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1 Friedhelm Hardy, Viraha-Bhakti: The early History of Krsna devotion in South India (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1983), pp. 25-29, 36-38. To distinguish between these two types of bhakti, Hardy uses the terms "intellectual" and "emotional" instead of my "contemplative" and "ecstatic." While I think the distinction he is getting at is valid and important, I fail to see how bhakti can be either intellectual or anything but emotional. One can be emotional in a refined way without being emotive. Is this being intellectual? Cp. the later Vaisnava idea of santa ("quiescent") bhakti, which corresponds to my "contemplative," and Hardy's "intellectual," devotion. 2 Mariasusai Dhavamony, Love of God According to Saiva Siddhanta: A Study in the Mysticism and Theology of Saivism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971), pp. 13-23; Hardy, Viraha-Bhakti, pp. 25-29. 3 Dhavamony, PP; 13-23; Hardy, Viraha-Bhakti, pp. 25-29; R. G. Bhandarkar, Vaisnvism Saivism and Minor Religious Systems (Varanasi, India: Indological Book House, n.d.), p. 29. 4 A common characteristic of all forms of yoga is that the break-through to salvation is brought about, or at least facilitated, by intense mental concentration on the ultimate principle. In bhakti this concentration is attained through love. 5 The not unrelated tension between the religious demands of the performance of dharma and the quest for moksa is perceptively developed by David Kinsley in his book Hinduism (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1982). 6 Hardy, Viraha-Bhakti, p. 13. 7 I do not know of anyone who has done this in a systematic way. 8 See, e.g., A. L. Basham, The Wonder that was India (New York: Grove Press, 1959); Thomas Berry, Religions of 377

378 India (Beverly Hills: Benzinger, 1973); Thomas J. Hopkins, The Hindu Religious Tradition (Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1971). Dhavamony (p. 22) writes: "The early history of Hinduism . . . indicates that Brahmanism grew into Hinduism owing to its assimilation, accompanied by syncretism, of non-Brahmanical religious elements, of which bhakti was the chief. Even today the tension in Hinduism between non-dualism and bhakti religion has not been satisfactorily resolved." See also Dhavamony, chap. 7 ("The Origins of Bhakti). 9 See chap. 2, notes 45-47. 10 The Samaveda and the Yajurveda are largely reworkings of the hymns of the Rgveda. The Atharva is also a later text. 11 Bishop Stephen Neil, Bhakti: Hindu and Christian (Madras: Christian Literature Society, 1974), p. 8. 12 Any study of the Reveda should be prefaced by a statement of the fact that this scripture presents, in a language that is often obscure and exceedingly hard to translate, a spirituality that is archaic in nature and consequently difficult of access for moderns. There were debates as to the meaning of key words and phrases in the Veda as early as Yaska's Nirukta (ca. 500 B.C.E.). This portion of my study therefore proceeds with a consciousness of limitation that is greater than that felt in subsequent sections. Perhaps the most reliable scholarly guide in this diffcult area is Jan Gonda, whom for the most part I follow. See Jan Gonda, Vedic Literature (Samhitas and Brahmanas), vol. I, pt. 1 of A History of Indian Literature, edited by Jan Gonda (Weisbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1975); Vision of the Vedic Poets (reprint ed.; New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1984). 13 Joseph Epes Brown writes of the native American tradition: "Such beliefs in a plurality of indwelling spirits (often referred to rather unkindly as `animism' or 'animitism') must be understood in relation to a polysynthetic quality of vision. The recognition of multiplicity on one level of reality need not militate against the coalescing of the omnipresent spirit-beings within a more ultimate unitary principle. Such a polysynthetic metaphysic of nature, immediately experienced rather than dangerously abstracted, speaks with particular force to the root causes of many of today's problems, especially to our present so-called 'ecological crisis'" ("The Roots of Renewal," in Seeing with a Native Eye, ed. W. H. Capps [New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1976], p. 30).

