I don't know whether this is meant as a joke-
'The Gita has, in popular belief, symbolized the rejuvenation of Hinduism after a thousand years of Buddhist domination. It was the book that apparently struck the last nail on Buddhist thought by a thirty-something Adi Sankracharya. '
The author is named Bhupinder Singh and his post, which can be read here , is either a heavy handed satire on the ignorance and mendacity of the hysterically anti-Hindutva Soft Left- intended, perhaps, to show that the hopelessly corrupt BJP Govt. in Karnataka is redeeming itself by forcing Schools to teach the Gita- or else it is something the author actually believes on the basis of a reading of Kosambi and immortally funny for that reason alone.
After all, the author tells us that the Gita is dated around 150-250 AD. He thinks Sankara comes after a thousand years of Lord Buddha. So, either he doesn't know Lord Buddha's dates or he has gone one step further than Kosambi (a Brahmin) and invented a new type of Mathematics.
Perhaps, he believes, to be perceived as Dalit, he must appear brain dead. Suddenly, our humorist doesn't seem so funny after all.
I think the guy is for real- this excerpt is very funny 'Kosambi also pointed out that those who find inspiration in the Gita invariably are from the leisurely classes. He might have added that they are from the upper castes. Those that come from non- Brahmin castes or articulate their voices tend to ignore the Gita. For example, Kabir, Nanak, Namdev, Chaitenya and Jayadeva did not evince any interest in the Gita. On the other hand, Tilak, Gandhi, Aurobindo and Radhakrishnan- all upper castes, if not brahmins- are the names that are associated with writings on the Gita. The correlation with the caste of those who drew inspiration from the Gita is hard to overlook.'
ReplyDeleteJayadeva and Chaitanya are Brahmins. Nanak was a Bedi. Kabir and Namdev belonged to the productive class. All were great spiritual poets but none produced commentaries- it was not their metier.
As for the fact that Tilak, Aurobindo, Gandhi and Radhakrishnan wrote about the Gita- was their motive the fact that they came from the 'leisured' or high caste? Tilak only wrote about the Gita because he was trying to foment a Hindu rebellion against the Brits- the Gita inspired him to revolutionary zeal to overturn Society. He was not some 'leisured class' parasite on the status quo. Same goes for Aurobindo. Radhakrishnan was a professional philosopher. Gandhi took equal inspiration from the life of the Prophet Muhammad as from the Sermon on the Mount.
What about Ambedkar? He gained inspiration from Buddhism which holds that sins in his past life had caused him to be born in a low caste. Further, Buddhism would consider him to have wasted his time on earth because he did not become a Monk or give his entire property to the Sangha. Furthermore he was an adulterer. 'Acharya' Kosambi, was a Brahmin who became a Buddhist monk- not a very good one because he fathered a son after diksha- and he perished in sallekhana which is a Jain, not Buddhist practice.
What does all this prove?
Probably nothing very much. The truth is people from every part of India are disgusted with the obscenely corrupt BJP in Karnataka. The Sikhs of Jammu want to prosecute the Minister from that State who said 'anyone who won't learn the Gita should leave the country'. No doubt he wanted them to carry his ill gotten wealth to Switzerland for him.