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

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GĪTĀ-RAHASYA OR KARMA-YOGA
various names of this religion, by saying that this religion, which was thus promulgated by Sri Krsna, may have been in existence before His time to some extent or other under the name of the 'Nārāyaniya' or 'Pāñcarätra' religion; and that it later on acquired the name of "Sātvata', after it was spread in the Sätvata community, and that it came to be called the • Bhagavata' religion in the belief that the Blessed Lord Sri Krsna and Arjuna were respectively the incarnations of Nara and Nārāyana. Thus, it is not necessary to imagine that there were three or four different Sri Krsnas, and that each of them added a little to the religion; and there is in fact no evidence for coming to such a conclusion This idea has gained ground on account of the good or bad changes which have taken place in the original religion. But if, though Buddha, Christ, or Mahomed were each one individual by themselves, there came about many good or bad changes in their religions, then there is no occasion in my opinion for believing that there must have been several Sri Krsnas, on the ground that the original Bhāga vata religion later on acquired different forms, or that different ideas later on gained ground regarding Sri Krsna. Whichever religion is taken, it is quite easy and natural that it should change its form in the course of time, and it is not necessary on that account to believe that there were several Krsnas, or Buddhas, or Christs, or Mahomeds * Some people-especially
* The life of Sri Krsna includes amorous passages with Gopis (cowherdesses) side by side with prowess, devotion and philosophy ; and these things are mutually inconsistent. On this ground, many learned people maintain now-a-days that the Sri Krsoa of the Mahābhārata was a different person from the Sri Krsna of the Gītā or of Gokul; and this opinion has been accepted by Dr. Bhandarkar in his book “Vaispavism, Saivism, and other sects”. But, according to me, such an opinion is incorrect. It may be that the amorous descriptions which we read in th: stories about Gopis may have been added afterwards, and it is not necessary on that account to believe that there were various persons bearing the name of Sri Krsoa; and there is no authority except imagination for doing so. Besides, it is not that stories about Gopis came into vogue for the first time in the days of the Bhāgavata ; for, Gopis are referred to in the Buddha-carita (4. 14) written by Aśvaghosa in the beginning of the