379 14 Dhavamony, p. 55. 15 Rigveda 8.72.8; Rigveda 8.18.9, 8.72.7, 3.54.16. 16 Rigveda 6.1.5; Rigveda 10.7.3, 6.2.7. 17 Rigveda 2.14. 18 See Joseph Campbell, The Masks of God: Oriental Mythology (New York: The Viking Press, 1962), p. 190. 19 Trans. E. W. Hopkins, Ethics of India (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1924), pp. 10-11. Compare the mood of this statement with that of the popular Hindu devotional verse: "You alone are my father, my mother, my relative, and friend; You alone are my knowledge and my wealth; You alone are my all, my God of gods" (tvam eva mata ca pita tvam eva tvam eva bandhus ca sakha tvam eva tvam eva vidya dravinam tvam eva tvam eva sarvam mama devadeva) 20 Rigveda 8.92.7, 10.42.9; see Dhavamony, p. 55. 20 Rigveda 21 2 lindram madanty anu dhiranasah (Rigveda 3.34.8, trans. Dhavamony, p. 51). Note that the root mad, "to delight, rejoice, is common in the later literature of ecstatic bhakti. # 22 Rigveda 5.30.2, trans. R. T. H. Griffiths, The Hymns of the Rgveda, new revised edition ed. by J. L. Shastri (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1976), p. 249; also quoted by Dhavamony, p. 51. 23 E. W. Hopkins, p. 8. 24 Trans. E. W. Hopkins, p. 8. Cp. Rigveda 1.62.11: "Thoughts ancient, seeking wealth, with adoration, with newest lauds have sped to thee, O Mighty. As yearning wives cleave to their yearning husbands, so cleave our hymns to thee, O Lord most potent" (trans. Griffiths, p. 42). Also, Rigveda 10.64.2: "The will and thoughts within my breast exert their power: they yearn with love, and fly to all the regions round. No other comforter is found save only these: my longing and hopes are fixed upon the Gods" (trans. Griffiths, p. 578). 25 Rigveda 10.43.10-11, trans. Griffiths, p. 562. 26 Dhavamony, p. 56. 27 Swami Smarananda of the Ramakrishna order comments on this problem, from the point of view of a "liberal" Advaitin sympathetic to devotion, as follows:

380 "The Vedic Aryans prayed to various deities such as Indra, Varuna, Vayu, Agni, and so on, for fulfilling various desires or to be rid of various evils. These prayers later evolved into systematic offerings and sacrifices to propitiate those deities. But these were purely sakama (desire-motivated) sacrifices. They were a far cry the idea of supreme love of God, asking nothing, seeking nothing, as it developed in the bhagavata school and other dualistic traditions of later times" (Smarananda, pp. 300-309). 28 See Gonda, Vedic Literature, pp. 65-73. 29 Gonda, Vedic Literature, p. 66. 30 It has been suggested that soma was hallucinogenic plant that stimulated the rsis' visions. See, for example, R. Gordon Wasson, Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., n.d.). Not wishing to judge the experiences of the ancient seers to be hallucinations, and yet recognizing the parallels between their spirituality and, for example, certain forms of native American religion that use so-called "narcotic" substances as part of their religious exercises, I prefer the more neutral term "psychically stimulating. 31 " 路tat savitur varenyam bhargo devasya dhimahi dhiyo yo nah pracodayat. See Gonda, Vedic Literature, p. 67. 32 Gonda, Vedic Literature. p. 66-67. 33. rsir darsanat, Nirukta 2.11; saksatkrtadharmana sayo babhuvah, Nirukta, 1.20. See L. Sarup, ed. and trans. The Nighantu and the Nirukta (2 nd reprint; Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1967), pp. 50, 41 [Sanskrit text]. 34 Rigveda 10.82.5, trans. R. T. H. Griffith, A Source Book in Indian Philosophy, ed. S. Radhakrishnan and C. A. Moore (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957), p. 18. 35 Rigveda 10.121.8, trans. E. J. Thomas, Radhakrishnan and Moore, p. 24. 36 Rigveda 10.129.6, trans. A. A. Macdonell, Radhakrishnan and Moore, p. 23. 37 Rigveda 10.129.3, Radhakrishnan and Moore, p. 21. 38 Radhakrishnan and Moore, p. 46. 39 Rigveda 10.82, Radhakrishnan and Moore, p. 18.

