View source for The first sutra is athato brahma jijnasa: "Now you have to understand what is Brahman, or what is the Absolute Truth." The next aphorism is, immediately, that - The Absolute Truth is that from whom everything emanates, the original source of all emanation

<div id="compilation">
<div id="facts">
{{terms|"The first sūtra is athāto brahma jijñāsā: "Now you have to understand what is Brahman, or what is the Absolute Truth." The next aphorism is, immediately, that "The Absolute Truth is that from whom everything emanates, the original source of all emanation"}}
{{notes|}}
{{compiler|Soham}}
{{complete|ALL}}
{{first|2023-02-07T09:52:20Z}}
{{last|2023-02-07T09:52:20Z}}
{{totals_by_section|BG=0|SB=0|CC=0|OB=0|Lec=1|Con=0|Let=0}}
{{total|1}}
{{toc right}}
[[Category:First]]
[[Category:Sutra]]
[[Category:Athato Brahma Jijnasa]]
[[Category:You Have To]]
[[Category:Understanding Brahman]]
[[Category:What is the Absolute Truth]]
[[Category:Next]]
[[Category:Aphorism]]
[[Category:Immediately]]
[[Category:From Whom]]
[[Category:Everything]]
[[Category:Emanating from God]]
[[Category:God Is The Original Source of All Emanations]]
[[Category:Pages Needing Audio - SOHAM]]
</div>
<div id="section">
<h2>Lectures</h2>
</div>
<div id="sub_section">
<h3>Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures</h3>
</div>
<div class="quote">
<div class="quote_heading">
Take, for example, in the Vedānta-sūtra, the first aphorism is janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). The first sūtra is athāto brahma jijñāsā: "Now you have to understand what is Brahman, or what is the Absolute Truth." The next aphorism is, immediately, that "The Absolute Truth is that from whom everything emanates, the original source of all emanation." Janmādy asya yataḥ. Janma. Janma means birth. Adi means etcetera. But janma, where there is birth, there is death and there is existence. Whenever there is birth, you must know there is death also. There is not a single instance you have got experience where birth is possible and death is not possible.
</div>

<div class="quote_link">
[[Vanisource:680108 - Lecture CC Madhya 06.254 - Los Angeles|680108 - Lecture CC Madhya 06.254 - Los Angeles]]
</div>
<div class="text">
<div class="quote_verse">
:ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo
:mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate
:iti matvā bhajante māṁ
:budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ 
:([[Vanisource:BG 10.8 (1972)|BG 10.8]])
</div>

One who understands this perfectly . . . one has to understand. It is not that you blindly follow something. One has to understand. So Kṛṣṇa says: "One who has understood that I am the origin of everything . . ." Budhā. Budhā means one who is learned. Bhāva-samanvitāḥ. Bhāva-samanvitāḥ means "with thoughts." Not that whimsically or sentimentally to accept something, but with thought. "With thoughtful attitude or mood, one who has understood this fact," budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ, "he worships Me." These things are there.

So Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, he was a great logician. He was unfaithful. Not . . . he was moralist, but he had no faith in God, or impersonalist. There are many persons who have faith in something superior or absolute, but they do not believe in the personal nature of God. But here, from the Bhagavad-gītā, we can clearly understand, from Bhāgavata we can clearly understand, from Vedānta philosophy we clearly understand that God is person, a person like you and me.

Take, for example, in the Vedānta-sūtra, the first aphorism is janmādy asya yataḥ ([[Vanisource:SB 1.1.1|SB 1.1.1]]). The first sūtra is athāto brahma jijñāsā: "Now you have to understand what is Brahman, or what is the Absolute Truth." The next aphorism is, immediately, that "The Absolute Truth is that from whom everything emanates, the original source of all emanation." Janmādy asya yataḥ. Janma. Janma means birth. Adi means etcetera. But janma, where there is birth, there is death and there is existence. Whenever there is birth, you must know there is death also. There is not a single instance you have got experience where birth is possible and death is not possible.

This material world is going on in that way: birth, then existence, then development, then by-product, then dwindling, then vanishing. Six changes, everything. Either take your this body or a fruit or a flower, anything material you take, these six changes are there. First of all birth, then growth, then existence, then by-product, then dwindling, then vanishing. Six changes. Everything. Either take your this body or a fruit or a flower, anything material you take, these six changes are there: first of all birth, then growth, then existence, then by-product, then dwindling and then vanishing.

So Vedānta-sūtra says, janmādy asya yataḥ. The original source of birth, the source of maintenance, the source of growth, the source of development and the source of dwindling, and after all, vanishing, or the conservation of the vanishing elements, everything is the Supreme Brahman.

So this janmādy asya śloka has been interpreted in various ways, but the most important commentator is Vyāsadeva. He's the original writer of Vedānta-sūtras. Not only he's the writer of Vedānta-sūtra, he's the writer of all Vedic literature. Vedic literature means four Vedas: Sāma, Atharva, Yajur and Ṛk. And from the Vedas, there are Upaniṣads.
</div>
</div>
</div>