Gita Rahasya -Tilak
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CHAPTER X
THE EFFECT OF KARMA AND FREEDOM OF WILL
At present, we do not attach much importance to these ideas, because the Sruti religion of sacrificial ritual is not now in vogue. But, as the state of things was different at the time of the Gita, the importance of this circle of sacrifice has been described as above in the Bhagavadgita [1]. Nevertheless, it becomes clear from the Gita, that as a result of the Knowledge conveyed in the Upanisads this Karma ritual had even then acquired an inferior place from the point of view of Release (2. 41-46); and this inferiority has increased late, on by the growth of the doctrine of non- sacrifice (ahimsa). It is clearly mentioned in the Bhagavata religion, that although sacrificial ritual is prescribed by the Vedas, the appurtenant slaughter of animals is not a proper thing, and that the ritual should be performed by offering only grain [2]. On that account, and also to soma extent, because the Jains later on raised the same kind of objection), the ritual prescribed by the Srutis has at present reached such a state, that persons who keep burning a perpetual fire as prescribed by the Srutis ( that is. agnihotrins) are rarely to be come across even in sacred places like Benares, and one hears that somebody has performed an animal sacrifice like the Jyotistoma, only sometimes in 20 or 25 years. Yet, as the Sruti religion is the root of all Vedic religion, the respect felt for it still continues, and the Sutras of Jaimini have become authoritative as a science explaining its meaning. But, although the Sruti ritual has in this way fallen into the back-ground, the other ritual mentioned in Smrtis like the Manu-Smrti etc.— which is known as the five principal sacrifi- cial rites ( panca mahayajna )— is still in vogue; and the same argument is applied to them as to the cycle of sacrificial ritual prescribed by the Srutis mentioned above. For instance, Manu and other Smrti writers have mentioned five daily sacrificial rites to be performed at home, which do not entail the slaughter of animals, namely, the study of the Vedas as a brahma-yajna, oblations to the ancestors as a pitr-yajna, oblations into the fire as a deva-yajna, offering of food as bali as a bhuta-yajna, and entertaining guests as a manusya-yajna; and the ritual prescribed for a man in the state of a householder is, that he should partake of food after he has in this way satisfied respectively the Rsis, the ancestors, the deities, the spirits of the departed, and men, by these five sacrifices. [3]. The food which remains over after the performance of these sacrifices is known as 'amrta', and the food which remains over after everybody has eaten is known as 'vighasa' [4]. |
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