ravaṇādhyayanārthapratiṣedhāt smṛteśca ..1.3.38..

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SUTRA I. 3. 38.

श्रवणाध्ययनार्थप्रतिषेधात् स्मृतेश्च॥१.३.३८॥

śravaṇādhyayanārthapratiṣedhāt smṛteśca ..1.3.38..

.. Shravana, hearing, attending recitations. … Adhyayana, studying.… Artha, object, wealth, acquirement of riches. … Pratishedhat, on account of the prohibition… Smriteh, because there is a Smriti text. .. Cha, and.

38. The Sharira is forbidden to hear and study the Vedas cannot acquire riches in order to perform sacrifices, and there are Smriti texts also to the same effect. Therefore, the Shudra is not qualified — 102.

COMMENTARY

Says a text: «The Shudra is verily like a biped beast, he is like a moving cemetery, therefore, one should not recite the Vedas in the presence of a Shudra». «Shudra is like a beast unfit for sacrifices». These texts prohibit Vaidic study, and so the Shudra is not qualified for meditation. He is not qualified to hear the Vedas, necessarily cannot study it or know its meaning or perform the sacrifices enjoined therein. Thus by prohibiting the Shudra from hearing the Vedas recited, all these things are prohibited by implication.

The following Smriti texts also show the same: «A Shudra is not entitled to perform the fire-sacrifices, nor Yajnas, nor also the study of the Vedas; for him is ordained one duty alone, the service of the three twice-born castes. A Shudra immediately becomes degraded if he studies the Vedic words».

As regards the objection that the Shudras like Vidura or Dharma Vyadha, etc., had the knowledge of Brahman, and consequently were Mukta Jivas, we reply that they were born Siddhas and possessed Divine knowledge from their very birth, on account of the merit acquired in the past life. They had studied the Vedas in their past lives and so they became Mukta Jivas in their present life without such study oven. Their case is like that of Vamadeva who had also a Siddha Prajna. Their examples do not shake our position.

Though the Shudras are prohibited from studying the Vedas, and performing Vedic sacrifices, yet they are entitled to salvation or Moksha, by the knowledge obtained through hearing the recitation of Puranas (and study of books like the Bhagavad Gita, etc.) A Mukta Shudra is as holy, as any other Mukta Jiva, but the difference is only in the degree of their happiness.

Note: This last paragraph is not according to strict Brahmanism. It is a concession to the spirit of the age, and is the charter of the emancipation of the Shudra in ancient India. It appears that there were three distinct stages in the status of a Shudra in ancient India. First, he was looked upon as a conquered people, but not with contempt, and not as a slave. There were many Shudra kings, who were invited to the sacrificial sessions of the Aryan princes and priests. That was the earliest stage; when the Aryan conquest of India was not yet complete, and the Shudras had a right of hearing the Vedas and performing the Vedic sacrifices if so inclined. The second stage commenced when the Aryans had firmly established their rule in India, and were no longer afraid of the conquered races. In this stage the Shudras were relegated into the ranks of slaves. The third stage commenced with the great reformers like Shri Krishna, Buddha, Chaitanya, etc., who gave the rights to the Shudras to study and acquire Dharma, and get Mukti, through the studies of Puranas and Smriti. Practically the whole of India has become a vast Shudra camp now-a-days, uneducated, ignorant and not knowing the Vedas. The repressive policy of the Brahmanas in prohibiting the Shudras from studying the Vedas has recoiled upon them, and the Brahmana class as a whole, is as much degraded as the Shudra in these days. Injustice always brings its own punishment.

Adhikarana IX — The Thunderbolt is Brahman

Note: The Sutras I, 3. 26-37 are evidently not of Badarayana, and they have been clumsily interpolated by some bigoted priest of the later days, for they break the continuity of the subject. The Purusha of the size of thumb is the subject under discussion, but some over-enthusiastic friend of Hinduism has introduced these thirteen Sutras to prove that the Devas are capable of meditation and the Shudras are not so qualified. This is in direct opposition to the aphorism of Vyasa who says Manushya Adhikaratvat «all human beings are qualified to meditate on Brahman». That the whole of this is a digression is admitted by Ramanuja and Baladeva. The latter says:

Having finished the digression, the author takes up the main topic.

In the Katha Upanishad, we find this further description of the person of the size of a thumb:

The Person not larger than a thumb, the inner self, is always settled in the heart of men. Let a man draw that self forth from his body with steadiness, as one draws the pith from a reed. Let him know that self as the Bright, as the Immortal; yes, as the Bright, as the Immortal. (VI, 17).

Whatever there is, the whole world, when gone forth (from the Brahman) trembles in its breath. That Brahman is a great terror, like a drawn sword (Vajra). Those who know It become immortal. (VI. 2).

Doubt: What is the meaning of the word Vajra here? Does it mean the thunderbolt or Brahman?

Purvapaksha: It means the thunderbolt, because it causes great fear and trembling. Though it is mentioned that those who know this thunderbolt become immortal, yet it is merely a panegyric, and is not to be taken in its literal sense, for release depends on knowledge of Brahman. No doubt this Vajra is described here as Prana or life, but it is called Prana in the sense of protector (Praniti). Nor is there anything in the context here, to show that this raised thunderbolt may mean Brahman.

Siddhanta: The author answers this by the following Sutra:

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