Brahma Sutras

Variant name for Badarayana’s Vedanta
Sutras, which date from the third to the
fifth century B.C.E. This collection of 555
brief aphorisms (sutras) is the basis for
the philosophical school known as
Vedanta, so named because it claims to
reveal the ultimate meaning of the religious scriptures known as the Vedas.
They are given the name Brahma Sutras
because they attempt to summarize and
systematize the philosophic and religious ideas in the speculative texts
known as the Upanishads, particularly
the ideas about the Ultimate Reality
known as Brahman. The sutras are so
brief that they presuppose commentary,
of which the most famous is the
Brahmasutra Bhashya, written by the
philosopher Shankaracharya.