SmartSurat  #  Hinduism

The theism of the Bhagavad Gita

The Gita was the earliest scripture in which the devotional approach to God, specified as bhakti, is featured. In calling the Gita a upanisad, Hindus do not consider it to be separate from the Vedas but its overt theism and devotional tone which incorporate a very personal approach to the divine make it a reply placed in the context of epicc such as the Mahabharat and the Ramayan. Yet the Gita is clearly not a historical narrative for in its content Krisna as the charioteer of Arjun put forward profound spiritual teaching which has been a source of inspiration and understanding of the divine to Hindus everywhere. In this sense, then, it is , appropriately referred to as a upanisad. It has been variously dated from anything from the sixth to the first or second centuries BCE, but most favour the latter. Not only was it the first scripture in which bhakti was attested, it was the first scripture, as Hardy notes, ' to suggest a sufficient theology of Krisna to make it a religious system "Krsnaism"'.      But it is not only the devotional path to God, bhakti marga, which is featured in the Gita. The paths of jnana ' knowledge ', and karma ' action ', are also prominently portrayed, while, overarching all ways to God is the fundamental yogic discipline of yoking the senses. Jnana marga has been dealt with in the context of the Vedanta but karma marga needs some mention at this point.. In many ways it is one which is ideally suited to the particular predicament of Arjun. The fact that karma means `action' tells us immediately that karma marga is not a path to God which is divorced from the world: indeed it involves action in the world in every way, but with one important difference. The action involved with the way of karma is egoless action, that is to say, the kind of action which is undertaken without any desire or aversion or without any consideration for the fruits of the action; it is an action not carried out with a sense of I. It is not actions which produce good or bad karma for the future but the ego which is attached to the actions, and its accompanying desires and aversions and attachments to their results.      Commentators on the Gita usually stress the predominance of one path as opposed to others in the message of the text. It is a complex writing and the fact that Sankara, probably the greatest of Hindu philosophers, could interpret the entire text from a monistic viewpoint of total identity of the self with Brahman, thus elevating the path of jnana, should warn against the acceptance of either of the other two paths of bhakti or karma as predominant. Adopting karma marga as the main teaching would answer Arjun's dilemma very well in that if he is able to do his duty as a Ksatriya and fight in the coming battle with no sense of ego, then no results of his actions can be attached to him. And his questions to Krisna at the beginning of the Gita reveal that it is precisely the results of his actions in fighting a fratricidal war which are to the front of his mind. But many commentators suggest that it is the path of bhakti - loving devotion to the personal God Krisna - which is the path favoured by the Gita, arid there is much in the text to support this. While there are certainly passages which could be interpreted monistically, the emphasis on devotion to, and focus on, Krisna is a recurrent theme:      I am easily obtainable, Partha, by him who thinks of nothing else, constantly remembers me daily, an ever-integrated Yogin.      Yet it could also be claimed that it is the focus on Krisna that is the teaching which unites all paths. It is surrendering the self to Krisna which is important irrespective of the path that is followed - loving-devotion, egoless action, or intuitive knowledge of the atman within through withdrawal from the world, meditation and ascetic practices: It is the surrendering of the seIf through focusing on Krisna which brings realization of Brahman, irrespective of the chosen path. Krisna makes himself a manifest object which wills the soul towards him. Biardeau, who calls the Gita a `gospel of bhakti' says that:      God, in making himself accessible to his worshipper and granting him his grace, becomes the object of desire, the one which suppresses all other desires.      This brings about what Biardeau describes as a `transfer of man's whole capacity for desire onto God'. It is this kind of thought which is so typical of the devotional approach to God in Hinduism by which the devotee in unqualified love of God comes to know him and to be one with' him:      The concept of God in the Gita is that of a loving God whose love for humankind is available to all whatever their caste, sex or status in life, or even if they worship other deities with complete devotion. The Gita made devotional Hinduism available to the old and young, the intellectual and the slower - minded and in its many levels of thought each can glean from it what his or her level of consciousness allows.