Among my favorite parts of the Bhagavad Gita (which I’ve been re-reading as I teach my course on South Asian Civilizations) are the images of panentheism and inclusive monotheism. Among my favorite lines are:
“all that exists is woven on me, like a web of pearls on thread” (7:7, tr. Barbara
Stoler Miller)
and
“When devoted men sacrifice to other deities with faith, they sacrifice to
me…however aberrant the rites” (9:23, tr. Barbara Stoler Miller)
Also very interesting, however, are the close parallels to Protestant ideas about grace and the priesthood of all believers. The Gita asserts that “for the discerning priest (brahmin), all of sacred lore (i.e. the Vedas) has no more value than a well when water flows everywhere” (2:46). Indeed, this goes further than the Protestant reformers did in relativizing not only the priests but even Scripture as mediators of authoritative teaching. Similarly, when it comes to “justification by faith”, the following verses seem to closely parallel this Protestant Christian emphasis, even down to the order of justification, sanctification, and perhaps even “eternal security”:
“If he is devoted to me, even a violent criminal must be deemed a man of virtue,
for his resolve is right. His spirit quickens to sacred duty (dharma), and he
finds eternal peace; Arjuna, know that no one devoted to me is lost” (9:30-31).
For those open to dialogue with and learning from other traditions, such points of intersection and similarity are useful starting points.
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