He is the eye of all, the face of all, the arm of all, the foot of all. Thou art the black bee (nilaḥ patangaḥ), the green bird with redcoloured eye, the cloud in whose womb sleeps the lightning, the seasons, the seas. Without beginning thou pervadest all things by thy almighty power; for by thee are all the worlds created. The following, again, is an example of a passage occurring in the fourth chapter (5), which is decidedly Sānkhyan in its tone: The one unborn (individual soul), for the sake of enjoyment, lies close to the One unborn (Prakṛiti), which is of a white, red, and black colour [answering evidently to the three Sankhyan Gunas], which is of one and the same form, and produces a manifold offspring. Then the other unborn (or eternal soul) abandons her (Prakriti) whose enjoyment he has enjoyed. Let us now turn to the Bhagavad-gītā. The real author of this work is unknown. It was at an early date dignified by a place in the Mahā-bhārata, in which poem it lies imbedded, or rather inlaid like a pearl', contributing with other numerous episodes to the mosaic-like character of that immense epic. The Bhagavad-gītā, however, is quite independent of the great epic; and it cannot be questioned that its proper place in any arrangement of Sanskrit literature framed with regard to the continuous development and progress of Hindu thought and knowledge should be at the close of the subject of philosophy. The author was probably a Brahman and nominally a 1 It has been interpolated into the Bhishma-parvan of the Mahā-bhārata and is divided into eighteen chapters or into three sections, each containing six lectures, commencing at line 830 of the twenty-fifth chapter of the Parva, and ending at line 1532. Such is the estimation in which the work is held both in Asia and Europe, that it has been translated into Hindi, Telugu, Kanarese, and other Eastern languages, and is also well known by European translations, of which that of Sir C. Wilkins, published in London in 1785, was the first. Mr. J. C. Thomson's edition and translation, published, with an elaborate introduction, by Stephen Austin in 1855, is, on the whole, a very meritorious production, and I am glad to acknowledge my obligations to it. Vaishnava, but really a philosopher whose mind was cast in a broad and comprehensive mould. He is supposed to have lived in India during the first or second century of our era1. Finding no rest for his spirit in any one system of philosophy, as commonly taught in his own time, much less in the corrupt Brahmanism which surrounded him, he was led to make a selection from the various schools of rationalistic and dogmatic thought, so as to construct a composite theory of his own. This he did with great perspicuity and beauty of language, interweaving various opinions into one system by taking, so to speak, threads from the Sankhya, Yoga, and Vedānta, as well as from the later theory of Bhakti or 'faith in a supreme Being". With these threads he weaves, as it were, a woof of many-coloured hues of thought, which are shot across a stiff warp of stern uncompromising pantheistic doctrines, worthy of the most decided adherent of the Vedanta school3. Of these cross threads the most conspicuous are those of the Sankhya system, for which the author of the Gita has an evident predilection. The whole composition is skilfully thrown into the form of a dramatic poem or dialogue, something after the manner 1 Some consider that he lived as late as the third century, and some place him even later, but with these I cannot agree. 2 The Aphorisms of Sandilya, the editing of which was commenced by Dr. Ballantyne and continued by Professor Griffith, his successor at Benares, deny that knowledge is the one thing needful, and insist on the subjection of knowledge to the higher principle of Bhakti, 'faith in God.' The first Aphorism introduces the inquiry into the nature of faith, thus, Athāto bhakti-jijnāsā. Professor Weber and others think that the introduction of rioris and ảyánŋ into the Hindu system is due to the influence of Christianity. The predominance of pantheistic doctrines, notwithstanding the attempt to interweave them with portions of the Sankhya and Yoga systems, is denoted by the fact that the Vedantists claim this poem as an exponent of their own opinions. of the book of Job or a dialogue of Plato'. The speakers are the two most important personages in the Mahābhārata, Arjuna and Krishna. Arjuna is perhaps the real hero of that epic. He is the bravest, and yet the most tender-hearted of the five sons of Pāṇḍu. The god Krishna, who is identified with Vishnu, and in this philosophical dialogue is held to be an incarnation of the supreme Being himself, had taken human form as the son of Devaki and Vasudeva, who was brother of Kunti, wife of Pandu. Hence the god was cousin of the sons of Pāṇḍu, brother of Dhritarashtra, the sons of these brothers being of course related as cousins to each other. In the great war which arose between the two families, each contending for the kingdom of Hastinapura, Krishna refused to take up arms on either side, but consented to act as the charioteer 1 It is, however, styled an Upanishad, or rather a series of Upanishads, because, like the Upanishads, it reveals secret and mystical doctrines. For instance, at the close of the dialogue (XVIII. 