The whole library of Vedānta
Every text of Vedānta, mapped.
This is the literature of Vedānta as far as it can be mapped: the one source that every school shares, the library each school built around it, and the teachers and scholars who carried it into our time. The library holds three of these texts today. The rest is the whole field we are here to keep, and the measure of how far the road runs. What stands open now is marked.
New here? You are looking at the whole literature of Vedānta. You do not have to read it all. Tattva Bodha is the shortest way in, the Gītā the fullest. Begin with one of the open texts below.
Open today
Three texts you can read in the library right now. On the map below, each sits in its place among the whole.
- Tattva Bodhaतत्त्वबोधThe primer, whole. Its Sanskrit and a plain English voice, the shortest way into the vocabulary.Read →
- Bhagavad Gītāभगवद्गीताComplete. All 701 verses, read across the schools, with audio and a verse by verse reading.Read →
- Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣadबृहदारण्यकIn draft. All 47 sections, with Śaṅkara's commentary and the cross-school reading opening.Read the draft →
The Source
The Prasthāna Traya, the three source texts every school returns to, the Upaniṣads, the Bhagavad Gītā, and the Brahma Sūtras, with the wider scripture around them. These belong to no school; they are the ground all of them stand on.
The UpaniṣadsŚruti, that which is heard
The principal Upaniṣads
Īśā Upaniṣad ईशोपनिषद्The shortest mukhya Upaniṣad; the Lord pervades all, renounce and enjoy, act without grasping.
Kena Upaniṣad केनोपनिषद्By whom is the mind impelled; Brahman is the unknown knower behind every faculty.
Kaṭha Upaniṣad कठोपनिषद्Naciketas questions Yama on death; the Self is the rider, the body the chariot.
Praśna Upaniṣad प्रश्नोपनिषद्Six disciples bring six questions to Pippalāda on prāṇa, sleep, and the syllable Om.
Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad मुण्डकोपनिषद्Higher and lower knowledge; the two birds on one tree; source of satyam eva jayate.
Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad माण्डूक्योपनिषद्Om and the four states of consciousness; waking, dream, deep sleep, and turīya.
Taittirīya Upaniṣad तैत्तिरीयोपनिषद्The five sheaths and the bliss of Brahman; Brahman as satya, jñāna, ananta.
Aitareya Upaniṣad ऐतरेयोपनिषद्Creation from the Self and the mahāvākya prajñānam brahma, consciousness is Brahman.
Chāndogya Upaniṣad छान्दोग्योपनिषद्Śvetaketu and the mahāvākya tat tvam asi, that thou art; the largest Upaniṣad with Br̥hadāraṇyaka.
Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad बृहदारण्यकोपनिषद्The mahāvākya aham brahmāsmi and the via negativa neti neti; Yājñavalkya and Maitreyī.In the library, in draft →Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad श्वेताश्वतरोपनिषद्Theistic Vedānta hymning Rudra-Śiva as the one cause; bhakti and the personal Lord.
Kauṣītaki Upaniṣad कौषीतक्युपनिषद्Prāṇa as Brahman, the path to the worlds, and the dialogue of Indra and Pratardana.
Maitrāyaṇīya Upaniṣad मैत्रायणीयोपनिषद्Also called Maitrī; King Bṛhadratha seeks the Self, with early yoga and Om meditation.
Gauḍapādīya Kārikā (Māṇḍūkya Kārikā, Āgama-śāstra) गौडपादीयकारिकाThe earliest systematic Advaita treatise in 215 verses; non-origination, ajātivāda, and turīya.
The four great sayings (Mahāvākyas)
Tat tvam asi तत्त्वमसिThat thou art. The great saying of the Sāmaveda, spoken nine times to a son.
Ahaṃ brahmāsmi अहं ब्रह्मास्मिI am Brahman. The great saying of the Yajurveda, from the great forest.
Prajñānaṃ brahma प्रज्ञानं ब्रह्मConsciousness is Brahman. The great saying of the Ṛgveda.
Ayam ātmā brahma अयमात्मा ब्रह्मThis Self is Brahman. The great saying of the Atharvaveda.
The wider Upaniṣads, the Muktikā canon of one hundred and eight6 more
The Muktikā canon (108 Upaniṣads)
Sāmānya (Sāmānya-Vedānta) Upaniṣads सामान्यवेदान्तोपनिषद्General Vedānta group of roughly twenty-one, including the ten mukhya plus Kaivalya, Subāla, Vajrasūcikā.
Yoga Upaniṣads योगोपनिषद्About twenty texts on yoga, including Yogatattva, Nādabindu, Dhyānabindu, Amṛtabindu, Haṃsa, Yogacūḍāmaṇi.
Sannyāsa Upaniṣads संन्यासोपनिषद्About twenty texts on renunciation, including Jābāla, Paramahaṃsa, Nāradaparivrājaka, Āruṇi.
Vaiṣṇava Upaniṣads वैष्णवोपनिषद्About fourteen texts on Viṣṇu and his avatāras, including Gopālatāpanī, Nṛsiṃhatāpanī, Rāmatāpanī.
Śaiva Upaniṣads शैवोपनिषद्About twelve texts on Śiva, including Atharvaśiras, Kaivalya, Brahma, Jābāla, Akṣamālikā.
