A sutra ‘is a short sentence or aphorism, shorn of all verbiage and designed to convey the essence of a religious or philosophical idea in the smallest space.’3 In terms of the brevity of expression, and the intensity of thought compressed within it, the Brahma Sutra probably has no parallel in literary or philosophical discourse. For instance, the first sutra simply says: Athato brahma jigyasa (Hence now a deliberation on Brahman).