381 etc. 40 Rigveda 10.90, Radhakrishnan and Moore, p. 19. 41 Rigveda 10.121; Satapatha Brahmana 6.1.1.5, 6.1.2.13, 42 Rigveda 42 Rigveda 10.121.1, trans. E. J. Thomas, Radhakrishnan and Moore, p. 24; italics mine. 43 Rigveda 10.129.7, trans. A. A. Macdonnell, Radhakrishnan and Moore, p. 24. 44 Rigveda 10.121.1-8, after E. J. Thomas, Radhakrishnan and Moore, p. 24. 45 Rigveda 10.82.7, trans. R. T. H. Griffith, Radhakrishnan and Moore, p. 18. 46 While there are over 200 Upanisads extant, including an obviously apocryphal Allah Upanisad, the tradition reckons their number at 108. The majority of even the latter number are distinctly sectarian in nature and of a relatively late date. The principal and most ancient Upanisads, upon which the discussion here is based, are generally regarded as thirteen or fourteen: the Brhad- aranyaka, Chandogya, Taitiriya, Aitareya, Kausitakti, Kena, Katha Upanishad, Isa, Mundaka, Prasna, Mandukya, Maitri, Svetasvatara, and Mahanarayana. Samkara comments upon, or refers to, all of these but the Maitri (Radhakrishnan and Moore, p. 37). 47 Atharvaveda 11.4; 19.53-54. 48 Atharvaveda 4.1; 10.2; 10.8. 49 See, e.g., Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 3.7, a passsage important to Ramanuja. 50 paul Deussen, The Philosophy of the Upanishads, trans. A. S. Geden (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1966), p. 12. See note 72, below. 51 See Prashna-Upanishad 1.1-2; Katha Upanishad 1.20-29. Taittiriya Upanishad 2.4.1. 52 yato vaco nirvartante aprapya manasa saha, 53 athata adesah--neti neti, na hy etasmad iti nety anyat param asti, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.3.6. See also Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 3.9.26; 4.2.4; 4.4.22; 4.5.15. Chandogya Upanishad 6.2.1. 54 sad eva, saumya, idam agra asid ekam evadvitiyam,

382 55 Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.6. 56"He, verily, who knows that supreme Brahman, becomes that very Brahman" (sa yo ha vai tat paramam brahma veda brahmaiva bhavati, Mundaka Upanishad 3.2.9. 57 aham brahmasmi, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.10. 58 Katha Upanishad 2.20, 23. 59 avyaktat purusah parah, Katha Upanishad 3.11; avyaktat parah purusah, Katha Upanishad 6.8. 60 Isa 1; Maitri 6.18; Mundaka Upanishad 3.1.3. 61 Thomas J. Hopkins, The Hindu Religious Tradition (Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1971), p. 69. 62 U 3.11; 4.10; 5.4; 6.7. 63 Mishra, p. 65; Dhavamony, p. 66. 64 ksaram pradhanam amrtaksaram harah Isate deva ekah, Svetasvatara Upanisad 1.10. ksaratmanav 65 bhokta bhogyam preritaram ca matva sarvam proktam trividham brahmam etat, Svetasvatara Upanisad 1.12. 66 Cp. the trividham brahma with the tripadartha ("three realities") of Southern Saivism: pati ("the Lord"), pasu ("souls"), and pasa ("fetters"). See Dhavamony, p. 119. 67"The grace of the creator" (dhatuh prasadat, Svetasvatara Upanisad 3.20); "the grace of God" (devaprasadat, Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.21). 68" In that God 鈥� 鈥� 鈥� do I, desirous of liberation, mumuksur vai saranam aham prapadye, Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.18). take refuge" (tam ha devam 鈥� 鈥� 鈥� 69 ajam dhruvam sarvatattvair visuddham jnatva mucyate sarvapasaih, Svetasvatara Upanisad 2.15. 70 tasyabhidhyanad yojanat tattvabhavad bhuyas cante visvamayanivrttih, Svetasvatara Upanisad 1. 10. See also Svetasvatara Upanisad 2.8-15, 5.13; Maitri 6.18-19; Katha Upanishad 2.3.18. 71. lyasya deve para bhaktir yatha deve tatha gurau tasyaite kathita hy arthah prakasante mahatmanah, Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.23.

