Yatharth Geeta -Swami Adgadanand 778

Yatharth Geeta -Swami Adgadanand Ji

CHAPTER 16 The Yog of Telling The Devine From the Demoniacal तस्माच्छास्त्रं प्रमाणं ते कार्याकार्यव्यवस्थितौ। ज्ञात्वा शास्त्रविधानोक्तं कर्म कर्तुमिहार्हसि ॥24॥ [ “So scripture is the authority on what ought and ought not to be done, and having learnt that you have the ability to act according to the provisions laid down by the scripture.’’ ] In the eighth verse of Chapter 3, too, Krishn told Arjun to do the ordained task. Besides stressing the ordained action, he has also pointed out that yagya is that action. Yagya is an image of that special form of worship which completely subdues the mind and leads one to the eternal, immutable God. He now adds that desire, wrath, and avarice are the three main approaches to hell. Only after renouncing these three evils does action commence-the appointed action which Krishn has repeatedly portrayed as the conduct which brings one the highest glory and supreme good. The more a person is engaged in external worldly business, the more alluring is the form in which desire, anger, and greed manifest themselves to him. The ordained action is on the other hand something to which access is secured only after the giving up of lust, wrath, and greed, and it is only then that such action is transformed into habitual conduct. For the person who rejects it and acts wilfully, there is neither happiness nor accomplishment, nor the ultimate absolution. And scripture is the only authority that prescribes the righteous as well as the unrighteous. So it is incumbent upon Arjun to conduct himself according to scripture and that scripture is the Geeta.