Bhagavadgita -Radhakrishnan 8

The Bhagavadgita -S. Radhakrishnan

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 3. Chief Commentators The two must be regarded as eternally different from each other and any unity between them, partial or entire, is untenable. He interprets the passage "that art thou" as meaning that we must give up the distinction between mine and thine, and hold that everything is subject to the control of God. x Madhva contends that devotion is the method emphasized in the Gita. Nimbarka adopts the theory of dvaitadvaita. He wrote on Brahma Sutra and his disciple Kegavakasmirin wrote a commentary on the Gita called Tattvaprakasika. Nimbarka holds that the soul , the world and God are different from each other; yet the existence and activity of the soul and the world depend on the will of God. Devotion to the Supreme is the principal theme of Nimbarka's writings. Vallabha develops what is called suddhadvaita or pure non-dualism. The ego when pure and unblinded by illusions and the Supreme Brahman are one. Souls are particles of God like sparks of fire and they cannot acquire the knowledge necessary for obtaining release except by the grace of the Supreme. Devotion to God is the most important madiyam tadiyam its bhedam apahaya sarvam it varadhinam iti sthitih. Bhagavatatatparya. means of obtaining release. Bhakti is truth associated with love. There have been several other commentators on the Gita and in our own time, the chief are B. G. Tilak and Sri Aurobindo. Gandhi has his own views. The differences of interpretation are generally held to be differences determined by the view-point adopted. The Hindu tradition believes that the different views are complementary. Even the systems of Indian philosophy are so many points of view or darsanas which are mutually complementary and not contradictory. The Bhagavata says that the sages have described in various ways the essential truths. A. popular verse declares : "From the view-point of the body, I am Thy servant, from the view-point of the ego, I am a portion of Thee; from the view-point of the self I am Thyself. This is my conviction."God is experienced as Thou or I according to the plane in which consciousness centres.