Karma Yoga Sastra -Tilak
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CHAPTER VI
THE INTUITIONIST SCHOOL AND THE CONSIDERATION OF THE BODY AND THE ATMAN
(ADHIDAIVATA-PAKSA AND KSETRA-KSETRAJNA-VICARA) The Mind does not discriminate between the various ideas in the mind. Discriminating between them and giving to the Atman the accurate knowledge of any particular object, or deciding that a particular thing is only of a particular kind after proper classification, or arriving at a definite inference, and deciding as to the doability or non-doability of any particular Action after inferentially determining the relation of Cause and Effect between two things, are all functions of the Reason and are known in Sanskrit as ' vyavasayah' or 'adhyavasayah'. Therefore, these two words have been defined in the Maha- bharata in the following way in order to show the difference between the Reason and the (minor) Mind, namely : — " vyavasayatmika buddhih mano vyakaranatmakam " [1] that is, "the 'buddhih' (Reason) is an organ which does the vyavasayah, that is, which discriminates and arrives at a decision, and the Mind (minor) is an organ which does the vyakaranam, that is, carries out the development or the further arrangements. In short, the Reason "is vyavasayatmika and the mind is vyakaranatmakam ". Even the Bhagavadgita. contains the words "vyavasayatmika buddhih" [2] and in that place, the word buddhih means the organ which dis- criminates and decides. The buddhih is like a sword. Its. function is only to cut whatever comes before it or is brought before it. It has no other quality or function [3] Planning, desiring, wanting, memory, perse- verance, faith, enthusiasm, kindness, interestedness, affection, pity, gratitude, sexual impulses, shame, joy, fear, love, attachment, hate, avarice, arrogance, . jealousy, anger etc., are all qualities or faculties of the Mind [4]and man is prompted to perform any particular act, according to the particular mental impulse which has sprung into the Mind. . However reasonable a man may be, and even if he fully " understands how poor people suffer, yet, if the feeling of pity is not aroused in his heart,, he will never be inspired by the desire to help the poor ; or, though he might feel the desire to fight,' he will not fight if "he is wanting in. courage. The Reason only tells us what the result will be- at those things which we want to do. But as desire, courage etc., are not the faculties of the Reason, Reason by it-self, that is , without the help of the Mind, never inspires the organs to do- anything. On- the other hand, though, -the Mind can inspire the organs when under the sway of Anger "etc., yet an Action- which may have been performed without the discrimination of the Reason and merely by the inspiration of the mental impulses, will not necessarily be morally pure. For instance, if something is given in charity without exercising the Reason and merely under the impulse of the feeling of pity, there is a chance of its having evil effects if the charity is given to an. undeserving person. In short, the mental impulses by them- selves are blind without the help of Reason. Therefore, in order that any good Action should be performed by a man, there must be a combination of a Reason which is pure, that is to' say, such as will arrive at a correct decision between good and bad, a Mind which will act according to the dictates of the Reason, and organs which are subject to the control of Mind. |
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