established a major interpretation of Advaita Vedanta. His Brahma Sutra commentary became a defining statement of nondual interpretation.
Atman: The self or innermost principle of a person in Indian philosophical and religious traditions. The sutras address the self’s relation to Brahman and its fate after death.
Siddhanta: An established conclusion reached after examining competing philosophical positions. The arguments aim to establish conclusions about the meaning of the Upanishads.

Linked from 12 pages