Gita Rahasya -Tilak
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CHAPTER V
THE CONSIDERATION OF HAPPINESS AND UNHAPPINESS
(SUKHA-DUHKHA-VIVEKA) Although the Knowledge of the Brahman by itself may be worth more than prosperity (aisvaryam) by itself, yet, in as much as who- ever has to live in this world is under the obligation and has also the moral right to acquire material prosperity for himself or for his own country in the same way as it is possessed by others or by other countries, the highest ideal of man in this world, as is apparent from this beautiful story, is seen to be the combin- nation of Peace (santi), and Material Happiness (pusti), or of desired things (preyas) and true and lasting benefit (sreyas), or of Knowledge (jnanam) and prosperity (aisvaryam), according to our Karma-Yoga science. Has that Bhagavan than Whom there is) none higher in this world, and Whose path is followed ,by. others [1], Himself given up prosperity and wealth? The word 'bhaga' has been defined in the Sastras as : aisvaryasya samagrasya dharmasya yasasah sriyah I jnanavairagyayos caiva sannam bhaga itirana I I [2] [3] that is, "the word ' bhaga ' includes the followings six things, namely, complete Yogic prosperity, righteousness, success property, knowledge, and apathy". The word 'aisvaryam' in this stanza is usually taken to mean ' Yogaisvaryam' (Yogic prosperity ), because the word ' sri ', that is, wealth, appears later on. But as ordinarily, the word ' aisvaryam ' is used to mean and include authority, success, and wealth, and the word jnanam ' includes apathy and righteousness, we may say that in ordinary parlance, the entire meaning conveyed by the above stanza is included in the two words 'jnanam' and 'aisvaryam, and in as much as the Blessed Lord has Himself accepted the combination of jnanam and aisvaryam, other persons should consider that as proper and act accordingly [4] The doctrine that the knowledge of the Atman is the only ideal of man in this world is a doctrine of the school of Renunciation, which says that, as worldly life is full of unhappiness, it should be given up ; it is not a doctrine of the Karma-Yoga science, and it is not proper to mix up these doctrines of different schools of thought and pervert the meaning of the Gita. And as the Gita itself says that mere prosperity without Knowledge is a godless prosperity (asura sampatti), it follows that we must always maintain the union of jnanam with aisvaryam, or of aisvaryam with jnanam, or of santi with pusti. When it is admitted that aisvaryam is necessary, though along with jnanam, it necessarily follows that Action must be performed. Manu has said that: " karmany arabhamanam hi purusam srir nisevate "[5] i. e., " in this world, only those persons who perform Action, acquire sri (prosperity)". The same thing is established by our personal experience, and the same is the advice given in the Gita to Arjuna [6] |
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