Śruti

Śruti, “that which is heard”

Smṛti has other meanings too: see all meanings of Smṛti.

Grammar: feminine noun, from the root śru (to hear): “that which is heard”.

Meaning: the Veda, the revealed word heard by the ṛshis; the first and highest pramāṇa (means of right knowledge).

In the scriptures:

  • The first pramāṇa. Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Uddhava that there are four pramāṇas: śruti (the Veda), pratyaksha (direct perception), aitihya (what the great ones are known to hold) and anumāna (inference). Each shows the world of duality to be mithyā: the śruti by sentences such as neha nānāsti kiñcana, “there is no manifoldness here at all”; perception, because nothing is experienced as other than consciousness; aitihya, by the well-known teaching of the great ones; and inference, because the world is seen (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 19).
  • What the śruti teaches. Prahlāda teaches the daitya boys that seekers should reflect with a purified heart on the śruti sentences that teach that the Parabrahman, from which this world arises, in which it stands and into which it dissolves, is present as the ātmā in all beings, and that there should be no haste in this inquiry (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapter 7). Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Uddhava that the Parabrahman famed in the śruti is advaya, without a second, free of all difference, beyond the reach of speech and mind, the Real (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 24). Varuṇa, praising Śrī Kṛshṇa when he came for Nanda, says: “The śruti says that the māyā-śakti, the support of the many imaginings that exist as the creation of the worlds, is not in you as something different from you” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 28).
  • Still searching. Brahmā prays to Śrī Kṛshṇa for any birth in Gokula, even in its forest, to be bathed in the dust of the feet of some cowherd, for the whole life of those cowherds is Śrī Kṛshṇa alone: “Know that the śrutis, even to this day, are still searching for the dust of your feet!” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 14).

Related terms: Veda · Smṛti · Pramāṇa · Upanishad · Brahman

Sources

  • Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapter 7; Skandha 10, Chapters 14, 28; Skandha 11, Chapters 19, 24