Talk:Dharmasāstra:Realising the Ideals of the Purāṇas

By Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swami

The noble characters who figure in the Purāṇas serve as an ideal for all of us to follow. When we read their stories we are inspired by their example and we ask ourselves why we cannot be like them ourselves, why we should not share their qualities. But, even if we wanted to emulate their lives, would we be able to live like them without deviating at any time from the high principles that they upheld?

Man by nature is always unstill: he cannot keep his mind quiescent even for a moment. Bhagavān says in the Gītā: "Not for a moment can a man remain still, without doing work." So one must know the right path for work. One must make one's mind pure, acquire the highest of qualities and, finally, transcending these very qualities, realise the Brahman.

How can we live according to the tenets of our religion? How can we wash away our sins and cleanse our Self? And what must we do to attain everlasting happiness? Is not our present birth a consequence of the sins we committed in our past lives? We have to free ourselves from them and be careful not to sin afresh. We must elevate ourselves, our mind and character, so that we are not embroiled in sin again. The purpose of religion is this — to ennoble us and turn us away from sin. But how? How do we live according to the teachings of our religion? We do not know how.

In our present condition, what do we claim to know? Perhaps a little bit of the Rāmāyaṇa, the Bhāgavata and other Purāṇas. We learn about the religious life lived by the characters portrayed in these works. But neither the Purāṇas nor the epics deal with the rites in a codified form, nor do they contain directions for their proper performance.

The Purāṇas and the epics give a dominant place to devotion. Is it possible to be engaged in devotion all the time, or to keep singing the glory of the Lord day and night? Or, for that matter, to be similarly engaged in a pūjā and meditation throughout? No. We have a family to look after. We have to bathe and eat and we have so much other work to do — all this takes time. The remaining hours cannot be set apart for pūjā. It would all be tiresome and we have, besides, to do other good works. How do we get such information?

From the Dharmasāstra.

Of the fourteen branches of learning (caturdaśa-vidyā) Dharmasāstra comes last. Purāṇic characters, who represent our ideal, show us the goal. The path to attain that goal starts with the performance of karma, works. The Dharmasāstra contains practical instructions in our duties, in the rites to be performed by us. In the Vedas these duties are mentioned here and there. The Dharmasāstra is an Upāṅga that deals with them in detail and in a codified form.

There is an orderly way of doing things, a proper way, with regard to household and personal matters — including even bathing and eating. The ordinances of the Vedas cover all aspects of life and to conduct ourselves according to them is to ennoble our Self. Whatever we do must be done in the right manner — how we lie down, how we dress, how we build our house. The idea is that all this helps our being. Life is not compartmentalised into the secular, worldly and the religious. The Vedic dharma is such that in it even mundane affairs are inspired by the religious spirit. Whatever work is done is done with the chanting of mantras and thus becomes a means of Ātmic progress. Just as worldly life and religious life are integrated, harmonised, so are the goals of individual liberation and common welfare kept together.

The devotion we imbibe from the Purāṇas is part of the Vedas also. But with it is associated a good deal of karma. When devotion takes the form of rite called pūjā, there are certain rules to be observed. Apart from pūjā, there are sacrifices and rites like śrāddha and tarpaṇa as important elements of the Vedic dharma. But these are not codified in the Vedas nor is any procedure laid down for each of them.

Vedo’khilo dharmamūlam — says Manu (The Vedas are the root of all dharma.) The work that the Vedas bid us perform for our inner wellbeing also serves the purpose of bringing good to the world. What is called dharma is that which fosters both individual and social welfare. The Vedas are the root of this dharma, its fountainhead.

But the rites and duties are not given in an orderly form in the Vedas, nor is the procedure for works laid down in detail. Of the Vedas that are infinite we have obtained only a very small part. And we do not comprehend fully the meaning of many of the passages even of this small part.

As we have seen, the sixth Vedāṅga, Kalpa, contains the Dharmasūtras, Gṛhyasūtras and Śrautasūtras, relating to rites based on the Vedas. But the sūtras are brief and do not constitute a detailed guide. The Dharmasāstra elaborates upon them without leaving any room for doubt.

The Dharmasūtras (by Āpastamba, Gautama and others) are terse statements — and are so according to the very definition of the term sūtras. The Dharmasāstras (by Manu, Yājñavalkya, Parāśara and others) are called Smṛtis and are in verse and detail in treatment. Their basis, however, is constituted by the Vedas. The function of Dharmasāstra is to analyse and explicate the sūtras of Kalpa which have to some extent systematised the Vedic rules and injunctions. If Kalpa gives instructions about the constructions of the Vedic altar, of houses, etc., Dharmasāstra provides a code of conduct embracing all human activities.

We want to perform a ritual, but how do we go about it? We do not know where the propriety or otherwise of performing it is mentioned in the Vedas. Nor do we know where instructions are given about it. What are we to do then? We do not know anyone who has mastered all the Vedas. Extracting information from them about the rite we want to perform is impossible because they are like the expanse of a vast ocean. If the Vedas bid us “Do like this,” we do so. But since we do not know their ordinances well enough, what are we to do?

The answers to this question are given by Manu: “The sages who had mastered the Vedas composed the Smṛtis. Find out what they have to say.” What we call Smṛtis make up Dharmasāstra.

Vedo’khilo dharmamūlam Smṛtiśīle ca tadvidām.

Smṛti is what is remembered. Vismṛti is insanity. Manu observes: “There is Smṛti for the Vedas in the form of notes. The sages who had a profound understanding of the Vedas have brought together the duties and rites (dharma and karma) mentioned in them in the form of notes and they constitute the Smṛtis. They are written in a language that we can easily understand. Read them. They tell you about your life in detail — the do’s and don’ts, and how the rites are to be performed.”

We have seen that the sixth Vedāṅga, Kalpa, contains instructions about the Vedic works. The Gṛhyasūtras, Dharmasūtras and Śrautasūtras of Kalpa deal with sacrifices and other rites. The Smṛtis elaborate on them and contain detailed instructions with regard to the rites one has to perform through one's entire life. Actually, there are rituals to be conducted from the time of conception until death. The Smṛtis also lay down the daily routine to be followed by all of us.