SANATANA DHARMA PART29 19524 20524
Vedic mantras are chanted in all these. Those who composed the Smritis and
laid down the performance of such rites must have been fully aware of the
spirit of the Vedas. It is not proper to think that the Smrtis are inferior
to the Vedas or that the Puranas are inferior to the Smritis. We must learn
to take an integrated view of all of them.
In Puranas the Vedic truths are illustrated in the form of stories. The
Smrtis bring the Vedic dharmas and karmas in the form of instruction and
injunctions and tell us how the rites are to be performed.
The sages had intuitive knowledge of the Vedas. As mentioned so often they
did not compose them - they saw them. There was no intellectual effort on
their part in this. "Srutim pasyanti munayah" (The sages see the Vedas).
They used their intelligence to examine what they saw and, remembering it
all, derived from the Vedas the duties and rites for various castes. This
they gave us in a codified form called Smrti. As I said before "Smrti ''
means memory. For the sages the Vedas constituted an experience that just
happened to them. The Smrtis or the dharmasastras are derived from their
memory of it. "Samskara-janyam jnanam Smrtih", the Nyaya-sastra define
Smrti thus. It means that Smrti is knowledge derived from Samskara. Here
"Samskara" means "atindriya". But what exactly is it?
We go to Kasi and worship at the temple of Visvanatha there. Many days
after our return home, we go to the local temple which has a sanctum of
"Kasi Visvanatha". At once we remember the experience we had of seeing the
deity Visvanatha at Kasi. In between for many days, that is between our
visit to Kasi and to the local temple, we had no memory of this deity. We
come across so many people every day but we hardly think of them later.
But, when we happen to see them subsequently, we tell ourselves: "Ah, we
must have seen them before somewhere. " In between there was no memory of
the people. This "in between state" is called "samskara" or "atindriya". In
that state there is an impression of our experience within us. When this
impression manifests itself as an "expression" we have "Smrti" or memory.
All told, Smrti is the result of our experience and samskara an impression
of that experience within us.
The experience constituted by the Vedas and manifested as the memory is the
Smrti or Dharmasastra. Smrti does not become Smrti without its Vedic root.
Are not the Vedas the"experience" that is the source of the Smrtis? Without
such a source the name suggesting "notes of memory" would be meaningless.
How can we describe as notes of remembrance" anything that is new and is
not founded on something prior to it?
There is no second opinion regarding the fact that what is called
"Srauta"(directly mentioned in the Vedas) is wholly authoritative. But what
is not directly mentioned in Sruti but included in Smrti - that is Smarta -
is not to be taken to be less authoritative. Smarta never contradicts
Srauta. In some matters Smritis may go beyond Sruti, but that too is fully
authoritative being based on the inner spirit of Sruti. Just as the Sthala
Puranas fill in the gaps in the major Puranas and the epics, so the Smrtis
speak of what is left out in the Vedas. We use terms "Sruti pramana" and
"Smrti pramana"(the authority of the Vedas and the authority of the
Smrtis), but making such a distinction does not mean that we should treat
Sruti and Smrti different or that we should think that the one is inferior
to the other.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PURANAS
MAGNIFYING GLASS OG THE VEDAS
The Puranas are the magnifying glass of the Vedas. The principles and rules
of dharma that are briefly dealt with in the Vedas are enlarged or
elaborated upon in them in the form of stories. A subject briefly touched
upon may not make a deep impression on the mind. If the same were told as
an absorbing story it would at once make an impact on the mind of the
listener or reader.
The Vedas urge us to speak the truth ("Satyam vada"). How one becomes
exalted by remaining truthful at all costs is illustrated by the story of
Hariscandra. "Dharmam cara" (Follow dharma, live a life of dharma) is a
Vedic injunction consisting of just two words. The importance of the
pursuit of dharma is explained through the long story of Dharmaputra
[Yudhisthira] in the Mahabharata. "Matr-devo bhava" and "Ptir-devo bhava"
("Be one to whom the mother is god" - "Be one to whom the father is god"):
these two admonishments are enlarged on, as it were, through the magnifying
glass in the story of Sri Rama. Such dharmic virtues as humility, patience,
compassion, chastity, which are the subject of Vedic ordinances, are
illustrated through the noble examples of men belonging to ancient times,
women of hallowed reputation. By reading their stories or listening to them
we form a deep attachment to the virtues and qualities exemplified by them.
