Within the Brahma Sūtras, the teaching unfolds through a sustained dialogue of objection and resolution, especially around the nature of Brahman and its relation to the world and the individual self. A central issue is whether the Upaniṣads truly point to a single, ultimate Brahman, given that some passages speak of a formless, attributeless reality and others of a personal Lord endowed with qualities. The Sūtras respond by affirming that these are not two different ultimates but two standpoints on the same Brahman: the attributeless (nirguṇa) as the highest truth, and the qualified (saguṇa) as a pedagogical and devotional presentation. Anthropomorphic and attribute-laden descriptions are thus treated as provisional, intended for meditation and worship, while the deeper intent of scripture is a non‑dual, infinite reality that transcends all limiting predicates.

Another major line of objection concerns causality and the origin of the universe. Rival schools such as Sāṅkhya and Nyāya–Vaiśeṣika propose, respectively, an unconscious primordial matter (prakṛti or pradhāna) or eternal atoms as the fundamental cause, sometimes with a separate God as mere efficient cause. The Brahma Sūtras counter that the Veda consistently teaches a single, intelligent principle from which the universe arises, by which it is sustained, and into which it dissolves. This Brahman is upheld as both material and efficient cause, often illustrated by images such as the spider and its web, or clay and its pots, to show that the manifold world is grounded in one essence rather than in a plurality of independent substances. In this way, unconscious matter or atoms are judged inadequate as ultimate explanations, since they cannot account for the ordered, intelligible character of experience without an underlying intelligence.

The text also addresses objections regarding the status of the individual self and the path to liberation. It is asked how the finite jīva, subject to ignorance and suffering, can be identical with the infinite Brahman, and whether such a doctrine does not undermine moral effort and ritual practice. The Sūtras answer that bondage is due to ignorance (avidyā) that veils the true nature of the self, and that realization of identity with Brahman occurs when this ignorance is removed. Practices such as ritual action, devotion, and meditation are not dismissed; rather, they are granted an important preparatory role in purifying and steadying the mind, while knowledge of Brahman is affirmed as the direct means to liberation. In this vision, the many apparent contradictions—between form and formlessness, unity and plurality, action and knowledge—are gathered into a coherent whole by reading the Upaniṣads through the lens of a single, non‑dual Brahman that is both the ground of the cosmos and the innermost self.