Notes on Brahmasuutra-1

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

>  alpaaskharamasamdhigdham saaravat vishhvatomukham|
>

It should be alpaaksharam....

....

>The definition says sutra has to be  -
>
>alpaaskaram - very concise - very brief

alpa + akshara = little + syllables, implying conciseness/brevity,
by virtue of using the minimum possible no. of words.

>
>Visvatomukham - having many meanings or many facets if possible.
>

vishvatomukha means, "facing all sides". Rather than "having
many meanings," the intention is that the sUtra should address
a given subject (vishhaya) from all possible angles/perspectives.

As such, this aspect is important not so much for an individual
sUtra, but with respect to the characteristics of the adhikaraNa
in which it occurs. Thus, the goal of the sUtra is to set forth
the vishhaya, to address the saMSaya (doubt) that arises from
various pUrvapakshha-s (prior stance) originating from other kinds
of thinking about the subject, by means of arguments that are
connected to one another in a logical progression (saMgati), and
finally set forth the conclusions (siddhAnta).

Best wishes,
Vidyasankar

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

Archives : http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l.html
Help     : Email to listmaster at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
Options  : To leave the list send a mail to
           listserv at lists.advaita-vedanta.org with
           SIGNOFF ADVAITA-L in the body.