Śākta Upaniṣads शाक्तोपनिषद्About eight texts on the Goddess, including Devī, Tripurā, Sītā, Bahvṛca, Sarasvatīrahasya.
The Gītā, the Sūtras, and the wider sourceSmṛti and Nyāya, remembered and reasoned
The Nyaya prasthana
Brahma-sūtra ब्रह्मसूत्रThe aphoristic foundation of Vedanta in four chapters, knit by adhikaraṇas reasoning the Upaniṣads into one teaching.
Catuḥsūtrī चतुःसूत्रीThe opening four sūtras of the Brahma-sūtra, setting the inquiry into Brahman that the whole work then unfolds.
The Smrti prasthana
The other Gītās, the epics and Purāṇas, and the maps of the schools19 more
The other Gitas
Anu-gītā अनुगीताKṛṣṇa's later teaching to Arjuna after the war, a quieter restatement of the Gītā's knowledge.
Uddhava-gītā उद्धवगीताKṛṣṇa's final discourse to Uddhava before departing, sometimes called the Haṃsa-gītā for its swan teaching.
Avadhūta-gītā अवधूतगीताThe song of the avadhūta, an unsparing nondual hymn to the Self free of rite and convention.
Aṣṭāvakra-gītā अष्टावक्रगीताA dialogue of sage Aṣṭāvakra and King Janaka, teaching the witness Self in stark nondual verses.
Rāma-gītā रामगीताRāma instructs Lakṣmaṇa in nondual knowledge, the Vedantic core set within the Adhyātma Rāmāyaṇa.
Ṛbhu-gītā ऋभुगीताSage Ṛbhu teaches Nidāgha in some two thousand verses, an unrelenting song of the Self alone as real.
Gaṇeśa-gītā गणेशगीताGaṇeśa as Gajānana counsels King Varenya, a Gāṇapatya recasting that closely follows the Bhagavad-gītā.
Devī-gītā देवीगीताThe Goddess reveals herself as supreme Brahman to Himālaya, joining Śākta devotion with nondual teaching.
Bhikṣu-gītā भिक्षुगीताThe song of the mendicant of Avantī, who bears insult unmoved, naming the mind as bondage's only cause.
Śruti-gītā श्रुतिगीताThe hymn of the personified Vedas to the Lord, also called the Veda-stuti, dense with Upaniṣadic praise.
Vedanta in the epics and Puranas
Mokṣadharma-parva मोक्षधर्मपर्वBhīṣma's vast teaching on liberation in the Śānti-parva, a reservoir of early Sāṃkhya, yoga, and Vedanta.
Sanatsujātīya सनत्सुजातीयA dialogue on the eternal and the real within the Mahābhārata, counted among the minor teaching texts.
Bhāgavata Purāṇa भागवतपुराणThe great devotional Purāṇa in twelve books, received in tradition as a natural commentary on the Brahma-sūtra.
Viṣṇu Purāṇa विष्णुपुराणAn early and well ordered Purāṇa centred on Viṣṇu, holding cosmology, lineage, and Vedantic devotion together.
Yoga-vāsiṣṭha योगवासिष्ठVasiṣṭha instructs the young Rāma through stories on the mind made world, a vast idealist Vedantic work.
Related foundations
Pūrva-mīmāṃsā-sūtra पूर्वमीमांसासूत्रJaimini's aphorisms on Vedic ritual and meaning, the karma-kāṇḍa method Vedanta both inherits and answers.
The maps of the schools
Sarva-darśana-saṅgraha सर्वदर्शनसंग्रहA compendium of all the philosophical systems, each set out in turn, the Advaita placed last.
Prasthānabheda प्रस्थानभेदA short map of the branches of learning and the schools that read the one source.
Sarva-siddhānta-saṅgraha सर्वसिद्धान्तसंग्रहA survey of the doctrines of every school, the Vedāntin's set down last.
The Schools and their Libraries
Each school reads the one source in its own way, and each has built its own library around it. They stand here side by side, in the order they arose, none above another. The shelves are not the same size, because the surviving literature is not, and that history is shown, not hidden.
A bhāṣya is a commentary; a prakaraṇa a primer; a stotra a hymn; a sampradāya a lineage.
Advaita Vedānta51 textsNon-duality. The Self and Brahman are one, and the world's plurality is appearance.
Commentaries on the Prasthāna Traya
Brahma-sūtra-bhāṣya (Śārīraka-bhāṣya) ब्रह्मसूत्रभाष्यThe foundational gloss reading the Sūtras as one nondual Brahman, the self of all.
Bhagavad-gītā-bhāṣya भगवद्गीताभाष्यThe earliest extant Gītā commentary, setting knowledge of the Self above all action.
Daśopaniṣad-bhāṣya (the ten principal Upaniṣad commentaries) दशोपनिषद्भाष्यGlosses on Īśa, Kena, Kaṭha, Praśna, Muṇḍaka, Māṇḍūkya, Taittirīya, Aitareya, Chāndogya, Bṛhadāraṇyaka, voicing the Upaniṣadic nondual teaching.
Māṇḍūkya-kārikā-bhāṣya (Gauḍapāda-kārikā-bhāṣya) माण्डूक्यकारिकाभाष्यHis commentary on Gauḍapāda's verses, expounding the turīya and the doctrine of non-origination.
