SCRIPTURES AS EVIDENCE

Scriptures are considered sacred texts with epistemic authority that hold significant importance for culture, society, traditions, and the ways of life of the people. These also serve as valuable sources of wisdom, guidance, and inspiration for people’s lives, denominations, and societal order and organisation. The Scriptures are revered for their teachings on duty, righteousness, and the nature of reality. It is a way to discover the inner self, or self-knowledge. It discovers a way for life processes to be based on righteousness, truthfulness, virtue, honesty, asceticism, forbearance, humility, purity, chastity, and a steady demeanour. In other ways, Swami Sivananda says, "Serve, love, give, purify, meditate, realise; be good, do good, be kind, be compassionate."

It's a fact that in a democratic, constitutional, or legal and political realm, the primacy of law or the constitution takes precedence over the subsequence of all other scriptures. It's important to note that they are not universally accepted as objective evidence outside of those Dharmic (righteous order) contexts, as constitutional and legal doctrines remain in prominence in the modern nation-state system. However, ethically and morally, scriptures are generally accepted as normative evidence even beyond the Dharmic context. In the Dharmic context, the scriptures are the only authority. The Vedas in Sanatana Dharma (eternal righteousness or eternal order) are the most primary, sacred, and authoritative scriptures with epistemic values among the believers or followers. It is observed that the Vedas are transmitted to humanity by seers through their contemplation, meditation, self-realisation, and eye consciousness of divine knowledge.

 1. Outline

The scriptures and sages of Sanatana Dharma, through their doctrinaire, axiomatic, and aphoristic statements, illuminate the pathways of self-illumination and the realisation of life consciousness. Scriptures eradicate ignorance, raise awareness levels, stimulate the enlightenment process, remove confusion, sharpen the decision-making process, and so on. One that finds the right way, the natural and eternal way to live. Those who act under the impulse of desire, discarding the injunctions of the scriptures, attain neither perfection, happiness, nor the supreme goal in life, so axiomatically states the Srimad Bhagavad Gita.

 yaḥ śhāstra-vidhim utsṛijya vartate kāma-kārataḥ

na sa siddhim avāpnoti na sukhaṁ na parāṁ gatim

Scriptures are the life-journeying pathways towards elightenment, slavation, and liberation.

Srimad Bhagavad Gita reiterates that, therefore, let the scriptures be your authority in determining what should be done and what should not be done. Understand the scriptural injunctions and teachings, and then perform your actions in this world accordingly.

 tasmāch chhāstraṁ pramāṇaṁ te kāryākārya-vyavasthitau

jñātvā śhāstra-vidhānoktaṁ karma kartum ihārhasi

The right way shows the light for a journey from the pangs of birth and death, all sorrows, attachments, and bondages, towards fullness, infinities, and a fuller realisation of Divine Consciousness. The ancient scriptures talk about a macro-micro continuum. At the macro level, it focuses on cosmic order; at the micro level, it focuses on moral and philosophical issues leading towards salvation or liberation. It says the cosmos is orderly, harmonious, and systematic. There is no deviation in any way. The cosmic order, in vedic philosophical parlance, "Ṛta" (Sanskrit ऋत), is subscribed to Satya (Truth). The Vedic principle of natural order is believed to regulate and coordinate the operation of the universe on the natural, moral, and sacrificial levels. Satya (Truth) is the essence of governance, and order is its exterior as well as interior credo. It is followed by Dharma (a righteous order or way of life with no equivalent English translation) as the means and end of good governance. Order is the basic credo from the macrocosmic level to the microsubatomic level. whether we may look at the basic unit of our lives as family, community, society, nation-state, or international community. Even if we go beyond the level of the star and interplanetary objects, there is only order and no chaos. It is conspicuously manifested in their spherical movement and operation. Any slight deviation might result in a big catastrophe that would go beyond our imagination. The Srimad Bhagavad Gita addresses moral and philosophical dilemmas. It imparts Brahma Vidya (cosmic knowledge), spiritual wisdom, and guidance, explaining concepts such as dharma (duty or righteousness), karma (duties), bhakti (devotion), Jñāna (knowledge), yoga (the path of union with the divine), and the nature of the self.

