Holy scripture; sacred text; that which commands, orders, directs with authority. (Glossary for the Vahinis)

Limit, control, regulate, set bounds and bunds; that is the way to succeed. If people let loose their thoughts, words and deeds, calamity will be the consequence. Shastra means that which ‘lays down limits’; interest in the art of living is created by these rules. (SSS Vol.5 - p. 139)

The Shastras are only like road maps; they are guide books at best, describing the road and giving the directions for the journey. It is the actual journey that will reveal the hardships, the delays, the landslips and the potholes, as well as the beauty of the scenery encountered and the magnificence of the final goal. No second hand account can equal the first hand experience. Moreover, the Shastras might speak about a thing in many different ways, just to elaborate it, for better understanding; even the Vedas extol a thing in ten different poetic forms from different angles and standpoints; but some scholars try to treat each such statement as distinct and as having a different connotation; and so they add to the confusion, rather than reduce it. The symbols on the map are interpreted differently by different scholars according to their pre-conceived notions and predilections and pet theories. So the Shastravadins too are not always right; they can be led astray by the desire to score a point over their adversary; they belong to certain schools of thought and this too acts as a brake on their freedom to seek and know the real meaning of the Shastras. (SSS Vol.1 p. 118/119)

I do not consider Shastra vada or Intellectual Scholarship as very essential for the Sadhaka. I advise you to develop Ananda, not through these difficult and even doubtful means, but through the cultivation of Prema. Love, which begins in the home and family and spreads to all creatures. Put down the sharp- edged weapon that seeks to analyse and chop the arguments of the opponent, to cut his point of view to pieces. Take up the laddu of love, which spreads joy and wins over recalcitrant hearts. (SSS Vol.1 pp.121-122)

Man has duty to observe consistently and sincerely the Shastras (codes of morality). The codes are framed for the guidance of living beings who can uplift themselves by their own efforts and determination. Others cannot utilise them or revere them as texts meant for instruction. However arduous and affectionate the training given to a tiger may be, it can never be made non-violent! One can feed a cat on milk and sweets for long but, when it sees a rat, it pounces on it and relishes its taste more than all the fine fresh food one has given for months.

A tiger will not eat ‘poori’ (leavened bread) however gnawing its hunger maybe. It will eat only flesh. A beast has to be always beastly. But a vicious man can transform himself into a saint! He may be born and bred in wicked surroundings, but he can be shaped into a good person through the influence of precept and example.

Ratnakara, the robber, waylaid travellers and pilgrims and robbed them of their belongings. When some sages whom he attacked reacted with loving kindness, warned him and revealed to him the sacred path of devotion and dedication, he gave up his cruel profession and plunged into severe spiritual exercises which transformed him into a great poet-saint, Valmiki.

There is the example of the highway robber who collected the fingers of those whom he robbed and strung them into a garland round his neck. He was so proud of this horried achievement that he named himself Angulimala. But, when he encountered Buddha and listened to His compassionate counsel, his mind was cleansed and he became a faithful follower of Buddha. Man can be educated or nurtured into higher levels of consciousness. The Shastras offer the means of purifying the mind. Other living beings have no such help or encouragement offered to them; they have to plod on as of old. This is the reason why life as a human being is a unique gift. (SSS Vol.16, p. 112-113)