Learning by reading
Ādi Śaṅkarācārya has acknowledged the laukika method through which Śūdras could access Vedas and the knowledge preserved in them. Vācaspatimiśra & Ānandagiri tell that the laukika method includes reading books and so forth. As per Vācaspatimiśra, the only problem is that if Śūdras gain the knowledge of Vedas by reading the written form of Vedas (and so forth), they won’t attain the fruits promised for those who study Vedas via upanayana ceremony and so forth.
So, learning the Vedas from one’s Guru via upanayana and repeating the Vedas as chanted by the Guru is the Vaidika or Śāstrīya method. Learning Vedas by reading written forms of Vedas and so forth, is the laukika method. It is only in the Vaidika or Śāstrīya method that the restriction exists.
In the laukika method, neither Vācaspatimiśra nor Ānandagiri mention any restriction. Also, it has been acknowledged by Ādi Śaṅkarācārya himself.
Ref: Brahmasūtraśāṅkarabhāṣya, 1.3.34, with commentaries of Vācaspatimiśra and Ānandagiri.
यत्तु अर्थित्वम् , न तद् असति सामर्थ्ये ऽधिकारकारणं भवति ।
सामर्थ्यम् अपि न लौकिकं केवलम् अधिकार-कारणं भवति;
शास्त्रीयेऽर्थे शास्त्रीयस्य सामर्थ्यस्यापेक्षितत्वात् ।
- शङ्करः
यदा चाध्यनसंस्कृतेन स्वाध्यायेन फलवत्-कर्म-ब्रह्मावबोधो
भाव्यमानो ऽभ्युदयनिःश्रेयसप्रयोजन
इति स्थापितं
तदा यस्याध्ययनं तस्यैव कर्मब्रह्मावबोधो ऽभ्युदयनिःश्रेयसप्रयोजनो
नान्यस्य,
यस्य चोपनयन-संस्कारस् तस्यैवाध्ययनं,
स च द्विजातीनाम् एवेत्य्
उपनयनाभावेनाध्ययन-संस्काराभावात्
पुस्तकादि-पठित-स्वाध्याय-जन्योऽर्थावबोधः
शूद्राणां न फलाय कल्पत
इति शास्त्रीयसामर्थ्याभावान्
न शूद्रो ब्रह्मविद्यायाम् अधिक्रियत इति सिद्धम् ।
- भामतीव्याख्या वाचस्पतिमिश्रकृता
यदुक्तमर्थित्वसामर्थ्ययोः सम्भवादिति,
तत्रार्थित्वमुपेत्य सामर्थ्यं प्रत्याह — यत्त्विति ।
सामर्थ्यमपि तस्य सम्भवतीत्याशङ्क्य
लौकिकं वैदिकं वेति विकल्प्याद्यं निराह — सामर्थ्यमिति । ननु लिखित-पाठादिना प्राप्त-स्वाध्यायाद् अर्थ-धी-योगाद्
अस्ति तस्य वैदिकमपि सामर्थ्यम् ।+++(5)+++
न च निषिद्धाध्ययनाद् दुरितोदय-भयान् न प्रवर्तते
लिखित-पाठादि-जनित-विद्यया तन्-निबर्हणात् ,
तत्राह — शास्त्रीयस्येति ।
लिखित-पाठादि-जन्य-विद्यया दुरित-निवृत्ताव्
अध्ययन-विध्य्-आनर्थक्यान् मैवम् इत्यर्थः ।+++(5)+++
- न्यायनिर्णयः
वेद-शब्दः
prāyaścitta
The well known daṇḍa (punishment) for a Śūdra who learns Veda, mentioned in Gautama Dharmasūtra is instead taken to be a prāyaścitta as per Govindānanda and Ānandagiri in their sub-commentaries on Brahmasūtraśāṅkarabhāṣya (1.3.38). Traditional scholars who take this so-called punishment to be a prāyaścitta : Ānandagiri, Rāghavānanda, Advaitānanda, Rāmakiṅkara and Śrīdeva. For them it only tells that traditional Vedādhyayana is bad for Śūdras.
daṇḍa
Even when Medhātithi (commentator of Manusmṛti) takes it to be daṇḍa or punishment, he only infers from its intensity that traditional Vedādhyayana shouldn’t be done by a Śūdra or else he and other Brahmacārī-s would incur fault.
Sources : Ānandagiri (on Ādi Śaṅkarācārya’s comm. on Brahmasūtra 1.3.38), Rāghavānanda (on Manusmṛti 1.91), Advaitānanda (Brahmavidyābharaṇa 1.3.38), Rāmakiṅkara (Brahmāmṛtavarṣiṇī 1.3.38), Śrīdeva (Kātīyaśrautasūtra 1.1.6).
Nandapaṇḍita says that it’s about hearing Veda directly via ‘darpa’. If one keeps a Brāhmaṇa in the middle, there’s no fault. He also seems to extend this beyond Śūdras.
Ref: Commentary on Viṣṇusmṛti, 5.23-25
“Sin” information
Haradatta Miśra tells that someone who is intent on actions like killing a Brāhmaṇa, due to love, hatred, etc., cannot be stopped. Hence prohibitive statement, in the manner ‘if this action is committed, may it not cause sin’, alone reveals that such actions cause sin. This statement in the beginning of Miśra’s commentary on the Gautama Dharma Sūtra (1.1.1), gives a direction about how to understand the various statements of GDS itself. Generally, prohibitive statements reveal that the action being prohibited, if committed, will cause sin. This line of thought could be the reason that many traditional scholars didn’t take the so-called ‘punishment’ of a Śūdra trying to learn, memorise and recite Vedas, in a literal sense. For them it was only a statement of those actions leading to sin.
वेदार्थः
From a manuscript titled ‘शिवताण्डवटीका’: It says that even the translated versions of Vaidika mantras have power because they convey Vedārtha. Also, the sequence of letters in them is the result of tapasyā of Maharṣi Vyāsa & such others. So they have equal power. Because of differences in sequence of letters, all humans can access them as per their adhikāra.
It seems that the author considers two things as the basis of power of mantras:
- The meaning of it.
- The one who expressed it.
“वेदों के तात्पर्य को समझने में कोई प्रतिबन्धित नहीं है। क्योंकि वेदों का तात्पर्य ब्रह्मविद्या में है, ब्रह्म में है, तो मैत्रेयी को भी उसका ज्ञान दिया गया।”
- पुरीपीठाधीश्वर शंकराचार्य स्वामी निश्चलानन्द जी