 2. Scriptures

2.1. As Eternal Knowledge

The Vedas are eternal knowledge of God and are believed to have always existed since time immemorial and been revealed in shruti (oral) tradition from the creator to the first created, Brahma, and through Brahma to the sages. The Vedas are received by sages in deep meditative states for further onward transmission to the qualifed ones. The Vedas deal with mantras, benedictions, rituals, ceremonies, and sacrifices.

The Brahma Sutras aphoristically say that "Sasrayonitvat" (1.1.3.(3). It means the scripture is the source of or the means of right knowledge. It is because Brahman is the source or womb of the scriptures and is revealed by them. He can be apprehended by the authority of srutis (that is, heard) or the Vedas.

Swami Sivananda says that the Vedas are eternal. They are without beginning or end. An ignorant man may ask how a book can be without beginning or end. By the Vedas, no books are meant. The Vedas came out of the breath of the Lord. They are not the composition of any human mind. They were never written or created. They are eternal and impersonal. The dates of the Vedas have never been fixed. It can never be fixed. The Vedas are eternal spiritual truths. The Vedas are an embodiment of divine knowledge. The books may be destroyed, but the knowledge cannot be destroyed. Knowledge is eternal. In that sense, the Vedas are eternal.

The Vedas are divided into four parts and 1180 recensions. The Rig-Veda (21 recensions), the Yajur-Veda (109 recensions), the Sama-Veda (1000 recensions), and the Atharva-Veda (50 recensions)

The Vedas, according to Swami Sivananda, consist of three portions: the Karma Kanda, which deals with sacrifices or ceremonial rites; the Upasana Kanda, which treats of Upasana (worship); and the Jnana Kanda, which deals with knowledge of Brahman. Karma Kanda represents the feet of a man, Upasana Kanda the heart, and Jnana Kanda the head. Just as the head is the most important portion of a man, so also the Upanishads, which treat of the knowledge portion of the Vedas, are the head of the Vedas. Hence, it is said to be the Siras (head) of the Vedas.

There are four types of Vedas: Rig Veda ("praise" or "knowledge"), Sama Veda ("song" or "knowledge"), Yajur Veda ("worship knowledge" or "ritual knowledge"), and Atharva Veda ("knowledge storehouse of atharvāṇas" or "the procedures for everyday life").

Each of these is further divided into types of text included within them:

Aranyakas: rituals, observances

Brahmanas: commentaries on said rituals

Samhitas: benedictions, prayers, and mantras

Upanishadas: philosophical narratives and dialogues

"All that is called knowledge is in the Vedas. Every word is sacred and eternal, eternal as the soul, without beginning and without end—the accumulated treasury of spiritual laws discovered by different persons in different times. Just as the law of gravitation existed before its discovery and would exist if all humanity forgot it, so is it with the laws that govern the spiritual world. The moral, ethical, and spiritual relations between soul and soul and between individual spirits and the Father of all spirits were there before their discovery and would remain even if we forgot them. The Vedas cannot show you Brahman; you are that already; they can only help to take away the veil that hides the truth from our eyes. The Vedas teach that the soul is divine, only held in the bondage of matter; perfection will be reached when this bond bursts, and the word they use for it is therefore Mukti — freedom, freedom from the bonds of imperfection, freedom from death and misery. "

 2.2. As Authority

Swami Sivananda tersely says that the truths of the Vedas are revelations. The Vedas do not owe their authority to anyone. They are themselves the authority, as they are eternal, as they are the knowledge of the Lord. The Vedic Rishis were great realised persons who had direct intuitive perception of Brahman, or the truth.

The Srimad Bhagavad Gita proclaims, "Let the Scriptures be your authority in determining what ought to be done and what ought not to be done. Having known what is said in the commandments of the Scripture, you should act here (in this world).

tasmāch chhāstraṁ pramāṇaṁ te kāryākārya-vyavasthitau

jñātvā śhāstra-vidhānoktaṁ karma kartum ihārhasi

Knowledge that helps a person resolve immediate problems is one kind of enlightenment, while knowledge that dispels the root of ignorance to solve all problems in one strike is another kind of enlightenment. The Bhagavad Gita aims at the second kind of enlightenment by destroying the darkness of ignorance that has enveloped the soul for endless lifetimes. Unable to deal with the immediate problem at hand, Arjuna approached Sri Krishna for a palliative to overcome the anguish he was experiencing. Sri Krishna did not just advise him on his immediate problem but digressed to give a profound discourse on the philosophy of life.

