Chapter 2
Sastram

In the last chapter, we saw that all the human goals can be divided into two - Preyas and Sreyas. This is the content of our scriptures. Scriptures are called Sastrams in Sanskrit. Scriptures are that body of the literature, which help a person in the fulfilment of the goals. We should understand that the scriptures are the body of the literature, which help a person in fulfilment of the two goals. We should understand that the scriptures have come only to help humanity, not to bind it, not to create problem to humanity, not to restrict the freedom of humanity. Scriptures have come only to help the human goal and the scriptures do not impose themselves too.

Scriptures are like the ‘May I help you’ counters in the railway stations. In other words, if we want help, they are ready to provide it. If we are confident of managing on our own, they wish us the best. The person at the counter does not call everyone and advise. The counter is only for those who approach and need help. Similarly the scriptures do not force themselves, but they are available for those who care seek their help.

What is meant by the word Sastram? Sasanat Trayate iti Sastram. That which teaches a human being, and helps him/her is Sastram. Sas means to ‘teach’. Trai means ‘to protect’. As the person at the enquiry counter saves the person from a lot of trouble or waste of time, similarly the scriptures save a lot of time and trouble for human beings.

Our Sastram is voluminous one. In other religions, the scripture is small one, which you finish in a day’s reading. Perhaps, even one is night is enough? Whereas our scriptural literature is vast one, which we can study for Janmas. Even then, we may not complete it.

The Vedas: The Primary Literature

A peripheral view of our scriptural literature will also help us get an idea of greatness of our Rishis and forefathers who had worked so much to produce and preserve this vast literature. Of these scriptures, the most important and primary one is called the Vedas. They are the Mula Sastrams or the primary scriptures. The Veda is four in number –Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharvana Veda. According to tradition, the content of Vedas we have now - is incomplete, as many parts of the Vedas have been lost in course of time. We are not able to find some portions that Sankaracharya quotes, because between Sankarcharya’s time and our time, portions of the Vedas have been lost. Tradition holds that the four Vedas originally had more than thousand branches, of which a few are available today. The existing branches themselves are so voluminous that we are not able to study even one Veda completely. We try to study Gayatri as the essence of these Vedas.

Now, who are the authors of these Vedas? According to tradition, the Vedas were not invented by the human intellect at all. They are not considered a human effort. In Sanskrit, a human product is called Paurusheya, that which is the product of human effort. Vedas are not considered to be Paurusheya. They are considered to be the gift of the lord. Therefore, they are called Apaurusheya – Sastram, a non-human product. How did Lord gift the Vedas to the humanity? It is said that the Rishis served as the media for receiving the Vedas. Each Rishi is like a TV set, which is the receiving centre, receiving information from the transmission centre, which we do not see. Transmission is from the lord Himself. ‘Yo Brahmanam Vidadhati Poorvam Yo Vai Vedamscha Pranihoti Tasmai. Thus, the Vedas were available in the form of ‘Sabda’ or sound or waves and Rishis were the qualified people to receive them. The Rishis received these Vedas and gave them to the entire humanity. Thus was set up a tradition. The Rishis are called mantra drastarah, the seers of the mantras. The rishis are mantra – drastas and not mantra – kartas.

The Secondary Literature:

To support and elaborate these four Vedas, we have many secondary scriptures. These secondary scriptures are not revelations from the lord. They are written by great Acharyas (teachers). Therefore they are called ‘Paurusheya- Sastram’. Veda is called apaurusheya – Sastram; whereas all the secondary scriptures are, which elaborate the Vedic teachings and therefore these scriptures also deal with the attainment of the basic human goals, i.e., ‘Preyas’ and ‘Sreyas’.

Why should we ever have secondary literature? Are not the Vedas sufficient? Secondary scriptures are required due to many reasons. The Vedas contain many ideas, which are abstract in form. As they are abstract in form, many people did not have subtle intellect to understand them. There fore, the abstract ideas of Vedas will have to be presented in concrete from. This is similar to teaching numbers to a child. Numbers are too abstract and a child does not understand them. In the kindergarten sections these are set in concrete form so that the abstract idea is concretised. To teach number one to a child – one banana is placed before the child. Similarly with other numbers and colours. The names of the colours come very easily to an adult. However to a child, each colour has to be represented by an object. Thus the child required something concrete to bring the abstract before him. Similarly, the secondary scriptures bring many ideas into concrete form through various stories, either imaginary or true. Some stories are historical and help even a research scholar. Some may be a mixture of both fact and fiction. But the aim of the story is to convey abstract ideas. Therefore, we require secondary scriptures.

