Gita Rahasya -Tilak
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CHAPTER XI
RENUNCITATION AND KARMA-YOGA
The case would be different if some persons left society and went to live in the forest for want of physical strength; and that must have been the idea of Manu in relegating Renunciation (samnyasa) to old age. But, as has been stated above, this beneficial limit was not observed. Therefore, although the writers of the Smrtis had created the rising ladder of the four states, in order to harmonise the two-fold .order of the Vedas, viz., to perform Action, and to give up Action, the Blessed Lord, who was undoubtedly as competent, or even more competent that the writers of the Smrtis, to harmonise these dictates of the Vedas, has Himself revived, and fully supported, in the form of the Bhagavata religion, the Path which combines Karma with Jnana, and which was followed by Janaka and others in ancient times. The difference between the two is, that in the Bhagavata doctrine, reliance is not placed only on Metaphysical ideas, but the additional easy remedy of Devotion to Vasudeva has been added. But, a detailed discussion of this matter will be made later on in the -thirteenth chapter. Although the Bhagavata religion is Devotional, yet, as it has adopted the important principle enunciated in the Path prescribed by Janaka, namely, that after the acquisition of the Knowledge of the Paramesvara, a Jnanin should not take to Sarhnyasa in the shape of Abandonment of Action, but should go on desirelessly perfor- ming all his activities till death for universal welfare, giving Tip the Hope for Fruit of Action ( phalasa ), both paths are identical from the point of view of Karma, that is to say, they both embody the union of Jnana with Karma, or are Activistic. As the first protagonists of this Activistic religion were the two Rsis, Nara and Narayana, who were living incarnations of the Parabrahman, the ancient name of this religion is the 'Narayaniya Religion'. Though, both these Rsis had acquired the highest Knowledge, they advised people to perform Action desirelessly, and did so themselves [1]; and therefore, this religion has been described in the Mahabharata by saying: "pravrttilaksanas caiva dharmo narayanatmakah" [2] , or, " pravrttilaksanam dharmam rsir narayano 'bravit" — the religion propounded by the Rsi Narayana was life- long Activistic.[3] This religion is the Satvata or Bhagavata religion, and it has been clearly stated in the Bhagavata, that the form of this Satvata or original Bhagavata religion was 'naiskarmya-laksana', that is, desirelessly Activistic.[4] This Activistic. path was also known as 'Yoga', as is clear from the line- "pravrttilaksano yogah jnanam samnyasalaksanam" in the; Anugita [5]; and, that is why the religion propounded in the Gita by Sri Krsna, who was the incarnation, of Narayana, to Arjuna, who was the incarnation of Kara, has- been called 'Yoga' in the Gita itself. |
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