The Bhagavad Gita is not content with providing a lofty philosophical understanding; it also describes clear-cut techniques for implementing its spiritual precepts in everyday life. These techniques for applying the science of spirituality to our lives are termed "yog." Hence, the Bhagavad Gita is also called "Yog Śhāstra," meaning the scripture that teaches the practise of Yog.

There are three paths that lead directly to establishing a relationship with God. According to the authority of the Bhagavad Gita, these paths have been designated as the yoga of perfect actions, the yoga of perfect devotion, and the yoga of perfect knowledge.

The Bṛihadāraṇyak Upaniṣhad (4.5.11) states: niḥśhvasitamasya vedāḥ "The Vedas manifested themselves from the breath of God." They were first revealed in the heart of the first-born Brahma. From there, they came down through the oral tradition, and hence, another name for them is Śhruti, or "knowledge received through the ear." They are respected as the infallible authority for spiritual knowledge.

Srila Prabhupada, in his commentary on Srimad Bhagavatam, says that "the authority of the Vedas is unchallengeable and stands without any question of doubt. And whatever is stated in the Vedas must be accepted completely; otherwise, one challenges the authority of the Vedas. The conchshell and cow dung are the bones and stools of two living beings. But because they have been recommended by the Vedas as pure, people accept them as such because of the authority of the Vedas."

2.3. As the Highest Truth and Reality

In the beginning, all this existence was one undifferentiated mass of unmanifestedness, unknown, indefinable, unarguable, and unknown in every way. From this Supreme Condition arose the universe of name and form through the medium of the Self-existent Creator, Swayambhu, says Smriti of Manu.

The Vedas conceptualise Brahman as the cosmic principle, the highest and ultimate principle of the universe.

Brahman is impersonal and all-pervading, and the Supreme Principle is mentioned in Shukla Yajurveda Samhita (32-1),

तदेवाग्निस्तदादित्यस्तद्वायुस्तदु चन्द्रमा :|

तदेव शुक्रं तद् ब्रह्म ता आप: स प्रजापति: ||1||

(Shukla Yajurveda Samhita (32-1))

Brahman is all-pervading and self-born prajapati; His lustre is like Agni and Surya; He is Aditya; all-prevasive Vayu; blissful moon; bright Shukra; pure, excellent, excellent guide Brahman; and water, which is all-inclusive and sustainer of all the living beings.

यत्र लोकाच्श्र कोशांच्श्रापो ब्रह्म जना विदु: |

असच्च यत्र सच्चान्त: स्कम्भं तं ब्रुहि कतम: स्विदेव स : |

यत्र तप: पराक्रम्य व्रतं धारयत्युत्तरम् |

ऋतं च यत्र श्रद्धा चापो ब्रह्म समाहिता: स्कम्भं तं ब्रुहि कतम कतम: स्विदेव स : ||

यत्र देवा ब्रह्मविदो ब्रह्म जेष्ठमुपासते |

यो वै तान् विद्यात् प्रत्यक्षं स ब्रह्मा वेदिता स्यात् ||

(Atharva Veda Kanda (10.7.11,24))

Tell us that in Skambha, where people perform Tapas and Vratas, they become excellence, fame, and honour, and where Rita, Shradha, and Apa, Brahman are inclusive. Where "Brahmavetta" worships Supreme Brahman or the one who knows him, verily, the knower can be Brahman.

The Upanisadik terms ‘Brahman‘ (the Supreme Being) and ‘Atman‘ (the Inner Spirit) indicate the highest Truth and Reality, which is non-dual. The Brahman is nirguna (attributeless), nirakara (formless), and nirvisesa (traitless), that is, without the gunas or attributes, formless, without any special characteristics, immutable, eternal, and akarta (non-agent). Brahman is above all needs and desires; it is always the witnessing subject; it can never become the object as it is beyond the reach of the senses. It is non-dual. Without a second, in Brahman, there is no distinction between substance and attributes. Brahman, the Absolute, is Existence (sat), Consciousness (chit), and Bliss (änanda). These form the svarupa of Brahman.

