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IV - THE BHAGAVATA RELIGION AND THE GĪTĀ 777
1400 years before Christ, that is to say, about 700 to 800 years before Buddha. This age is very ancient; yet, the Path of Action mentioned in the Brāhmana-treatises is still more ancient, and, as has been stated above, the Spiritual Knowledge contained in the Upanisads and in Sāmkhya philosophy was fully in vogue long before the promulgation of the Bhāgavata religion. It is in my opinion, entirely wrong to imagine that a clever Jñānin like Sri Krsna would have promulgated His religion at such a time without reference to this Spiritual Knowledge or these aspects of Religion; and that, even if He had done so, it would have become acceptable to the Rājarsis and Brahmarsis of those days or found circulation among the people. As the Jews to whom Christ first preached His religion, were pot acquainted with religious philosophy at the time. He had no need to harmonise His own religion with any religious philosophy. It was enough for Him to show that His Philosophy of Devotion was only a continuation of the Ritualistic religion described in the Old Testament of the Bible; and that was all He attempted to do. But, when one compares this history of the Christian religion with the Bhagavata religion from the historical point of view, one must not forget that the people to whom the Bhāgavata religion was preached were, at the time at which it was proached, fully conversant, not only with the Path of Action, but also with the Vedāntic Knowledge of the Brahman and the Kāpila Sāmkhya philosophy, and that they had by that time also learnt to harmonise those three religions. It would have been most unreasonable to ask such people to put on the shelf their Ritualistic religion, or the Spiritual Knowledge derived from the Upanisads, or Samkhya philosophy, and to accept the Bhāgavata religion merely by faith. Unless the Bhāgavata religion satisfactorily answered such questions as, 'what is the result of the sacrificial ritual described in the Vedic treatises and in vogue at the time'?, 'whether the Spiritual Knowledge mentioned in the Upanisads or in Samkhya philosophy is futile?'. or. 'whether the Philosophy of Devotion can be harmonised with Yoga in the shape of Concentration of the Mind?', which questions would naturally arise, it would have been impossible for that religion to gain any ground at all. It, therefore, follows
