Brahma Sutras – Sutra 1 

(According to Shri Shankaracharya)

The Advantage of Studying the Brahma Sutras:

By studying the Brahma Sutras, we learn the following:

(1) The Nature of Brahman (the Ultimate Reality or Truth, the One Existence). It can be thought of as Pure Consciousness.

(2) We learn the characteristics of Brahman which have been realized by the Knowers of Truth, called the Rishis.

(3) We find the seeds of the “Vedanta Philosophy” which have been fully developed later on by the great teachers. Especially, we can be familiar with the background of Swami Vivekananda’s lectures on the Vedanta.

(4) We learn some of the important passages from the Upanishads. In particular, we learn the true meaning of those passages of the Upanishads which are unclear or ambiguous.

(5) By knowing correctly the nature of Brahman we can get rid of our spiritual and religious superstitions which could be the obstacles in our spiritual development.

Now, let us start to learn about the Brahma Sutras. It is said that people at least should learn the meanings of the first four Brahma Sutras.

The 555 Brahma Sutras are divided into four chapters. Each chapter has four sections and each section has several topics.

Chapter -1:  “What is Brahman?”

 Topic – 1: The inquiry into Brahman and its pre-requisites (sutra-1)

Sutra-1: 

Meaning: Now, therefore, the inquiry into the real nature of Brahman.

Comments:  Now, means after being prepared to inquire about the Brahman.

How do we prepare ourselves?

To prepare ourselves for the inquiry into Brahman, the following four practices have been mentioned by Shri Shankaracharya in the Viveka-Chudamani:

(1) Viveka – Awareness of what is permanent and what is not permanent. (The word discrimination has other connotations, so I would not use it.) Logically, emotionally, and through experiences we have to come to an understanding that anything that has a beginning and an end is impermanent. Thus, our body, mind, and all the objects of the world which we perceive by our senses are impermanent. The One Reality or One Existence, called Brahman, lies behind all the impermanent things. It is the only permanent reality. It is our true identity and the goal of life is to realize it.

(2) Vairagya – Giving up the cravings for the impermanent.

Shri Ramakrishna said that a child is busy playing with toys. During that time the mother takes care of the cooking and other choirs of the house. But, when the child gets bored by the toys and gets hungry, then the child screams for the mother. At that time, the mother puts away the pots and pans and runs to the child.

Vairagya is like ‘getting bored’ by all the temporary joys of the senses and realizing that the worldly objects cannot give us permanent happiness, satisfaction, and fulfillment of life. When this understanding comes, then naturally one gets withdrawn from the worldly objects and seeks the realization of Brahman which gives infinite bliss and the fulfillment of life.

(3) Shama-Dama-Shada Samppati: The following six practices are important to have:

(i) Shama:  Withdrawing the mind from all the sense objects, meaning giving up all the thoughts related to the sense objects and focusing on Brahman, is called Shama. We need to acquire the control of our mind by constant practice of japa and meditation.

(ii) Dama: In order to have control of the mind, we need control of the senses which is called Dama. We have to practice both the Shama and Dama together. They are inter-connected. The control of the senses can be acquired by practicing austerity. For example, have a daily spiritual schedule to do spiritual practices and strictly follow it for several years, at least twelve years. Then, controlling the senses by various austerities, like fasting, controlling what we watch, listens to, eat, and other sense-related activities. Practicing truthfulness (Satya), non-violence (Ahimsa), celibacy (Brahmacharya), not to be greedy, or envy or jealous (Asteya) and have a simple living (Aparigraha) are also important practices.

(iii) Uparati: Giving up all worldly dependency and being dependent only on the Self (Atman or Brahman) is important. From the devotional point of view, it is surrendering to God. We have to practice to withdraw our minds from the world and focus on Brahman.

(iv) Titiksha: Bear the worldly suffering without any complaint or worry is essential. We have to think that God is the doer of everything. As good-time cones, bad-time also comes. We just have to go through all the situations of life keeping our mind focused only on the goal of life – Self-realization.

