[Advaita-l] The Greatness of the apauruSheya Vaidika Dharma

[V Subrahmanian]

श्रीगुरुभ्यो नमः

In the Opening verse of the VivekachUDAmaNi, after the mangala shloka,
occurs this verse:

जन्तूनां नरजन्म दुर्लभमतः पुंस्त्वं ततो विप्रता

तस्माद्वैदिकधर्ममार्गपरता विद्वत्त्वमस्मात्परम्

आत्मानात्मविवेचनं स्वनुभवो ब्रह्मात्मना संस्थितिः

मुक्तिर्नो शतजन्मकोटिसुकृतैः पुण्यैर्विना लभ्यते   । । २  । ।


Here, while commenting on the words 'vaidika dharma mArga paratA'
Jagadguru Sri Chandrashekhara Bharati SwaminaH has dwelt at length on the
greatness and uniqueness of Vaidika dharma.  It would be of immense help to
sadhaka-s to see what the Acharya has to say:

...यदि धर्मव्यतिरिक्तं किञ्चित्सुखसाधनं दुःखनिवृत्तिसाधनं च स्यात्
तत्साधनसंपादनेन सर्वो लोकः सर्वदापि सुखी, निवृत्तदुःखश्च स्यादेव।धर्मस्य तु
अतीन्द्रियत्वेन शास्त्रैकसमधिगम्यत्वात् जनानां तज्ज्ञानस्य
शास्त्रमन्तरासम्भवात् साधनालाभात् फलालाभ इति प्रतिपादयितुं शक्यते । तदुक्तं
वैदिकेति । धर्मस्य लक्षणम् ’चोदना लक्षणोऽर्थो धर्मः’ इति जैमिनिमहर्षिभिः
सूत्रितं यत् वेदप्रमाणकत्वं तद्वैदिकेति विशेषणेनावगमितम् । नहि वेदं विना
प्रमाणान्तरं धर्मविषये पदमादातुमीष्टे तस्यातीन्द्रियत्वेन प्रत्यक्षस्य
तत्राप्रसरात् । अत एव न अनुमानं तत्र प्रसरति,
प्रत्यक्षमूलकत्वादनुमानप्रवृत्तेः ।  अत एव वेदव्यतिरिक्तशब्दोऽपि न तं
बोधयितुं पारयति प्रत्यक्षादिना अवधारितस्यैवार्थस्य लौकिकशब्देन बोधयितुं
शक्यत्वात् । स्मृतीनामपि पौरुषेयत्वेन पुरुषाणां भ्रमप्रमादिसम्भवेन
कर्तृदोषनिबन्धनाप्रामाण्यशंकायां अपौरुषेयतया दोषगन्धानागन्धितश्रुतिमूलकतयैव
प्रामाण्यस्य वक्तव्यतया वेदव्यतिरिक्तस्य शब्दस्य धर्मे स्वतः अप्रमाणत्वात् ।


किंच स्मृतिकर्तारो वा अतीन्द्रियं धर्मं कथं व्यजानन् ? योगजसामर्थ्येन इति
चेत् तत्सामर्थ्यं कथं तैः सम्पादितम् ? धर्मानुष्ठानेनेति चेत्, स धर्मः कथं
ज्ञातः ? अत एव ’यो ब्रह्माणं विदधाति पूर्वं, यो वै वेदांश्च प्रहिणोति तस्मै
’ इति प्रथमं सृज्यमानस्य हिरण्यगर्भस्यापि ईश्वरानुगृहीतवेदमूलकमेव
धर्मज्ञानमिति बोधयति श्रुतिः ।  किं वक्तव्यमितरेषाम् ! अतः सुष्ठूक्तं
वैदिकेति । ’अब्भक्षाः वायुभक्षा’ इतिवत् वेदैकमेयत्वं धर्मस्य बोधयति । अत्र
धर्मशब्देन प्रवृत्तिधर्मः निवृत्तिधर्मश्च कथ्यते । उक्तं हि गीताभाष्ये
’द्विविधो हि वेदोक्तो धर्मः प्रवृत्तिलक्षणो निवृत्तिलक्षणश्च’  इति ।

In this very valuable commentary we can see these features:


   - Dharma is the means to happiness
   - The Veda is the source of dharma
   - This is because dharma is something beyond one's sensory means
   - The shAstra is the ONLY means to know anything about dharma
   - pratyaksha or anumAna (which depends on the basic data from pratyaksha)
   have no reach in the field of dharma
   - Any 'shabda' other than the Veda is incapable of giving us the
   knowledge of Dharma
   - This is because any shabda can begin to operate ONLY upon getting the
   basic data from pratyakSha, etc.
   - What about smRti? These being authored (pauruSheya) ones, the defects
   inherent in humans like misconceptions or inadvertence can creep in into
   them.  If anyone has such doubts in mind about such works authored by
   humans, the only refuge is the Shruti which, being apauruSheya, is free of
   any such defects.
   - Nothing other than the Shruti  which is a completely defect-free
   authority, pramANa, can ever be an independent authority in teaching us
   about dharma.

Now, we have another set of points to be noted from the above commentary:


   - How did even the authors of the SmRti-s (which are indeed books on
   dharma) get the knowledge of Dharma? If it is said in reply that they got to
   know about (what is) dharma as a result of their yogic powers, how was such
   a felicity, power, acquired by them?
   - If in reply it is said: 'by the practice of dharma'  , how did they
   (from which source) know that dharma?
   - Since we have no answer to this question, we have the Shruti itself say
   by the words: 'He who taught BrahmA in the past,  He who handed the Veda-s
   to BrahmA...' that even the first-created HiraNyagarbha's knowledge of
   Dharma has / had its source ONLY in the Veda graced by Ishwara.
   - When the case of Hiranyagarbha itself is this, what to talk of others
   (authors of the smRti, etc.)?
   - Therefore the Acharya has most appropriately said:
   vaidika-dharma-mArga-paratA emphasizing the apauruSheya veda as the ONLY
   source of dharma which is aimed at Shreyas.
   - The term Dharma indicates both pravRtti and nivRtti dharma
   - The Acharya has stated in the introduction to the Gita bhashyam: 'two
   are the types of dharma taught by the Veda: that which engages one in
   pravRtti, action, and the other which takes one away from action: nivRtti


 Om Tat Sat