There is another reason that is more important. Though the Vedas teach a lot of things the information given is not systematically arranged. The Vedas, in fact are like a wild forest in which there are vegetables, flowers, fruits and so on, with varieties in each of them. But they are not arranged properly in a systematic manner. The Vedas talk about various types of Sadhanas for Brahmachari (a student), a Gruhastha (a married one), a Sanyasi (a renunciate) etc. All these are often mixed together. The secondary literature arranges them systematically.

a. The Sutras:

The first and foremost secondary scriptures are called the sutras. We have dharma – Sutras, Srauta Sutras and Gruhya Sutras written by many Rishis. We have Sutras codifying the contents of Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharvanaveda. Here, the Vedic teachings are well codified and arranged to clearly indicate the duties of a Brahmachari, a Gruhastha, a Vanaprastha and Sanyasi. They also enumerate the duties of a Brahmana, a Kshatriya, a Vysya and so on. For the sake of easy remembrance, all these are presented in a Sutra form – a terse form called an aphorism. A profound idea stated in a short form so that people can learn these easily by heart. It should be remembered that they did not have literature in written form. Either they did not write it out, or the facilities were not available then. All the Vedas were chanted from memory, so also the Sutras.

b. The Smritis:

When things are presented in terse form, there is a possibility of our missing something. It may lead to confusion. So came next stage of literature called the Smriti – granthas. The authors of these secondary scriptures studied the Vedas, remembered the teaching and systematically presented them in their own language. Hence they are called Smritis - ‘remembered wisdom’. We have many Smritis like Manu Smriti, Yajnavalkya Smriti, Parsara Smriti, Vyasa Smriti and so on. They are metrical composition consisting of verses (slokas). Each Smriti is well codified too. So, if you want to know about a particular topic, you may do so by choosing the relevant chapter. If you want to know about a topic, you may do so by choosing the relevant chapter. If you want to know about a topic in Vedas, you will see that some information is available in the last portion of the Rig Veda, some in the middle of Yajur Veda and some in Sama Veda. But, in the Smriti Granthas, we can easily find out the material under the chosen heading.

Samanya Dharmaas (general duties), Visesa Dharmas (specific duties) and Apaddharamas (duties in crisis) are in a well-codified form. They are neat presentation of rules – how to treat your father, mother, wife, husband, children, a sishya, the guru and so on. These are Smritis.

c.The Puranas:

Then came the next range of literature called the Puranas where we find stories for every duty. The Puranas show how difficult it is to follow these rules and how some people in spite of all the difficulties, remain steadfast in following the same duties. The Puranas thus remain a very vast literature. In the Smritis we have a few thousand verses, whereas each Purana consist of 15000 to 80000 verses. It is because there are stories running into thousands of verses for every value that is talked about. For just one Vedic mantra, Satyam Vada (speak truth) we have the whole story of Harischandra in Purana,. The Puranas show the number of problems one has to face if one has to follow one value. There will be more occasions to violate them than to follow. Harischandra remained steadfast and finally got the befit. Thus for one Satyam Vada we have the whole story of Harischandra. Similarly for each value we have stories some of which are factual and some, which are a mixture of fact and fiction.

We have 18 Puranas and 18 upapuranas totally running to 36. Most of these are attributed to Vyasa. Thus we have lakhs and lakhs of verses. Translations of these Puranas also are available. The Puranas are so called because they are Pura Api Navah. In other words even though they are ancient they are ever valid, ever meaningful and never obsolete. Even though stories appear fictitious eternal truths are conveyed through them. The society may change but these truths will never change, even today when there is a mythological story shown in TV there is attraction. The beauty is it attracts not only the child by catering to fancies but also the elders by providing food for thought. Along with philosophy there are ethics, sociology and psychology. The western psychologists are today talking about the greatness of our Puranas. We do not require a Walt Disney for we have our Puranas to cater to children’s fantasy. We have instances of man becoming animal or man becoming a stone a stone becoming an animal and so on. All these and more.

d. The Itihasas:

Then comes the final range of literature called Itihasas. Itihasa literature is historical literature, which is literature dealing with history or based on history. We have here the well known Ramayana and Mahabharatha for we believe that the Ramayana and the Mahabharatha deal with events that really took place long ago. A few fictitious things may have been added here and there for the sake of story value. This is similar to taking a movie out of real incident. We have “The Titanic”, a movie, which is mixture of fact and fiction. The word itihasa means thus it happened (Iti Ha Asa). Ramayana means the life style of Rama, the path of Rama, the way of life lead by Rama (Ramasya Ayanam). Mahabharatha is the story of Bharatha Vamsa. It is a book that runs to one-lakh verses. It is so voluminous that it got the title of Mahabharatha. We have two itihasas, the Ramayana (24000 verses) and the Mahabharatha (100000 verses)/Sages Valmiki and Vayasa wrote these respectively.

Two Portions of the Vedas: Veda Purva and Veda Anta:

The Vedas ask us whether we want to lead a life of dependence or one of independence. We seem to love dependence because we have got used to it like rat got used to being in the box and was not ready to come out. We too like the rat have got used to a life of dependence on people, things, money and all those things needed for security and entertainment. We want to acquire and maintain. If we want to acquire things and maintain them the Vedas help us. If we become tired of dependence and are wise enough to seek independence the same Veda will provide us the method. The Vedas never impose anything; it is for us to decide and choose.

Based on this, the Vedas are broadly classified into two portions; Veda – Purva and Veda – Anta. Veda – Purva deals with the fulfilment of the first tree Purusharthas that leads to a dependent life. Security and entertainment are dealt with in Veda-Purva. It talks about earning wealth and becoming prosperous; about having a large family; about travelling all over; about material education and so on. In other words Veda – Purva talks about Preyas.

Once person becomes mature he/she wants to become independent and it is at this time that Veda – Anta comes to be of help. Vedanta helps in discovering independences, Moksha Sreyas. The content of Vedas consisting of Veda – Purva and Veda – Anta is the content of the Sutras, Smritis, Puranas and Itihasas.

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