KRISHNA AND HIS GITA 369
spiritual topics, which in its other, and as we may say, less thorough going, manifestation we see in the Upanishads and the Gita [1] .”
I have quoted this passage in full because it is typical of all Hindu scholars. Everyone of them is most reluctant to admit that the Bhagvat Gita is anyway influenced by Buddhism and is ever ready to deny that the Gita has borrowed anything from Buddhism. It is the attitude of Prof. Radhakrishnan and also of Tilak. Where there is any similarity in thought between the Bhagvat Gita and Buddhism too strong and too close to be denied, the argument is that it is borrowed from the Upanishads. It is typical of the mean mentality of the counterrevolutionaries not to allow any credit to Buddhism on any account.
The absurdity of these views must shock all those who have made a comparative study of the Bhagvat Gita and the Buddhist Suttas. For if it is true to say that Gita is saturated with Sankhya philosophy it is far more true to say that the Gita is full of Buddhist ideas. [2] The similarity between the two is not merely in ideas but also in language. A few illustrations will show how true it is.
The Bhagvat Gita discusses Bramha-Nirvana. [3] The steps by which one reaches Bramha. Nirvana are stated by the Bhagvat Gita to be
(1) Shraddha (Faith in oneself); (2) Vyavasaya (Firm determination);
(3) Smriti (Rememberance of the goal); (4) Samadhi (Earnest contemplation) and (5) Prajna (Insight or True Knowledge). From where has the Gita borrowed this Nirvana theory? Surely it is not borrowed from the Upanishads. For no Upanishad even mentions the word Nirvana. The whole idea is peculiarly Buddhist and is borrowed from Buddhism. Anyone who has any doubt on the point may compare this Bramha-Nirvana of the Bhagvat Gita with the Buddhist conception of Nirvana as set out in the Mahapari-nibbana Sutta. It will be found that they are the same which the Gita has laid down for Bramha-Nirvana. Is it not a fact that the Bhagvat Gita has borrowed the entire conception of Brmhma Nirvana instead of Nirvana for no other reason except to conceal the fact of its having stolen it from Buddhism ?
Take another illustration. In Chapter VII verses 13-20 there is a discussion as to who is dear to Krishna; one who has knowledge, or one who performs karma or one who is a devotee. Krishna says that the Devotees is dear to him but adds that he must have the true marks
1 Cr. Weber’s History of Indian Literature, p. 285. In Mr. Davids’ Buddhism, p. 94 we have a noteworthy extract from a standard Buddhistic work, touching the existence of the soul. Compare that with the corresponding doctrine in the Gita. It will be found that the two are at one in rejecting the identity of the soul with the senses &c. The Gita then goes on to admit a soul separate from these. Buddhism rejects that also, and sees nothing but the senses.
2 On this point compare Bhagvat Gita by S. D. Budhiraja M.A.. L.L.B.. Chief Judge, Kashmere. At every point the author has attempted to draw attention to textual similarities between the Gita and Buddhism.
3 Max Muller Mahapari-Nibbana Sutta p. 63.