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philosophy. In comprehensiveness and
philosophical depth, the Gita is unrivalled in
the tradition. It has been looked upon with a
sense of awe and variously labelled as 'the
divine speech of God himself', 'epitome of
the Vedas', 'representative of all the Shastras',
`superior to the river Ganga, mantra Gayatri,
and the Lord himself', in our older tradition
coming down to the present age. All this may
sound less than logical and convincing to the
modern mind. But when looked at from the
point of view of religion, history, geography,
sociology and pragmatics of the Indian cultural
heritage, the only conclusion which can be
drawn is that the Gita can be compared with
the Gita only. A brief elaboration follows.
The Gita is a combination of and a
balance between a number of apparently
opposing dimensions: it is divine as also
secular, people-oriented as well as meditative,
conceptual as also functional, culture-specific