History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c46.123.3

v3.c46.123.3

When Bṛhaspati enjoins that doubts about dharma should not be settled by blindly following the letter of śāstras, but that logic and reasoning should be employed, he strikes the true note of the spirit of the ancient sages.2204a Vide also Manu XII. 106 and Gaut. XI. 23-24 for the importance of *tarka* in settling matters of dharma. Manu XII. 108 states 'if one were to ask how one should act in matters of dharma on which no express rule is declared in this work, the reply is that in such cases what is declared to be a proper rule of conduct by respectable (śiṣṭa) brāhmaṇas would undoubtedly be the dharma.' Yāj. III. 300 requires that a person guilty of a sin or lapse should declare it to an assembly of learned brāhmaṇas and undergo such *vrata* (penance and observances) as is approved of by the *pariṣad*. Śaṁkarācārya in his *bhāṣya* on Bṛ. Up. IV. 3.