All these men and women whose accounts are contained in the Puranas had to
undergo trials and tribulations. We keep committing so many wrongs. But
consider these Puranic characters who had to suffer more than we suffer.
Indeed some of them had to go through terrible ordeals. However, by reading
their stories we do not form the impression that adherence to dharma means
suffering. On the contrary, etched in our minds is the example of men and
women of great inner purity who in their practice of dharma stood like a
rock against all difficulties and challenges. At the same time, we moved by
their tales of woe and thereby our own inner impurities are washed away.
Finally, the glorious victory they achieve in the end and fame they achieve
help to create a sturdy bond in us with dharma.
PURANAS AND HISTORY
Our nation, it is often alleged, does not have a sense of history. In my
opinion the Puranas are history. But to our educated people today history
means the history of the past two thousand years since the birth of Christ.
They do not believe that the events of earlier eras, including those
mentioned in the Puranas, are history. Some of them admit, though, that
there is an element of truth in Puranic stories as shown by recent
research. But these relate to theories like the division of the Indian
people into races like Aryans and Dravidians, theories they fancy are
supported by the Puranas. The rest, like the miracles or accounts of
supernatural occurrences, they dismiss as fables or as a tissue of lies.
Since they are unable to comprehend matters that are beyond our senses they
treat the Puranas as mystery.
Now children have no choice but to read history textbooks written by such
people. But I believe that it is not good to keep children ignorant of the
Puranas. It is not my purpose to say that you should not read history, but
I should like to mention that the puranas are also history and that our
youngsters have a great deal to learn from them, a great deal that will
help in moulding their conduct and character. No such purpose is served by
the history taught in schools.
One reason why they say history must be read is their belief that "history
repeats itself". The idea is that the lessons of the past would be helpful
to us in the future. We learn from history about the circumstances that
usually lead to war and about how great civilizations rise and fall. We can
be on guard against a repetition of these circumstances and this, we are
told, is one of the "uses" of history.
The same events are repeated kalpa after kalpa. According to our sastras,
the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the *Bhagavata, *the Dasavatara (the story
of the ten incarnations of Visnu) and the Puranas are re-enacted kalpa
after kalpa. Here too we see history repeating itself.
Have we in reality learned any lesson from history, I mean from the history
taught in schools? No. We learn how such men as Cenghiz Khan, Timur,
Ghazni, and Malik Kafur
<https://kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part14/referp14.htm#MALIK%20KAFUR>appeared
from time to time and caused devastation in various countries and how they
massacred innocent people. But by reading accounts of their infamous deeds
have we been able to prevent the appearance of such scourges again? Hitler
and Mussolini rose to perpetrate the same kind of outrages on people.
We are witness in our own times to governments losing their support because
of charges of bribery and corruption made against them and other
malpractices ascribed to them including partisanship and nepotism. When one
such government falls, another group forms a new government and they too
lose the support of the people in the subsequent elections for the same
reasons. Here is an example of our failure to learn any lesson from history.
History must be taught along with lessons in dharma; then alone will it
serve the purpose of bringing people to the right path. The Puranas do
precisely this.
History contains no more than accounts of monarchs and other rules in
chronological order. It does not give importance to their moral character :
whether wicked rulers suffered an ill fate or whether just and righteous
rulers earned a high place. According to the law of Karma, Isvara
determines the fate of people on the basis of their actions, meritorious
and sinful. Such justice is not necessarily meted out during the lifetime
of a person. The fruits of a man's action are reaped in subsequent births.
It is not the task of history to deal with such questions, nor do
historians have the capacity to inquire into such matters. Whether a wicked
ruler like Hitler was consigned to hell on his death and whether he had a
lowly rebirth is a subject for the Puranas. Those who composed these texts
had the requisite insight to deal with such questions; indeed the very
purpose of these stories is this, to impart moral lessons. From history we
do not derive any edification.