Pre-Sankara Advaita
Māṇḍūkya-kārikā (Gauḍapāda-kārikā / Āgama-śāstra) माण्डूक्यकारिकाThe earliest systematic Advaita text, versifying the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad on non-origination.
Sankara's disciples
Naiṣkarmya-siddhi नैष्कर्म्यसिद्धिA treatise arguing that liberation comes through knowledge alone, not ritual action.
Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad-bhāṣya-vārtika बृहदारण्यकोपनिषद्भाष्यवार्तिकA vast verse gloss expanding Śaṅkara's commentary on the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad.
Taittirīya-upaniṣad-bhāṣya-vārtika तैत्तिरीयोपनिषद्भाष्यवार्तिकA verse exposition of Śaṅkara's commentary on the Taittirīya Upaniṣad.
Mānasollāsa मानसोल्लासA verse commentary on Śaṅkara's Dakṣiṇāmūrti hymn, unfolding the Self as witness.
Pañcapādikā पञ्चपादिकाA commentary on the opening of Śaṅkara's Brahma-sūtra-bhāṣya, founding the Vivaraṇa line.
Śruti-sāra-samuddharaṇa श्रुतिसारसमुद्धरणA metrical primer of Vedantic essence composed by Śaṅkara's disciple Toṭaka.
Hastāmalakīya (Hastāmalaka-stotra) हस्तामलकीयA short hymn on the eternal Self, which Śaṅkara himself thought worthy of commentary.
The Bhamati and Vivarana lines
Bhāmatī भामतीThe founding commentary on Śaṅkara's Brahma-sūtra-bhāṣya, naming the Bhāmatī school.
Vedānta-kalpataru वेदान्तकल्पतरुA sub-commentary on the Bhāmatī, clarifying Vācaspati's reading of the Brahma-sūtra.
Kalpataru-parimala कल्पतरुपरिमलA gloss on the Vedānta-kalpataru, defending the Bhāmatī tradition in fine detail.
Siddhānta-leśa-saṅgraha सिद्धान्तलेशसंग्रहA survey of differing Advaita positions, mapping the internal debates of the school.
Pañcapādikā-vivaraṇa पञ्चपादिकाविवरणA commentary on Padmapāda's Pañcapādikā that gave the Vivaraṇa school its name.
Iṣṭa-siddhi इष्टसिद्धिA dialectical treatise establishing the indescribable nature of cosmic illusion and bondage.
Saṃkṣepa-śārīraka संक्षेपशारीरकA verse summary of the Brahma-sūtra in the Vivaraṇa lineage, on Brahman as substrate.
Khaṇḍana-khaṇḍa-khādya खण्डनखण्डखाद्यA dialectical masterwork refuting the categories of the Nyāya realists.
Tattva-pradīpikā (Citsukhī) तत्त्वप्रदीपिकाA rigorous defense of Advaita categories, refining Śrīharṣa's critique of realism.
Ānandagiri's ṭīkāsGlosses on Śaṅkara's bhāṣyas, the standard subcommentary read alongside the master's own text.
Vidyaranya and the digests
Pañcadaśī पञ्चदशीA celebrated fifteen-chapter manual leading the seeker from discrimination to bliss.
Jīvanmukti-viveka जीवन्मुक्तिविवेकA treatise on liberation while still living, gathering scripture on the freed sage.
Vivaraṇa-prameya-saṅgraha विवरणप्रमेयसंग्रहA digest of the doctrines of Prakāśātman's Vivaraṇa, ordering the Vivaraṇa school.
Vedānta-sāra वेदान्तसारA lucid primer of Advaita method, long the standard introduction for students.
Vedānta-paribhāṣā वेदान्तपरिभाषाA manual of Advaita epistemology, setting out its theory of valid knowledge.
Vedānta-siddhānta-muktāvalī वेदान्तसिद्धान्तमुक्तावलीA digest advancing the radical view that the world exists only in perception.
Vedānta-tattva-viveka वेदान्ततत्त्वविवेकA treatise discriminating the real from the apparent in the Vivaraṇa manner.
Advaita-siddhi अद्वैतसिद्धिThe great rejoinder to Dvaita criticism, the high-water mark of Advaita dialectic.
Gūḍhārtha-dīpikā गूढार्थदीपिकाAn Advaita commentary on the Bhagavad Gītā, illumining its hidden meaning.
Siddhānta-bindu सिद्धान्तबिन्दुA commentary on Śaṅkara's Daśaślokī, condensing the settled Advaita conclusion.
Laghu-candrikā लघुचन्द्रिकाA sub-commentary defending the Advaita-siddhi against the later Dvaita rebuttals.
Śaṅkara-dig-vijaya शंकरदिग्विजयThe standard traditional life of Śaṅkara: his birth, his debates, his conquest of the four directions.
Introductory prakaranas
Tattva-bodha तत्त्वबोधThe standard first primer of Advaita terms; ascription to Śaṅkara is doubtful.In the library →
Ātma-bodha आत्मबोधA short treatise on Self-knowledge, widely loved though its authorship is debated.
Aparokṣānubhūti अपरोक्षानुभूतिA primer on direct realization of the Self; its attribution to Śaṅkara is questioned.
