Is there any way to hookup home theater speakers to a TV, without a receiver?

This is NOT POSSIBLE. Why? Because you need to have a surround sound decoder for 5.1 sound. Your Blu-ray/VHS player does not have a decoder. Your television may have one but it doesn't have direct 5.1 speaker outputs so even if it did you couldn't use it to drive speakers directly. I understand space concerns - everybody has them, but you NEED a surround sound decoder and surround sound receivers have them built in. I see no way around this. You need to buy a 5.1 surround sound receiver/amp - this will drive your 5.1 speakers.