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Gandhi's Questions and Rajchandra's Replies
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if by God we mean a person who has attained illuminationperfect illumination-then we can say that the Gita was composed by God. If, however, we accept God as being allpervading, like the sky, eternally existing and passive, the Gita or any other book cannot have been composed by Him. For, writing a book is an ordinary activity undertaken at a particular point in time and is not anadi.
(2) The Gita is believed to be the work of Veda Vyasa and, since Lord Krishna had propounded this teaching to Arjuna, He is said to be its real author. This may be true. The work is indeed great. The ideas it propounds have been taught from time immemorial, but it is not possible that these same verses have existed from the beginning of time. Nor is it likely that they were composed by God, who does nothing. They must have been composed only by an embodied soul, who acts. There is no harm, therefore, in saying that a perfectly illuminated person is God, and that a shastra'' taught by him is one revealed by God.
Q. 11 Does any merit accrue from the sacrifices of animals or other things?
A. It is always sinful to kill an animal, to give it as an offering in sacrifice, or injure it in any way, even if this is done for the purpose of a sacrifice or living in the very abode of God. The practice of giving gifts at the time of a sacrifice dues carn some merit, but since this is accompanied with violence it, too, deserves no commendation.
Q. 12 If a claim is put forward that a particular religion is the best, may we not ask the claimant for proof?
A. If no proof is required and if any such claim is made without proof in its support, reason and unreason, dharma and adharma,'' everything will have to be accepted as "the best." Only the test of proof can show what is the best and what is not. That religion alone is the best and is truly strong, which is most helpful in destroying the bondage of worldly life and can establish us in the state which is our essence.
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