In this class (Class 38 on Monday, Jan. 27th at 7:30 pm PST), we discuss verses 4.36-4.42 and 5.1-5.2 of the Bhagavad Gita, chapter 20 ("Equality and Knowledge," pp. 200-211) of Sri Aurobindo's Essays on the Gita, and Swami Tapasyananda's commentary on verses 5.1–5.6 of the Bhagavad Gita (pp. 146–150 and pp. 160–163 of his book, Srimad Bhagavad Gita: The Scripture of Mankind).
Study Questions
1. Please summarize Sri Aurobindo's interpretation of verses 5.1–6 of the Bhagavad Gita.
2. Please summarize Swami Tapasyananda's interpretation of verses 5.1–6 of the Bhagavad Gita.
3. What are the similarities and differences between Sri Aurobindo's and Swami Tapasyananda's respective interpretations of verses 5.1–6 of the Bhagavad Gita?
4. Why does Swami Tapasyananda criticize the classical Advaita Vedantic interpretation of verses 5.1–6 of the Bhagavad Gita? Do you find his criticisms of this classical Advaitic interpretation of 5.1–6 plausible? Why or why not?
5. In his book Karma Yoga, Swami Vivekananda interprets verse 5.4 of the Bhagavad Gita as follows: "Each one of our Yogas is fitted to make man perfect even without the help of the others, because they have all the same goal in view. The Yogas of work, of wisdom, and of devotion are all capable of serving as direct and independent means for the attainment of Mokṣa. 'Fools alone say that work and philosophy are different, not the learned.' The learned know that, though apparently different from each other, they at last lead to the same goal of human perfection" (Complete Works, vol. 1, p. 93). Please paraphrase Swami Vivekananda's interpretation of 5.4. Does his interpretation come closer to Sri Aurobindo's interpretation of 5.4 or to the classical Advaitic interpretation of 5.4?
6. Do you have any questions about the reading? Did you have difficulty understanding anything? Do you have any doubts or confusions?