383 72 The verbal form (as in vacam upassva, "meditate on speech") is considerably more common than the noun upasana (G. A. Jacob, A Concordance to the Principal Upanisads and the Bhagavadgita [Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1971], pp 245- 248). The stem upas, consisting of the root as ("sit") and the verbal prefix upa ("toward"), means literally to "sit near" and by extension to "attend to," "wait upon,' "serve, "revere," "worship." It is frequently used in the later literature, particularly in the Bhagavad Gita, in the sense of "worship. See, e.g., Bhagavad Gita 9.13-14, 9.22, 13.25. T "1 " In this connection the similar etymological meaning of the word upanisad must be noted. The verbal root sad ("sit") and the prefixes upa ("toward") and ni ("down") combine to give the meaning "sit down toward. Because of the striking etymological parallel with upasana, it has been suggested that upanisad refers to the same type of reverent meditation. Although many scholars would disagree, holding that the upanisad sugests simply approaching a teacher and "sitting close" beside him to hear secret wisdom, the idea of "reverent attention" in either case remains. See A. B. Keith, The Religion and Philosophy of the Vedas and the Upanisads [reprint; Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1970], p. 492; Deussen, pp. 10-16. 73 Throughout the Upanisads, we find examples of elements of the Vedic religion used in this way, e.g.: the sacrifice (Chandogya Upanishad 3.16-17), the sacrificial fire (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 6.2.9-15, Chandogya Upanishad 5.4-10), the sun (Chandogya Upanishad 3.19.1), the golden Person in the sun (hiranyamayah purusah, Chandogya Upanishad 1.6.6), the wind (vayu, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 3.7.2) the Gayatri mantra (Chandogya Upanishad 3.12), speech (vac, Chandogya Upanishad 7.2.2.), mind (manas, Chandogya Upanishad 7.3.2), space (akasa, Chandogya Upanishad 3.18.1), the cosmic person (Mundaka Upanishad 2.1.2-10), and especially the sacred syllable om (Mau 1-12, Prashna-Upanishad 5). Chandogya Upanishad 7.2. 74 samastasya khalu samna upasanam sadhu, Chandogya Upanishad 2.2.1. 75 vag evaitat sarvam vijnapayati vacam upassva, 76 ato 'nnam atmety upasita, Maitri 6.12. 嗉嬥紜 77 Gambhirananda, Swami, "Upanisadic Meditation,' The Cultural Heritage of India (2 nd ed.; Calcutta: The Ramakrisha Mission Institute of Culture, 1958), I, 383-384. 78 ys 3.2. 79 upasanam tu yathasastran samarthitam kincid alambanam upadaya tasmin samanacittavrttisantanakaranam tadvilaksanapratyayanantaritam, quoted by Mishra, p. 18, note 3 (my trans.). In his commentary on Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.3.9, Samkara

384 defines upasana as "approaching with the mind a form such as that of a deity, as taught by the Veda in the eulogistic portions, and `sitting, sitting, ' i.e., reflecting [on it] to the extent that there arises identification with the form of the deity, etc., like the ordinary identification with the body" (upasanam namopasyarthavade yatha devatadisvarupam srutya jnapyate tatha manasopagamya asanam cintanam laukikapratyayavyavadhanena yavat taddevatadisvarupatmabhimanabhivyaktir itylaukikatmabhimanavat, quoted by Mishra, p. 19, note 1[my trans.]). Kena Upanishad 5. Isa 12. 80 Shribhasya of Ramanuja 1.1.1; Thibaut, p. 14. 81 ko'yam atmeti vayam upasmahe, Aitareya Upanishad 3.1.1. 82+ tad eva brahma tvam viddhi nedam yad idam upasate, 83 andham tamah pravisanti ye 'sambhutim upasate, 84 vijnanam devas sarve brahma jyestham upasate, Taittiriya Upanishad 2.5.1. Cp. also: "The dwarf who is seated in the middle, all the gods adore" (madhye vamanam asinam visve deva upasate, Katha Upanishad 5.3); "Those, verily, who worship, thinking sacrifice and actions are our work'" (ye ha vai tad istapurte krtam ity upasate, Prashna-Upanishad 1.9), "The wise who, free from desires, worship the Person" (upasate purusam ye hy akamas dhirah, Mundaka Upanishad 3.2.1). 鈥� 85 vidyaya tapasa cintaya vidvan anena trikena brahmopasate. 鈥� 鈥� 鈥� sukham asnute ya evam 86 mayyavesya mano ye mam upasate, Bhagavad Gita 12.2. See also Bhagavad Gita 9.14, 15; 12.2, 6; 13.25 87. 鈥� 鈥� na va are sarvasya kamaya sarvam priyam bhavati, atmanas tu kamaya sarvam priyam bhavati. Cp. Augustine's "My heart is restless till it rests in Thee"; also C. S. Lewis's description of God as "the One, the real object of desire, which is what we are really wanting in all wants" (C.S. Lewis, unpublished letter to Arthur Greeves, quoted in Eliane Tixler, "Imagination Baptized, or, 'Holiness' in the Chronicles of Narnia," in Peter J. Schakel, ed., The Longing for a Form: Essays on the Fiction of C. S. Lewis. ( (no city) The Kent State University Press, 1977], p. 141). 88 tad etat preyah putrat preyo vittat preyo 'nyasmat sarvasmat antarataram atmanam eva priyam upasita sa ya atmanam eva priyam upaste na hasya priyam pramayukam bhavati, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.8.