Upadeśa-sāhasrī उपदेशसाहस्रीThe independent treatise most securely Śaṅkara's own, teaching the Self through dialogue.
Vākya-vṛtti वाक्यवृत्तिA short exposition of the great saying "That thou art"; its authorship is uncertain.
Dṛg-dṛśya-viveka दृग्दृश्यविवेकA primer discriminating the seer from the seen; authorship is variously assigned.
Vivekacūḍāmaṇi विवेकचूडामणिThe famous crest-jewel of discrimination; Śaṅkara's authorship is widely doubted by scholars.
Śata-ślokī शतश्लोकीA hundred verses on the guru and the Self; the ascription to Śaṅkara is uncertain.
Daśa-ślokī दशश्लोकीTen verses distilling the Self beyond all qualities; authorship is traditionally Śaṅkara's.
Pañcīkaraṇa पञ्चीकरणA brief account of the quintuplication of elements; its attribution has been debated.
Vedānta-sāra-saṅgraha वेदान्तसारसंग्रहA compact summary of Vedantic essence ascribed to Śaṅkara; the attribution is uncertain.
Stotras and short works
Bhaja Govindam (Moha-mudgara) भज गोविन्दम्A devotional hymn urging worship of God over vain learning; traditionally Śaṅkara's.
Dakṣiṇāmūrti-stotra दक्षिणामूर्तिस्तोत्रA hymn to Śiva as silent teacher, condensing Advaita into adoration; traditionally Śaṅkara's.
Saundarya-laharī सौन्दर्यलहरीA celebrated tantric hymn to the Goddess; its ascription to Śaṅkara is much debated.
Śivānanda-laharī शिवानन्दलहरीA wave of bliss in devotion to Śiva; traditionally ascribed to Śaṅkara.
Nirvāṇa-ṣaṭkam (Ātma-ṣaṭkam) निर्वाणषट्कम्Six verses declaring "I am consciousness and bliss"; traditionally ascribed to Śaṅkara.
Manīṣā-pañcakam मनीषापञ्चकम्Five verses on seeing the one Self beyond caste; traditionally ascribed to Śaṅkara.
Viśiṣṭādvaita36 texts, 1 lostQualified non-duality. Souls and world are the real body of the one Lord. Opened here as an example. Every shelf opens the same way.
Commentaries on the Prasthāna Traya
Śrī-bhāṣya श्रीभाष्यThe major Sūtra commentary establishing Brahman as qualified by souls and matter, knowable through devotion.
Vedānta-dīpa वेदान्तदीपA medium Sūtra commentary lighting the path of the Śrī-bhāṣya in briefer compass.
Vedānta-sāra वेदान्तसारThe concise Sūtra commentary distilling the essence of the qualified-nondual reading.
Gītā-bhāṣya गीताभाष्यReads the Gītā as teaching loving surrender to the Lord as the highest path.
Vedārtha-saṅgraha वेदार्थसङ्ग्रहHis synthesis of the Upaniṣadic great sayings, standing for the school in lieu of full Upaniṣad bhāṣyas.
The Alvars (Divya Prabandham)
Nālāyira Divya PrabandhamThe four thousand Tamil hymns of the twelve Alvars, the Sri Vaisnava devotional canon.
TiruvāymoḻiNammalvar's thousand verses, crown of the Prabandham, revered as the Tamil Veda.
TiruppāvaiAndal's thirty verses of bridal devotion, sung daily through the month of Margazhi.
TirumoḻiPeriyalvar's hymns to the child Krishna, opening with the benediction Pallandu.
Periya TirumoḻiTirumangai Alvar's wide hymnody on the sacred shrines, last and most prolific of the Alvars.
The early acaryas
Nyāya-tattva न्यायतत्त्वNathamuni's foundational work on logic and epistemology, now surviving only in citation.Lost
Yoga-rahasya योगरहस्यNathamuni's treatise on yoga, by whom the lost Prabandham was first regathered.
Siddhi-traya सिद्धित्रयYamuna's three demonstrations: Atma-siddhi, Isvara-siddhi, Samvit-siddhi, the school's first systematic philosophy.
Gītārtha-saṅgraha गीतार्थसंग्रहYamuna's thirty-two verse summary of the Gita's meaning, seed of Ramanuja's commentary.
Stotra-ratna स्तोत्ररत्नYamuna's jewel of praise to Visnu, a model of self-surrender in verse.
Āgama-prāmāṇya आगमप्रामाण्यYamuna's defence of the authority of the Pancaratra Agamas as valid scripture.
Ramanuja's works
Śaraṇāgati-gadya शरणागतिगद्यFirst of the three Gadyas, Ramanuja's prose act of self-surrender before the Lord.
Śrīraṅga-gadya श्रीरङ्गगद्यSecond Gadya, Ramanuja's prayer at the feet of Ranganatha of Srirangam.
Vaikuṇṭha-gadya वैकुण्ठगद्यThird Gadya, Ramanuja's prose meditation on the eternal abode of Vaikuntha.
Nitya-grantha नित्यग्रन्थRamanuja's manual of daily worship, prescribing the rites of the devotee's day.
Vedanta Desika (Vadakalai)
Rahasya-traya-sāra रहस्यत्रयसारDesika's Manipravala summa on the three mantras, the Vadakalai doctrinal standard.
