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III - THE GĪTĀ AND THE BRAHMA-SÜTRAS 749
PART III-THE GĪTĀ AND THE BRAHMA-SÚTRAS.
Having in this way considered the similarity and the dissimilarity between the Bhagavadgitā and the Upanisads, which chiefly deal either with Spiritual Knowledge, or with Devotion, or with Yoga, it is really speaking not necessary to compare the Gītā with the Brahma-Sūtras; because, as Bādarāyanācārya has written his Brahma-Sūtras in order to systematically consider the Metaphysical doctrines mentioned in the various Upanisads, these Sūtras cannot contain any thoughts which are not in the Upanisads. Still, there is a clear reference to the Brahma-Sūtras at the beginning of the 13th chapter of the Bhagavadgitā, where the subject matter of the Body and the Ātman is being dealt with, in the words:
rsibhur bahudhā gūtam chandlohir uvidharh prthak ! brahma-sūlrapadars car va hetumarlbhir unuscitach 11
(Gi. 13. 4), that is, the Body and the Ātman have been described "in various ways, in different metres, by different Rsis, disconnectedly; and also definitely and logically in the Brahma-Sūtra-padas”; and, if one considers these Brahma-Sūtras to be the same as the present Vedānta-Sūtras, it follows that the present Gītā must have been written after the date of the present Vedānta-Sūtras. It is, therefore, very necessary to determine which these Brahma-Sūtras are, in order to fix the date of the Gitā.* Because, there is no work now available besides the Vedānta-Sūtras, which bears the name of BrahmaSūtras, nor has such a work been referred to anywhere; and it is not proper to say that the Gītā was written after the date of the present Brahma-Sūtras; because, it is traditionally believed that the Gītā is more ancient than these Brahma-Sūtras. Possibly, the phrase "brahma-sūtra-padaih" has been interpreted in the Śāmkarabhāsya to mean "the phrases in the Srutis or the Upanisads, which refer to the Brahman", in order to get over this difficulty. But, on the other hand, Ānandagiri, who
* This subject matter has been considered by the late Mr. Telang; and Prof. Tukaram Ramchandra Amalnerkar B. A, has Also published an esgay on this subject in 1895.
