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756
GÍTA-RAHASYA OR KARMA-YOGA
I have proved above by critically examining the meaning of the words in the stanza" brahma-sūtra-padaiś cuiva" etc., that the Bhagavadgitā contains a reference to the present Brahma-Sūtras or Vedānta-Sūtras. But, I think there is another important and forcible reason for this reference to the Brahma-Sūtras having come into the Bhagavadgitā, and that too in the 13th chapter, that is, in the chapter which deals with the subject of the Body and the Ātman I have already explained in the previous chapters that though the essential principle of the worship of Vāsudeva has been taken into the Bhagavadgitā from the Bhāgavata or the Pañcarātra religion, yet, the four-fold (catur-vyāya) theory of the Pañcarātra religion regarding the coming into existence of Samkarsana, that is Jīva (Personal Self) from Vasudeva, of Pradyumna, that is, the Mind (manas) from Samkarsana, and of Aniruddha, that is, Individuation (ahankāra) from Pradyumna, is not accepted by the Bhagavadgitā. The Brahma-Sūtras lay down the doctrine that the Personal Self (jīvātman) has not sprung from anything else (Ve. Sū. 2. 3. 17) and that it is an eternal 'part' (amśa) of the Highest Ātman karmayogam ca ", and in writing or in printing, the diacritical nasal sign m'in 'ntan' may have been dropped. It is clearly stated in this stanza that Vyāsa obtained the two sciences of Vedānta and Karma-Yoga, and that Bhrgu obtained the silpaśāstra (i. e., the fine or mechanical arts -Trans.). But, this stanza is not to be found in the edition printed in the Ganpat Krishnaji Press in Bombay or in the Calcutta edition. The 212th chapter of the Santiparva in the Kumbakonam edition is the 210th chapter of the Bombay and Calcutta editions. I am very grateful to my friend Dr. Ganesh Krishna Garde for having drawn my attention to this stanza in the Kumbakonam recension. According to his opinion, the word "karmayoga' in this place refers to nothing else but the Gītā, and the authorship of both the Gītā and the Vedānta-Sūtras is by this stanza given to Vyāsa. Some doubt may arise on this point, because this reading is to be found in only one out of three editions of the Mahābhārata; but it at least proves that my inference about the author of Vedānta being the same as the author of Karma-Yoga, is neither new, nor without anthority.
