to the dismissal of the erroneous notion that the soul is distinct from
Brahman; according to Râmânuja it only means the soul's passing from the
troubles of earthly life into a kind of heaven or paradise where it will
remain for ever in undisturbed personal bliss.--As Râmânuja does not
distinguish a higher and lower Brahman, the distinction of a higher and
lower knowledge is likewise not valid for him; the teaching of the
Upanishads is not twofold but essentially one, and leads the enlightened
devotee to one result only [1].

I now proceed to give a conspectus of the contents of the Vedânta-sûtras
according to /S/a@nkara in which at the same time all the more important
points concerning which Râmânuja disagrees will be noted. We shall here
have to enter into details which to many may appear tedious. But it is
only on a broad substratum of accurately stated details that we can hope
to establish any definite conclusions regarding the comparative value of
the different modes of interpretation which have been applied to the
Sûtras. The line of investigation is an entirely new one, and for the
present nothing can be taken for granted or known.--In stating the
different heads of discussion (the so-called adhikara/n/as), each of
which comprises one or more Sûtras, I shall follow the subdivision into
adhikara/n/as adopted in the Vyâsâdhika-ra/n/amâlâ, the text of which is
printed in the second volume of the Bibliotheca Indica edition of the
Sûtras.


FIRST ADHYÂYA.
PÂDA I.


The first five adhikara/n/as lay down the fundamental positions with