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Synthesis of Philosophies in Gita
▀ ▄ ▀ Other examples of synthesis of thought like Gita
At this juncture, we should note that there have also been other synthesis (other than the Gita) in the long history of Indian thought.
▀ In the beginning is the Vedic synthesis of the psychological being of man.
It dwells in its highest flights and widest range of divine knowledge, power, joy, life and glory. It covers the cosmic existence of the gods. It pursued behind the symbols of the material universe into superior planes.
These planes are hidden from the physical sense and the material mentality. The crown of this synthesis was meeting man and god. It was in the living experience of the Vedic Rishis. They saw in it something divine, transcendent and blissful. In their unity the increasing soul of man and the eternal divine fullness of the cosmic godheads meet perfectly and fulfill themselves.
▀ The Upanishads take up from this crowning experience of the earlier seers.
They make it their starting point for a high and profound synthesis of spiritual knowledge. They draw together into a great harmony all that had been seen and experienced by the inspired and liberated knowers of the Eternal.
These experiences were from a wide range of great and fruitful periods of spiritual seeking.
▀ The Gita starts from this Vedantic synthesis. On the basis of its essential ideas the Gita builds another harmony of the three great means and powers.
These are Love (Bhakti Yoga), Knowledge (Dnyan Yoga) and Works (Karma Yoga).
Through these means the soul of man can directly approach and cast itself into the Eternal.
▀ There is also a fourth system. It is a Tantric system.
Though this system is less subtle and spiritually profound, it is even more bold and forceful than the synthesis of Gita.
The Tantric system seizes even upon the obstacles to the spiritual life and compels them to become the means for a richer spiritual conquest. It enables us to experience the whole of Life in our divine scope as the Lila of the Divine.
In some directions the Tantric system is more immediately rich and fruitful. It brings forward into the foreground the secrets also of the Hatha and Raja Yogas.
This it does along with divine knowledge, divine works and an enriched devotion of the divine Love. It makes use of the body and of mental askesis (askesis = tapasya, the practice of severe self-discipline, typically for religious reasons) for the opening up of the divine life on all its planes. To these aspects, the Gita gives only a passing and perfunctory attention.
▀ ▄ ▀ Original Vedic concept of divine perfectibility of man is revived in Gita
The approach of Gita stands out in one particular aspect. Gita grasps at the idea of divine perfectibility of man.
Though this idea was possessed by the Vedic Rishis, it was thrown into the background by the intermediate ages.
In the current era of the New Age, with fusion of various doctrines and philosophies all over the world, this idea of divine perfectibility of man is certain to fill a very large space in the synthesis of human thought, experience and aspiration. The future man will again turn to Gita to get inspiration and light in this direction.
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