HERITAGE OF THE HINDUS
The Smrtis come and go. How many Smrtis were promulgated and set aside in India? Today all the old Smrtis are abrogated, if they go against our national democratic Constitution. We have the courage to change our Smrtis and develop a new Smrti in tune with contemporary thinking. This is the great idea in India social change. And the teachings, which are eternal, are reformulated according to the changed circumstances. For that you need great teachers, for they have the spiritual knowledge and authority to do this. That authority does not come from a status like that of a bishop, or a Pope, or a priest or any traditional religious authority. It comes from spiritual realization; it comes from infinite compassion in the heart of a spiritual teacher. That is how new Smrtis come into being. India held fast to this ideal. And the result is that from the Vedic age up to this modern age, many changes have taken place in religion, in society, in our country, and yet we are the same. We are eternal and yet changing all the time. That is the gist of the very term Sanatana Dharma. India is ever ageing, but never old; it is because of this adjustment that takes place at particular periods. This is the India that is taking shape today in a new setting, the same ancient India but adopting necessary changes. Much dead wood is being cut and removed. This courage to change a Smrti, and that too peacefully, is purely a Hindu heritage. No other religion has shown that courage. In all other religious, Smrtis are all in all; they cannot be touched, and if any reformer attempts to change them, he is persecuted and killed. But we say, "Change the out-dated Smrti and form a new Smrti, if it does not fit us now".
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