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The SHRUTIS are the "directly heard" or "revealed" scriptures, the VEDAS. The SMRITIS or "remembered" lore was finally written down in a remote past as the world's longest epic poems, the MAHABHARATA and the RAMAYANA. PURANAS are literally "ancient" allegories; TANTRAS literally mean "rites" or "rituals"; these treatises convey profound truths under a veil of detailed symbolism.
Listen now to the mysteries of charity as expounded in the sruti and the smritis! A man that performs a sraddha in the conjunction called Gajacchaya at a place that is fanned by the leaves of the Aswattha tree enjoys the fruits thereof, O Yudhishthira, for a hundred thousand kalpas.
On this ground the Sutra sets forth the prima facie view, 'If it be said that there results the fault of there being no room for certain Smritis. The same Sutra replies 'no; because there would result the fault of want of room for other Smritis. For other Smritis, that of Manu e.g., teach that Brahman is the universal cause.
If the Vedas be authority for everything, then authority would attach to the Smritis also for the latter are based on the former. When, however, the Srutis and the Smritis contradict each other, how can either be authoritative? Then again, it is seen that when some wicked persons of great might cause certain portions of certain courses of righteous acts to be stopped, these are destroyed for ever.
But what must be avoided in this case is to give any opening for the conclusion that the very numerous Smritis which closely follow the doctrine of the Vedanta, are composed by the most competent and trustworthy persons and aim at supporting that doctrine, are irrelevant; and it is for this reason that Kapila's Smriti which contains a doctrine opposed to Scripture must be disregarded.
These are the three eternal religions. The religion that is propounded in the Vedas is the highest; that which is propounded in the Smritis is the next in the order of importance; the third in importance is that which is based upon the practices of those who are regarded as righteous. The Brahmans possessed of learning should have the three Vedas. He should be the friend of all creatures.
Listen now to the mysteries of charity as expounded in the sruti and the smritis! A man that performs a sraddha in the conjunction called Gajacchaya at a place that is fanned by the leaves of the Aswattha tree enjoys the fruits thereof, O Yudhishthira, for a hundred thousand kalpas.
I behold also the Smritis compiled by the Rishis, into which the Vedas have been introduced. Men of learning regard them as authoritative in consequence of their following the Brahmanas. Sacrifices have the Brahmanas for that progenitor, and truly they rest upon the Brahmanas. The whole universe rests upon sacrifice, and sacrifice rests upon the universe.
The support required is elucidation of the sense conveyed by Scripture, and this clearly cannot be effected by means of a Smriti contradicting Scripture. Nor is it of any avail to plead, as the Purvapakshin does, that Manu and other Smritis of the same kind fulfil in any case the function of elucidating the acts of religious duty enjoined in the karmakanda.
The term was also used in the sense of revealed, the Upanishads being regarded as direct revelations of God; while the Smritis, minor Scriptures "recorded through memory," were traditional works of purely human origin. It is a significant fact that nowhere in the Upanishads is mention made of any author or recorder.
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