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The Brahma Sutras were compiled by Vedavyasa, and subsequent acharyas such as Ramanujacharya have written commentaries on them.

But is it known if Vyasa ever wrote his own commentary on them?

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  • No, I don't think so. Then we wouldn't have so many Vedanta schools. Vyasa only wrote a commentary on Patanjali Yoga Sutras as far as I know.
    – user9969
    Sep 30, 2017 at 8:51
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    Why to write commentary on his own work!
    – Pandya
    Sep 30, 2017 at 10:00
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    your question makes no sense. Vyasa wrote the Brahma Sutras as a commentary on the Upanishads. Sep 30, 2017 at 13:02
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    @SwamiVishwananda Just because you write a work about another work doesn't mean you can't write a commentary on your own work. It's not uncommon for people to write commentaries on their own works - Udayana's Nyaya Kusumanjali, Vedanta Desikan's Tattva Mukta Kalapa, Appayya Dikshitar's Sikharini Mala, Bhartrihari's Vakyapadiya, Utpaladeva Ishwara Pratyabhijna Karika, etc. all have commentaries on them by their authors. Sep 30, 2017 at 23:52

2 Answers 2

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No, Bādarāyaṇa Vyāsa did not write commentary on own work Brahma sutras.

Nārāyaṇa Panditācārya, a contemporary of Madhvācārya gave a list of commentators on Brahma sutras. He wrote a biography on Madhvācārya which is called Madhva Vijaya. His works on Madhvācārya are considered authentic because he is the son of Trivikrama Panditacharya, a direct disciple of Madhvacharya. He gave these names in his own commentary on Brahma sutras named Bhāvaprakāśika.

The commentators who wrote commentaries on Vedānta sutras before Madhvācārya are:

  1. Bhāratī Vijaya

  2. Saccidānanda

  3. Śatānanda

  4. Udvarta

  5. Vijaya

  6. Brahmaghoṣa

  7. rudrabhaṭṭa

  8. Vāmana

  9. Yādava prakāśa

  10. Rāmānujācārya

  11. Bhartruprapancha

  12. Dramiḍa

  13. Vṛttikāra

  14. Vijayabhaṭṭa

  15. Bhāskara

  16. Piśāca

  17. Brahmadatta

  18. Viṣṇukrānta

  19. Vādīndra

  20. Mādhavadāsa

  21. Ādi Śankarācārya

Only three commentaries are available for us. They are written by Ādi Śankarācārya, Rāmānujācārya and Bhāskara. Remaining commentaries are only available in footnotes, quotes and mention in other works by them. Other commentaries are lost. As we can see, the name of Vyāsa is not there. So, he didn't write commentary on his own work.

Screenshot from the book.

After the time of Madhvācārya, various commentaries were written from different philosophical point of views. For a list of commentaries written on the Vedānta sutras see this answer

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    After madhva, Baladev vidyabhushan wrote his govinda bhashya commentary on brahma sutra, from acintya bheda bhed philosophiCal standpoint. It is widely followed by gaudiya Vaishnvas like Iskcon. Sep 30, 2017 at 10:12
  • @Vishalprabhulawande Yes, I added an answer which gives a list of surviving commentaries and the sects following those commentaries also. See the edit. I didn't add earlier because that was not required according to the question. Sep 30, 2017 at 10:26
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No, Vyasa did not write an actual commentary on the Brahma Sutras. However, at least Gaudiya Vaishnavas consider the Srimad Bhagavatam to be the natural commentary on the Brahma Sutras. Here is what this chapter of the Chaitanya Charitamrita says:

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives the actual meaning of the Vedānta-sūtra. The author of the Vedānta-sūtra is Vyāsadeva, and he himself has explained those aphorisms in the form of Śrīmad-Bhāgavata. 'The meaning of the Vedānta-sūtra is present in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The full purport of the Mahābhārata is also there. The commentary of the Brahma-gāyatrī is also there and fully expanded with all Vedic knowledge. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the supreme Purāṇa, and it was compiled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His incarnation as Vyāsadeva. There are twelve cantos, 335 chapters and eighteen thousand verses.’

The Chaitanya Charitamrita calls the Bhagavatam Vyasa's Ninja Bhashya or his own commentary on the Brahma Sutras, and it gives a quote that's apparently from the Garuda Purana to back it up.

But while the Bhagavatam may contain the knowledge contained in the Brahma Sutras, it's obviously not a verse-by-verse commentary. However, there is the next best thing, a Vritti or commentary by Vyasa's shishya Baudhayana. Unfortunately it's lost now, but as I discuss in my question and answer here, Ramanujacharya's Sri Bhashya is based on it.

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  • Did you mean "The Chaitanya Charitamrita calls the Bhagavatam Vyasa's Ninja Bhashya" ?
    – Ikshvaku
    Sep 30, 2017 at 22:03

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