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In these early times there were strenuous theological struggles now forgotten, though they have left their traces in the legends which tell how the title of Krishna and others to divine honours was challenged.  Amalgamation was the usual method of conciliation.  Several gods grew sufficiently important to become in the eyes of their worshippers the supreme spirit and at least four were united in the deity of the Bhagavatas, namely, Vasudeva, Krishna, Vishnu and Narayana.  Of the first three I have spoken already.  Narayana never became like Vishnu and Krishna a great mythological figure, but in the late Vedic period he is a personification of the primaeval waters from which all things sprang or of the spirit which moved in them.[489] From this he easily became the supreme spirit who animates all the universe and the name was probably acceptable to those who desired a purer and simpler worship because it was connected with comparatively few legends.  But there is some confusion in its use, for it is applied not only to the supreme being but to a double incarnation of him called Nara-Narayana, and images of the pair may still be seen in Vishnuite temples.  They are said to have revealed the true doctrine to Narada and are invoked at the beginning of each book of the Mahabharata.[490] One of the main theses of the Narayaniya[491] is the identity of Narayana and Vasudeva, the former being a Brahmanic, the latter a non-Brahmanic name for the Deity.

The celebrated Bhagavad-gita[492] which is still held in such respect that, like the New Testament or Koran, it is used in law courts for the administration of oaths, is an early scripture of the Bhagavata sect.  In it the doctrines of Krishna’s divinity, the power of faith and the efficacy of grace are fully established.  It is declared to be too hard for flesh and blood to find by meditation their way to the eternal imperceptible spirit, whereas Krishna comes straightway to those who make him their sole desire.  “Set thy heart on me, become my devotee, sacrifice to me and worship thou me.  Then shalt thou come to me.  Truly I declare to thee thou art dear to me.  Leave all (other) religious duties and come to me as thy sole refuge.  I will deliver thee from thy sins.  Sorrow not.”  But the evolution of Sankarshana, etc., is not mentioned.  The poem has perhaps been re-edited and interpolated several times but the strata can hardly be distinguished, for the whole work, if not exactly paradoxical, is eclectic and continually argues that what is apparently highest is not best for a particular person.  The Hindus generally regard the contemplative life as the highest, but the Bhagavad-gita is insistent in enjoining unselfish action:  it admits that the supreme reality cannot be grasped by the mind or expressed in speech, but it recommends the worship of a personal deity.  Even the older parts of the poem appear to be considerably later than Buddhism.  But its mythology, if not Vedic,