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INTRODUCTION.
UI
vadgita, the significations of which are not quite identical throughout the work. Take, for instance, the word 'yoga,' which we have rendered devotion. At Gità, chapter II, stanza 48 (p. 49), a definition is given of that word. In chapter VI, the signification it bears is entirely different. And again in chapter IX, stanza 5, there is still another xase in which the word is used! The word Brahman' Loo occurs in widely varying significations. And one of its meanings, indeed, is quite singular, namely, 'Nature' (see chapter XIV, stanza 3). Similar observations, to a greater or less extent, apply to the words Buddhi, Atman, and Svabhava. Now these are words which stand for ideas not unimportant in the philosophy of the Bhagavadgità. And the absence of scientific precision about their use appears to me to be some indication of that non-systematic character of which we have already spoken.
There is one other line of argument, which leads, I think, to the same conclusion. There are several passages in the Gita which it is not very easy to reconcile with one another ; and no attempt is made to harmonise them. Thus, for cxample, in stanza 16 of chapter VII, Krishna divides his devotees into four classes, one of which consists of men of knowledge,' whom, Krishna says, he considers 'as his own sell.' It would probably be difficult to imagine any expres. rion which could indicate higher esteem. Yet in stanza 45 of chapter VI, we have it laid down, that the devotee is superior not only to the mere performer of penances, but even to the men of knowledge. The commentators betray Their gnostic bias by interpreting 'men of knowledge' in this latter passage to mean those who have acquired crudi. lion in the Sastras and their significations. This is not an intcrprctation to be necessarily rejected. But there is in it a certain twisting of words, which, under the circumstances bere, I am not inclined to accept. And on the other hand, it must not be forgotten, that the implication fairly derivable
la chapter X the word occurs in two different senses to the same stanza (st. 7). • Compare the narious passages, references to which are collected to the Senkrike lades ut the end of this volume.
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