Śata-dūṣaṇī शतदूषणीDesika's hundred refutations of Advaita and rival systems, polemic in a hundred chapters.
Tattva-mukta-kalāpa तत्त्वमुक्ताकलापDesika's verse compendium of Visistadvaita metaphysics, a garland of liberating truths.
Sarvārtha-siddhi सर्वार्थसिद्धिDesika's own prose commentary expounding the verses of the Tattva-mukta-kalapa.
Nyāya-siddhāñjana न्यायसिद्धाञ्जनDesika's treatise on the categories of reality, the collyrium of established reasoning.
Pādukā-sahasra पादुकासहस्रDesika's thousand verses in praise of the sandals of Ranganatha, a feat of poetry.
Yatirāja-saptati यतिराजसप्ततिDesika's seventy verses honouring Ramanuja, the king of ascetics and master of the school.
Subhāṣita-nīvī सुभाषितनीवीDesika's gathering of moral and ethical verses, a treasury of wise counsel.
Tātparya-candrikā तात्पर्यचन्द्रिकाDesika's moonlight gloss on Ramanuja's Gita-bhasya, drawing out its deeper intent.
The Manipravala and rahasya literature (Tenkalai)
Aṣṭādaśa-rahasya अष्टादशरहस्यPillai Lokacarya's eighteen short rahasya treatises in Manipravala, foundation of Tenkalai doctrine.
Śrī Vacana BhūṣaṇaPillai Lokacarya's ornament of holy utterance, the central Tenkalai work on grace and surrender.
Tattva-traya तत्त्वत्रयPillai Lokacarya's exposition of the three realities: sentient soul, matter, and the Lord.
MumukṣuppaḍiPillai Lokacarya's path for the seeker of release, glossing the three sacred mantras.
Upadeśa-ratna-mālaiManavala Mamuni's Tamil garland of teaching on the acaryas and the Prabandham.
Rahasya-grantha VyākhyānaManavala Mamuni's commentaries on the rahasya works, consolidating the Tenkalai tradition.
Later Visistadvaita
Śruta-prakāśikā श्रुतप्रकाशिकाSudarsana Suri's authoritative gloss on the Sri Bhasya, the standard commentary upon it.
Yatīndra-mata-dīpikā यतीन्द्रमतदीपिकाSrinivasa Dasa's lamp on the doctrine of Ramanuja, the school's standard introductory primer.
Dvaita38 textsDifference. God, souls, and world are eternally and really distinct.
Commentaries on the Prasthāna Traya
Brahma-sūtra-bhāṣya ब्रह्मसूत्रभाष्यA terse Sūtra commentary founding the doctrine of the eternal difference between God and soul.
Anu-vyākhyāna अणुव्याख्यानHis extended verse re-exposition of the Sūtras, the fullest statement of the dualist reading.
Gītā-bhāṣya गीताभाष्यHis expository Gītā commentary, reading the song as the supremacy of Viṣṇu and devotion.
Gītā-tātparya गीतातात्पर्यHis polemical companion fixing the settled purport of the Gītā for the school.
Daśopaniṣad-bhāṣya (the ten Upaniṣad commentaries) दशोपनिषद्भाष्यGlosses on the principal Upaniṣads reading them throughout as teaching difference and Viṣṇu's supremacy.
Ṛg-bhāṣya ऋग्भाष्यHis commentary on the first forty hymns of the Ṛgveda, reading the Vedic seers as praising Viṣṇu.
Madhva's works (sarva-mūla)
Tattva-saṃkhyāna तत्त्वसंख्यानFirst of the ten short treatises; classifies reality as independent and dependent.
Tattva-viveka तत्त्वविवेकA concise treatise discerning the categories of real entities and their hierarchy.
Māyāvāda-khaṇḍana मायावादखण्डनA short refutation of the Advaita doctrine that the world is illusory appearance.
Upādhi-khaṇḍana उपाधिखण्डनA short treatise refuting the notion that difference rests merely on limiting adjuncts.
Prapañca-mithyātvānumāna-khaṇḍana प्रपञ्चमिथ्यात्वानुमानखण्डनRefutes the inferences advanced to prove the unreality of the manifold world.
Kathā-lakṣaṇa कथालक्षणA short treatise on the rules and proper conduct of philosophical disputation.
Karma-nirṇaya कर्मनिर्णयDetermines the meaning and standing of ritual action in the light of scripture.
Viṣṇu-tattva-vinirṇaya विष्णुतत्त्वविनिर्णयEstablishes the supremacy of Viṣṇu and the means of valid knowledge concerning him.
Tattvoddyota तत्त्वोद्द्योतIllumines the true categories while contesting the Advaita reading of difference and unity.
Pramāṇa-lakṣaṇa प्रमाणलक्षणDefines the means of valid knowledge and the witnessing self that grounds them.
Mahābhārata-tātparya-nirṇaya महाभारततात्पर्यनिर्णयDetermines the inner purport of the Mahābhārata as teaching the supremacy of Viṣṇu.
Bhāgavata-tātparya-nirṇaya भागवततात्पर्यनिर्णयA commentary drawing out the essential meaning of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa.