385 89 tasya pranijatasya pratyagatmabhutatvad vananiyan sambhajaniyam atas tadvanam nama prakhyatam brahma tadvanam, quoted by Radhakrishnan, The Principal Upanisads (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1968), p. 592 (my trans.). 90 tadd ha tadvanam nama tadvanam ity upasitavyam sa ya etad evam vedabhi hainam sarvani bhutani samvanchanti, Kena Upanishad 4.9. 91" Steady remembrance of this kind is designated by the word 'devotion' (bhakti); for this term has the same meaning as upasana (meditation)," Shribhasya of Ramanuja 1.1.1; Thibaut, p. 16. 92 Sankara: "This scripture called the Gita is the summary of the essence of the meaning of the entire Veda" (tad idam gitasastran samastavedasarasangrahabhutam, Samkara-gita-bhasya intro.; Shrimad-bhagavad-gita, p. 5). There is also the traditional verse: "All the Upanisads are the cows, Krsna, the cowherd's son, is the milker, the wise Arjuna is the calf, and the nectarlike Gita is the milk" (sarvopansado gavo dugdha gopalanandanah / partho vatsahsudhir bhokta dugdham gitamrtam mahat). 93 For example: Vedic ritualism, Upanisadic intuitionism and monism, yogic meditation and other forms of non-Vedic asceticism, the ethos of renunciation encouraged by the Buddhist, Jaina, and other "heterodox" movements, and the theism of the popular but unorthodox forms of religion such as that of the Bhagavata school. See Bhandarkar, pp. 2-33. Bhagavad Gita 18.54. 94 brahmabhutah 鈥� 鈥� madbhaktim labhate param, Bhagavad Gita 18.55. 95 bhaktya mam abhijanati yavan yas ca 'smi tattvah, 96 madvyapasrayah matprasadad avapnoti sasvatam padam avyayam, Bhagavad Gita 18.56. 97 mam ekam saranam vraja / aham sarvapapebhyo moksayisyami, Bhagavad Gita 18.66. 98 Jacob, Concordance, p. 664. 99. sarvabhavena, Bhagavad Gita 18.62. 100 mayy avesya mano, Bhagavad Gita 12.2; mayy eva mana adhatsva, Bhagavad Gita 12.8. 10.10. 101 tesam satatayuktanan bhajatam pritipurvakam, Bhagavad Gita

386 102 yat karosi yad asnasi yaj juhosi yad dadasi yat yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kurusva madarpanam, Bhagavad Gita 9.27. 103 manmana bhava madbhakto madyaji mam namaskuru / mam evaisyasi yuktvaivam atmanan matparayanah, Bhagavad Gita 9.34. matkarmakrt, Bhagavad Gita 11.55; matkarmaparama, Bhagavad Gita 12.10. 105. madasraya, Bhagavad Gita 7.1. 104 106. 'manmanas, Bhagavad Gita 9.34, 18.65; maccitta, Bhagavad Gita 6.14, 10.9, 18.57-58. 107 108. 109 madgataprana, Bhagavad Gita 10.9. 8 madgatenantaratmana, Bhagavad Gita 6.47. 110 matparayana, Bhagavad Gita 9.34. Oananya, Bhagavad Gita 6.29, 8.22, 9.13, 9.22, 9.30, 10.13, 11.54, 12.6; avyabhicarini, Bhagavad Gita 13.10, 14.26, 18.33. 111 cetasa na 'nyagamina, Bhagavad Gita 8.8; ananyacetah satatam, Bhagavad Gita 8.14. 112 See chap. 4.3.4-5. 113 The sloka reads: tesam satatayuktanam bhajatam prstipurvakam / dadami buddhiyogam tam yena mam upayanti te. It occurs in an interesting passage that combines a yogic ethos of control and discipline with what may be the beginnings of an emotive style of bhakti, and a final emphasis on gnosis. Verse 10.8 says that the "wise" (budha) are "endowed with emotion" (bhavasamanvita), and 10.9 describes a communal discipline resembling the devotional practices of the Bhagavata-purana This is juxtaposed at 10.11 with talk of the destruction of ignorance by the "light of knowledge" (jnanadipena), but the latter is obtained--not by yogic discipline or Vedic study--but through the grace of Krsna himself. It is worthy of note that, while the word priti is used only once in the text, in this particular context, there are many instances in which Krsna declares that his devotees are "dear" (priya) to him, e.g.: 7.17, 12.14-20, 18.65, 69. 114 R. C. Zaehner, Concordant Discord (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970), p. 136; quoted by Hardy, Viraha-Bhakti, p. 27. 15 prasantatma vigatabhir brahmacarivrate sthitah manah samyamya maccitto yukta asita matparah, Bhagavad Gita 6.14. Cp. Bhagavad Gita 9.14: "Constantly singing My praises and striving, firmly

