পর্ব ১২
প্রীতম সেনগুপ্ত
মাদ্রাজ বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের সেন্টার ইন অ্যাডভান্সড স্টাডি ইন ফিলজফির তৎকালীন অধিকর্তা টি এম পি মহাদেবন ১৯৭২ সালে জানুয়ারি মাসে স্বামী গম্ভীরানন্দজী অনূদিত গ্রন্থ ‘Brahma Sutra Bhasya of Sankaracarya’-র মুখবন্ধে লিখছেন--
The three basic texts of Vedanta are Upnisads, the Bhagavad-gita and the Brahma- Sutra. Together they are referred to as the prasthana- trya, triple canon of Vedanta. The Upanisads constitute the revealed texts ( Sruti-prasthana); they mark the summits of the Veda which is Sruti ( the heard, the revealed ).They are the pristine springs of Vedantic metaphysics; Vedanta is the name given to them because they are end ( aim as well as concluding parts ) of the Veda ( veda+ anta ). The Bhagavad Gita comes next only to the Upanisads. It is given a status which is almost equal to that of the Upanisads. As embodying the teachings of Sri Krisna, and as constituting the cream of the Epic Mahabharata, the Bhagavad-gita occupies a unique place in the Vedantic tradition. A popular verse compares the Upanisads to the cows, the Bhagavad-gita to the milk, Shri Krisna to the milkman, Arjuna, the Pandava hero, to the calf, and the wise people to the partakers of the milk. Sri Sankara describes the Bhagavad-gita as the quintessence of the teaching of the entire Veda ( Samasta-vedartha-sarasngraha-bhutam). As this text forms a part of the Mahabharata which is a Smriti ( the remembered, i.e a secondary text based on the Veda ); it is called Smriti-Prasthana. The third of the canonical texts is the Brahmasutra which is regarded a Naya-prasthana, because it sets forth the teachings of Vedanta in a logical order. This work is known by other names also; Vedanta-sutra, since it is aphoristic text on Vedanta; Sarirka-sutra, since it is concerned with the nature and destiny of embodied soul; Bhiksu-sutra, since those who are most competent to studying it are the sannyasins; Uttaramimamsa- Sutra, since it is an inquiry into the final sections of the Veda.
The author of the Brahma-sutra is Badarayana whom Indian tradition identifies with Vyasa, the arranger or the compiler of the Veda. A verse in the Bhamati which is Vacaspati Misra's commentary on Sri Sankara's commentary on Brahma-sutra, describes Vyasa as the incarnation of Visnu's cognitive energy (Janasakti-avatara ). In the Brahma-sutra, Badarayana- Vyasa strings together the leading concepts of Vedanta in an ordered manner. The Sutra is an exquisite garland made out of Upanisad-blossoms. It is divided into four chapters ( adhyas ); each chapter consists of four parts ( padas ); each part has number of sections ( adhikaranas ); and each section has one or more aphorisms ( sutras ). According to Sankara, the number of sections is 192. The total number of aphorisms is 555.
ব্রহ্মসূত্র বিষয়ে নানা ব্যাখ্যা ও চিন্তাভাবনার প্রতিফলন বিষয়ক চর্চা আমাদের ব্রহ্মসূত্র বিষয়টিকে আরও বেশি বুঝে উঠতে সাহায্য করবে। ফলে নানাভাবে এই বিষয়টিতে অধিকতর আলোকপাত পাঠককে সমৃদ্ধ করবে।
(ক্রমশ)
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