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Updated: May 10, 2025
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.
For Scriptural and Smriti texts alike declare that the released soul stands to the highest Self in the relation of fellowship, equality, equality of attributes, and all this implies consciousness of separation. Up. Up. Gi. Against this view the Sutra declares itself 'in non-division. The released soul is conscious of itself as non-divided from the highest Brahman.
Similarly Smriti, 'The whole world is thy body'; 'Water is the body of Vishnu'; 'All this is the body of Hari'; 'All these things are his body'; 'He having reflected sent forth from his body' where the 'body' means the elements in their subtle state. We must therefore aim at giving a definition of the word that is in agreement with general use.
'on account of the inequality of creation depending on the deeds of the intelligent beings, gods, and so on, about to be created. Sruti and Smriti alike declare that the connexion of the individual souls with bodies of different kinds divine, human, animal, and so on depends on the karman of those souls; compare 'He who performs good works becomes good, he who performs bad works becomes bad. Up.
And thus Perception and Inference show. That the energies connected with the rule of the entire world are exclusive attributes of the highest Person, Scripture and Smriti alike declare. Compare scriptural texts such as 'From fear of him the wind blows, &c. Up. Up. Up. Gi. Up. Gi.
Nor again the Smriti texts enjoining works of either permanent or occasional obligation; for those texts always convey the notion of an apurva only on the basis of an antecedent knowledge of the apurva as intimated by Vedic texts containing terms such as svargakamah.
That for those as well who know Brahman, as for others, the eating of food of any kind is lawful only in case of extreme need, Smriti also declares, 'He who being in danger of his life eats food from anywhere is stained by sin no more than the lotus leaf by water. And hence also a scriptural passage as to non-proceeding according to liking.
Texts such as 'the True, knowledge, infinite is Brahman, and 'the True must be enquired into, prove that the term 'the True' denotes Brahman; and as in the Chandogya the term 'tapas' occurs in the corresponding place, we conclude that both these terms, viz. the True and tapas, denote nothing else but Brahman. Up. Gi. And there are many other Sruti and Smriti passages of this kind.
This holds good both with regard to us men and to the highest Lord of all; there however is that difference between the two cases that the representations of the Veda which the supreme Person forms in his own mind are spontaneous, not dependent on an impression previously made. Up. And as to Smriti we have the following statement in Manu, 'This universe existed in the shape of darkness, &c.
The average man—even the average priest—regards all these as sacred works without troubling himself with distinctions as to śruti and smṛiti, and the Vedas and Upanishads are hardly within his horizon. In respect of sacred literature Buddhism is more conservative than Hinduism, or to put it another way, has been less productive in the last fifteen hundred years.
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