Kṛṣṇāmṛta-mahārṇava कृष्णामृतमहार्णवA great ocean of verses gathering scriptural praise of devotion to Kṛṣṇa.
Dvādaśa-stotra द्वादशस्तोत्रTwelve hymns of praise to Viṣṇu, still sung daily in the tradition.
Sadācāra-smṛti सदाचारस्मृतिA short manual of right daily conduct and observance for the devotee.
Yamaka-bhārata यमकभारतA retelling of the Mahābhārata in ornate punning verse honoring Kṛṣṇa.
Sarva-mūla-granthāḥ (the remaining minor works)Madhva composed thirty-seven works in all; the smaller liturgical and exegetical pieces complete the canon.
Jayatīrtha (Ṭīkācārya)
Nyāya-sudhā न्यायसुधाHis magnum opus on the Anu-vyākhyāna; the tradition holds Dvaita scholarship incomplete without it.
Tattva-prakāśikā तत्त्वप्रकाशिकाThe standard gloss on Madhva's Brahma-sūtra-bhāṣya, clarifying its compressed reasoning.
Pramāṇa-paddhati प्रमाणपद्धतिAn independent manual systematizing the Dvaita theory of the means of knowledge.
Vāda-vali वादावलीA set of disputations defending real difference against Advaita objections.
Vyāsatīrtha and the polemical age
Nyāyāmṛta न्यायामृतThe great systematic critique of Advaita; it opened a centuries-long debate with the non-dualists.
Tātparya-candrikā तात्पर्यचन्द्रिकाAn extensive gloss on Jayatīrtha's Tattva-prakāśikā, surveying and answering rival schools.
Tarka-tāṇḍava तर्कताण्डवA thoroughgoing refutation of the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika logicians on their own ground.
Later Dvaita
Yukti-mallikā युक्तिमल्लिकाA garland of reasoned arguments establishing Dvaita across five doctrinal themes.
Tīrtha-prabandha तीर्थप्रबन्धA poetic pilgrimage account describing sacred sites visited across India.
Parimaḷa परिमळHis commentary on Jayatīrtha's Nyāya-sudhā; he also glossed many works of the canon.
Vijayīndra Tīrtha (the polemical works)A prolific controversialist credited with many treatises defending Dvaita against rival schools.
Sumadhva-vijaya (Madhva-vijaya) सुमध्वविजयThe verse biography of Madhva in sixteen cantos, the principal life of the founder.
The Haridāsa tradition
Purandara-dāsa-pada-gaḷu (the devotional songs)Kannada songs of the dāsa-sāhitya movement, Vedānta sung for the ordinary devotee.
Kanaka-dāsa-kṛti (the devotional songs)Kannada hymns and narrative poems carrying Madhva devotion across caste lines.
Vijaya-dāsa-pada-suḷādi (the devotional songs)Songs that revived the Haridāsa movement, expounding doctrine in accessible Kannada verse.
Bhedābheda5 texts, 2 lostDifference and non-difference. Brahman is genuinely both, one with the world and other than it at once.
Commentaries on the Prasthāna Traya
Brahma-sūtra-bhāṣya (Bhāskara-bhāṣya) ब्रह्मसूत्रभाष्यAn early Sūtra commentary holding Brahman both different and non-different from its effects, contesting māyā.
Bhagavad-gītā-bhāṣya भगवद्गीताभाष्यHis Gītā commentary reading the song through difference-and-non-difference and the union of knowledge and works.
Brahma-sūtra commentary of Yādava Prakāśa (lost)The Bhedābheda Sūtra commentary of Rāmānuja's teacher, not extant, known through later report and refutation.Lost
Vṛttikāra tradition (Bodhāyana, Upavarṣa) and Bhartṛprapañca, antecedent commentaries (lost)Pre-Śaṅkara Sūtra commentaries, none surviving, known only through citation by later ācāryas.Lost
Bhedabheda
Vijñānāmṛta-bhāṣya विज्ञानामृतभाष्यA late Bhedābheda commentary on the Brahma Sūtras reading the bond of self and Brahman as inseparable, avibhāga.
Sāṃkhya-pravacana-bhāṣya सांख्यप्रवचनभाष्यHis commentary on the Sāṃkhya Sūtras, part of his project to harmonize Sāṃkhya and Yoga with Vedānta.
Yoga-vārttika योगवार्त्तिकHis subcommentary on Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, completing the great Bhedābheda harmonizer's synthesis of the systems.
Dvaitādvaita7 textsDuality and non-duality, equally real. Brahman, souls, and world differ truly, yet the difference never parts them.
Commentaries on the Prasthāna Traya
Vedānta-pārijāta-saurabha वेदान्तपारिजातसौरभA concise Sūtra commentary founding the school's reading of soul and world as both distinct and dependent.
Vedānta-kaustubha वेदान्तकौस्तुभThe disciple's full exposition completing Nimbārka's terse Sūtra commentary, the school's standard gloss.
The Nimbarka sampradaya (Dvaitadvaita)
Daśaślokī (Siddhānta-ratna, Vedānta-kāmadhenu) दशश्लोकीTen verses distilling the whole doctrine; the three realities of soul, world, and the supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa.
Vedānta-kaustubha-prabhā वेदान्तकौस्तुभप्रभाA further gloss upon the Vedānta-kaustubha, layering the school's Brahma Sūtra reading still deeper.