The Puranas are also, as I said before, history. Besides, they contain
lessons in papa and punya (demerit and merit). In fact, their choice of
stories and narration are such as to bring people closer to the path of
dharma. Again, the Puranas contain accounts of individuals who by virtue of
their steadfast adherence to dharma attained to an elevated state in this
birth itself. At the same time, they also tell us about persons who, by
their acts of adharma, came to harm in this very birth itself. There are in
fact no Puranic stories that do not contain some moral lesson or other.
"The experience of the past narrated in history is a pointer of future
events. The stories of good men who performed virtuous deeds and benefited
from them should be a source of inspiration for us. In the same way, the
stories of wicked men who brought evil to the world and themselves suffered
on account of their acts contain a warning for us". Is the stufy of history
really useful in this way? It is not. To improve ourselves morally and
spiritually we must turn to the Puranas.
The purpose of the Puranas is not to give [as history does] a chronological
account of kings or their quarrels without imparting lessons on good and
evil. We do not need such history since it does not contain any guide for
the conduct of our life. History must be capable of bringing us Atmic
rewards.
The Puranas too deal with the lineages of various ruling houses. They give
accounts of dynasties descended from the moon and the sun (candravamsa and
suryavamsa) and contain a list of successive rulers of various kingdoms.
But in most cases only the names of rulers are mentioned or only brief
references made to them. Detailed accounts are given only of rulers whose
lives have a lesson for us. For instance, the *Bhagavata *tells the story
of Uttanapada, the father of Dhruva, and of Dhruva's son, but only very
briefly. However, the story of Dhruva himself is told in detail, Dhruva who
is an example for all of us in devotion, determination and courage.
*English historians dismiss the Puranas as false*. But on the pretext of
carrying out impartial research they twist history to suit their ends like,
for instance, their "divide and rule" policy. It is in this way that they
have propagated the Aryan-Dravadian theory. If the Puranas are a lie, what
about the history written by these Englishmen? Efforts are going on to
reconstruct our history. But prejudicial accounts cannot be ruled out in
these new attempts also. Whatever claim the historians make to
impartiality, it is hard to say how far the new history (or histories) are
likely to be truthful.
Vyasa, who composed the eighteen Puranas, the great men who wrote the
various Sthala Puranas
<https://kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part14/referp14.htm#STHALA%20PURANAS>,
and the Tamil author Sekkizhar were unbiased in their accounts.
It is not right to view history merely as an account of the rise and fall
of empires or of wars, invasions, dynasties and so on. Each and every
subject has a history of its own. But we find that political history is
given a dominant place. The emphasis in the Puranas is on dharma and,
incidentally, they also deal, in a subsidiary manner, with the ruling
dynasties, with holy men as well as with ordinary folk. They contain
details also of cultural life, the arts and the sciences. The thrust of the
Puranas, however, is dharmic and Atmic.
PURANAS ARE MERE LIES OR MET-PHARMICAL RECORDS
Those who distrust the Puranas maintain that they contain accounts that are
not in keeping with day-to-day realities. The stories in these texts refer
to the arrival and departure of celestials and of their awarding boons to
devotees. To the critics such accounts seem false. A woman is turned into a
stone because of a curse, then the curse is broken with the grant of boon;
or the sun is stopped from rising - such stories seem untrue to us because
they are beyond the realms of possibility and refer to acts beyond our own
capacity.
Since such things do not happen these days, is it right to argue that they
could not have occurred at any time? In the past the mantras of the Vedas
had their own vibrant power because of the exemplary life led by those who
chanted them. Then people practised severe austerities and cultivated yogic
power of a high order. These facts are borne out by ancient books. Through
their mantras, austerities and yoga, people then could easily draw to
themselves powers of a divine nature. Where there is light there is shadow.
So with divine powers there also existed demonic forces that could be seen
in their gross form during those times. Today the war between the
celestials and the demons is still being waged (the combat between good and
evil). Eons ago people could perceive these forces of good and evil because
of the special vision gained from their austerities. Scientists say that
all light waves and sound waves cannot be grasped by the human sense
organs. Some of them go step further to observe on the basis of their
research that there are indeed "good and evil deities".