(v) Shraddha: Having faith in the words of the scriptures and in the teachings and guidance of Saints, Sages, and our spiritual teachers is a must. In the world, we have faith in the news-media, doctors, plumbers, electricians, accountants, lawyers, airplane-pilots, and others. Many of them are selfish, but we have faith in them and follow their instructions. Then, why cannot we have faith in the words of the scriptures and the Saints who are unselfish and are telling us for our good? Our ego is the main obstacle in having this faith. In the spiritual path, we think we are wiser than the scriptures and the Saints. It is hard for many of us to accept that even though we may be very advanced and knowledgeable in the worldly fields, we are just KG students in the spiritual path.

(vi) Samadhan: Fixing the mind and the intellect on Brahman with a firm conviction that realizing Brahman is the goal of human life and my life’s mission will be fulfilled if I realize It.

4) Mumukshutva – means to have an intense desire to realize Brahman. We can study scriptures and acquire the intellectual grasp of the teachings of the scriptures and Saints, but if we have not developed an intense desire to realize Brahman, then it is of no use. Restlessness and passion have to be developed naturally to realize Brahman. At the end of the day, seeing the sun-set Shri Ramakrishna was rolling on the ground crying profusely saying ‘O Mother! One more day is gone and I have not realized Thee. Would my life go in vain without your vision?”

To realize God or Brahman, Shri Ramakrishna says that one has to combine the intensity of the three attractions: the greedy person’s attraction for wealth, a loving husband’s or wife’s attraction for his/her spouse, and the mother’s attraction for her child.

Note: When we read all the pre-requisites needed even to inquire about the nature of Brahman, we get dishearten and think that we will not be fit for such knowledge in this life. We should not be disheartened because of these pre-requisites.

I think these pre-requisites tell us that God-realization is not possible just by doing casual spiritual practices, performing a few religious rituals, reading a few books, listening to a few spiritual discourses, and occasionally chanting the name of God. God-realization or realization of Brahman is the highest state a human being can attain. It needs a life-time commitment, an intense desire and a readiness to make all possible efforts to achieve this goal.

Actually, the pre-requisites give us a guide-line to achieve this goal. We have to follow this guide-line. It is not the case that we have to fulfill all the pre-requisites first and then inquire into the nature of Brahman. Simultaneously we have to prepare ourselves with proper spiritual practices and inquire into the nature of Brahman. As we make progress in fulfilling the pre-requisites, we also make progress in understanding the nature of Brahman. After some spiritual practices if a question comes to our mind ‘why am I not realizing Brahman?’, then we have to look at the pre-requisites and we will know the reason.

Benefits of realization of Brahman: If we truly understand the importance of the realization of Brahman, then our desire to attain it becomes more intense. Swami Vivekananda says that a genuine thief who is looking for wealth finds that in the next room there is precious jewelry hidden, he/she will make all the efforts to acquire that jewelry.

The benefits of realizing Brahman are unlimited and hard to write down on a piece of paper. But, I will write down a few benefits which I think important to me:

(1) A human being is looking for three things in life: (i) the Ultimate Knowledge which solve all the fundamental questions of life, (ii) Infinite Bliss which does not depend on any worldly object, and (iii) Immortality, becoming fearless by conquering the fear of death and thus all fears of life. The realization of Brahman gives all these three which we cannot attain by any knowledge of the world.

(2)  Removes all the sorrows of life

(3) Brings peace, satisfaction, and fulfillment of life

(4) It makes us feel connected with all. Thus, we develop unselfish love for all. What we give to the world that we receive from the world. Thus, by giving unselfish love to all, our life gets filled with unselfish love. Even we can transform the hatred into love.

(5) All our doubts, confusion, and superstitions will vanish.

Therefore, the inquiry into the nature of Brahman:

People, who have understood the benefits of realizing Brahman plunge into the spiritual practices to realize It. We do not have to wait to enjoy the above-mentioned benefits until we realize Brahman. Shri Ramakrishna says that on a hot summer day when we go towards an ocean, we feel the cool breeze of the water, enjoy listening to the sounds of the waves and the chirping of the birds and other things. Thus, even during the journey to realize Brahman we enjoy all the benefits. Let us just start the journey. We will never regret it.

Let us learn the nature of Brahman and then realize that our true identity is Atman, the support of our body and mind and it is not different from Brahman (Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute).