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34: śramaņa, Vol 63, No. 3, July-Sep. 2012 return back. That is where I reside. “My place is there reaching which one does not come back.”6
Consequent to this belief Jainism would not proceed to appreciate Gītāverses on the ground that Lord Krşņa was an “Avatāra” though it would readily believe that Krşņa was one of the rare human beings who are destined to shape the cultural ethos of a nation and who are found born rarely and one in a thousand of years. It is for this reason that to understand the core teachings of Gītā whenever Vyāsa puts certain words on the mouth of Lord Krşņa as suggesting that he is omniscient and omnipotent and that he pervades the whole universe, the reference is not to be taken as made to a human being named as Krşņa, the son of Devakī and Vasudeva, but to the Divine Power which rules he cosmic order. In Vibhūti-yoga of Bhagvadgitā, Krsna says clearly that “He who knows me, the great Lord of universe, as one who is not born and is beginningless is released from sin.”As Gītā is a part of a great epic called Mahābhārata', it was necessaryto explain its philosophic contents through the mouth of one who was universally respected as the leader of the society. Symbolic Background It is also necessary to understand the allegorical background of Gītā to make it more acceptable to the common man. For instance, the root of the word “Arjuna” is “Rju” which means one who is straightforward and un-ostentatious. Dhstarāştra means one who sticks to kingdom. He is blind not only physically but also mentally as he is not able to see what the course of justice is. Kuruksetra is the field of action because the root word is “Kuru” meaning by to do. The battle that is fought is one between good and evil, between light and darkness and the kingdom which was to be won only with the help and guidance of the Supreme Soul which is the Spirit and pervades the universe and which is the real source which attracts all things animate as well as inanimate, and is therefore known as “Krsņa", the root of which is “Akrs” means to attract.
