Related LinksContents of Bookby Swami Krishnananda
Though the Smritis, especially the smriti of Manu, may, from the point of view of chronology, the mode of treatment of religion and ethics, and the general attitude to life, be considered to be older than the Epics and Puranas, the subject treated in the Smritis is being taken up after the discussion on the Epics and Puranas, for the reason that the religious spirit which reached its acme in the Veda-Samhitas and Upanishads found its greatest expression in the latter, and the aspirations of the minds of the large present-day population of India are articulated the most in them, and not so much in the Smritis which are more in the form of legalistic texts on social conduct than direct incentives to a fulfilment of the higher reaches of human nature. Further, the contents of the Smritis are elaborated in a more appealing manner in the Epic and Purana literature, so that one may safely confine oneself to the study of this great religious lore without missing anything that is of importance in the Smritis. The Mahabharata itself is regarded as a great smriti, as it almost exhausts the teachings on dharma. The Kalpa-Sutras, Agamas and Tantras are another body of rules on ancient Indian rituals and ethics. The present exposition is a comprehensive interpretation of this large body of teachings in their essence.
The Smritis, which are held to be an elaboration of the Srutis or Vedas, are the principal codes of social law. Among Smritis, those of Manu, Yajnavalkya and Parasara are the most authoritative and renowned. The Vedas, says Manu, are the principal sources of dharma, and next to them come the Smritis of those who know and practise this dharma. The Smritis supplement and explain the sociological and ritualistic injunctions of the Vedas, called Vidhi, and are thus also called dharma-sastras (scriptures on dharma). They lay down the laws which regulate national, communal, family and individual obligations in general (samanya) as well as in particular (visesha). They specialise in details on the dharmas pertaining to the four castes, viz., Brahmanas or those forming the philosophical and spiritual strata of society, Kshatriyas, or kings and warriors or the military class in general, Vaisyas or the trading class which constitutes the economic side of social life, and Sudras or the servant class of society. The Smritis also deal with the dharmas of Brahmacharins or students leading a life of continence and study under a preceptor or Guru, Grihasthas or householders who form the active, functional and professional aspect of the society, Vanaprasthas or recluses and hermits who have retired from active life as a preparation for the pursuit of spiritual realisation, and Sannyasins or monks who have renounced the world of activity and social contact for complete dedication to the ideal of the realisation of the Absolute. Thus the Smritis are a sort of general guide-books to social living under different circumstances and in different times.
The Manu-smriti is the foremost among such codes or dharma-Sastras. According to Manu, dharma is to be known through the Vedas, Smritis, conduct of saints, and finally one's own purified conscience. By following dharma, one attains perfection. Manu goes into details on the duties of a student, householder, hermit, monk and king, as also the principles of political administration and the vows and observances to be followed as expiation for the commission of certain sins. Summing up his instructions, he says that, of all Dharmas, the knowledge of the Self is supreme, for thereby one attains immortality. By seeing the Self in all beings and all beings in the Self, and practising thus equality of vision, one attains absolute suzerainty or Self-realisation. One is born alone and one dies alone. One also enjoys the fruits of one's deeds, alone. Father, mother, wife, children and friends will not come to one's help in the other world. It is dharma alone that comes to one's aid in the end.
Neither should one cling to life nor court death, but live a life of non-attachment, doing one's duty properly. The essence of dharma consists in the practice of fortitude (dhriti), forbearance (kshama), sense-control (dama), non-appropriation of what does not belong to oneself (asteya), purity in thought, word and deed (saucha), restraint of mind (indriyanigraha), clarified understanding (dhi), knowledge of Truth (vidya), truthfulness (satya) and freedom from anger (akrodha). One should not be under the impression that one can do wrong or evil in secret, without the knowledge of others, for the very sky, earth, water, sun, moon, fire, wind, day and night, and one's own heart, will stand witness to one's action in due time. Restraining one's mind in a state of equilibrium of thought, one should visualise both the good and the bad as appearances of the Self. By this method one puts an end to all inclination to unrighteousness. The Self alone is all the gods and everything is contained in the Self. That is to be known as the Supreme Purusha which is the ordainer of all things, subtler than the subtle and realisable by sharp understanding. One who thus sees the Self in all beings attains equality with everything and realises the state of Brahman. The method of meditation prescribed in the Manu-smriti is that of the recession of effects into their causes, viz., the earth element merging in the water element, water in fire, fire in air, air in ether and ether in Supreme Being. The ordinances of Manu are considered to be as efficacious as the prescriptions of a physician (Yad vai manur avadat tad bheshajam).
Its Purpose and Method: The karma-Kanda forms the ritualistic portion of the religion of India and has its origin in the injunctions of the Brahmana section of the Vedas. The ritual of the Vedas received a powerful accentuation from the Purva-Mimamsa Sutras of Jaimini, which, with the famous commentary of Sabara on them, became the classical text of Brahmanical ritualism of the Vedic type. But the ritual of the Hindus today does not restrict itself merely to the ancient Vedic form of sacrifice. Hindu ritual has a many-sided shape, and is expanded in the Smritis, Kalpa-Sutras, Agamas and Tantras.
