Bhagavadgita -Radhakrishnan 13

The Bhagavadgita -S. Radhakrishnan

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 4. Ultimate Reality The alter-native to a mechanical world is a world of risk and adventure. If all tendencies to error, ugliness and evil are to be excluded, there can be no seeking of the true, the beautiful and the good. If there is to be an active willing of these ideals of truth, beauty and goodness, then their opposites of error, ugliness and evil are not merely abstract possibilities but positive tendencies which we have to resist. For the Gita, the world is the scene of an active struggle between good and evil in which God is deeply interested. He pours out His wealth of love in helping man to resist all that makes for error, ugliness and evil. As God is completely good and His love is boundless, He is concerned about the suffering of the world. God is omnipotent because there are no external limits to His power. The social nature of the world is not imposed on God, but is willed by Him. To the question, whether God's omniscience includes a foreknowledge of the way in which men will behave and use or abuse their freedom of choice, we can only say that what God does not know is not a fact. He knows that the tendencies are indeterminate and when they become actualized, He is aware of them. The law of karma does not limit God's omnipotence. The Hindu thinkers even during the period of the composition of the Rg. Veda, knew about the reasonableness and lawabidingness of nature. l to or order embraces all things. The reign of law is the mind and will of God and cannot therefore be regarded as a limitation of His power. The personal Lord of the universe has a side in time, which is subject to change. The emphasis of the Gita is on the Supreme as the personal God who creates the perceptible world by His nature (prakrti). He resides in the heart of every being ; He is the enjoyer and lord of all sacrifices.He stirs our hearts to devotion and grants our prayers. He is the source and sustainer of values. He enters into personal relations with us in worship and prayer. The personal Isvara is responsible for the creation, preservation and dissolution of the universe. The Supreme has two natures, the higher (para) and the lower (apara). The living souls represent the higher and the material medium the lower.