Bhagvad Gita Rahasya or Karmayoga Shastra VOL 02

SR No.: 011090
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bhalchandra S Sukhtankar
Publisher: R B Tilak Puna
Publication Year: 1936
Total Pages: 767
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 74 MB

Page 199

IV - THE BHAGAVATA RELIGION AND THE GĪTĀ 769
came into existence; and although it is not possible to answer that question with absolute precision, yet, as will appear from what follows, it is not at all impossible to get a rough idea of its date.
It has been stated in the Gitā that the Bhāgavata religion preached by Sri Krsna to Vivasyān was lost before that date (Gi. 4. 2): and the philosophy of this religion gives the name 'Vasudeva' to the Parameśvara, "Samkarsana' to Jiva,, 'Pradyumna' to Manas, and 'Aniruddha' to Ahamkāra. Out of these, Vasudeva is the name of Sri Krsna himself; Samkarsana is the name of his elder brother Balarama; and Pradyumna and Aniruddha are names of his son and grandson Besides, the word 'Sātvata', which is another name for this religion, is also the name of the community, namely, the Yādava community, in which Sri Krsna was born From this it is clear, that this religion was promulgated in the family and the community in which Sri Krsna was born, and that it was preached by Sri Krsna to his dear friend, Arjuna ; and the story in the Purānas is the same. Besides, as there is also a tradition that the Sätvata community came to an end with the death of Sri Krsna, it was impossible that this religion could have been further promulgated even in the Sātvata community after the death of Sri Krsna. It is possible to historically explain the "No one will claim to derive from Buddhism, Vishnuism or the Yoga. Assuredly Buddhism is the borrower"......"To sum up, if there had not previously existed a religion made up of the doctrines of Yoga, or Vishnuite legends, of devotion to Vishnu-Krishna, worshipped under the title of Bhagavata, Buddhism wonld not have come to birth at all". This essay of Senart has been published in the form of a translation in the issues of the Indian Interpreter, a Missionary quarterly published at Poona, for the months of October 1909 and Jan. 1910 ; the passages quoted above will be found at pages 177 & 178 of the January issue. Dr. Bühler also has said that "the ancient Bhāgavata, Sātvata or Pāñcarātra sect, devoted to the worship of Narayana and his deified teacher Krishna-Devakiputra, dated from a period long anterior to the rise of the Jainas ir the 8th Century".Indian Antiquary, Vol. XXXII (1894), p. 248. A further detailed exposition of this matter has been made in th sixth part of this Appendix below, to which the reader is referred.