Body, Mind and Self

It is said that Bhagwad Gita was a very nice suumarized rendering of the Vedas and the Upanishads. This one shloka – albeit translated – clearly shows that link. The expression that Krishna used and that contained here is almost verbatim! That is why Swami Vivekananda once said that – if today it was proved that Jesus was a fraud the entire edifice of Christianity would fall and the same for Islam and other religions.. but if it was proved that Krishna was a fraud, that would have no effect on Vedanta. Krishna did not sanctify the message of Gita… rather the message of Gita sanctified Krishna as a great scholar and Rishi in his own right!

Know the Self as lord of the chariot,
The body as the chariot itself,
The discriminating intellect as charioteer,
And the mind as reins.
The senses, say the wise, are the horses;
Selfish desires are the roads they travel.
When the Self is confused with the body,
Mind, and senses, they point out, he seems
To enjoy pleasure and suffer sorrow.

-Katha Upanishad

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