list

September 1, 2008

Namasthe,

Which are the 'shruti & smriti' Bhagavan has extensively used in 'gita'? What

are the essential studies required to understand the 'Gita' in its entirety?

Hope some one will list them out.

Regards

Balagopal

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September 2, 2008

Hari OM!

1) The Sruthi : All Vedas are Sruthis and have no time and place identified for their origin in history .

In all, the whole of Veda is divided into 1,180 sakas ( recensions, branches) in four main books:

Rig-Veda (50), Yajur-Veda (109), Sama-Veda (1000), and Adharva-Veda (50). Yajur-Veda has again two parts: Sukla (Vajasaneya), and Krishna (Taittiriya ). Each Veda can also be divided into following four parts, suiting the four stages in man's life:-

a) Mantra Samhitas (hymns) are the mystical poems in praise of God for attaining material prosperity here and happiness hereafter. These are for Brahmacharisns for ritual recite.

b) Brahmana (ritual prose-explanations) of Mantras are to guide in performance of Sacrificial rite in Yajnas; and suitable for house-holders.

c) Aranyakas which give philosophical interpretations of the rituals ; and intended for the Vanaprastas (hermits) preparing for taking Sannyasa.

d) Upanishads contain the essence of the Veda knowledge and speak of the identity of the individual soul with the Supreme soul. Meant for Sannyasins during meditation. Being the concluding end of Vedas, Upanishads are also called Vedanta.

There are as many Upanishads also corresponding to each division of Veda. The most important authoritative Upanishads are, viz : Isa, Kena, Katha, Prasna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Aitareya, Taittiriya, Chhandogya, Brihadaranya, Kaushitaki, Svetasvatara and Maitrayani. Indian Hindu philosophers belonging to different schools of thought have built their interpretations on the foundation of Upanishads.

Another way of grouping (chapter ) is as Karma-Kanda (Mantras & Brahmanas), Upasana –Kanda (Aranyakas), and Jnana-Kanda (Upanishads) based on themes of ritualistic, worshiping and knowledge respectively.

There are 4 Upa-Vedas (subsidiary vedas) also: Ayurveda, Dhanurveda, Gandharva veda, Arthasastra forming auxiliaries in field of life & health, war, music and polity sciences respectively.

There are 6 Ved-angas (explanatory limbs) also which are for preparatory reading to main Vedas. They are,

viz : Siksha (for phonetics, accent and pronunciation) and Vyakarana (Sanskrit grammar) of Panini, Chhandas (dealing with prosody) of Pingalacharya, Nirukta (etymology) of Yaska, Jyotisha (astronomy & astrology) of Garga, and Kalpas (methods, rituals) by 4 authors for 4 different purposes(known as Srauta , Grihya, Dharma , & Sulbha ). There are many more Kalpa-sutras for further elaboration of rituals in the main Vedas.

Srutis though considered a 'hear-say' have created vast resource of Sanskrit literature for Hindu Scripts.

2) The Smrithis are secondary scriptures of Hindu scriptures. Expressly called Dharma Sastras, these are codifications of law (vidhis) for regulating society from time to time, the teachings of Veda. Out of eighteen main smrithis, three of Manu, Yajnavalkya, and Parasara are the most celebrated. Other fifteen are those by Vishnu, Daksha, Samvartha, Vyasa, Haritha, Satatapa, Vasishta, Yama, Apastamba, Gautama, Devala, Saukha-Lakhita, Atri, and Saunaka. It is believed that Manu-smriti was intended for satya-yuga, Yajnavalkya-smrithi for treta-yuga,Saukha-Likhita smriti for dvapara-yuga and Parasara-smrithi for kali-yuga in the ages of development.

With Love & OM!

Krishna Prasad

On Mon, Sep 1, 2008 at 5:55 AM, balagopal ramakrishnan <rbalpal wrote:

Namasthe,Which are the 'shruti & smriti' Bhagavan has extensively used in 'gita'? What are the essential studies required to understand the 'Gita' in its entirety? Hope some one will list them out.

RegardsBalagopalConnect with friends all over the world. Get India Messenger at http://in.messenger./?wm=n/

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