Atmanam Vidhi

Probably last month I was reading 'A Critical History of Greek Philosophy,' by W.T. Stace. It is one of the many books that attempted to simplify philosophical concepts for nonprofessionals like me. I enjoyed getting enlightened from cover to cover, although reading contextual philosophy has been so far probational on my part.

The book started out with a general commentary on the definition of philosophy and how it came to be regarded as a discipline in ancient Greece. It went further. Starting out with the Ionics and the Eleatics, it brisked through the Stoics and Neo-Sceptics. But for me as soon as I confronted the Sophists, who featured pretty early on, I took a detour. So far I was made to think my position to that of the universe in terms of the cosmos and God, which was a comfortable situation by all means since in Hinduism we relate ourselves with a cosmogonal philosophy. With the Sophists, concepts became more humanistic and ideas were interpreted through spectrum of materialism. This did not hold my interest. I was already immersed in the dialectics of man and nature intorduced by philosophies of Thales, Anaximenes, or the Orphic ideals of Pythagoras or by the later beliefs of Eleatic School that involved Parmenides and Xenophanes. Their ideas were in keeping with the transcendental views that we find in Hinduism.

The Sophists nearly approximated the 19th c. zeal of Friedrich Nietzsche. I have never been too enthusiastic with the concept of 'God is Dead,' or 'Ubermensch.' Nietzsche must had had reasons to relegate God to obscurity and promote 'man' as the measure of all things;but no wonder in the maze of his own reasonings he himself lost directions and failed to achieve the state of 'overman' and eventually turned insane at 45. A divine vengeance! But let's skip this.

The idea of man at the center of all things, I thought, was putting the cart before the horse and as I said, I changed my course.

In the Bhagavad-gita As It Is, the most authenticated and widely read version of the original text, Swami Prabhupada of ISKON has delivered the purport in exact spirit of the scripture. The introduction itself informs a lot about the underlying sturcture of the Bhagavad-gita and how one must begin reading the text. It also discusses the various religious ideas of the Vedas that are incorporated in the Bhagavad-gita. As I read thourgh, I realized that the framing is more scientific than religious and not only in it is dealing with God alone but also in identifying the position of man in respect to the totality, which is not limited to the idea of scientific universe only. It therefore becomes not just the Greek philosophy, or the Roman philosophy nor even the Hindu philosophy: it subsumes the philosophy of the whole and more as was understod by scholars like Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, Eliot and many others.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is, can be read and re-read without detours. It is a document that will redoubtably change the perception of living. It is a reference to head off ignorance, which mires the present understanding of Hindusim. It is a living faith that surmounts religion itself. Bhagavad-gita As It Is, is a praxis on all branches of knowledge that exist and will exist.

For me this has been a comforting journey...starting out at the southern most dip of the Balkan peninsula and Pindus mountains to the battlefield of Kuruksetra. I will now leave you here and start off my spiritual tour from here at the battlefield.

sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami ma sucah

Bg 18.66