Gita Satsang - cogitations-Ranade on Antinomies

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Namaste,

Chapter 15

ANTINOMIES OF METAPHYSICS

Antinomy Embedded in thc Nature of Thought

We have hitherto considered the labyrinth of modern interpretations

of the Bhagavadgita in full detail. We have passed through various

interpretations. and have found that one rises almost above the

other, and that a definitely mystical interpretation of the

Bhagavadgita in terms of contemporary philosophy has been

hitherto lacking. This mystical interpretation is the clue which will

enable us to find a way out of the labyrinth. This is like the

cakravyuha from which Abhimanyu could have got out had he found the

proper clue.

In the present part of our work, we shall first show how we may pass

through the antinomies that necessarily emerge in the formulation of

certain metaphysical concepts: Then we shall proceed to an ethical

interpretation of the Bhagavadgita in terms of the categorical

imperative snd activism which are the two very important aspects of

its ethical teaching. Other ethical theories which the Bhagavadgita

has advanced will occupy our attention next, namely, moralism,

supermoralism as well as beatificism: After this we shall consider the

nature of, according to the Bhagavadgita, as well as the criteria and

the search of God . This will be followed by our discussion of the

three important methods of meditation advanced by the Bhagavadgita;

namely; the. ideological, the moral and the mystical. Finally we

shall end our constructive part by diving ; into the nature of the

sublime vision of God which is the most important teaching of

Bhagavadgita.

We shall begin our present chapter by considerig the antinomies in the

Bhagavadgita. Now ` antinomy ' is a very important word in European

philosophy, and particularly in the philosophy of Kant. It occupies a

very important place in his Critique of Pure Reason. Erdmann has said

that Kant's primary desire was to write about the antinomies only,

and, in fact, the Paralogisms and the Ideals which he later discussed

along with the antinomies were in the first draft included in the

antinomies themselves. That is the reason why, along with discussion

of the conception of the world in the Kantian antinomies, there are

discussions of the conceptions of the self; freedom and God. We may

say that the antinomies in Kant present one of the foremost

watermarks in his Critical philosophy.

 

Five Antinomies in the Bhagavadgita and their Solution:

 

We shall deal here with five antinomies in the Bhagavadgita :

i. the antinomy of the Personal and the Impersonal ;

ii. the antinomy of the Actor and the Spectator ;

iii. the antimony of the Transcendent and the Immanent so far as

the nature of God is concerned ;

iv. the fourth antinomy refers to the Reality and the Unreality of

the World; and finally,

v. in the fifth antinomy we shall he concerned with the destiny of

the Soul. What kind of: liberation have we to predicate Whether

it is Krama-mukti, Ante-mukti or Jivan mukti ?

Along with the antinomies we shall discuss also the solutions which

the Bhagavadgita itself offers: We shall cite from the Bhagavadgita

passages; one of which supports one system, another supports another,

while a third reconciles them both.

Nothing else beyond the Bhagavadgita itself is needed to reconcile

the contradictions which it puts forth as pertaining to opposite

systems of thought. We shall divest our minds of the interpretations

or the criticisms that have been made on these by the great Vedantic

or modern interpreters. We shall go straight to the originals

themselves, and so what evidence there is first for saying that there

is any antimony at all, that is, one law pitted against another; and

then find a solution thereof in the Bhagavadgita itself.

 

[Next part will be Ch. 16, which deals with the antinomy of Action

and Renunciation, the subject matter of Gita Ch. 5.]

 

 

Regards,

 

s.