Development of Hinduism

SR No.: 007303
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: M M Ninan
Publisher: M M Ninan
Total Pages: 582
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 45 MB

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15. GITA
This is the motto of India as it appears in the seal of India just below the Asoka Lions. This verse is taken from Mundaka Upanishad and asserts the absolute existence of Truth. Truth is always associated with God himself because God is Good. That is how we define Good. Hence Mundaka Upanishad proclaims that Truth will be victorious always. If that is so there must be something which is immutable. Truth cannot be something which changes. This is the basic stand of the Upanishads.
However when we come to Vaishnavite teaching we are confronted with a totally different stand point where the concept of an absolute truth is questioned reducing morality into a relative contextual affair. We will try to analyse the Bhagavat Gita as we have it today. There is no doubt that it is a later interpolation into the Mahabharata story by a Krishna cult devotee. As the cult gained prominence in due course it was accepted as part of the Mahabharata itself.
The very question of the morality of killing his own cousins just to get the power and kingdom was the problem of Arjuna.
"We are resolved to commit very sinful acts, ready to slay our kinsmen to satisfy our greed" Arjun
"Alas, we are resolved to commit very sinful acts, ready to slay our kinsmen to satisfy our greed for the pleasure of a kingdom! It would be far better for me to let the sons of Dritharasthra kill me, unarmed and unresisting. Arjuna, having thus spoken on the battlefield, cast aside his bow and arrows and sat down on his chariot-seat. His mind was overcome with grief. (1:45-46)
Arjuna said: "Krishna, how can I fight with arrows on the battlefield against men like Bishma and Drona, who are worthy of my worship? It would be better for me to live in this world on alms rather
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