Karma Yoga Sastra -Tilak
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CHAPTER X
THE EFFECT OF KARMA AND FREEDOM OF WILL
This thing cannot be achieved at once, and has to be acquired gradually and courageously ; otherwise, the organs will positively rear up on their haunches like a frightened horse. Therefore, the Blessed Lord has said that Reason needs the help of courage (dhrti) for acquiring control over the organs [1] ; and later on in the eighteenth chapter, dhrti has, in the same way as Reason, been divided into the sattvika, rajasa and tamasa classes [2]. Out of these, one has to discard the rajasa and tamasa stages, and to control the organs in order to make one's Reason sattvika. Therefore, the place, method of sitting, and the food, proper for the performance of this Yoga in the form of practising control over the organs, have been described in the sixth chapter of the Gita. And, it is further stated in the Gita that when practice has been performed in this way sanaih, sanaih" [3], i. e., gradually, the Mind (citta) becomes steady, and the organs come under one's control ; and thereafter, after the lapse of a considerable length of time (not at once), one realises the identity of the Brahman and the Atman ; and by the acquisition of Knowledge, the bondage of Karma is broken : "atmavantam na karmani nibadhnanti dhananjaya", i. e., "such a person who has realised the Atman, cannot be bound by Karma [4] But, because the Blessed Lord has prescribed the practice of Yoga in solitude 1 [5], one must not understand the import of the Glta as being that one should give up all the activities in the world, and spend one's life in the practice of Yoga. Just as a merchant starts business with what little capital he has, and gradually acquires vast wealth by such business, so also is the case of the practice of Karma-Yoga prescribed in the Gita. This Karma- Yoga has got to be started by exercising as much control over the organs as is possible, and thereby, gradually, more and more of control over the organs is acquired. At the same time, it is also not proper to always sit in a gossiping place ; because, thereby the habit of concentration, which has been acquired by the Mind, is likely to weaken. Therefore, when one is continually practising Karma- Yoga, it is necessary to spend sometime every day or at intervals in solitude [6]. But, the Blessed Lord nowhere says, that for that purpose one should give up one's ordinary activities in life. |
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