The Truth is infinity, beyond space and time, eternal, and ever fresh. The aphoristic statement of Satyameva Jayate (Truth alone wins) in the Mundaka Upanishad It says

satyameva jayate nānṛtaṃ satyena panthā vitato devayānaḥ |

yenākramantyṛṣayo hyāptakāmā yatra tat satyasya paramaṃ nidhānam || 6 |

Truth alone wins, not falsehood; by truth, the Devayanah (the path of the Devas) is widened, that by which the seers travel, having nothing to wish for until they reach where there is that—the highest treasure attained by truth.

Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān, says Srimad Bhagavatam.

vadanti tat tattva-vidas

tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam

brahmeti paramātmeti

bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11)

The Absolute Truth is both subject and object, and there is no qualitative difference there. Therefore, Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān are qualitatively one and the same.

Vedanta texts, Prasthāntray, speak about the one and only Brahman (Supreme Being), who is the sole cause of the universe, and of His nature as the essence of eternal consciousness and bliss, sat-chit-ananda. The Vedas deal with mantras, benedictions, rituals, ceremonies, and sacrifices. Vedanta philosophy acknowledges the Prasthanatrayi as its three authoritative primary sources: the Upanishads (the sruti prasthana, the revealed texts), the Srimad Bhagavad Gita (the smriti prasthana, composed by sages based on their understanding of the Vedas), and the Brahma Sutras (the nyaya prasthana, or the logical text).

The Upanishads deal with meditation, philosophy, consciousness, and ontology.

All this universe is Brahman Manifest, and Supreme Being is Pure Consciousness, so say the Chhandogya Upanishad and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad in their respective orders.

'Thou art the Woman', 'Thou art the Man', 'Thou art Girl', 'Thou art Boy', 'Thou deceivest us as the old man tottering with the stick', 'Thou movest everywhere, in the form of everything, in all directions', 'Thou art the dark-blue Butterfly, and the Green Parrot with red eyes', 'Thou art the thunder cloud, the Seasons and the Oceans', 'Thou art without beginning and beyond all time and space', 'Thou art That from which all the Universes are born', 'That alone is Fire, That is the Sun, That is Air, That is the Moon, That is also the starry firmament, That is the waters, That is Prajapati, That is Brahman,' so proclaims The Svetasvatara Upanishad.

The Great Sayings" or the Mahāvākyas of the Upanishadas tersely say Brahman is one and infinity, which have a profound significance as pointers to Reality.

i. Prajnanam Brahma (प्रज्ञानम् ब्रह्म)– Consciousness is Brahman, Aitareya Upanishad, Rig Veda.

ii. Aham Brahmāsmi (अहम् ब्रह्मास्मि) - "I am Brahman", or "I am Divine," Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Yajur Veda.

iii.Tat Tvam Asi (तत् त्वम् असि)– That Thou Art, Chandogya Upanishad, Sam Veda.

iv. Ayam Atma Brahma (अयम् आत्मा ब्रह्म) – This Self is Brahman, Mandukya Upanishad, Atharva Veda.

This “Brahman is the Whole," "Brahman is ātman" and "brahman is this (very) self."

The Mahabharata says that Narayana alone was in the beginning, who was the prius of the creative, preservative, and destructive principles, the Trinity known as Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva—the Supreme Hari, multi-headed, multi-eyed, multi-footed, multi-armed, and multi-limbed. This was the Supreme Seed of all creation, subtler than the subtlest, greater than the greatest, larger than the largest, and more magnificent than even the best of all things; more powerful than even the wind and all the gods; more resplendent than the Sun and the Moon; and more internal than even the mind and the intellect. He is the Creator, the Father Supreme.

The Srimad Bhagavat Gita says the Supreme Brahman is beyond existence and non-existence. He pervades everything in the universe, with hands and feet everywhere, eyes, heads, and mouths everywhere, and ears everywhere. He exists in the world, enveloping all.

sarvataḥ pāṇi-pādaṁ tat sarvato ’kṣhi-śhiro-mukham

sarvataḥ śhrutimal loke sarvam āvṛitya tiṣhṭhati

It builds upon the Upanishadic conception of Absolute Reality and Atman is Brahman.

The science of knowing the Absolute Truth is called "Brahma Vidyā." The purpose of the Bhagavad Gita, above everything else, is to impart Brahma Vidyā, the science of God-realisation.

