Texts in Hinduism

Shruti vs. Smriti

All the Hindu scriptures can be classified into two parts.The first is called Shruti. This form of text is “What has been heard” So this this means that this knowledge actually came directly from God and so is considered to be “revealed.” The texts that were written after that were considered to be what have been remembered, or Smriti. All the texts that come after the Vedas are considered Smriti because they have been remembered not revealed. This form of text is more of the traditional texts that have rituals, codes of law, and stories.

What are some Hindu scriptures that you have heard of and what are the divisions?

Vedas:

The Vedas are dated back to 1500- 500 BCE also known as the early Vedic period and is the Sanskrit word for “knowledge”.  The Vedas are the only texts in Hinduism that are Shruti because they are believed to have been directly revealed thus relating back to the definition of shruti “what is heard”.  The Vedas have four divisions: the Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda and ArtarvaVeda. From the different divisions you can see that the Vedas consists of very concrete and ritualistic material.  Everything is very natural and abstract.  

QUOTE: “Darkness was hidden by darkness in the beginning.  All this was an indistinguishable sea.  That which becomes, that which was enveloped by the void, that alone was born through the power of heat.” –RigVeda-

Here we can see that this text is very natural and abstract especially when it mentions “void”.  It really represents the Rig Veda scripture because of its description of the origins of the world. Here you can see that it is very broad and does not pertain to a certain individual.

Upanishads:

The actual sanskrit translation for Upanishad is sitting down near. This refers to the students that sat near their teacher and heard and learned these texts. Since they are what was remembered by the acharyas - they are smriti texts. Though they aren’t Sruti, they were written in the vedic time period towards the end. This is why sometimes they are also referred to as vedanta because antam means the end so its the end of the vedas. The upanishads are considered to reveal truths about the nature of ultimate reality which is brahman, and moksha which a form of human salvation. There are also other commentaries of the vedas in the upanishads in the form of sutras. As you can see, the upanishads are still very abstract but here it is more accessible and organized. These become easier to use than the Vedas.

Dharmashastras:
The dharmashastras were written after the vedic time period and therefore they are considered smriti. In fact, these set of texts have been extracted from the vedas. This very large set of scriptures is the code of law of hindu dharma. It is everyone’s religious and legal duty. Dharmashastra is as much or more about religious life as it is law. However during the time of british colonization, the dharmashastra was used as the law of the land for Hindus in India. The dharmashastra is actually divided into three mains topics - acara, vyavahara, and prayascitta.

Sruti is what has been revealed directly from God and smriti is what has been remembered. However, on an everyday basis, not everyone lives by the vedas. Many people use codes of law such as Dharmashastra or lessons from stories such as the Bhagavad Gita to live their daily lives spiritually.

Do you believe one form of scripture is more important than the other? Do you believe that one warrants more authority than the other?

Itihasas:

Itihasa were written during the Classical time period.  The Itihasas literally means “so indeed it was” and are refered to as “historical events.”  They are basically stories or epics; thus they are classified as Smriti because they are “what are heard”.  There are three major epics in Hinduism.  Two of them we discussed last meeting: the Mahabharat and the Ramayan.  In both you see that they are stories of dieties who decended to earth and the conflict between good and evil.  Throughout the epics, different morals and lessons are taught.  The Bhagavad Gita, which is widely known in Hinduism is actually specific part of the Mahabharat where Krishna teaches Arjun about the importances of Dharma right before the big battle as well as provide a guide to self realization.

Bhagavad Gita is both Shruti and Smriti.

Krishna is talking so it is “coming from God”

But the Gita was told by a bystander who heard Krishna talking to Arjun so is Smriti

QUOTE: “He by whom the world is not afflicted or troubled, who also is not afflicted or troubled by the world, who is freed from the troubled agitated lower nature and from its waves of joy and fear and anxiety and resentment, he is dear to Me.”

The vedas do talk about moksha but in a more broad sense as opposed to a specific individual.  However, in this quote from the Bhagavad Gita, you can see that it is more specific to a certain individual.

Puranas:

The Puranas are literally translated from Sanskrit to mean “of ancient times”.  They primarily consist of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods as well as descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography!  Some examples are stories such as how Ganesh got his elephant head or the numerous stories of Krishna when he was younger or the stories of the creation of the universe.  So in other words, the Puranas can be described as Hindu mythology. An important note about the Puranas is that not all of Hindu mythology comes JUST from the Puranas, a lot of them do come from the Vedas but most of them are found in the Puranas.  

If we look at the transition from vedic literature to dharmashastra to the itihasa and puranas, there is a shift in the writing. From a more natural, ritualistic, and abstract form of writing, it goes to stricter and more specific codes of law to supernatural stories.

Why do you believe this shift took place? Is it necessarily beneficial or detrimental

Conclusion:

So as we have discussed we can see that there has been many shifts throughout the texts in Hinduism.  Starting with the Vedas and Upanishads which are very ritualistic and abstract and natural, we then have the dharmashastras which provided more control by providing codes of law to the Itihasa or the epics which are very supernatural and involve stories that are more relatable to us on a day to day basis.  But now Hinduims has shifted again to be more personal and spiritual.  So what we would like for y’all to take away from this meeting is the question: do you think Hinduism will develop more texts that will reflect this more personal and spiritual characteristic? and where do you think Hinduism will go towards in the next couple of hundred years?

There is a shift between the Texts in Hindusim.

Do you think Hinduism will develop more texts that will reflect a more personal and spiritual characteristics?