Gita Rahasya -Tilak 38

Gita Rahasya -Tilak

CHAPTER II THE DESIRE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ACTION (KARMA-JIJNASA) i. e., "Brahmins should expiate that sin by offering the 'Saras- vata' oblation". Those learned Western philosophers who have not been surprised by the exceptions to the law of Harmlessness, have attempted to blame our law-givers on account of the exceptions to the law of Truth ! I will, therefore, explain here what, authoritative Christian preachers and Western writers on. Ethics have said on this subject. The following words of St. Paul who was a disciple of Christ namely : for, if the truth of" God hath more abounded through my lie unto His glory ; why yet am I also judged as a sinner ? " are to- be found in the New Testament of the Bible ; and Millman, who has written a history of the Christian religion says that ancient Christian preachers very often followed the same principle. Moralists will not in the present times, as a rule,, consider it justifiable to delude people or to cheat them and convert them. Nevertheless, even they do not say that the law of Truth is without exception. Take, for instance, the book on. Ethics written by the scholar Sidgwick, which is being taught in our colleges. Sidgwick decides questions of morality, where there are doubts as to what is doable and what not-doable, by the rule of the ' greatest happiness of the greatest number' ; and by the test of that principle he has ultimately laid down that : "We do not think that truth ought always to be told to children, or madmen, or invalids, or by advocates ; and we are not sure that we are bound to tell it to enemies or robbers, or even to persons who ask question which they know they have no right to ask (if a mere refusal to answer would practically reveal an important secret)".. Sidgwick also says in his book that : "Again, though we esteem candour and scrupulous sincerity in most persons, we scarcely look for them in a diplomatist who has to conceal secrets, or in a tradesman describing his goods, (for purchasers can find out the defects of what they buy)". * In a third place, he says that similar exceptions are made in favour of Christian missionaries and soldiers. Leslie Stephen, another Western writer, who discusses Ethics from the material point of view, gives other similar illustrations and says ultimately that : " It seems to me that the known consequences of an action must always be relevant to its morality. If I were absolutely certain that a lie would do good, I should certainly hesitate before speaking the truth, and the certainty might be of such a kind as to make me think it a duty to lie ". Green, who has considered the subject of Ethics from the metaphysical (adhyatma) point of view, definitely says with reference to such occasions, that in these cases the principles of Ethics do not satisfy the doubts of men ; and ultimately comes to the conclusion that : " A true Moral Philosophy does not recognize any value in conformity to the universal rule, simply as such, but only in that which ordinarily issues in such conformity, viz., the readiness to sacrifice every lower inclination in the desire to do right for the sake of doing it ". The same is the opinion of other Western writers on Ethics, such as, Bain, Whewell, and others. § If you compare the rules laid down by the Western philosophers mentioned above, with the rules laid down by our lawgivers, you will clearly see who had greater respect for Truth. It is true that our religions texts (Sastras) say :- na narmayuktain vacanam hinasti na strisu rajan na vivahakale I pranatyaye sarvadhanapahare pancanrtuny ahur apatakani II