Posted on: 07 Apr 2020
[This question was asked as part of the evening satsaṅga with Swami, at the house of Shri Pavan K.
Shri Nitin asked: Elders give us some instructions and ask us to follow those instructions without any analysis. Is this acceptable?]
Swami replied: This is not correct in any way. Even God Krishna asked Arjuna not to blindly follow whatever He had said, but to follow it only after thorough analysis (Vimṛśyaitadaśeṣeṇa…). If the shopkeeper is sure that the gold sold by him is genuine 24 carat gold, he will ask the purchaser to subject it to any test and purchase it only after he is fully satisfied. This is because he is totally confident of the purity of the gold he is selling. But the merchant who knows that his gold is not genuine, discourages the purchaser from testing his gold. He says that since his shop already has an established brand name, there is no need to test the gold! Similarly, if the knowledge is true to its very core, the preacher will ask the disciple to analyze it thoroughly and adopt it for practice only upon being thoroughly convinced. A preacher who himself knows that the knowledge is false, will say that the knowledge preached by him has originally come from God and so, it should be accepted without analysis. He will tell you that analyzing it will be an insult to God! He wants you to follow it without analysis because he is sure that if it is analyzed, it will be proved to be false. Hence, the concept is important and not the author of the concept. If the concept is proved to be the perfect truth by sharp logical analysis, the original author of such a concept is certainly God, even though the concept might have been delivered through some human being. God can deliver the true knowledge through any human being.
The three divine preachers, Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja and Madhva, quoted the Veda only as part of their analysis of different concepts. They never said that we should accept some statement simply because it is told in the Veda. Through analysis, they first concluded that the concept is quite logical and then they showed that the same concept is also stated in the Veda. When Śaṅkara stated the four prerequisite qualities in a person for learning spiritual knowledge, He never quoted some author or some scripture as the authority to justify His statement. He only justified it based on sharp analysis. Sharp analysis that enables one to differentiate truth from falsehood (Sadasat vivekaḥ…) is, in fact, the first of the four qualities stated by Him. Even the secondary scriptures like the Purāṇas (Smṛti) are adulterated with several verses that have been inserted over a long period of time. Hence, it is said that the Smṛti has authority only as long its statements can be supported by the Veda (Śruti), which is the primary scripture (Śruti smṛti virodhetu śrutireva garīyasī...). If this is the fate of even the Smṛti, what to speak of the authority of elders?
Only ignorant people consider elders to be an unquestionable authority. We should not give any weight to any statement unless and until it is thoroughly analyzed by very sharp scientific analysis. Only God is above science and logic; not human beings. Of course, it does not mean that God says illogical things! We must beware of fraud people who exploit the name of God to bring value to their false concepts.
Keywords:
| Shri Datta Swami | Vimrushyaitadasheshena Shankara Ramanuja Raamanuja Sadasat vivekah Shruti Smriti virodhetu shrutireva gariiyasii