Gita Rahasya -Tilak 598

Srimad Bhagavadgita-Rahasya OR Karma-Yoga-Sastra -Bal Gangadhar Tilak

CHAPTER XV APPENDIX These people have conceived these wrong ideas as a result of their having failed to understand the historical tradition of the various aspects of the Vedic religion, and the real meanings of the words 'samkhya' and 'yoga 'used in the Gita, and especially because these people had before their eyes the history of the unphilosophical, that is, purely devotional Christian religion. The Christian religion was originally purely devotional ; and the attempt to harmonise it with the philosophical doctrines of the Greeks, or with other philosophies, was made afterwards. But that is not the case with us. The Ritualist path of the Mimamsa school, the Knowledge preached by the writers of the Upanisads, and Samkhya and Yoga, had all reached their highest development before the Path of Devotion arose in India. Therefore, it was impossible from the very beginning that our people should countenance an independent Path of Devotion, which would be independent of all these sciences, and especially independent of the Knowledge of the Brahman preached in the Upanisads; and when this impossibility is taken into account, one is forced to come to the conclusion, that the form of the preaching of the Gita-religion must, from the very beginning, have been more or less similar to the exposition contained in the present Gita. The exposition of the Gita in the Gita-Rahasya has been made by me on this basis ; yet, as this is a very important question, I shall here briefly state what results are arrived at, according to me, regarding the original form and the tradition of the Gita religion, from the historical point of view. I have shown in the tenth chapter of the Gita-Rahasya that the most pristine form of the Vedic religion was not pre-eminently Devotional, or Realisational, or Yogic, but was ritualistic, that is, Actional ; and that the Veda-Samhitas, and the Brahmanas have principally enunciated this Activistic religion of sacrificial Yajnas. As this religion was later on systematically expounded in the Mjmahsa-Sutras of Jaimini, it acquired the name 'Mimamsaka-marga'. But although the name 'Mimamsa' was new, yet, the sacrificial religion was undoubtedly ancient, and was probably the first stage of the Vedic religion from the historical point of view. Before acquiring the name 'Mimamsaka-marga', it used to be known as 'Trayl-dharma', that is, 'the religion supported by the three Vedas'; and the same name is to be found in the Gita . When this ritualistic Trayi-dharma was being rigorously observed, how was it possible to Realise the Paramesvara by this Karma, that is, this external paraphernalia of Yajnas and sacrificial rites ? There then gradually arose the doubts and objections, that as Realisation was a mental process, it would be impossible to acquire Realisation, unless one contemplated on the form of the Paramesvara etc.; and this Trayi-dharma gradually came to include the Knowledge contained in the Upanisads, as is evident from the introductory passages at the commencement of the Chandogya and other Upanisads.