63), Krishna says, 'I have thus communicated to you knowledge more secret than secret itself' (iti me jñānam ākhyātam guhyād guhyataram mayā). 2 Professor Weber (Indische Studien I. 400) thinks that Brahmans may have crossed the sea to Asia Minor at the beginning of the Christian era, and on their return made use of Christian narratives to fabricate the story of their deified hero, Krishna, whose very name would remind them of Christ. The legends of the birth of Krishna and his persecution by Kansa, remind us, says Weber, too strikingly of the corresponding Christian narratives to leave room for the supposition that the similarity is quite accidental. According to Lassen, the passages of the Mahābhārata in which Krishna receives divine honours are later interpolations, and the real worship of Krishna is not found before the fifth or sixth century. Dr. Lorinser, as we shall presently see, thinks he can trace the influence of Christianity throughout the Bhagavad-gītā. The legend of Sveta-dvipa in the Mahā-bhārata (XII. 12703) certainly favours the idea of some intercourse with Europe at an early date. The legends relating to Krishna are found detailed at full in the tenth book of the Bhāgavata-purāṇa and its Hindī paraphrase, the Prem Sāgar. 3 See the epitome of this great epic in a subsequent Lecture. of Arjuna and to aid him with his advice. At the commencement of the Bhagavad-gītā the two contending armies are supposed to be drawn up in battle array, when Arjuna, struck with sudden compunction at the idea of fighting his way to a kingdom through the blood of his kindred, makes a sudden resolution to retire from the combat, confiding his thoughts to Krishna thus (I. 28–33): Beholding these my relatives arrayed Before my eyes in serried line of battle, What with enjoyments or with life itself, power, When we have slaughtered all our kindred here? Krishna's reply to this speech is made the occasion of the long philosophical and theological dialogue which, in fact, constitutes the Bhagavad-gītā, the main design of which undoubtedly is to exalt the duties of caste above all other obligations, including the ties of friendship and affection, but at the same time to show that the practice of these duties is compatible with all the self-mortification and concentration of thought enjoined by the Yoga philosophy, as well as with the deepest devotion to the supreme Being, with whom Krishna claims to be identified'. As 1 There is a sect among the Hindus called Gāṇapatyas, who identify Ganapati or Gaṇeśa with the supreme Being. Their doctrines are embodied in the Gaṇeśa-purāṇa, but they have a poem called the Gaṇeśa-gītā, which is identical in substance with the Bhagavad-gītā, the name of Gaṇeśa being substituted for that of Krishna. Arjuna belongs to the military caste, he is exhorted to Though bad and ill-performed and fraught with evil, Abandon life at once than not fulfil One's own appointed work; another's duty Perfection is alone attained by him Who swerves not from the business of his caste. Remembering the sacred character attributed to this poem and the veneration in which it has always been held throughout India, we may well understand that such words as these must have exerted a powerful influence for the last 1800 years; tending, as they must have done, to rivet the fetters of caste-institutions which, for several centuries preceding the Christian era, notwithstanding the efforts of the great liberator Buddha, increased year by year their hold upon the various classes of Hindu society, impeding mutual intercourse, preventing healthy interchange of ideas, and making national union almost impossible. Before proceeding to offer further examples, we may remark that as the Bhagavad-gītā is divided into three sections, each containing six chapters, so the philosophical teaching is somewhat distinct in each section. Compare Sakuntala, verse 133, 'Verily the occupation in which a man is born, though it be in bad repute, must not be abandoned.' The words used (saha-jam karma) are the same as those in the Bhagavad-gītā. |