Kramadīpikā क्रमदीपिकाA manual of mantra and ritual worship of Kṛṣṇa, foundational to the sampradāya's devotional practice.
Mahāvāṇī (works of Harivyāsa Devācārya)The reformer who organized the order into its twelve seats; remembered for devotional teaching in the Rasika line.
Vedānta-ratna-mañjūṣā वेदान्तरत्नमञ्जूषाAn erudite commentary on Nimbārka's Daśaślokī in four chapters, carrying the tradition's first polemics against Advaita.
Śuddhādvaita6 textsPure non-duality. The world is real, Brahman's own play, entered by grace.
Commentaries on the Prasthāna Traya
Aṇu-bhāṣya अणुभाष्यThe Sūtra commentary founding pure nondualism unsullied by māyā, left incomplete and finished by Viṭṭhalanātha.
Subodhinī सुबोधिनीHis celebrated commentary on the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, the devotional scriptural anchor of the school.
The Vallabha sampradaya (Pustimarga, Suddhadvaita)
Ṣoḍaśa-grantha षोडशग्रन्थThe sixteen short tracts of the Path of Grace; service and contemplation of Kṛṣṇa as the soul's refuge.
Tattvārtha-dīpa-nibandha तत्त्वार्थदीपनिबन्धA systematic treatise in three parts establishing Śuddhādvaita through the Gītā, the Bhāgavata, and reasoned doctrine.
Vidvan-maṇḍana विद्वन्मण्डनThe son and organizer's defence of the doctrine; he gave the Puṣṭimārga its enduring worship and household form.
Prasthāna-ratnākara प्रस्थानरत्नाकरA later systematic treatise consolidating Śuddhādvaita doctrine by the school's foremost scholastic defender.
Acintya-bhedābheda11 textsInconceivable difference and non-difference, past the reach of logic, lived as devotion to Kṛṣṇa.
Commentaries on the Prasthāna Traya
Govinda-bhāṣya गोविन्दभाष्यThe Gauḍīya Sūtra commentary supplying the school its Vedānta gloss when challenged to prove its lineage.
The Gaudiya sampradaya (Acintya-bhedabheda)
Śikṣāṣṭaka शिक्षाष्टकEight verses of instruction, the only writing Caitanya left; the whole path of the holy name in miniature.
Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu भक्तिरसामृतसिन्धुThe systematic science of devotional sentiment; how bhakti ripens through stages into the tasted rasa of love.
Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi उज्ज्वलनीलमणिA companion poetics treating mādhurya, the conjugal sentiment, as the highest savour of love for Kṛṣṇa.
Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta बृहद्भागवतामृतA narrative pilgrimage seeking the highest recipient of grace and the highest abode of Kṛṣṇa's love.
Hari-bhakti-vilāsa हरिभक्तिविलासThe tradition's manual of Vaiṣṇava conduct and ritual, governing initiation, worship, and the devotee's daily life.
Ṣaṭ-sandarbha (Bhāgavata-sandarbha) षट्सन्दर्भSix treatises that are the school's philosophical foundation; epistemology, the supreme person, and the soul's loving relation.
Caitanya-caritāmṛta चैतन्यचरितामृतThe authoritative life and teaching of Caitanya, in Bengali with Sanskrit verse; the tradition's central scripture.
Sārārtha-darśinī सारार्थदर्शिनीHis commentary on the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, drawing out its essential meaning for the devotional reader.
Prameya-ratnāvalī प्रमेयरत्नावलीA concise garland of the school's nine cardinal tenets, fixing its doctrine in catechism form.
Vedānta-syamantaka वेदान्तस्यमन्तकA short Vedāntic treatise setting out the means of knowledge and the supreme object for the tradition.
The Modern Age
The teachers who carried Vedānta into the present, and the translators and scholars whose public domain editions made this library possible.
Modern voices and scholarship41 texts
The Ramakrishna-Vivekananda stream
The Gospel of Sri RamakrishnaThe disciple M.'s diary of Ramakrishna's table talk, the source spring of the whole modern Vedanta renaissance.
Jnana-YogaVivekananda's New York lectures on the path of knowledge, carrying Advaita into a modern public idiom.
Bhakti-YogaHis exposition of the path of love and devotion, set beside the disciplines of knowledge and work.
Karma-YogaHis teaching on action without attachment as a spiritual path, drawn largely from the Gita.
Raja-YogaHis commentary on Patanjali's Yoga-sutras for a Western audience, the path of meditative concentration.
The Complete Works of Swami VivekanandaThe nine-volume gathering of his lectures, letters, and writings, the canonical body of his thought.
The Upanishads (translation with Sankara's notes)A four-volume rendering of the major Upanisads with introductions and notes following Sankara.
Eight Upanisads and Brahma-sutra-bhasya (translations of Sankara)The standard English of Sankara's commentaries on the Upanisads, Gita, and Brahma-sutra from the Order.
The Brhadaranyaka Upanisad with Sankara's commentary (translation)The widely cited English of the largest Upanisad carrying Sankara's full bhasya, an Order standard.
Integral and philosophical
The Life DivineHis major philosophical work, an evolutionary metaphysics of spirit descending into and transforming matter.
