Seeing the world through the Word means first letting the
Word of God, Bhagavad-gita, determine our basic conceptual framework, and then
analyzing the world through the lens provided by the Gita.
On the other hand, seeing the Word through the world means
first letting the world’s thought-systems determine our conceptual framework
and then examining the Gita through that filter.
Neither God nor his message is reducible to any one nation
or historical epoch or even religious community.
Those who prioritize the world over the Word end up
force-fitting the Gita into the analytical categories of their favored
worldview. Thus, nationalists reduce the Gita to an Indian book; religious
partisans, to a Hindu book; and historians, to a sample of ancient Indian
literature. Those totally captivated by specific worldviews may go beyond
reducing the Gita to even distorting it. Thus, Marxists who see everything in
terms of class conflicts label the Gita as a book of brahminical orthodoxy; and
feminists who see everything in terms of gender power struggles label it as a
book of male chauvinism. Such people who insist on seeing the Gita through the
world’s categories often reject its counsel. As the Gita (16.23) delineates,
those who reject its message deprive themselves of its essential gift –
happiness.
All world-centered analysis misses the reality that the Gita
is God’s word for all of humanity for all time. Being the source of everything,
God is the benefactor of all, irrespective of their worldly designations such
as class or gender. Neither he nor his message is reducible to any one nation
or historical epoch or even religious community. He shares the Gita to help us
relish everlasting happiness by realizing our spiritual identity as souls – an
identity far beyond the world’s categories.
By embracing the non-sectarian path of self-realization
explained in the Gita, everyone everywhere can fulfill fully and forever the
universal human longing for happiness.
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