Prasthana Trayi (प्रस्थानत्रयी)

Prasthana-trayi (Samskrit:प्रस्थानत्रयी) include the three fundamental texts of Indian Philosophy to understand the import of every system of Vedanta. Every system of Vedanta declares that it derives its doctrines from three texts (Prasthana-traya), namely, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad-Gita, and the Vedanta-Sutras or Brahmasutras. Each school holds that its interpretation of the texts is the only correct version and those of the others wrong. Thus we have the different systems of Vedanta being fastened on to one and the same text. This has been possible because of the presence of more than one way of looking at the texts.

There are six systems of philosophy known as Shad Darshanas of which Vedanta is one. They accept the Vedas as authority but they have different interpretations of what the Vedas mean. Shankaracharya established that Vedanta is the concluding portion of the Vedas (gives actual conclusive import of the Vedas).

Prasthana means a textual composition which establishes principles or by which one is led and trayi is indicative of the quantity three.

The Three Prasthanas

All major Vedantic teachers, like Shankaracharya, Ramanujacharya, and Madhvacharya, have composed extensive commentaries on the three texts. Some opine that the

1. Upanishads - they form the Shruti Prasthana (related to Shrutis or Vedic texts or revealed texts)
2. Vedanta Sutras or Brahma Sutras - form the Nyaya Prasthana (logical texts)
3. The Bhagavad Gita - forms the Smrti Prasthana (related to Smritis or remembered texts )

Upanishads are the first authoritative texts dealing with the doctrines of Vedanta, namely Atman and Brahman.

Second authoritative work is “Brahmasutra”, which is said to have been authored by Badarayana Vyasa. It contains aphorisms, and all the three leading philosophical schools of Hinduism, Advaita (non-dualism), Visishtadvaita (qualified non-dualism), and Dvaita (dualism) have learned treatises written by the leading proponents and teachers of these schools, commenting on the aphorisms found in this text. The commentaries of these three Acharyas (teachers) on Brahmasutra are the foundation of philosophy of these schools.

S Radhakrishnan writes the following:

"The three Prasthanas or divisions of Vedanta are: The Upanishads, Brahma Sutra and the Bhagavad Gita. The three Prasthanas answer roughly to three stages of faith, knowledge and discipline. The Upanishads embody the experience of the sages. Logic and discipline are present in them though these are not the chief characteristics of those texts. The Brahma Sutra attempts to interpret in logical terms, the chief conclusions of the Upanishads. The Bhagavad Gita is primarily a Yoga Sastra giving us the chief means by which we can attain the truly religious life. These three form together the absolute standard of the Hindu tradition".

Pandey & Navare (2018) mention: Hindu tradition acknowledges the Prasthānatrayī as its three primary sources. The texts comprising the Prasthānatrayī are the Upaniṣada , the Bhagavad-Gītā, and the Brahmasūtra.

Unanimous acceptance

The system (that particular structure) of Prasthan trayi was accepted by subsequent acharyas also. Sripad Madhvacharya, Sripad Ramanujacharya, Sripad Baladev Vidyabhushan and others have all commented on this Prasthan trayi and through that way they established the authenticity of their sampradayas.