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Śruti (Sanskrit: श्रुति, IAST: śrúti, lit. "hearing, listening"), often spelled shruti or shruthi, is a term that describes the sacred texts comprising the central canon of Hinduism and is one of the three main sources of dharma and therefore is also influential within Hindu Law.[1] These sacred works span much of the history of Hinduism, beginning with some of the earliest known Hindu texts and ending in the early modern period with the later Upanishads.[2]
This literature differs from other sources of Hindu Law, particularly smṛti or “remembered text”, because of the purely divine origin of śruti. This belief of divinity is particularly prominent within the Mimamsa tradition.[3] The initial literature is traditionally believed to be a direct revelation of the “cosmic sound of truth” heard by ancient Rishis who then translated what was heard into something understandable by humans.[4]
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Both Shruti and smriti represent categories of texts that are used to establish the rule of law within the Hindu tradition. However, they each reflect a different kind of relationship that can be had with this material.[5] Śruti is solely of divine origin and contains no specific concepts of law. Because of the divine origin, it is preserved as a whole, instead of verse by verse. With śruti, the desire is more towards recitation and preservation of its divine attributes and not necessarily towards understanding and interpreting the oral tradition like that found in smṛti.[6]
For more information on the textual nature of Śruti see main article for Veda
Pre-eminent in śruti literature are the four Vedas:
The liturgical core of each of the Vedas are supplemented by commentaries on each text which all belong to the śruti canon:
The literature of the shakhas, or schools, further amplified the material associated with each of the four core traditions.[7]
The idea of śruti established a set group of people who were granted access to the information contained in the Vedas. Because of its divine nature and of Achara, or regional customary laws developed by a person who reads and interprets the Vedas, began to be understood. This, in conjunction with Smrti texts that provide further human interpretation of Śruti, developed the information hierarchy that Hindus looked toward to dictate the proper conduct of their lives. The specific information regarding such proper conduct was not found directly in the Vedas because they do not contain explicit codes or rules that would be found in a legal system.[8] However, because of the Vedas’ divine and unadulterated form, a rule that claims connection to this literature is given more merit even if it does not cite a specific passage.[9] In this sense, Śruti exists as a source for all Hindu Law without dictating any specifics.
A person who follows Hinduism is someone who follows the teachings of the Srutis (Vedas). Vedas teach non duality or advaitha, realizing the self – Brahman.
Sri Adi Sankara and Sri Ramana Maharshi have explained the ways the ways to realize the self – the Brahman in their works.
Ethics or moral values in hinduism are mentioned in the yamas (restraints) and the niyamas (observances from following the restraints), which are considered a prerequisite to realize the self – the Brahman.
The ten traditional yamas (restraints) are:
1.Ahimsa (अहिंसा): Nonviolence. Abstinence from injury; harmlessness, the not causing of pain to any living creature in thought, word, or deed at any time. This is the "main" yama. The other nine are there in support of its accomplishment.
2.Satya (सत्य): truthfulness, word and thought in conformity with the facts.
3.Asteya (अस्तेय): non-stealing, non-coveting, non-entering into debt.
4.Brahmacharya (ब्रह्मचर्य): divine conduct, continence, celibate when single, faithful when married.
5.Kshama (क्षमा): forgiveness, patience, releasing time, functioning in the now.
6.Dhriti (धृति): steadfastness, overcoming non-perseverance, fear, and indecision; seeing each task through to completion.
7.Daya (दया): compassion toward all beings.
8.Arjava (आर्जव): honesty, straightforwardness, renouncing deception and wrongdoing.
9.Mitahara (मिताहार): moderate appetite, neither eating too much nor too little; nor consuming meat, fish, shellfish, fowl or eggs.
10.Shaucha (शौच): purity, avoidance of impurity in body, mind and speech. (Note: Patanjali's Yoga Sutras list Shaucha as the first of the Niyamas.)
The ten traditional Niyamas (observances from following the restraints) are:
1.Hri(ह्री): remorse, being modest and showing shame for misdeeds;
2.Santosha(संतोष): contentment; being satisfied with the resources at hand – therefore not desiring more;
3.Dana(दान): giving, without thought of reward;
4.Astikya(आस्तिक्य): faith, believing firmly in the teacher, the teachings and the path to enlightenment;
5.Ishvarapujana(ईश्वर पूजन): worship of the Lord, the cultivation of devotion through daily worship and meditation, the return to the source;
6.Siddhanta shravana(सिद्धान्त श्रवण): scriptural listening, studying the teachings and listening to the wise of one's lineage;
7.Mati(मति): cognition, developing a spiritual will and intellect with the guru's guidance;
8.Vrata(व्रत): sacred vows, fulfilling religious vows, rules and observances faithfully;
9.Japa(जप): recitation, chanting mantras daily;
10.Tapas(तप) : the endurance of the opposites; hunger and thirst, heat and cold, standing and sitting etc.
Max Müller in an 1865 lecture stated
"In no country, I believe, has the theory of revelation been so minutely elaborated as in India. The name for revelation in Sanskrit is Sruti, which means hearing; and this title distinguished the Vedic hymns and, at a later time, the Brahmanas also, from all other works, which however sacred and authoritative to the Hindu mind, are admitted to have been composed by human authors. The Laws of Manu, for instance, are not revelation; they are not Sruti, but only Smriti, which means recollection of tradition. If these laws or any other work of authority can be proved on any point to be at variance with a single passage of the Veda, their authority is at once overruled. According to the orthodox views of Indian theologians, not a single line of the Veda was the work of human authors. The whole Veda is in some way or the other the work of the Deity; and even those who saw it were not supposed to be ordinary mortals, but beings raised above the level of common humanity, and less liable therefore to error in the reception of revealed truth. The views entertained by the orthodox theologians of India are far more minute and elaborate than those of the most extreme advocates of verbal inspiration in Europe. The human element, called paurusheyatva in Sanskrit, is driven out of every corner or hiding place, and as the Veda is held to have existed in the mind of the Deity before the beginning of time..."[10]