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IV - THE BHAGAVATA RELIGION AND THE GĪTĀ 765
these facts, one would think that the Gītā must have been based on the Upanisads themselves. But, if we consider the genesis of the Gītā-religion, which has been given in the Gītā itself, we find that the Upanisads are nowhere mentioned in it. Just as Sacrifice included in Knowledge is considered superior in the Gītā to the sacrifice of wealth (Gi. 4. 33), so also does the Chăndogyopanisad say that human life is a kind of Yaja (sacrifice), (Chân. 3. 16, 17); and in describing the worth of such a sacrifice, it says that, "the Cult of this Yajña was taught by a Rsi named Ghora Angirasa to Devakiputra Krsna". There is no authority for looking upon this Devakīputra Krsna as the same as the Krsna of the Gītā. But, even if it is assumed for a moment that both of them were one and the same, yet, it must still be borne in mind that Ghora Angirasa has nowhere been mentioned in the Gītā as an authority for considering the Sacrifice included in Spiritual Knowledge as superior. Besides, although the path followed by Janaka was a combination of Jñāna and Karma, yet, Devotion had not been incorporated into that path in his times, as is quite clear from the Brhadāranyakopanisad; and, therefore, Janaka does not appear in the traditional history of the path, which combines Jñana and Karma with Devotion; nor has the Gītā so included him. It is stated at the beginning of the fourth chapter of the Gītā (Gi. 4. 1-3) that the religion of the Gītā was first taught by the Blessed Lord to Vivasyān in the beginning of the Yuga, then by Vivasvān to Manu, and then by Manu to Iksvāku; but that, as it got lost in course of time, it had again to be preached to Arjuna. Although these stanzas are of utmost importance for understanding the growth of the Gītā-religion, commentators have not gone beyond giving their literary meaning, in order to elucidate them; and it would appear that doing so would even not have been in their interests. Because, if it were admitted that the Gitā-religion was originally of a particular cult, other religious cults could not but to that extent suffer in importance. But, I have shown with authorities in the commencement of the Gītā-Rahasya, as also in my commentary on the first and second stanzas of the fourth chapter of the Gītā, that the tradition of the Gītā is consistent with the tradition of the Bhāgavata religion in the Tretäyuga, that is, the last Yuga, which has
