[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
ARTICLE : SBG, shruti and smR^iti
Dear Friends:
This is a subject we discussed briefly before, and my understanding is,
that the SBG is primarily a shruti but it contains ideas that are
perishable, that are smR^iti-like.
Many Acharyas have treated the SBG wholly as a smR^iti. The scope of this
view is based on the references to 'smR^iti'in vedAnta-sutra, that in
commentaries, have been taken to indicate the SBG. But there is a problem
in this. The author o0f vedAnta-sutra did not name the SBG as the
intended text of smR^iti, and the SBG contains at least two verses that
refer to the vedAnta-sutra [SBG 13.4 (brahma-sutra); 18.13 (kR^itAnta)].
This suggests that the brahma-sutra preceeds the SBG, therefore, the
author of the brahma-sutra could not have referred to the SBG as smR^iti.
It can be argued that since both the brahma-sutra and the SBG are authored
by the same person, it is to be expected that the two texts will naturally
refer to each other (this idea has been proposed by Sri Tilak in his
gitA-bhAsya). The criticism of this opinion would be: in vyAsa's time,
brahma-sutra is obviously the result of a far more widely accepted
collection of texts, such that vyAsa wrote a sutra text instead of a
shAstra text, unlike the SBG, that is the primary text.
In the SBG itself, arjuna thanked Sri KR^ishhNa for the smR^iti he
recieved from Him (18.73). This obviously is a reflection of arjuna's
rajo-guNI nature, he began the conversation looking for some moral
guidelines, and arjuna did find the shAstra-vidhi (SBG 16.28) to decide
what to do from the conversation, although clearly, Sri kR^ishhNa did not
intend to give a shAstra-vidhi to him, He said 'I told you the secret of
secrets, think about it well, and decide what you want to do' (SBG 18.63).
Rishhi suta said in the gitA-mAhatyaM that 'kR^ishhNa jAnAti vai samyak,
kiJNchit kuntisutaH falam' (3), that is, arjuna knows only some of the
'falas' of the message of the SBG, appears to me to indicate that rishhi
suta too would not agree to describing the SBG as a smR^iti as arjuna did,
but go by sri kR^ishhNa's characterization that SBG as the uttamaM
rahasyaM and the eternal knowledge.
With best regards,
Dhruba.