Essays on the GitaHis reading of the Bhagavad-gita as a synthesis of works, knowledge, and devotion toward self-surrender.
The Synthesis of YogaHis integral yoga drawing the paths of works, knowledge, love, and self-perfection into one discipline.
The Upanishads (Isha and others)His translations and commentaries on the Upanisads, the Isha foremost, in his symbolic interpretive key.
The Principal UpanisadsText, translation, and learned notes on the major Upanisads, long a standard one-volume scholarly reference.
The BhagavadgitaHis translation with introduction and notes, reading the Gita as a living philosophy for the modern reader.
The Brahma Sutra: The Philosophy of Spiritual LifeHis translation and study of the Brahma-sutra, presenting Vedanta's aphorisms as a spiritual philosophy.
Indian PhilosophyHis two-volume survey that set Indian thought before a wide modern readership in philosophical terms.
The Gita in the freedom era
Srimad Bhagavadgita Rahasya (Karma-yoga-sastra)Written in prison, it reads the Gita as a gospel of selfless action rather than world-renouncing quietism.
Anasaktiyoga (The Gita According to Gandhi)His Gujarati rendering and commentary reading the Gita as the yoga of non-attachment and nonviolence.
Talks on the GitaPlainspoken prison talks on the Gita to fellow inmates, prizing lived practice over scholastic dispute.
The modern teaching traditions
The Bhagavad Gita: text, word-meaning, translation and commentaryA clear, practice-minded Gita from the founder of the Divine Life Society, widely circulated and free.
The Holy Geeta (and the Upanishad discourses)His expansive verse-by-verse Gita and Upanisad commentaries, the backbone of Chinmaya Mission study.
The Bhagavad Gita Home Study and the Upanisad teachingsRigorous traditional unfoldment of Gita and Upanisad through the methodology of Vedantic inquiry.
The Universal Message of the Bhagavad Gita and Upanisad lecturesAn Order president's sweeping commentaries joining scripture to science, history, and modern life.
Vedanta lectures (Upanisads, Gita, Mandukya)Widely heard contemporary Advaita talks from the Vedanta Society of New York, a living teacher.
Satyartha Prakash (The Light of Truth)The Arya Samaj founder's Vedic revivalist manifesto, distinct from the later Arsha Vidya teacher of the same name.
The Advaita sages
Upadesa Saram (The Essence of Instruction) उपदेशसारम्Thirty Tamil verses distilling the whole of spiritual practice toward abidance in the Self.
Ulladu Narpadu (Forty Verses on Reality)His deepest philosophical poem in Tamil, forty verses on the nature of the real and the Self.
Nan Yar (Who Am I?)His earliest teaching on self-inquiry, the question Who am I turned into a method of liberation.
I Am ThatMarathi dialogues rendered into English, an uncompromising pointing to the I am prior to all experience.
Translators and scholars (the public-domain spine)
The System of the Vedanta (Das System des Vedanta)The first systematic Western reconstruction of Sankara's Vedanta as a coherent philosophical edifice.
Sixty Upanishads of the Veda (Sechzig Upanishad's des Veda)His German translation of sixty Upanisads with introductions, long the fullest European gathering of them.
The Upanishads (Sacred Books of the East, vols. 1 and 15)The first major English Upanisad translations in his great series, foundational for Western study.
The Sacred Books of the East (series, editor)The fifty-volume Oxford series that first put the East's scriptures, Vedanta among them, into English.
The Thirteen Principal UpanishadsA readable single-volume English of the thirteen chief Upanisads with a substantial comparative outline.
The Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary of Sankara (SBE 34 and 38)The first full English of the Brahma-sutra under Sankara's bhasya, still a standard scholarly reference.
The Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary of Ramanuja (SBE 48)His English of the Sri-bhasya, setting Ramanuja's qualified nondualism beside the Sankara volumes.
Upanisads (Oxford World's Classics) and The Early UpanishadsThe leading modern critical translation of the early Upanisads, with annotated Sanskrit in the full edition.
A History of Indian PhilosophyThe benchmark five-volume history; the Vedanta schools are treated at length across its later volumes.
Encyclopedia of Indian PhilosophiesThe multi-volume reference summarizing the texts of each system, including dedicated Advaita Vedanta volumes.
A Concordance to the Principal Upanishads and Bhagavadgita (Upanisad-vakya-kosa)The exhaustive word index to the principal Upaniṣads and the Gītā, a reference scholars still reach for.
This page maps the literature of Vedānta, not the library’s shelves: most of these texts are not yet here. By Vedānta we mean the traditions that read the Prasthāna Traya, the Upaniṣads, the Gītā, and the Brahma Sūtras, and build on them. Streams that grow from other roots stand just outside this map: the Śaiva and Śākta nondualisms, the Vīraśaiva, the Sant and nirguṇa poets. The newest school, the Akṣara-Puruṣottama of the Swaminarayan tradition, recognized in our own century, belongs here and is not yet mapped.
No school is crowned: each is named and met in its own right, with its own library around it. The shelves differ in size because the surviving literature does, by history and not by our preference. The library is here to keep all of it, one text at a time, each from a verified source, in the public domain where rights allow, and each read across the schools.
Every Unit is free, and open to anyone who comes. The canon is the work of generations, and we are at the beginning.