Gita Rahasya -Tilak 375

Gita Rahasya -Tilak

CHAPTER XI RENUNCITATION AND KARMA-YOGA Although the Upanisads are Vedic, yet, they are later in point of time than the Samhitas and the Brahmanas, as is clear from the method of dealing with the subject-matter adopted in them. It is not that people had not acquired the Knowledge of the Paramesvara before that date. But the opinion that a man should apathetically abandon lotion, after the acquisition of Knowledge, in order to attain Release, first began to be acted upon only at the time of the Upanisads ; and thereafter, the Karma-kanda described in the Samhitas and in the Brahmanas came to be looked upon as inferior. Before that date, Karma was considered superior. When the Path of Samnyasa, that is, of Knowledge coupled with apathy towards the world, thus became preponderant in the time of the Upanisads, Jnanins naturally began to neglect ritualistic sacrifices, as also the religious injunctions prescribed for the four castes; and the idea that universal welfare (lokasamgraha) was a duty, began to lose ground. It is true that the writers of the Smrtis have stated in their works, that the sacrificial Karma enjoined in the Srutis, and the duties proper for the four castes enjoined in the Smrtis must be performed during the state of a householder ; and they have in that way praised that state. But, as even according to the writers of the Smrtis, indifference towards the world, or the state of Asceticism, was excellent, it was not possible that the inferiority placed on the Karma-kanda by the Upanisads, should be reduced by the arrangement of the four stages of life enjoined in the Smrtis. In this state things the Gita has come forward to harmonise the Jnana- kanda with the Karma-kanda, without deprecating either, by- tacking on both of them to Devotion. The Gita accepts the doctrines of the writers of the Upanisads that there is no Release without Jnana, and that by sacrificial ritualistic Karma, one can at most attain heaven . But, it is also a doctrine of the Gita, that in order that the affairs of the world should go on, the wheel of Yajnas, or of Karma, must be kept going on; and that it is foolish to give up Karma at any time; and therefore,, the Gita advises that instead of performing the sacrificial ritual and other acts prescribed by the Srutis, or the worldly activity enjoined by the arrangement of the four castes,, merely with religious faith and ignorantly, one should perform them with a frame of mind which combines Spiritual- Knowledge with indifference towards the world and merely as- a duty, so that the Karma which is performed will not obstruct Release, and at the same time, the circle of the Yajnas will- not be disrupted.