Philosophies of India

SR No.: 007309
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Heinrich Zimmer, Joseph Campbell
Publisher: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd
Publication Year: 1953
Total Pages: 709
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 34 MB

Page 427

BRAHMANISM
everything arises." 118 All of inan's feelings, worries, joys, calamIlies, and successes come from God. Therefore, surrender them to him again in thy mind, through bhakti, and attain to peacel Compared with the enduring reality of the Divine Being, thy joys and calamities are but passing shadows. "In Him alone then take thy refuge with all thy being, and by His Grace shalt thou attain Supreme Peace and the Everlasting Abode.” 110
Thus in the Bhagavad Gitā the old Brāhmanical way of the Vedic “path of sacrifice" (karma-mārga) is lest far behind. The routines for gaining access to the Holy Power by virtue of the magic of elaborate sacrificial rites and offerings are definitely and explicitly discredited in favor of the purely mental and psychic ritualism of the "path of knowledge" (jñāna-marga). And the redeeming strength of this knowledge is praised in the highest terms. “The ritual of sacrifice that consists in knowledge is superior to the sacrifice made of material offerings; 120 for all activity (as displayed in the elaborate rituals of traditional sacrifice) attains its consummation in knowledge.” 121 "Even if thou art the most sinful of all sinners, yet by the rast of knowledge alone, thou shalt go across all wickedness. Just as a fire, come to full blaze, reduces the fuel to ashes, so does the fire of knowledge reduce all kinds of karma to ashes. For there exists here [in this world] nothing so purifying as knowledge. When, in good time, one attains to perfection in yoga, one discovers that knowledge oneself, in one's Self.” 122
This comes very close to the formula of the Yoga-sūtras of Patañjali. The master stroke of the Bhagavad Gită, as we have said, consists in its juxtaposition and co-ordination of all the
118 16. 10. 8. 119 1b. 18. 62.
120 The offering of cakes, butter, mixed beverages (mantha), intoxicating liquor (soma), etc.
121 Bhagavad Gita 4. 88. 122 1b. 4. 36-38.
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