Even today there are present in this world any number of yogins and
siddha-purusas. They are unscathed by fire or snow, they can produce rain
or stop it, and have powers that cannot be comprehended by our senses. But
we do not have faith in such phenomena and we keep doubting everything. In
the past there must have been more people than we find today with such
abilities or "siddhis". The Puranas contain accounts of many a miracle.
Historians dismiss miracles as not part of history. Jnanasambandhar cured
Kun Pandyan of his fever with the sacred ashes that had the potency
imparted by his muttering of the Pancaksara. The Pandyan was made upright
with his hunch removed ("kun" in Tamil means "hunch" or "hump"). Historians
disbelieve such stories. Mahendra Pallava bound Apparsvamigal with ropes to
a stone and threw him into the Kadila river. The saint remained floating
down the stream. It was this phenomenon that persuaded the Pallava king to
return to the Vedic religion from jainism.
Again, historians refuse to accept such accounts as true. There is,
however, circumstantial evidence to show that a Pallava and a Pandyan king
were restored to Saivism from Jainism. Historians agree that in the sixth
and seventh centuries Jainism declined in Tamil Nadu and that the Vedic
religion (particularly Saivism) came to be on the ascendent. If such a big
change was to happen, that is if two important monarchs of the time felt it
necessary to change their religion, the sort of miracles mentioned in the
stories of Gnanasambandar and Appar must have occurred. The fact that these
rulers did not record the incidents in stone or copper-plate does not mean
that they (the incidents) did not take place at all.
There is a story told in the tradition relating to gurus about
Ramanujacarya. He exorcised a ghost from the daughter of the Jaina king
Pittideva who ruled Hoysala [in Karnataka]. Thereupon the monarch embraced
Vaishnavism. Historians do not lend credence to such stories of exorcism.
Ramanuja lived in the 11th century. Jainism languished in the Hoysala
kingdom and Vaisnava worship and temples prospered. Pittideva himself came
to be called Visnuvardhanadeva. This is now confirmed as a historical fact.
How can you deny that these changes occurred as a result of the incidents
narrated in the story told above? English-educated people dismiss such
accounts in the Puranas as lies since they cannot be proved scientifically.
This attitude is not right.
Even today human skeletons that are ten or twelve feet long are found here
and there. Also discovered are the skeletons of huge animals which are
extinct today but which agree with the descriptions contained in the
Puranas. From such discoveries it seems likely that in the hoary past
demons as tall as palm-trees must have existed, also animals like yalis
with the body of a lion and trunk of an elephant. A human skeleton of which
the legs alone measure 16 feet and the remains of an animal ten times
bigger than an elephant have been discovered in the Arctic region.
It has been determined that the animals belonged to many hundred thousand
years ago. If we take the help of mythology also it would be seen that our
Puranic stories are not untrue.
Man, who was as tall as a palm, is now only six feet; at another time he
was only the size of our thumb. The physical characteristics of creatures
change from age to age. This is stated in the Puranas.
The Puranas are ridiculed because they contain references to vanaras,
monkeys akin to humans, to creatures with the face of a man and the body of
an animal; and then to a character with ten heads. It is all lies, critics
say. Some however, believe that the Puranic stories are all "symbols", that
they are allegorical representations.
It is true that in the Puranas certain principles, certain truths, are
conveyed in the form of stories. But, for that reason, the stories
themselves cannot be called false. Even in modern times we read in the
papers about the birth of a child with two heads and four hands or one that
is neither human nor animal. They called such children freaks. A freak is
the product of an error in nature, nature in which we do not usually meet
with an error. What are called freaks today could have been created in the
past in larger numbers for a special purpose. People in those days had
supernatural powers and, in keeping with the same, the birth of such
unusual children would not have been impossible. We cannot claim that what
we know now is all that is to be known and that there could not have
existed anything different from the existing orders of creatures.
It does not stand to reason to treat what we do not know and what we cannot
know as untrue. In our own times we see that what we normally regard as
unbelievable happens now and then. We read reports of children and older
people recalling their past births. In recent years such reports seem to
have become more common than before.
We distrust the Puranic story, according to which, Kasyapa had a wife
called Kadru who gave birth to snakes. But many of you must have read a
newspaper report last year (1958) of a snake born to a Marwari woman. When
I read it I was reminded of another story.
