Book Title: Indian Antiquary Vol 59
Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications
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JULY, 1930
SOME REMARKS ON THE BHAGAVADGITA
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the general opinion in the Chand. Up., iii, 17, 1 f., a passage which has been repeatedly translated but may still be given here in extenso
" When one craves for food and drink and finds no pleasure that is one's dikşă. (1.)
"When one eats and drinks and finds all pleasure--then one takes part in the upasadah. (2.)
"When one laughs and feeds sumptuously and joins in sexual intercourse-- then one takes part in stotra and sastra. (3.)
"Penance, almsgiving, upright behaviour, ahimsā, and truthfulness, these are the sacri. ficial gifts. (4).
"That is why they say: 'he will press Soma (procreate)- he has pressed Soma (procreated) '--that is his rebirth, that is his death. The ceremonial ablution is death." (5.)
Ghora Angirasa, having explained this to Krena Devakiputra, said-for he was free from thirst: "In his last hour he should take refuge in this triratna : Thou art the indestructible ; Thou art the never reborn; Thou art the sharpening of the vital spirits.' "T And here are these two Rk-verses : (6)
" Just then they see the early dawning light of the old kind " that gleameth beyond heaven.'
" From out of surrounding darkness we, beholding the higher light, have come to Sürya, god amongst the gods, the very highest light-yea, the very highest light.' ”18 (7.)
This Ghora Angirasa is mentioned in Kaus. Br., xxx, 6, as being the Adhvaryu of the Adityas which probably means as much as a sort of Sun-worshipper. This certainly tallies well with the importance evidently ascribed to that luminary in the passage translated above. Whether again Krşņa (Devakiputra) is identical with the Krsna Angirasa mentioned in Kaus. Br., XXX, 9, seems highly doubtful. Krsna is by itself not an uncommon name : and though he may well have called himself Angirasa in imitation of his Guru, there is no necessity for an identification.
And now which is the doctrine that the otherwise unknown Ghora Angirasa preaches to Krsna Devakiputra ? The answer seems to be that he compares the phases of human life to the stages of the diknär' which may be said to be an adequate interpretation if these phases be taken to be successive and not contemporaneous. We must remember that the diksā is not inaptly compared with human embryoship and birth 80; but this probably is not enough. For what Ghora expresses in Chand. Up., iii, 17, 1, can scarcely be said about the human embryo. This, however, is a fairly fit description of the life of a brahmacärin when the young student is bound to chastity (na ramale) and a very simple and austere life. Then in the two following paragraphs there is the description of the life of the newly married man, the grhastha, whose early domestic pastimes are compared to the upasad and the stutasastra. But even during a gay and pleasant life one is bound to practise virtues, 81 and these are compared to the sacrificial gifts (daksinā), which, like good qualities, count as merit in a future life. But the height of earthly existence is the procreation of offspring, of sons who will be able to continue the family and feed the spirits of the forefathers; and thus the procreative act is compared to the pressing of the Soma. When man is no longer able to procreate, then death is awaiting him, and the funeral ceremonies are aptly compared
75 I have allowed myself to borrow this Buddhist expression, not being able to find a fit modern equivalent of traya in this passage.
76 I feel somewhat baffled by the expression prānasambitam asi; however, samtita must probably mean the same as samsiti in Ait. Br., i, 26.
77 pratnasya retasah is puzzling; it probably means '(the light seen) by the old forefathers,' cp. the use of the same expression in RV., iii, 31, 10 (Geldner, Der Rigveda, i, 331).
78 A curious parallel to some parts of Ghora's teaching is found in Ts., vii, 4, 9, 1. But as that passage has probably got nothing to do with ours we shall not touch upon it further here.
79 Cp. Dr. Barnett, Hindu Gods and Heroes, 68 f. and 82 f. 80 Cp. Ait. Br., i, 3, etc. 81 With Chand. Up., iii, 17, 4, cp. the enumeration in Bhagavadgitā, x, 4-5.
