Talk:Śruti–Smṛti – Śrauta–Smārta

By Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swami

To discriminate between Śruti and Smṛti is not correct. Śruti, Smṛti, and the Purāṇas, all three belong to the same tradition. Śaṅkara is said to be the abode of the three (śruti-smṛti-purāṇānām ālayaṁ). If the three were at variance with one another, how can they exist in harmony in the same person?

Those who follow the tradition of the Ācārya are called Smārtas. The word Smārta literally means one who adheres to the Smṛtis. To say that the Ācārya descended to earth to uphold the Vedas and that those who follow his path are Smārtas implies that the Vedas and Smṛtis are one.

The rites that are not explicitly mentioned in the Vedas but are dealt with in the Smṛtis are called Smārta karmas, and those that are explicitly mentioned are called Śrauta karmas. This does not mean that the Smārta rites are in any way inferior to Śrauta. The householder's Smārta works include such an important rite as aupāsana; equally important are the domestic rites like śrāddha and the seven pakayajñas. Vedic mantras are chanted in all these. Those who composed the Smṛtis 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 Smṛtis are inferior to the Vedas or that the Purāṇas are inferior to the Smṛtis. We must learn to take an integrated view of all of them.

In the Purāṇas the Vedic truths are illustrated in the form of stories. The Smṛtis 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. “Śrutim paśyanti munayaḥ” (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 Smṛti. As I said before, Smṛti means memory. For the sages, the Vedas constituted an experience that just happened to them. The Smṛtis or the Dharmasāstras are derived from their memory of it. “Saṁskāra-janyam jñānam Smṛtiḥ”, the Nyāya-śāstra defines Smṛti thus. It means that Smṛti is knowledge derived from saṁskāra. Here saṁskāra means atīndriya. But what exactly is it?

We go to Kāśī and worship at the temple of Viśvanātha there. Many days after our return home, we go to the local temple which has a sanctum of “Kāśī Viśvanātha”. At once we remember the experience we had of seeing the deity Viśvanātha at Kāśī. In between, for many days, that is, between our visit to Kāśī 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 saṁskāra or atīndriya. In that state, there is an impression of our experience within us. When this impression manifests itself as an "expression", we have Smṛti or memory. All told, Smṛti is the result of our experience and saṁskāra an impression of that experience within us.

The experience constituted by the Vedas and manifested as the memory is the Smṛti or Dharmasāstra. Smṛti does not become Smṛti without its Vedic root. Are not the Vedas the “experience” that is the source of the Smṛtis? 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 “Śrauta” (directly mentioned in the Vedas) is wholly authoritative. But what is not directly mentioned in Śruti but included in Smṛti — that is Smārta — is not to be taken to be less authoritative. Smārta never contradicts Śrauta. In some matters Smṛtis may go beyond Śruti, but that too is fully authoritative being based on the inner spirit of Śruti. Just as the Sthala Purāṇas fill in the gaps in the major Purāṇas and the epics, so the Smṛtis speak of what is left out in the Vedas. We use terms “Śruti pramāṇa” and “Smṛti pramāṇa” (the authority of the Vedas and the authority of the Smṛtis), but making such a distinction does not mean that we should treat Śruti and Smṛti different or that we should think that the one is inferior to the other.