Vedas (Smriti and Sruti)
Then what are the Vedas (Vedic knowledge):
Then what are the Vedas (Vedic knowledge):
- Sruti (Revealed absolute Truth, Every word unchanged eternally)
- Smrti (Composed by sages, Wording may change from age to age)
Sruti:
Sruti:
- Vedas (Rg, Yajur, Sama, Atharva): Each of these four have corresponding:
- Samhitas (mantras)
- Brahmanas (ritual explanation of mantras)
- Aranyakas (esoteric explanation of mantras)
- Upanisads/Jnana-kanda (philosophy of Brahman)
- Upavedas (Dhanurveda, Ayurveda, etc)
- Vedangas, which consists of:
- Kalpa (ritual details)
- Siksa (pronunciation)
- Vyakarana (grammar)
- Nirukta (etymology)
- Chandas (meters)
- Jyotisa (astronomy-time calculation)]
Smrti:
Smrti:
- Ritual Sutras (connected to Kalpa-vedanga), which is to be devided in:
- Srauta Sutras (explains public yajnas)
- Grhya Sutras (explains home yajnas)
- Dharma Sutras (Law books, including Manu Samhita and others)
- Tantras (Spoken by Lord Siva to Parvati)
- Pancaratras (Vaisnava worship), which contains Tamasic, Rajasic and Sattvic divisions
- Puranas (18 major and 18 minor)
- Itihasas (Ramayana and Mahabharata)
- Six Darshanas:
- VEDANTA, (Vyasa), (Metaphysics), theology of Upanisads
- MIMAMSA, (Jaimini), (Hermeneutics), interpreting scriptural texts
- NYAYA, (Gautama), (Epistemology, logic), philosophy of knowledge including logic
- VAISESIKA, (Kanada), (Metaphysics), philosophy of existence
- YOGA, (Patanjali), (Sadhana)
- SANKHYA, (Atheist Kapila), (Metaphysics)
Vedanta and Mimamsa are sisters as are Nyaya and Vaisesika. So are Yoga and Sankhya.