Gita Rahasya -Tilak 314

Karma Yoga Sastra -Tilak

CHAPTER X THE EFFECT OF KARMA AND FREEDOM OF WILL The 'amrta' and the 'vighasa' is the proper and beneficial food for the householder; and it is stated not only in he Manu-Smrti, but also in the Rg-Veda and in the Gita, that if a person does not follow this precept, but eats food only by himself, he eats 'agha' or sin, and he is to be known as 'aghasi' . Besides, these five principal sacrifices, the Upanisads and the Smrtis also consider other acts which are productive of public benefit, such as, charity, truth, kindness, and non-slaughter as proper for the householder ; and, in these texts we find the clear statement : "prajatantum ma vyavacehetsih", i. e., "enlarge thy family, and perpetuate thy generation." All these Actions are looked upon as a kind of sacrifice, and the Taittiriya-Samhita explains the reason for performing them by saying that a Brahmin comes to birth with three kinds of indebtedness, namely, to the IRsis, to the deities, and to his ancestors. Of these, the .indebtedness to the Rsis must be satisfied by the study of the Vedas; the indebtedness to the deities, by sacrifice ; and the indebtedness to the ancestors, by procreation ; otherwise, there is no Release for him . There is a story in the Adiparva of the Mahabharata that Jaratkaru did not follow this precept but started austere religious practices before marrying; that, as a result of his having thus destroyed his possible children, he saw his ancestors named Yayavara dangling in the air; and that, in. performance of their injunctions, he later on married. . It is not that all this Karma or sacrifice is to be performed only by Brahmins; and as even women and Sudras are competent to perform all other Karma, except the Vedic sacrificial ritual, all the Karma performed according to the classification of the four castes made by the writers of the Smrtis — e. g., warfare by Ksatriyas etc. — is also a YAJNA. (sacrifice); and the word YAJNA has been used in this comprehensive meaning in these texts. Manu has said that whatever is proper for anyone, is his religious austerity. ; and it is stated in the Mahabharata that: urambhayajnah ksatras ca haviryajna visah smrtah I paricarayajnah sudras ca japayajna dvijatayah II