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) that is, "that buddhih which does not make a proper discrimination between the dharmam ( righteous ) and the adharmam (unrighteous), or between the doable and the not-doable, that buddhih is rajasi"; and He lastly says :— adharmam dharmam iti ya manyate tamasavrta I sarvarthan viparitams ca buddhih sa Partha tamasi ll [1] that is, "that buddhih which looks upon that as righteous-- (dharmam) which is unrighteous (adharmam), that is to say, which gives a totally perverse, that is, contrary verdict on all matters is the tamasi buddhih". From this explanation, it will be clear that the theory that there is an independent and distinct deity of which the function is sad-asad-vivekah, (i. e„ discrimination between good and evil) is not accepted by the Gita. That does not mean that there can never exist a buddhih (Reason) which will always choose the right thing. What is meant is that the buddhih is one and the same, but the sattvika quality of choosing only the right thing is acquired by it by previous impressions, or by education, or by control of the organs, or by the nature of the food which a man eats etc, and in the absence of such factors as previous impressions etc., that same buddhih becomes rajasi or tamasi, not only in the matter of the discrimination between the doable and the not-doable but also in all other matters. Such is the import of the above stanzas. The facts of the difference between the buddhih of a thief and that of an honest man, or of persons belonging to different countries is explained by this theory in a satisfactory way, in which it cannot be explained by looking upon the Power of -discrimination between good and evil (sad-asad-vivecana-sakti) as an independent deity. "Making one's buddhih, sattviki, is what one oneself can do ; and it cannot be done without the control of the organs. So long as the vyavasayatmika buddhih acts only according to the dictates of the organs, without discriminating between or examining what promotes one's true benefit, it cannot be called Pure (suddha) ; therefore, one must not allow the buddhih to become the slave of the Mind and the organs, but one must on the other hand arrange it so that the Mind and the organs are under its control, This principle has been enunciated in numerous places in the Bhagavadgita [2] and, on that account, the body, has been compared to a chariot in the Kathopanisad, and it is metaphorically stated that in order that the horses in the shape of the organs which pull that chariot should be properly guided in the path of the enjoyment of objects of pleasure, the charioteer in the shape of the vyavasayatmika buddhih has to courageously keep taut and steady the reins in the shape of the Mind [3] and in the Mahabharata also, the same simile has been adopted in two or three places with some slight difference[4] 'This simile is so proper for describing the function of the control of the organs, that the famous greek Philosopher Plato has in his book [5] made use of the same illustration in describing the control of the organs. |
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