387 fixed in their vows, bowing down to Me with devotion, the ever disciplined ones worship Me" (satatam kirtayanto mami yatantas ca drdhavratah / namasyantas ca mam bhaktya nityayukta upasate). Bhagavad Gita 9.22 reads, in part: "For those persons, ever disciplined, who worship Me . ye janah paryupasate / tesam nityabhiyuktanam also Bhagavad Gita 6.31, 6.47. 116 Hardy, Viraha-Bhakti, 117. Viraha-Bhakti, pp. 37-40. 7 See chap. 6.4. mam See 118 caturvidha bhajante mam janah sukrtino 'rjuna arto jijnasur artharthi jnani ca bharatarsabha // tesam jnani nityayukta ekabhaktir visisyate / priyo hi jnanino tyartham aham sa ca mama priyah // udarah sarva evai 'te jnani tv atmaiva me matam / asthitah sa hi yuktatma mam eva nuttamam gatim // bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate / vasudevah sarvam iti sa mahatma sudurlabhah, Bhagavad Gita 7.16-19. 119 "The jnanin is the very Self, not other than Me [Krsna]" (jnani tv atmaiva nanyo matta iti, Samkara-gita-bhasya 7.18; Shrimad-bhagavad-gita, p. 364). See also Samkara-gita-bhasya 18.55, quoted below, chap. 2, note 81. 120 jnanena tu tad ajnanam yesam nasitam atmanah / tesam adityavaj jnanam prakasyayanti tat param tadbuddhayas tadatmanas tannisthas tatparayanah / gacchanty apunaravrttim jnananirdhutakalmasah, Bhagavad Gita 5.16-17. tat param is neuter. 121 graddhavam labhate jnanam tatparah samyatendriyah / jnanam labdhva param santim acirena 'dhigacchati. 18.50. Note that 122 Bhagavad Gita 3.39-41; 4.33-35; 5.15; 6.8; 7.2; 9.1; 14.1-2; 123. evan satatayukta ye bhaktas tvam paryupasate / ye ca 'pi aksaram avyaktam tesam ke yogavittamah, Bhagavad Gita 12.1. 124 yuktatama, Bhagavad Gita 12.2. 125 ye tu sarvani karmani mayi samnyasya matparah / ananyenaiva yogena mam dhyayanta upasate // tesam aham samuddharta mrtyusamsarasagarat / bhavami nacirat partha mayy avesitacetasam, Bhagavad Gita 12.6-7. Bhagavad Gita 14.27. 126 brahmano hi pratisthita 'ham amrtasyavyayasya ca,

388 127 R. C. Zaehner, The Bhagavad-Gita (London: Oxford 127 R. University Press, 1969), p. 358. No true Vedantin, however, even one of theistic persuasion, would accept any reality higher than Brahman. Ramanuja, therefore, interprets brahmano as a reference to the emancipated soul, and Madhva sees it as a designation of maya (S. Radhakrishnan, The Bhagavadgita [London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1971], p. 325). Nevertheless, it is possible that the text itself (not being overly concerned with Vedic orthodoxy) means to suggest such a diminution of the impersonal Absolute. The Buddhist ideal of Nirvana also seems to be subordinated to the personal God by the description, at Bhagavad Gita 6.15, of the "peace which has nirvana as its end and abides in Me" (santim nirvanaparaman matsamstham). 128 Hardy points out that the distinction between the three margas--karma, bhakti, and jnana--was not made by the author of the Gita, who seems to think of loving Krsna, dedicating one's actions to him, and knowing him as the omnipresent Self as three aspects of a single integrated spirituality. The three marga theory, a product of later interpreters, was "artificially read back into the Gita" (Hardy, Viraha-Bhakti, p. 46).