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IV - THE BHAGAVATA RELIGION AND THE GITA 763
with Knowledge, and with an apathetic frame of mind. From the Path of Knowledge, out of these three paths, the two subsidiary branches of Yoga and Devotion have subsequently come into existence. It is stated in the Chāndogya and other ancient Upanisads, that it is necessary to meditate on the Brahman in order to acquire the Knowledge of the Parabrahman; and that it is necessary to concentrate the Mind, and for that purpose. to place before the eyes, in the first place, some qualityful symbol of the Parabrahman, in order to succeed in this thought, contemplation, or meditation. As the Concentration of the Mind acquired in worshipping the Brahman thus acquired & special importance later on, Yoga, in the shape of the Concentration of the Mind', became an independent path by itself; and, by a tangible humanformed Parameśvara being taken for worship, instead of a qualityful symbol, the Path of Devotion gradually came into existence. This idea of Devotion in the Path of Devotion has not come into existence independently, at some intermediate period of time, and inconsistently with the Spiritual Knowledge contained in the Upanisads; nor has it been imported into India from some other country. When one considers serratım all the various Upanisads, one comes to the conclusion that, in the beginning, the various parts of the Yajña, or the OM-kāra, and later on, Vedic deities like Rudra, Visnu, etc., or qualityful perceptible symbols of the Brahman like Ether etc., came to be worshipped for the purpose of the meditation on the Brahman; and that with the same end in view, that is, with the idea of reaching the Brahman, the Devotion to, that is, a kind of worship of, Rāma, Nrsimha, Sri Krsna, Vāsudeva, etc., came to be started thereafter. Out of these, the Yoga-tattva and other Upanisads on the Yoga, or the Nrsimba-tāpani, Rāma-tāpani, and other Upanisads, which are devotional, are clearly seen to be more ancient than the Chāndogya and other Upanisads, when one considers their language. Therefore, it becomes necessary to say from the historical point of view, that the Paths of Yog) and of Devotion, acquired importance only after the thres paths of (i) Karma, (ii) Jñāna, or Samnyāsa, and (iii) Jääna-Karmasamuccaya, described in the Chandogya and other ancient
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