Misleading statements

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> > Perhaps you have not been following the earlier parts of this

> > discussion. The Manu Samhita is telling the karmis what is their

> > prescribed duty. Someone who is regularly chanting Hare Krishna mantra

> > and has accepted the parampara of Caitanya Mahaprabhu has a different

> > set of prescribed duties.

>

> So basically your point is "Manu Samhita is not appicable for devotees."

> Now it's a time to break this paradigm. Could anyone, please, post

> here a quote from SB 2.10.4?

 

The following sentence is from that purport:

 

"The directive scriptures made by the Manus in different ages and milleniums

are called sad-dharma, good guidance for the human beings, who should take

advantage of all the revealed scriptures for their own interest, to make

life's successful termination."

 

> I don't have a Vedabase or SB in English,

> so I cannot guarantee the exact translation. Srila Prabhupada says

> there that the holy scriptures, where laws and rules of Manu are

> collected, are called sad-dharma; and devotees, who are building their

> lives in accordance with these injunctions are situated under Lord's

shelter.

> Sad-dharma is neccessary to follow to return back to the Lord and thus

> to become His pure devotee.

 

Seems to be the same sentence as your approximate translation.

 

There are five different goals of human life, each one glorified and

encouraged in different portions of the revealed scriptures: dharma, artha,

kama, moksa, and prema. In their respective scriptural portions the

processes to achieve these various goals are each commonly described as

"sad-dharma". Sad-dharma simply refers to eternal principles, and the

processes for achieving any of the five goals, purusarthas, are all eternal,

unchanging principles. "Life's successful termination" can mean the

achievement of the particular goal or goals from among the five as per one's

aspiration.

 

Now which purusartha is being discussed in this particular verse of the

Bhagavatam? Certainly neither moksa nor prema, which is clear from texts 1-2

of the same chapter. Thus the verse itself is about how the karmis are

guided in their pursuit of dharma, artha, and kama. In the purport Srila

Prabhupada clearly has his best preaching shoes on and is encouraging us to

adopt only prema as our aspiration. In the process he is blurring for the

time being the distinction between the various kinds of sad-dharma --

simplifying things for our dull minds.

 

As an additional note, in this particular sentence Srila Prabhupada is

talking about the Manvantara avataras (in the text itself the word

"manvantaraani" is used). As far as I understand, the author of Manu Samhita

is not one of these Manvantara avataras. Manu Samhita was written by one

Manu Rishi. If you have been reading Manu Samhita and Srila Prabhupada's

books under the conception that this Manu is perhaps Vaivasvata Manu, then

this might be the cause of your confusion on the issue of Manu Samhita's

authority for devotees. As you are certainly a qualified scholarly devotee

perhaps you would want to verify this and report back to us.

 

Your servant, Bhaktarupa Das