Ritual is religion demonstrated in an external act. It facilitates the human mind to observe religion outwardly, in daily life, and thus remember the aims of religion. Ritual, in a sense, is like the base, or the feet of religion, which in no way means that ritual is a non-essential part of religion, even as the feet are not a non-essential part of one's body, for on the feet the body is supported. Ritual is the outer form and not the essence of religion and, hence, when its spirit is missed, religion is seen to stagnate at this level and not rise above to its higher meaning. This would be a travesty of the purpose of ritual, but it does not thereby diminish its value in religion. An outside observer of a religion has his first impressions of it through its rituals and manifested practices in society. This is a social form of religion by which it enters into public relations with people. It is this form of religion which unites the society and nation into a single whole in which the parts are cemented together with a bond of affinity of feeling and purpose. This social element present in religion has the beneficial effect of unifying people by congregation and a fraternity of mutual appreciation, introducing a sort of strength to society. The aspect of pilgrimage (Tirtha-Yatra) in this form of religion brings also the advantage of historical renovation and respect for the ancient traditions of different places and rousing in people's minds a cultural and social relationship even from distance, by way of regard for places other than the location of one's own community. Without such injunctions people would lose association with others, especially those who are far away, and the nation would be deprived of that vital part which is necessary for uniting its diversified limbs into a single character, called culture and common aim.
Ritual as a symbol of the faiths and beliefs of people enables them to visualise their own hearts in daily life and thus respect their own feelings in outer society. By this, the social bond is strengthened further, especially when the beliefs are common with those of others. One's longings are externalised in ritual, and by investing the outer form of life with the inner yearnings of the mind, life is made to look bright and worth living. It is a truth of psychology that every observer of things in the world colours them with his own views and attitudes towards them and the objects of the world are not seen as they really are in themselves. The bifurcation of thought into the contemplation of the desirable and the undesirable in the world is due to the compulsion of thought to invest things-in-themselves with its own relative appraisals of them, simultaneously with an inability on its part to develop an impartial attitude towards all things. This fact was noticed by the wise sages who instituted the system of rituals and prevented the mind from projecting within itself any unhealthy reactions towards the world outside, by providing thereby an avenue for the visualisation of sublime ideals in external objects. Ritual symbolises the higher aims of the human mind in the form of the outer acts of religious service and ceremony.
Ritual also acts as a corrective to the psychological tensions of the human mind which, when they are not properly handled, are likely to create complexes and a general condition of mental ill health. Ritual provides an ample opportunity to voice forth one's emotions and see them, in one's presence, as it were, getting released from the heart, being freed from unnatural conditions caused by unfulfilled desires. The joys and sorrows of the mind are demonstrated before the deity of one's adoration, for example, in an act of elaborate worship (Puja) or sacrifice (yajna) which has the advantage of displaying one's mental condition before a congregation of other people during the ritual, in addition to producing a satisfaction in oneself that the deity has been pleased and the grace desired has been invoked. The mind comes out of its limitation and feels an expansion of its content and existence in the act of religious ritual.
Ritualism in the form of temple-worship has resulted in elaborate structures of architectural grandeur and sculptural beauty. Ritual in India has not been merely a system of mechanised acts and routines of worship and prayer but has been associated also with art as an aspect of religious practice. Religion has been not merely a science of formalistic practice of set doctrines but an interesting and attractive representation of the needs of the soul in social life. The great temples in the various important shrines in India have been a permanent source of inspiration on account of the dignity of their form and the artistic perfection of their build. The lofty and massive structures often scraping the sky through their spires raise one's thoughts to a height of mystical magnificence felt deeply within the heart of the observer. The famous temples have been patrons of architectural art and sources of elevated feelings free from the trammels of day-to-day life not only in the minds of devotees but even impartial connoisseurs of the significance of art in general. Great temples are built in the pattern or symbol of the Virat-Purusha or the Cosmic Person sung in the Vedas and Upanishads. From the entrance to the innermost 'holy of holies' the making of the temple involves by stages the representation of the limbs of the Virat, thus giving a touch of the highest aim of religion as God-realisation to the art of temple-construction and the ritual of temple-worship.
Ritual plays a great role in the institution of moral values in society. Self-restraint which is the essential content of morality forms a necessary part of the practice of religion. Ritual as a stage in religion requires a person to follow several disciplines and vows (vratas) as well as observances which tend to the inhibition of the lower urges of human nature. Daily and timely bath, fast, vigil and the partaking of consecrated food which is prepared in a clean and holy atmosphere are some of the aspects of the conduct of the ritual in its several forms. During the performance of the ritual one endeavours to keep oneself aloof from contact with unholy things, in body, speech and mind, which, in their totality, produce an effect of physical health, sublimity of thought and a feeling of the spiritual presence.