Quintessence of BrahmaSutra Sribhashya

Sri Ramanuja who lived in the 11th and 12th centuries (A.D) is believed as the greatest exponent of Visishtadvaita theostic philosophy. A highly devotional soul as he was, he wrote the magnificient commentaries to ‘Prasthanatraya’ and was also known as the author of the soul-inspiring Gadyatraya, and Nitya as well. The Prasthanatraya is a buzz-word for the three works together, viz. Upanishads, Bhagavad geeta and Brahma sutram. The Vedanta (Veda + anta) which means the concluding parts of the Veda is known as the upanishads, the pristinesprings of the vedantic philosophy, known as the Srutis. Sri Ramanuja’s work on this is known as the ‘Vedardha Sangraha’, a dissertation on the Visishtadvaita, which quite agrees with the injunctions and the prohibitions mentioned in the Vedas. Next to this Sruti Prasthana, comes the Bhagadvad Geeta which embodies the teachings of Lord SriKrishna, constituting the cream of the epic Mahabharata. Since the Mahabharata is the smriti, the Bhagavad Geeta comes under the Smriti Prasthana, and occupies a unique place in the Vedantic tradition, and it is regarded as the Geetopanishad. On the lines set forth in Geetardha Sangraha of Sri Yamuna Charya (Alvandar), the Geetabhashya is a fine commentary of Sri Ramanuja to the slokas of Bhagavad Geeta. The third in the Prasthanatraya is the Brahma Sutram known as the Sareeraka Sastra, written by Badarayana (Sage Vedavyasa) in four chapters. The works viz. Vedanta Sara, vedanta deepa and SriBhashya are the commentaries of Sri Ramanuja on Brahma Sutram. The SriBhashya is his magnum opus, in which he reestablishes the Visishtadvaita, mentioned in the vritti of Bodhayana reiterated in the vakya of Brahmanandi and in the Vakya-bhashya of Dramida Charya.