I am the basis of the formless Brahman, the immortal and imperishable, of eternal dharma, and of unending divine bliss, as Sri Krishna emphatically says in the Srimad Bhagavad Gita.

brahmaṇo hi pratiṣhṭhāham amṛitasyāvyayasya cha

śhāśhvatasya cha dharmasya sukhasyaikāntikasya cha

Sri Krishna says, "The Supreme Indestructible Entity is called Brahman; one’s own self is called adhyatma. Actions pertaining to the material personality of living beings and its development are called karma, or fruitive activities. The physical manifestation that is constantly changing is called adhibhūta; the universal form of God, which presides over the celestial gods in this creation, is called Adhidaiva; and I, who dwell in the heart of every living being, am called Adhiyajna, or the Lord of all sacrifices.

Sri Krishna says Brahman transcends the threshold of time-space-causation and reaches the level of supreme consciousness. It is beyond the manifest and unmanifest dimensions. The Srimad Bhagavad Gita is quite aphoristic on this dimension.

In his commentary on the Brahma Sutras, Swami Sivananda mentions the philosophical traditions laid down by great Acharyas (teachers or pathfinders) that Brahman can be known only through the scriptures. He mentions that the five great Acharyas: Sri Sankara, the exponent of Kevala Advaita, or uncompromising monism; Sri Ramanuja, the exponent of Visishtadvaita, or qualified monism; Sri Nimbarka, the exponent of Bhedabheda-vada; Sri Madhva, the exponent of strict Dvaitism, or Dvaita-vada; and Sri Vallabha, the exponent of Suddhadvaita-vada, or pure monism, agree that Brahman is the cause of this world and that knowledge of Brahman leads to Moksha, or the final emancipation, which is the goal of life. They also emphatically declare that Brahman can be known only through the scriptures and not through mere reasoning. But they differ amongst themselves as to the nature of this Brahman, the relation of the individual soul to Brahman, the state of the soul in the state of final emancipation,the means of attaining it, and Its causality with reference to this universe.

3. Remarks

The ancient scriptures are eternal knowledge embedded with divine authority and wisdom. Swami Sivananda says in the introductory commentary on the Srimad Bhagavad Gita that the goal of life is to directly cognise or realise this self-luminous Self, which is hidden in this body as fire is hidden in wood or as butter is hidden in milk. This Self is the inner ruler, the unseen governor or hidden proprietor of this house, the body. Real religion is the attainment of this transcendental, supreme, undying, and undecaying essence through constant and intense meditation. Real life is life in the eternal Soul. True life is identification with this Supreme Soul, which exists in the past, present, and future, has neither a beginning, middle, nor end, has neither parts nor limbs, and is neither subtle nor gross. The sages of ancient times attained this mysterious and marvellous state through the eye of intuition, or the divine third eye. They then explained the things of this world in the light of their intuitive knowledge of the Self. This is the direct method of Self-realisation.

The Brahma Sutra is the third of the canonical texts and is regarded as the Nyaya-prasthana because it sets forth the teachings of Vedanta in a logical order. The work is known by other names, including Vedanta-sutra, Sariraka-sutra, and Bhiksu-sutra.

The Brahma Sutra is primarily about the nature of human existence and the universe, as well as ideas about the metaphysical principle of Ultimate Reality called Brahman. It distils and consolidates the extensive teachings found in a variety of Upanishads of Sanatana Dharma, summarising, arranging, unifying, and systematising the Upanishad theories.

The Brahma Sutras, as Swami Sivananda says, are the science of the soul.

The interpretations of the Sutras gave rise to various kinds of literary writings, such as Vrittis (gloss) and Karikas. The different Acharyas (founders of different schools of thought) have given their own interpretations of the Sutras to establish their own doctrines. The Bhashya of Sri Sankara on the Brahma Sutras is known as Sariraka Bhashya. His school of thought is Kevala Advaita. The Bhashya of Sri Ramanuja, who founded the Visishtadvaita School, is called Sri Bhashya. The commentary of Sri Nimbarkacharya is known as Vedanta-parijata-saurabha. Sri Vallabhacharya expounded his system of philosophy, Suddhadvaita (pure monism), and his commentary on the Brahma Sutras is known as Anu Bhashya.

-Asutosh Satpathy