Upanishads -- Commentaries

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Thu, 13 Mar 2003, Sanjay Verma wrote:

> 1) There are in total 108 [remaining] Upanishads...

There are actually more than that.  Plus whether a text is called
upanishad or not is actually not that useful.  There are various portions
of the Samhita, Brahmana, and Aranyaka portions which are also called
upanishad because they deal with Brahman and portions in the "upanishads"
which deal with karma or upasana.

> 2) Adi Shankaracharya's commentary on the Brahma Sutra was further
> commented on by:
>
> "Sri Appaya Dikshita rendered the commentary of Sri Sankara more clear
> by his Parimala, Sri Vachaspati Misra by his work Bhamati and Sri
> Amalananda Sarasvati by his Kalpataru."
>

This is the Bhamati prasthana. The names are not in chronological order.
It should be Vachaspati mishra, Amalananda, then Appaya Dikshita.
Another line of interpretation is started by Padmapadacharyas Vivarana.
Other works following this line are  Vivaranaprameyasangrah, sankshepa
Shariraka etc.

> My question is, for one reading the Brahma Sutras directly for the 1st
> time (rather than summaries written by others), would you recommend
> going directly to Adi Shankaracharya's commentary or to one of the above
> mentioned ones (or perhaps even another)?
>

I would first recommend reading our home page at
http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp/

Then reading some good historical and sociological accounts of modern
Hinduism and Advaita Vedanta so that you learn to distinguish between
tradition and distortion.

Then find some learned person to study with.

Then start reading books.


--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
It's a girl! See the pictures - http://www.braincells.com/shailaja/