The gurus who explained the manu and gautama smrithis are not western ones. I provided verses from the rigved on animal sacrifices - those verses were not written by western ones either.Ma'm. I find you quote extensively from the net and books written by Western authors. Apparently you trust them and give the quotes.
Obviously your immediate reaction with western ones is AIT, vested interests, etc. Hope you will realize that not all western ones are "bad" just as not all indian ones are "good".
Yes i cared to read the places where the verses were provided. In case of the explanation on smrithis, i did not see any valid explanation about how it came to be derived from or based on the vedas. Anyways, i do not see the hyperlinks - please provide them. To clarify, am not against the shankara mutts. The only thing i am not in favor of is the jaati-dharma the kanchi mutt propagates.The same way I trust the Paramacharya when he gives explanations on concepts. There are a lot of articles where he does quote the Vedic verse or the author (if you had cared to read it). Sometimes he offers his interpretations of the verse. As a Guru and a Acharya whom I revere I accept that. This works like faith. As long as we have a discussion, I am going to quote the Acharya as that is my base. Your question on the Vedas being the source of Smiritis, I give 2 links below. Given your stance against the Sankara mutts, it is up to you to accept them or not.
And i did not say that you said so either.I did not say Adi Shankara invented Advaita. It was already there. He merely came by and strengthened the concept among the people.
Alright, so in your case its a matter of faith and what you are bound to follow as your (and their) POVs. Anyways, can you please provide publications of Kanchi mutt that explain how the shruti is the base for smrithi ?If I am a follower of the Sankara mutts which follow Adi Shankara who advocated the concept of Advaita and whose Acharyas also say that the Sruti is the base for the Smiriti it is logical that I am a Advaitin and bound to follow the Dharmasastras as well. Whether I follow or not is another question? As I said before, the Purva mimamsa is the foundational path for an ordinary man to attain nirguna braman and samadhi. It is not the only one.
There are several quotes in the vedas that also say that all men are one. Obviously, our minds tend to apply 'selectivity' somewhere.I do apply this to myself. I think myself as a moderate as I can accept all schools of thought. I can visit Sringeri, sit in a Sathya sai bhajan and attend Swami Nithyananda's lecture. To me as long as the Guru is doing good for society he is fair game. Isn't that what our religion says that all paths lead to One.
lets not talk about commercial involvements anand.When I talk about scriptures I have never quoted Vijayvani. Vijayvani is for more mundane things. For me it is only the Acharya. Simply put, I cannot read Sanskrit nor understand it so I don't go by the translations because I don't know if they are right or not. To me the mutts have no axe to grind (ie) there is no commercial element involved so I have a greater initiative to believe them. To satisfy my own standards of logic, I keep applying it to the broader perspective.
regards.