Gita Rahasya -Tilak 694

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

CHAPTER 2. SRIMAD BHAGAVADGITA The word 'nityasattvastha! means the same as 'trigunatita' (beyond the three constituents); because, it is stated later on that by the continual growth of the sattva constituent, one acquires the 'trigunatitavastha ' (the state of being beyond the three constituents — Trans.) and that that is the true ' siddhavasistha',. In short, the advice given here is that one should give up the desire-prompted ritual prescribed by the Mimamsa school for obtaining yogaksema, which is based on the three constituents, and go beyond the Opposites of happiness and unhappiness etc., and become brahma-nistha or atma-nistha. But, it must be borne in mind at the same time that the injunction to become atma-nistha does not mean that all this ritual should totally and for all intents and purposes be given up. The adverse criticism made in the above stanza of the desire-prompted ritual prescribed by the Vedas, or the inferiority which is shown of that ritual, is not the inferiority of the ritual itself, but of the desire-prompted Reason behind it. If this desire-prompted Reason does not govern the Mind, mere sacrificial ritual does not in any- way close the door to Release. That is why the Blessed Lord has given it as His definite and most valuable opinion later on in the beginning of the 18th chapter, that these very ritualistic performances prescribed by the Mimamsa writers should certainly be performed, for the purification of the Mind, and for public welfare, giving up the Hope for Fruit and Attachment. When you take together these two statements made in two different places in the Gita, it becomes quite clear that the inferiority of the Mimamsaka Karma-kanda shown in the stanzas in this chapter has reference to the desire-prompted Reason, and not only to the ritual. With this object in mind, it has been stated in the Bhagavata that :   vedoktam eva kurvano nihsango 'rpitam isvare I naiskarmyam labhate siddhim rocanartha phalasrutih II, that is, " the 'recital of fruits' to be obtained by the performance of Vedic ritual, which has been given in the Vedas, has been given ' rocanartha ', that is, only in order that {he person who performs the ritual should find it agreeable ; and therefore, that man who, instead of performing such ritual for obtaining the promised fruit, performs it unattachedly, that is to say, after giving up the Hope for Fruit and with the sole intention of dedicating it to the Isvara, attains the 'naiskarmya-siddhi'". In short, the summary of the advice in the Gita is, that although it has been stated in the Vedas that a particular sacrificial ritual should be performed for a particular purpose, yet, one should not be taken in by that Desire, but should perform the ritual because it is 'yastavya', that is, because the performance of the ritual is a duty; that, one should give up the desire-promptedness of one's Reason, but not the ritualistic sacrifices ; and that the other rites should also be performed in the. same way. And the same meaning has been expressed in the subsequent stanzas. ]