Indian Antiquary Vol 47

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 373

GARBE'S INTRODUCTION TO THE BHAGAVADGITA.
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knowledge. This peculiar explanation of Yoga, however, must not have first been brought forward by the author of the Bhag. ; one might rather regard the recognition of both the ways of salvation-the Jñanamârga and the Karmamârga-which are mentioned side by side in Bhag. III. 3. XIII. 24 (at the latter passage Sárikhyena-yogena is used in the sense of Jñinamárga) and which without being particularly mentioned stand side by side in the poem. as a tenet peculiar to the Bhagavatas. The Karma-yoga of the Bhagavatas though later mixed up with the ritualistio Karmamarga, preserves however in the Bhug. its genuine sense of "conscientious performance of one's duties without (regard for) personal interest." The Jfrâna-yoga of the Bhagavatas consists of a knowledge of God and a knowledge of nature in the Samkhya sense, and involves in itself the renunciation of all actions.
It certainly merits consideration that even in so late & stage of development of the Bhagavata religion as in the system of Ramanuja, the first two of the [p. 45] five ways that lead to emancipation are called the Karma-yoga and the Jñana-yoga.1 R&mânuja's third way of salvation is Bhakti-yoga (already mentioned in Bhag., XIV. 26); the fourth, the Prapatti-yoga is an offshoot of the Bhakti-yoga, and the fifth, the Acharyabhimana-yoga is evidently a modern addition.
Finally, the word yoga meets us in the Bhag. in a still different sense, which indeed has been developed from the conception of "action", viz., in those passages where the yoga of the God is spoken of, i.e., his wondrous power (IX. 5, X, 7, 18, XI. 8, 47) or where God, in accordance with this sense, is called yogin" possessing wondrous power" (X. 17) or yogesvara " the lord of wondrous power” (XI. 4, 9; XVII. 75, 78).
We might now proceed to exhibit in a short sketch the tenets of the genuine Bhag., sie. the Bhagavata doctrine provided with elements of Sankhya and Yoga, much differently explained. It may not be very desirable to follow the sequel of thought of the Bhag. (step by step,) since it deviates from one thought to another, and continually mixes with one another the different recognised standpoints, all the more so in its practical aspects.
We begin with the theoretical (lit. systematio) part of the Bhag. and first with the ides of God. God is as would be scarcely necessary to repeat after the preceding remarke_ conscious, eternal, and all-powerful being " the beginningless great Ruler of the World” (X. 3). He is not only different from the changing world, but is also different from the immutable soul of the human being (XV. 17-19); He is therefore & spirit in a different and higher sense than the Atman of the creatures. When it is said (VII. 4-6) that God possesses two forms-a higher spiritual one, by means of which the world is held up, and a lower (P. 46] material one, out of which everything proceeds--which according to the Samkhyas belongs to the Prakriti, it is not to be understood that matter constitutes a half of God's being ; it is rather meant that matter follows its blind course not independently by itself, but acts under the guidance of God; in other words. God works in matter, and acts by it. This is placed quite beyond the range of doubt in other passages of the Bhag. God deposits the seed in matter for being unfolded (XIV. 3-4); he is likewise the father of all beings, while matter is to be compared to the womb of a mother (XIV. 4). God directs the origin, development and dissolution of the Universe (IX. 7, 8, 10), and in this sense he calls himself the origin and the end of the
R. G. Bhandarkar, Roport, 1887, p. 69.