Great Indian Religion

Author(s): G T Bettany
Publisher: Ward Lock Bowden and Co

Page 72

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MODERN HINDUISM.
Where neither sun nor moon have need to shine, For know that all the lustre they possess is mine."
Among other revelations of Krishna, he states that he is born on earth from time to time for the estabKrishna. lishment of righteousness. In lauding work, Krishna says:
(C Know that work
Proceeds from the supreme. I am the pattern For man to follow; know that I have done All arts already; nought remains for me To gain by action, yet I work for ever Unweariedly, and this whole universe Would perish if I did not work my work."
It will be evident from these quotations that the Bhagavad-gita contains much lofty thought; indeed, it has been praised as unequalled for sublimity of conception, reasoning, and diction. Yet it is in no slight degree parallel with Buddhist ideas, in preaching deliverance through self-renunciation and devotion, ending in absorption in the deity. Although women are not raised by it, yet the declaration of Krishna is, that all who resort to him will reach the highest. He says: "I have neither friend nor foe; I am the same to all; and all who worship me dwell in me and I in them. To them that love me, I give that devotion by which they come at last to me. No soul that has faith, however imperfect the attainment, or however the soul have wandered, shall perish, either in this world or in another. He shall have new births till, purified and made perfect, he reaches the supreme abode."
The repetition of incarnations of deity is an important feature in this teaching; and from this root has developed Incarnations the great "avatar" or incarnation idea of the of the deity. Hindus, the idea being that the deity is continually being manifested for the guidance and protection of his people. Throughout the transition period, from Brahmanism to Hinduism, varying forms of Krishna, as the incarnation of Vishnu1 are continually described.
1 Vishnu is a god named in the Rig-Veda as a form of the sun striding across the heavens in three paces,