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Philosophical Contents In Brahmasutra

Without reference to any school of thought, Badarayana himself may be said to hold the following philosophical position:

Badarayana admits Veda and inference as the means of knowledge of super-sensible truths and sensible objects respectively.

The shruti (directly perceived text) includes other religious books (smriti) based on that text, for example, the Bhagavad Gita and the Institutes of Manu and Badarayana. These books have, however, only derivative authority because they are not directly perceived, intuited or revealed texts like Vedas and Upanishads but are the works of some authors. The directly perceived text is described by Badarayana as pratyaksha (direct perception). This is by virtue of immediacy and self-evidencing character. Ordinary sense-perception is immediate but is not self-evidencing. The Veda carries its own credentials and does not require any other source of knowledge to certify its validity.

Inference, although accepted by Badarayana as a source of knowledge, is not an independent authority. It depends on sense-perception for its function. While inference may be useful in obtaining knowledge about the sensible objects of the world, scripture is the sole evidence for the knowledge of Brahman and other supersensible matters.

Any inferential reasoning, again, will be valid only if it in conformity with the knowledge text. Reason has its inherent limitations. It can inform things which have their sensible properties and marks. Brahman does not have any identifiable marks or signs and hence inference finds itself powerless to operate at the level of Brahman. So Veda, giving rise to direct intuition, provides the knowledge of Brahman. Devotion and meditation help one to obtain this intuition.

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