The book that I am going to announce today is not really a new book. I had started working on it 2 years ago, but I was not very comfortable giving a final shape to it. It is about a highly revered ancient Indian scripture, or shall I say the most controversial one. It is highly revered since it is supposed to put down in clear terms, everything about Brahma or God. I am terming it controversial since the same book has been used to justify diametrically opposite view points by many great Indian philosophers.
The reason why they could do it is because of the style in which it was composed. It follows a cryptic style called Sutra. This style is like literary shorthand. The message captured in a book written in that style can be deciphered only by someone who either directly knows the context in which it was composed or by someone who has been a successor in an unbroken tradition that followed such a composition. Otherwise, it is quite likely that the intents of the original composer can get misinterpreted. This is the main reason why such compositions often get interpreted variably.
In the present case, unfortunately, over a period of centuries this unbroken tradition has almost dwindled out and later successors have tended to use this composition as a support for their own ideologies which may not have been the intention of the original composer. While the original composer cannot be blamed for such an interpretations, the fact remains that his style of writing has given a scope for such distortion.
I am talking about the composition named Brahma Sutra by sage Badarayana. Nothing much is known about when this scripture was composed or about the person who composed it. Traditionally, it is believed that this Badarayana was same as sage Vyasa who composed the great Indian epic Mahabharata. That puts the date of composition to almost 5000 years ago. Since great Indian philosophers like Sankara have written elaborate commentaries on this scripture and also have quoted commentaries of earlier philosophers before them, undoubtedly this scripture is at least 1500 years old.
What is amazing is that this scripture seems to make oblique references to many esoteric systems such as Atomic theory, Origin of the world theory sans any divine being, impermanence theory of later Buddhists, and many more. Unlike the majority of world religions of today that propound a personified God, this scripture emphasizes on an abstract notion of God which is far from religious notion. It also argues why such a notion of God is essential to understand the origin and existence of the world that we see around. Simultaneously, it tries to iron out several pitfalls one may get into, due to various other views about the existence of the world.
Though this composition is quite short, the message it tries to convey seems to be quite elaborate. Great Indian philosophers like Sankara are believed to have written massive commentaries running to several tens of thousands of verses, on this deceptively short work. That probably should hint at the depth of this composition.
My intention is not to present this great scripture in its entirety with all the hidden or implied messages. What I attempt is to give a quick view of various schools of ancient Indian philosophy that this book appears to refute as ‘incorrect views’. I show how Badarayana achieves this both by taking recourse to commonly agreed upon ancient scriptures as well as well-established logic and reasoning. He also spells out what according to him are the right views which are not only logical but also are supported by ancient scriptures like the Vedas and Upanishads.
Just a note on the title of my present book. I have used the word ‘Sutra’ as a pun to mean both the style in which the original scripture was composed as well as a thread. The Sanskrit word Sutra literally means thread. I am using it to mean ‘thread of thought’ as well as a thread that leads you to God – Brahma Sutra.
If you are a person interested in ancient Indian philosophy, or a person who is intellectually driven, or a person who wants to look beyond religiously imposed faith system, or like me – just a person who marvels at the amazing human capacity to fathom deep issues beyond the reach of limited capability of human brain, then this book is for you. I am sure that you will find it highly interesting and thought provoking.
This book is available in almost all online stores and some libraries. It is available in e-book, paperback as well as in audiobook formats. Check the link https://books2read.com/TheThreads to preview and purchase the book from your favorite store.
Happy reading/listening. Please don’t forget to leave back your reviews on the site where you purchased this book from. That will be greatly appreciated.
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