By the Time of Buddha, the tradition of Vedas and Upanishads had almost degenerated except in some pockets of families scattered around the country. The whole region was really corrupt and rotten. To say a word in favour of these old scriptures was tantamount to providing support to a decadent and rotting tradition. Knowing well that the Vedas too contained the same truth, Buddha could not take their support. He just kept quiet about them. But it often happens in the history that when a new Buddha comes he has to uproot many old truths, because being old they get so badly mixed up with falsehoods that to support them would automatically strengthen those lies.
Krishna did not have to face such a situation. In his time the tradition of Vedas and Upanishads was very much alive. It was really at the height of its glory. It was absolutely unpolluted and pure. For this very reason we say Krishna’s Gita is the quintessence of the Vedas and the Upanishads. In fact we can say Krishna himself is the embodiment of the great culture which had come out of these scriptures. Krishna reflects all that is essential and basic to that culture. Krishna comes at a time the Vedic civilization was at its Zenith. Buddha comes when it has touched its nadir. It was the same culture, but Buddha had to witness its utter decadence and degradation. It was the time Buddha saw when most of the Brahmins had ceased to be knowers of truth and instead was busy exploiting people in the name of God and religion.
Krishna represents the summit of Vedic teachings. In his times the Upanishads and Vedas have touched the pinnacle of attainment and splendour. The light of truth and knowledge emanating from them is spreading in all directions and their perfume is everywhere in the air. The Upanishads are not a dead thing, they are fully and youthful and their music can be heard even in the bushes and shrubs of the land. So when Krishna talks about them, he is not talking about something old and dead; he is talking about something which is in the prime of its youth. But by the time Buddha comes much more than 2500 years after Krishna, the whole tradition is in its collapse. So we must understand that it is not out of his arrogance he is declaring his truth on his own. At the same time there is nothing egoistic about Krishna when he seeks the support of old seers and their sayings.
It is important to understand Krishna to properly understand Gita.
Wishing you all good health & happiness,
Dr. Dwarakanath, Director, Mitran foundation- the stressmanagement people
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