There are hundreds of commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads
and other doctrines by different authors. Each one goes on spinning yarns
imagining as he likes what the meaning may be.
Through soul-centric reasoning one
becomes aware what they really meant and able to see that there is only one
possible interpretation, irrespective of others opinion or imagination. There is no need for studying Bhagavad Gita or
any other doctrines in order acquire Self-Knowledge, Brahma Gnana or Atma
Gnana.
Ramana Maharishi
says:-
Q by D:- Is not necessary to study the Vedas or at least the
Prasthanatraya [the Bhagavad Gita, Dasopanishad and Brahma Sutras, all with
commentaries]to ensure firm realization?
Ramana Maharishi:-No. Do you need all that to
see yourself? All that is intellectual wealth, useful in explain doubts and
difficulties if others rise them or if you yourself encounter them in the
course of thinking. But to attain realization, all that is not necessary. You
want fresh water to drink, but you do not require all the water of the river
Ganges to quench your thirst. [Page 111/112 of Practical
guide to know yourself c/e by A.R.N].
This surely
indicates Sri, Ramana Maharishi’s path is independent path nothing to with the
religion and scriptures.
FROM MAHA GITA –OSHO -- We are embarking on a rare journey. Man has many scriptures, but
none comparable to the Gita of Ashtavakra. Before it the Vedas pale, the
Upanishads speak with a weak voice. Even the Bhagavad Gita does not have the
majesty found in the Ashtavakra Samhita - it is simply unparalleled.
The most important thing is that neither society nor politics nor
any other institution of human life has had any influence on the sayings of
Ashtavakra. They are such a pure expression - transcending emotion,
transcending time and death - there is nothing comparable. Perhaps this is why
Ashtavakra's Gita, the ASHTAVAKRA SAMHITA, has not had much impact.
Krishna's Bhagavad Gita has been very influential. The first reason
is that Krishna's Gita is a synthesis. He is more concerned with synthesis than
with truth. The desire for synthesis is so strong that if necessary Krishna
doesn't mind sacrificing the truth a little.
Krishna's Gita is a hodgepodge containing everything; hence it
suits everyone, because there is something in it for everyone. It is difficult
to find any tradition whose voice is not found in the Gita. It is difficult to
find anyone who does not take solace from the Gita. But for such people
Ashtavakra's Gita will prove very difficult.
Ashtavakra is not for synthesis - he is a man of truth. He speaks
the truth just as it is, without any artifice or coloring. He is not concerned
about the listener, he does not care whether his listener will understand or
not. Such a pure expression of truth has never happened anywhere before, nor
has it ever happened again.
People love Krishna's Gita because it is very easy to extract one's
own meaning from it. Krishna's Gita is poetic: in it two plus two can equal
five, two plus two can also equal three. No such tricks are possible with
Ashtavakra. With him two plus two are exactly four. Ashtavakra's statements are
statements of pure mathematics. There isn't the least possibility for poetic
licence here. He says things as they are, without any sort of compromise.
Reading Krishna's Gita a devotee extracts something of which he can
make a belief, because Krishna spoke on bhakti, devotion. The karma yogi
extracts his belief because Krishna has spoken on karma yoga, the Yoga of
action. The believer in knowledge finds what he wants because Krishna has
spoken on knowledge as well. Somewhere Krishna calls bhakti the ultimate,
somewhere else he calls knowledge the ultimate, again elsewhere he calls karma
yoga the ultimate.
Krishna's statements are very political. He was a politician, a
perfect politician. Just to say he was a politician is not right; he was a
shrewd politician, a real diplomat. In his statements he considered and
included many things. This is why the Gita suits everyone, why there are
thousands of commentaries on the Gita. No one is concerned with Ashtavakra,
because to accept Ashtavakra you are going to have to drop yourself -
unconditionally. You cannot bring yourself along. Only if you stay behind can
you come near him. With Krishna you can bring yourself along. With Krishna
there is no need to transform yourself. With Krishna you can fit just as you
are.
Hence the founders of each tradition have written commentaries on
Krishna's Gita - Shankara, Ramanuja, Nimbarak, Vallabha - everyone. Each has
extracted his own meaning. Krishna has said things in such a way as to allow
multiple meanings; hence I call his Gita poetic. You can draw out any meaning
you like from a poem.
Krishna's statements are like clouds surrounding you in the rainy
season: you see in them whatever you want. Someone may see an elephant's trunk,
someone sees the whole body of Ganesha, the elephant god. Someone may not see
anything. He will say, "What nonsense you talk! They are clouds, vapor -
how is it you see forms in them?"
In the West, psychoanalysts use the ink blot test: just pour an ink
stain onto blotting paper and ask the person to say what he sees in it. The
person looks carefully and sees something or other. There is nothing there,
only an ink stain on blotting paper - randomly thrown, not thrown with any
design, just poured from the bottle. But the person looking at it finds something
or other. What he finds is in his mind, he has projected it.
You must have seen lines made by rain falling on a wall. Sometimes
a man's face is seen, sometimes a horse's face is seen. You project onto it
what you want to see. In the dark of night, clothes hanging on a line seem like
ghosts.
Krishna's Gita is just like this - you will be able to see whatever
is in your mind. So Shankara sees knowledge, Ramanuja sees bhakti, Tilak sees
action - and each returns home in a cheerful mood thinking that what Krishna
says is the same as his belief.
Emerson has written that once a neighbor came and borrowed the
works of Plato from him. Plato lived two thousand years ago and is one of the
world's rare, unique thinkers. Weeks later Emerson reminded him, "If you've
read the books please return them." When the neighbor returned them
Emerson asked, "How did you like them?"
The man said, "This man Plato's thoughts are in complete
agreement with mine. I felt many times:
how has this man come to know my thoughts?" Plato lived two
thousand years earlier and this fellow suspects that Plato has stolen his
thoughts!
This kind of suspicion often arises with Krishna too. Centuries
have passed and commentaries on Krishna keep on coming. Each century finds its
own meaning, each person finds his own meaning.
Krishna's Gita is like an ink blot... it is the statement of the
perfect politician.
You cannot extract any beliefs from Ashtavakra's Gita. Only if you
drop yourself as you move into it, will Ashtavakra's Gita become clear to you.
Ashtavakra's message is crystal clear. You won't be able to add
even a small bit of your own interpretation to it. Hence people have not
written commentaries on Ashtavakra's Gita. There is no scope for writing a
commentary; there is no way to distort or twist it. Your mind has no chance to
add anything. Ashtavakra has given such an expression that no one has been able
to add or take anything from it, even though centuries have passed. It is not
easy to give such a perfect expression.
Such skill with words is very difficult to come by.