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BHAGAVAD GITA
dividual, suprahuman Holy Power which is manifested in the cosmos-and she can work miracles to basfle kings and saints.81
Kșşņa, the divinc proclaimer of the doctrine of the Bhagavail Gitā, offers himself not only as a tcacher but also as a good example. He represents the willing participation of the Supreme Dcity itself in the mysterious joy and agony of the forms of the manifested world-these being, finally, no less than Its Own reBlection. “Though I am unborn, though my self is changeless, though I am the Divine Lord of all perishable beings, nevertheless, residing in my own material nature (prakrti). I become a transitory being (sambhavāmi) through the magic divine power of playful illusive transformation which produces all phenomena and belongs to my own Self (ālmamāyavā). Whenever there occurs a relaxation or weakening of the principle of duty and a rise of unrighteousness, then I pour Myself forth. For the protection of the just and the destruction of the workers of evil, for the confirmation of virtue and the divine moral order of the universe, I become a transitory being among the perishable creatures in every age of the world." 82
According to the Hindu view, the entrance of God into the strife of the universe is not a unique, astounding entrance of the transcendental essence into the welter of mundane affairs
81 "Let the scriptures be thine authority in ascertaining what ought to be done and what should not be done. Knowing what is said in the ordinance of the scriptures, thou shouldest act here" (Bhagavad Gita 16. 24). But then, on the other hand: "For the Brāhman who has gained the highest knowledge (vijanan), all the Vedas are of as much use as a reservoir when there is a flood everywhere" (ib. 2. 46). The scriptural traditions contain the highest truth, but the experience of that truth renders them superfluous. He who knows has entered the sphere of transcendental reality, and no longer stands in need of guidance. Before the moment of realization, the scriptures and the sphere of social duty serve as the necessary guidcs; after realization, they are affirmed voluntarily in a spirit of sublime good will. *2 lb. 4. 6-8.
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