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772
GITA-RAHASYA OR KARMA-YOGA
raised an objection to this argument, that although Sri Krsna and the Pāndavas may be historical personages, yet, a considerable time must have elapsed between the death Sri Krsna and the time when Brahmins gave to a Ksatriya warrior like Him the position, first of a superman, then of Visnu, and ultimately of the Parabrahman; and that on that account the date of the rise of the Bhāgavata religion cannot be looked upon as the same as the date of the Bhārati war. But, this opinion seems to be worthless. There is a world of difference between the ideas of the modern critics as to who should be deified and who not, and similar ideas of people living three or four thousand years ago (Gi. 10. 41 ); and there are statements in Upanisads, which existed prior to the date of Sri Krsna, that a Jñānin himself becomes merged in the Brahman (Br. 4. 4. 6); and it is clearly stated in the Maitryupanisad that Rudra, Visnu, Acyuta and Nārāyana are all Brahman(Maitryu.7.7). Then, why should there have been delay in the matter of Sri Krsna acquiring the Parabrahman status? If we consider history, Buddha used to call himself 'brahmahhūta' (See Selasutta, 14; Theragāthā, 831); and he was worshipped as a god in his life-time; and it appears from reliable Buddhistic works that shortly after his death, he had acquired the position of 'devādhideva', or of the Parabrahman according to Vedic religion; and the same is the case with Christ. It is true that Sri Krsna was not an ascetic like Buddha or Christ, and that the Bhāgavata religion does not support Renunciation. But, there could have been no difficulty on that account in the promulgator of the Bhāgavata religion acquiring the form of a god or of the Brahman from the very beginning, as was acquired by the promulgators of the Buddhist and Christian religions.
Though the date of Sri Krsna has been defined in this way, and although it is proper and logical to look upon that date as the date of the rise of the Bhāgavata religion, Western scholars are, for quite a different reason, unwilling to do so. Many of these scholars are still of opinion that the Rg-Veda is not more ancient than 1500 or perhaps 2000 years before Christ, and therefore, they think it improbable that the devotional Bhagavata religion could have come into existence about 1400 years before Christ; because the Vedic religious
