88 Sri-Caitanya-caritamrta
TEXT 106
RZ BE, CUNS-YS FF I-AA |
aiAacrt CHA BW) Deararge i sow i
prabhu kahe, vedanta-sutra isvara-vacana
vyasa-rupe kaila yaha sri-narayana
SYNONYMS

prabhu kahe—the Lord began to speak; vedanta-sutra—the philosophy of Vedanta-
sutra; isvara-vacana—spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead; vyasa-rupe—
in the form of Vyasadeva; kaila—He has made; yaha—whatever; sri-narayana—the
Supreme Personality of Godhead.

TRANSLATION

The Lord said: ‘‘Vedanta philosophy consists of words spoken by the Supreme

Personality of Godhead Narayana in the form of Vyasadeva.
PURPORT

Vedanta-sutra, which consists of codes revealing the method of understanding
Vedic knowledge, is the concise form of all Vedic knowledge. It begins with the
words athato brahma-jijnasa (‘‘now is the time to inquire about the Absolute Truth”).
The human form of life is especially meant for this purpose, and therefore the
Vedanta-sutra very concisely explains the human mission. This is confirmed by the
words of the Vayu and Skanda Puranas, which define a sutra as follows:

alpaksaram asandigdham saravat visvatomukham
astobhamanavadyam ca sutram sutra-vido viduh

“A sutra is a code that expresses the essence of all knowledge in a minimum of words.
It must be universally applicable and faultless in its linguistic presentation.’’ Anyone
familiar with such sutras must be aware of the Vedanta-sutra, which is well known
among scholars by the following different names: (1) Brahma-sutra, (2) Sariraka,
(3) Vyasa-sutra, (4) Badarayana-sutra, (5) Uttara-mimarnsa and (6) Vedanta-darsana.

There are four chapters (adhyayas) in the Vedanta-sutra, and there are four divi-
sions (padas) in each chapter. Therefore the Vedanta-sutra may be referred to as
sodasa-pada, or sixteen divisions of codes. The theme of each and every division is
fully described in terms of five different subject matters (adhikaranas), which are
technically called pratijna, hetu, udaharana, upanaya and nigamana. Every theme
must necessarily be explained with reference to pratijfia, or a solemn declaration of
the purpose of the treatise. The solemn declaration given in the beginning of the
Vedanta-sutra is athato brahma-jijhasa, which indicates that this book was written
with the solemn declaration to inquire about the Absolute Truth. Similarly, reasons
