Karma Yoga Sastra -Tilak
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CHAPTER XI
RENUNCITATION AND KARMA-YOGA
See for instance, the statements: "etad vai jaramaryam satram ,yad agnihotram", i. e„ "this sacrifice in the shape of the sacrificial fire (agnihotra) must be kept alive till death" [1]; . or "prajatantum ma vyavatchhetsih." . i. e. "do not break the thread of thy generation" [2]; or "isavasyam idam sarvam", i. e., "whatever is in this world, should be located' into the Paramesvara, that is to say, one should realise that it is of the Paramesvara and not of oneself"; and, with this desireless frame of mind, kurvan neveha karmani jijivisec chatam samah I evam tvayi nanyatheto 'sti na karma lipyate nare II [3] that is, "one should entertain the desire of living upto a hundred years, which is the limit of the life of man, whilst performing. Actions; and when Actions are performed 'evam', that is, with that isavasya (god-dedicating) frame of mind, they will not- have a binding force (lepa) on you (on any human being), and there is no other way for escaping (that lepa or bondage)". But, when one leaves the Karma-kanda and moves on to the Jnana-kanda, one also comes across contradictory statements in the same Vedic treatises, such as, "brahmavidapnoti param" [4], i. e., "Release is obtained by Knowledge of the Brahman" ; or, "nanyah pantha vidyate 'yanaya" [5], i. e., "there is ,no "other path, except Knowledge, for obtaining Release" ; or "purve vidvamsah prajam na kamayante l kim prajaya karisyamo yesam no 'yamatma 'yam loka iti te ha sma putraisanayas ca vittaisanayas ca lokaisartayas ca vyutthayatha bhiksacaryam caranti" [6], i. e., "the scients of yore did not have any desire for children ; they used to- say: 'as we see that the whole world is nothing but our Atman, why should we have any (other) generation ?' and, without entertaining the 'esana', that is, desire, for wealth,, children, heaven, and the other spheres, such scients used to renounce those things, and roam about the world at will begging for alms" ; or, "such persons, who have thus become ascetics, attain Release [7] ; or, ultimately "yad ahar eva virajet tad ahar eva pravrajet" (Jaba. 4), i. e., "on such day as your mind beoomes apathetic, on that day you should renounce the world", As the directions of the Vedas are in this way two-fold [8], it becomes necessary to see whether there is some other means of deciding which of the two paths,- namely, Activism (pravrtti) or Renunciation (nivrtti), Karma-Yoga or Samkhya, is superior. The question could have been decided by considering the 'acara', that is, the conduct, usage, or custom of well-behaved persons (sista) ; but, in this matter, even the conduct of such persons is seen to be two-fold. It is clear from history that Suka, Yajnavalkya, and others had taken to the Path of Renunciation, whereas Janaka, Sri Krsna, Jaigisavya and other scients had adopted the Path of Action.
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