It refers to a family I had heard about before I became Svamigal. In that
family neither the daughters nor the daughters-in-law wore screwpine
flowers
<https://kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part14/referp14.htm#SCREWPINE%20FLOWERS>in
their hair. When asked the reason for it they told a "story" - but by story
is not meant anything made up.
The inscription on it belonged to the time of Acyutaraya
<https://kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part14/referp14.htm#ACYUTARAYA> who
reigned after Krsnadevaraya
<https://kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part14/referp14.HTM#KRSNADEVARAYA>. According
to it a Brahmin had donated lands to 108 fellow Brahmins. He had done so on
behalf of his king. I will tell you why. The Brahmin's time is taken up by
chanting the Vedas and performing rituals. He is not expected to earn a
salary or do any work other than practising Vedic dharma (today of course
Brahmins work in offices and other establishments). But he had to maintain
his family. That is why the sastras permit him to receive gifts, and that
is how in the past kings and wealthy citizens honoured Brahmins with
donations. But, contrary to present-day allegations, Brahmins did not
extort such offerings, but maintained their self-respect, receiving only
the minimum needed for their upkeep. They would accept gifts of land only
from Ksatriyas belonging to a high lineage.
Some kings were unhappy that Brahmins did not accept gifts from them and so
were denied the opportunity of earning merit. A way out presented itself to
them (and to affluent citizens who were in a similar predicament). They
prevailed upon an indigent Brahmin to accept a large gift, say, an entire
village. But the gift was not wholly intended for him. He was expected to
keep only a small plot of land to himself and divide the rest among other
Brahmins. These latter did not incur "pratigraha-dosha" (the taint of
receiving gifts) by accepting charity from a fellow Brahmin. This was how
the affluent donor managed to earn punya.
But would not such a practice bring demerit to the Brahmin who first
receives the gift of land? It is not wrong on the part of a wealthy man to
honour a Vedic scholar with a donation. But what about the Brahmin who
receives it? Legally the property becomes his, and when he keeps only a
small part of the land to himself and gives away the rest to others, not a
trace of papa sticks to him.
It is, however, bad to receive charity from a king. Great men like
Tyagaraja
<https://kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part14/referp14.htm#TYAGARAJA>spurned
the gifts offered to them by rulers like Sarabhoji. Tyagaraja sang in
anger: "*Nidhi cala sukhama. . .? "* (Is it money that brings happiness? )
The Nattukkottai Cettis (Nagarattar) built many *cattirams* (dharmasalas)
but Brahmins were reluctant to eat in them. So the Cettis handed over the
*cattirams* to a Brahmin and thereby it was made to appear that he was
feeding the other Brahmins.
According to the copper-plate inscription I mentioned earlier, a Brahmin
had distributed the land received from Acyutaraya among 108 fellow
Brahmins. All their names and gotras are mentioned in it, together with the
subjects in which they were proficient. Among them are the names of the
ancestors of the people who came to see me, people descended from the
family in which the snake child was born. The copper-plate had come as a
family heirloom through so many generations. An interesting fact emerging
from the inscription was that the name of the ancestor mentioned on
thecopper-plate was Nagesvara
<https://kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part14/referp14.htm#NAGESVARA>. I was
told by my visitors that the family had a Nagesvara every successive
generation.
I could guess at once that the name was associated with the snake child. It
seemed to answer my doubts about its story. When I heard the news last year
of the birth of a snake to a woman, I had more reason to believe the
earlier story of the snake child.
It is wrong on my part to blame you for not having sufficient faith in the
Puranas. I myself had doubts about the story of the snake child - it had
all the character of a legend. It was only when I read the newspaper report
of the birth of a similar snake child that I believed it to be fully
authentic.
Today we are prepared to believe any story however bizzare it may be if it
is printed in the papers. But we treat the Puranas as no more than fables.
"Those who composed the Puranas had nothing worthwhile to do. They had the
stylus and palm-leaves and they went on inscribing story after story. Some
of the stories seem ingenious enough but most are absurd, " such is our way
of thinking.
SANATANA DHARMA PART 29 KR IRS 19524 20524
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