The Bhāmatī of Vācaspati on Śaṅkara’s Brahmasūtrabhāṣya (Catuḥsūtrī)

The Bhāmatī of Vācaspati on Śaṅkara’s Brahmasūtrabhāṣya (Catuḥsūtrī) presents the Sanskrit text and English translation of Vācaspati Miśra’s influential commentary on Śaṅkara’s exposition of the opening four aphorisms of the Brahmasūtra. Edited and translated by S. S. Suryanarayana Sastri and C. Kunhan Raja, the volume includes a critical introduction, detailed notes, additional observations, and a foreword by S. Radhakrishnan. The work occupies a major position in the history of Advaita Vedānta and became the foundation of the interpretive tradition known as the Bhāmatī school. The volume begins with Śaṅkara’s analysis of adhyāsa, or the superimposition of the self and the non-self, which explains ordinary experience, individuality, agency, bondage, and error. It then examines the desire to know Brahman, the definition of Brahman, scripture as the authoritative source of Brahman-knowledge, and the systematic harmony of the Upaniṣadic teachings. Vācaspati develops Śaṅkara’s arguments through extensive discussion of epistemology, scriptural interpretation, reason, consciousness, ignorance, liberation, and the relationship between Brahman, Īśvara, and the individual self. A central concern is the authority of śruti. Because Brahman is self-luminous consciousness and cannot become an object of perception or inference, it is known principally through the Upaniṣadic revelation. Reason nevertheless performs an indispensable auxiliary function by establishing textual purport, resolving apparent contradictions, and removing philosophical objections. The introduction also discusses the nature and locus of avidyā, the distinction between ultimate and relative liberation, and Vācaspati’s intellectual relationship with Maṇḍana Miśra’s Brahmasiddhi and Padmapāda’s Pañcapādikā. The volume is therefore both a primary source for Advaita Vedānta and a significant contribution to the comparative study of Indian metaphysics, epistemology, and hermeneutics.