The Brahma sūtras (Sanskrit: ब्रह्म सूत्र), also known as Vedānta Sūtras (वेदान्त सूत्र), are one of the three canonical texts of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy. A thorough study of Vedānta requires a close examination of these three texts, known in Sanskrit as the Prasthanatrayi, or the three starting points. The Brahma sutras constitute the Nyāya prasthāna (न्याय प्रस्थान), or "Logic-based starting point",^{[citation needed]} of the above triplet (Sanskrit न्याय, Nyāya: logic, order). Thus they are also referred to as the Yukti prasthāna, since Yukti (युक्ति) also means reasoning or logic. While the Upanishads (Śruti prasthāna, the starting point of revelation) and the Bhagavad-Gītā (Smriti prasthāna, the starting point of remembered tradition) are the basic source texts of Vedānta, it is in the Brahma sūtras that the teachings of Vedānta are set forth in a systematic and logical order.

The task of reconciling the different Vedic texts, indicating their mutual relations, is assigned to a scripture called the Mimāṃsā (मीमांसा) which means investigation or inquiry. In the orthodox Hindu tradition, Mimāṃsā is divided into two systems, the Purva-Mimāṃsā by Jaimini which is concerned with the correct interpretation of the Vedic ritual and Uttara-Mimāṃsā by Badarayana which is called Brahma-Mimāṃsā or Sariraka-Mimāṃsā which deals chiefly with the nature of Brahman, the status of the world and the individual self. Since it attempts to determine the exact nature of these entities it is also called nirnāyaka-shāstra.