Beyond Scriptures
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There are millions of scriptures and books on planet Earth. From time immemorial, human beings have created scriptures and still continue to create spiritual books. But Bhagavad Gītā is incomparable. Unlike any other, this book has penetrated human consciousness so deeply. No other book has contributed to the preparation of so many Enlightened Beings on planet Earth. Bhagavad Gītā is the unabridged dictionary and encyclopaedia of spirituality.
Gītā is śāstra; it gives a clear intellectual understanding about life, death, soul, about the 'great why of life' as well as the 'what of life,' the do's and don'ts, rules and regulations. Very few books give reasons why we should or should not do something. Gītā is the only book I know that gives a strong intellectual base, intellectual clarity, a complete cognition about why and what we should do.
No other religion has as many scriptures as Hinduism. Within the Vedic literature, our Masters have chosen three books called prasthāntraya that are the ultimate authorities in spirituality. They are Brahma Sūtra, Upaniṣads and Bhagavad Gītā. Veda Vyāsa, the lord of Enlightened Masters, is the compiler of all the Vedas, who wrote the Brahma Sutra and also authored the Mahābhārat. He is responsible for all the methods and expressions of enlightenment science or jīvan muktī vijñāna. Many enlightened Masters taught what is known as Upaniṣad. However, Gītā is directly from Bhagavān, God Himself, from a Pūrṇāvatār—a perfect, complete Incarnation, Śrī Kṛṣṇa.