On the importance of upa-bRumhaNas (Was Do shAstrAs really have strict rules?)

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SrI:

SrImatE rAmAnujAya namaH

SrImatE nigamAnta mahAdESikAya namaH

SrImatE nArAyaNa yatIndra mahAdESikAya namaH

 

namO nArAyaNa!

 

Dear SrI Malolan,

 

>It is well know that smritis such as manu smriti, yajnavalkya smriti

>and so on dictate strict rules for veda-pArAyanam such as shruthi is

>not be recited by non-dvijAs and so on.

>

>I have one observation here. The Smritis which dictate the rules are

>not entirely based on the shruthi but are individualistic

>interpretations by hierophants in the tradition.

>

>The shruthi does not PRE-SUPPOSE the rules dictated by the smriti,

>rather it is the other way round.

>

> Any opinions in this matter?

 

For that matter, it can be further questioned like, " Why to resort

to Bhagavad GItA as essence of Upanishads Or even the whole of

MahAbhArata to be the fifth vEda etc, since many of what

they say is not found in VEdas Or Upanshads ? " . In other words,

the question boils down to this : " Why to accept any work other

than the VEdas (which has Upanishads ofcourse) as the

authority, when they explain many things not even stated in

VEdAs ? "

 

The following verse from MahAbhArata is a very important one to

be noted regarding this issue :

 

itihAsa-purANAbhyAm vEdam samupabhRumhayEt |

bibhEtyalpaSrutAdvEdaH mAmyam praratarishyadi || Adi Parva 1.293

 

It states that, VEdas are to be understood necessarily based

on ItihAsa-PurANas. It warns those who masters few SAkAs of

VEdas and starts to explain the purport of the whole of VEdAs. The

verse is composed to mean as though VEdAs by themselves become

afraid of such persons who starts to interpret it independent of

ItihAsa-PurANas.

 

Let me explain further. There are innumerous SAkAs; But only

some are extant { " anantA vai vEdAH " proclaims vEdas themselves}.

As a consequence, many Upanishads will also be there at the

Siras (end) of these SAkAs also. How come we ascertain the

siddhAnta then ? The Rishis are again taken to be the

authoritative persons in this issue. Just like they intuited

various portions of vEdas and codified it directly, they have

also summarized various intuitions from different parts of

vEdas/Upanishads in the form of upa-bRumhaNas - Be it SmRutis,

ItihAsa-PurANas and Agamas - all valid pramANas come under this

category. Sometimes, PerumAL Himself does it in the place of

Rishis, as in the case of Bhagavad GItA, some Agamas texts and

also some ItihAsa-PurANa episodes {like VarAha PurANam as answer

to BhU-DEvi's Qts}.

 

There is a concept called " anumita Sruti " - can be translated as

" Inferred Sruti " . Basically, for all the valid texts which serve

as upa-bRumhaNas, there are corresponding Sruti VAkyas. When it is

extant, well and good. If not, it is stated as " anumita Sruti " .

 

The detailed procedure of SandhyAvandanam Or aachAram, Or be it

Sanku-Chakram based form of PerumAL (which is not in extant portion

of Vedas) etc etc - For all these things, " anumita Sruti " is there,

since upa-bRumhaNas explains so.

 

Thats why one can't search for the procedures of karma yoga

in the extant VEdas/Upanishad - It is GitA which explains it more

clearly and there are some " anumita Srutis " based on which it is

presented by PerumAL. Similarly for the whole portion of GItA.

Thats why its told that BhagavAn has condensed the whole of

Upanishads in the nectarian GItA.

 

Personaly, aDiyEn believes completly the intuition process by

Rishis. aDiyEn does not want to get into the reasons which have

strenghtened my belief. But, its very much a fact that at trance

you can get the intuition of various texts of Sruti by the grace of

BhagavAn.

 

So, its futile to expect all the concepts be explained

independently in all the pramANas. The very reason for the birth

of various types of pramANas is to explain and also amplify further

on various texts of VEdas - extant and not extant. ItihAsa-PurANas

dwell " more " on the leelas performed by BhagavAn (though has

philosophical content, dharmas etc) and SmRutis are mainly the

dharma SAstras. It explains the way VarNAshrama dharma to be

followed. It also serves as the " Law Book " . Agama SAstras

specializes in the explanation of archa-worship. As far as

PAn~charAtra Agamas are concerned, it has its " anumita Sruti "

on EkAyana SAkA. But, those written works which " contradict "

vEdas are rejected as un-authoritative.

 

Hence, the " strict rules " as you call, in SmRutis are to be

followed for sure. Thats what BhagavAn says [ VishnuDharma (6.31)]:

 

" SrutiH SmRutiH mama Eva aajn~A yastAmulla~ndhya vartatE |

aajn~AcChEdI mama drOhI mad bhaktaH api na vaishNavaH || "

 

ie. " Sruti and SmRuti are indeed My commands. He who transgresses

them violates My commands. He is My dhrohi. Though he may be

devoted to Me, he shouldn't be called a VaishNava " .

 

Why are these rules ? - Its beyond our senses. Thats why we need

SAstras like SmRutis to understand and follow it. If it were

easily understandable through pratyaksham and anumAnam itself,

there is no need for Rishis to write the SmRutis. If one follows

it with proper attitude as expected by BhagavAn, he/she will

always be dearer to Him. There are various places in Bhagavad

GItA in which this has been stressed.

 

For some of the prescibed Or prohibited activities, we may

find good explanations in the materialistic plane (like

improvement in functioning of organs, cleansing of mind etc).

But, we don't know such reasons for many - Broadly, we know

that its very good for the body as well as the soul.

 

aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,

anantapadmanAbhan alias Anand.