09-22-2006, 03:57 AM
Wow, dattaswami
That is a very good point in which you brought up, and I am impressed with your new layout in referencing your sources!!
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Therefore if the meaning of a verse in the Bhagavad Gītā is not traceable to the Veda then it is safe to assume that that verse is not part of the original text and that Lord Kṛṣṇa never spoke this verse. Such a verse must have been added later on. Thus even in comparison with the Bhagavad Gītā, the Veda alone stands as the authority. Any Saṁskṛtam verse from any book written by any sage or saint, (Smṛti) should not oppose the Veda. That which is not told in the Veda, cannot be accepted even if the Smṛti (Śruti smṛthi virodhetu) presents it. The statements and logic of the Smṛtis can be accepted only as long as it does not contradict the Veda. This has been clearly told by Śaṅkara (Śruti mataḥ tarkaḥ).
The logic behind accepting only statements which agree with the Veda is similar to the logic by which only the statement of a sane man is accepted and not that of a foolish man. The criteria of sanity or rationality that we impose in evaluating the veracity of a statement or experience of any person in day-to-day life is comparable to the criteria of agreement with the Veda of any spiritual work, experience or logic.
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Although we are of different faiths, Truth it seems, is the only common ground in which all of us can stand!
Well done!
Salam