History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c94.359.3

v7.c94.359.3

On many important questions viz. whether there is God or a Supreme Intelligence guiding the universe, or whether there is an individual self, or what the future of a man when he dies is, the wisest among men have given widely differing answers.²⁴¹⁷ On such questions final answers acceptable to all or most people cannot be given by reason alone. Though the orthodox position is as stated above, it has been shown above (e. g. on pp. 1267–1269) how Vedic practices have been discarded by the weight of popular opinion from time to time. It is laid down by Smṛti writers themselves that blindly following the words of Śāstra would lead to loss of Dharma and that in case of conflict between two Smṛtis reasoning should be resorted to and popular opinions and practices should be considered. Vide H. of Dh. vol. III, pp. 866–868 for this. The Mahābhārata enjoins²⁴¹⁸ 'one should not try to solve incomprehensible matters by ratiocination.' In the dialogue between the famished sage Viśvāmitra (who desired to eat the tail of a dog) and a cāṇḍāla the great Epic winds up by saying 'therefore a learned man whose soul is pure should act after relying on his intelligence in the matter of deciding what Dharma and adharma are'.²⁴¹⁹ It should not be supposed that Śaṅkarācārya and other great Indian writers wanted to throw reasoning overboard altogether.