<!--QuoteBegin-Bodhi+Aug 27 2008, 07:54 PM-->QUOTE(Bodhi @ Aug 27 2008, 07:54 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->sarvadharmAn parityajya mAmekam sharaNam vraja
aham tvA sarva pApebhyo mokshayishyAmi mAshuchaH (Bg. 18.66)
{Abandoning All Dharma, Take Shelter in Me Alone
I Shall Grant You Moksha Despite All Your Sins, Grieve Not}
But indeed an acrobatics is needed to turn it into "Hindu is the only Valid religion". Here kR^iShNa is talking about a devotee's complete sharaNAgati/surrender into iShTa as the final way to liberation. (Occuring therefore in the last chapter, when everything else failed to convince arjuna.)
[right][snapback]87106[/snapback][/right]<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->OMG, they twisted THAT line? I never even suspected it.
But the meaning is exactly as you said.
And Dharma in Samskritam is NOT NOT NOT religion. I don't know why in Hindi today Dharma has been equated with religion. Dharma's real meaning is in Samskritam and is the subset of Rta that is applicable to creatures (generally humankind) in this world.
In the shlokam you posted, Krishna is simply saying to Arjuna/creaturekind to "Rise above the three Gunas, life, everything, because to get Moksha I am all that you need."
So how does this statement have anything to do at all with any exclusivist claims on faith? Krishna is not even talking about Gods here.
Actually, that shlokam is a summary of the rest of what Krishna says in several chapters of the Gita: the goal is to abandon all one's desires, surrender the fruits of one's actions to him while never renouncing action itself (which steps will free one from Karma) and to take refuge in him, Bhagavan. He will then free you from all sorrows, and the circle of rebirth will no longer apply to you. You will go back to Bhagavan.
But how come the questioner doesn't know that the modern Hindi usage of the word 'Dharm(a)' in the shlokam you pointed out is NOT the same as Samskritam 'Dharma'?
aham tvA sarva pApebhyo mokshayishyAmi mAshuchaH (Bg. 18.66)
{Abandoning All Dharma, Take Shelter in Me Alone
I Shall Grant You Moksha Despite All Your Sins, Grieve Not}
But indeed an acrobatics is needed to turn it into "Hindu is the only Valid religion". Here kR^iShNa is talking about a devotee's complete sharaNAgati/surrender into iShTa as the final way to liberation. (Occuring therefore in the last chapter, when everything else failed to convince arjuna.)
[right][snapback]87106[/snapback][/right]<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->OMG, they twisted THAT line? I never even suspected it.
But the meaning is exactly as you said.
And Dharma in Samskritam is NOT NOT NOT religion. I don't know why in Hindi today Dharma has been equated with religion. Dharma's real meaning is in Samskritam and is the subset of Rta that is applicable to creatures (generally humankind) in this world.
In the shlokam you posted, Krishna is simply saying to Arjuna/creaturekind to "Rise above the three Gunas, life, everything, because to get Moksha I am all that you need."
So how does this statement have anything to do at all with any exclusivist claims on faith? Krishna is not even talking about Gods here.
Actually, that shlokam is a summary of the rest of what Krishna says in several chapters of the Gita: the goal is to abandon all one's desires, surrender the fruits of one's actions to him while never renouncing action itself (which steps will free one from Karma) and to take refuge in him, Bhagavan. He will then free you from all sorrows, and the circle of rebirth will no longer apply to you. You will go back to Bhagavan.
But how come the questioner doesn't know that the modern Hindi usage of the word 'Dharm(a)' in the shlokam you pointed out is NOT the same as Samskritam 'Dharma'?