Gita

March 5, 2000

Gita - One of the resonses we saw on our list is from

Swami Yogeshananda

Dear Galini Neyman,

Scholars are not in agreement about the date of the composition/revelation

of the Bhagavad Gita.

Western ones are prone to place it, as you appear to have been told, after

Buddhism. Many Indian scholars would reject that presumption and place it

at least 7 or 8 centuries BCE. There is large agreement (among both Western

and Indian scholars) that it is among the many insertions which have taken

place over centuries into the Mahabharata; but that tells us little about

date.

So, from internal evidence only we have to make our assumptions about the

society and its systems.

I should like, however, to caution you against assuming that the content of

the Gita is derivative of Buddhism; even if it were to be proved that the

composition date was late, the material it represents is the "gist", the

essence, of the Upanishads. And, as Sri Ramakrishna remarks, "There must

have been SOMEONE of the measure of Sri Krishna, to have given expression

to the Gita" (even discounting all legendary material). Swami Vivekananda

said that there will never be another mind so great as the one that

composed it.

I spent six years in the academic environment of a great university, and I

know how little their "experts" understand of the real nature of Hinduism

and its scriptures. Suggest you try to get hold of material from Indian

sources to balance your scholarship. Here is an excellent source from an

Australian!: THE WONDER THAT WAS INDIA, by Basham.

Recommended Posts