History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c41.s6.10

v3.c41.s6.10

Already the teachers of the Upanishads had begun to preach that animal sacrifices did not lead to the highest goal but were lower in merit, though they did not condemn them, and preached that Mokṣa could be obtained by Sanyāsa only. The Bhagvadgītā countenanced both; indeed as an orthodox doctrine it did not condemn the views about sacrifices and Sanyāsa or the Chāturvarṇya or the Āśrama theory with the allied philosophies of Tapa and Sanyāsa (Yoga and Sāṅkhya). But it preached the new doctrine of Bhakti of Viṣṇu which would take even women and śūdras (denied absolution by Brahmins) to the highest goal.