Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary by Sankaracharya, Part I (Brahma Sutra Bhashya)

Transliteration of Oriental Alphabets adopted for the Trans¬ lations of the Sacred Books of the East . . . . 445 To the sacred literature of the Brahmans, in the strict sense of the term, i. e. to the Veda, there belongs a certain number of complementary works without whose assistance the student is, according to Hindu notions, unable to do more than commit the sacred texts to memory. In the first place all Vedic texts must, in order to be under¬ stood, be read together with running commentaries such as Saya;za 5 s commentaries on the Sa^hitas and Brahma^as, and the Bhashyas ascribed to .Sankara on the chief Upanishads. But these commentaries do not by themselves conduce to a full comprehension of the contents of the sacred texts, since they confine themselves to explaining the meaning of each detached passage without investigating its relation to other passages, and the whole of which they form part; considerations of the latter kind are at any rate introduced occasionally only. The task of taking a com¬ prehensive view of the contents of the Vedic writings as a whole, of systematising what they present in an unsystematical form, of showing the mutual co-ordination or sub¬ ordination of single passages and sections, and of reconciling contradictions—which, according to the view of the orthodox commentators, can be apparent only—is allotted to a sepa¬ rate jastra or body of doctrine which is termed Mima^sa, i. e. the investigation or enquiry kclt iioxyv, viz. the enquiry into the connected meaning of the sacred texts.