Srimad Bhagavadgita-Rahasya OR Karma-Yoga-Sastra -Bal Gangadhar Tilak
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CHAPTER XII
THE STATE AND THE ACTIVITIES OF THE SIDDHA (PERFECT)
Persons who live only according to the times, and without taking into account the absolute form of Ethical principles, will be in the same position as sailors on a ship, who guide the rudder on the boundless ocean, considering only the waves and the wind, and without taking into account the compass, which shows the cardinal directions, or the Polar star. Therefore, even consider ing everything from the Materialistic point of view, it is necessary to first fix some principle of Ethics, which is unchangeable and permanent like the Polar star; and once this necessity has been admitted, the entire Materialistic argument falls to the ground. Because, as all enjoyment of objects of pleasure which causes pain or happiness falls into the Name-d and Form-ed, and therefore, the non-permanent or perishable category of illusory objects, no principle of Ethics based on such enjoyment, that is, on merely external effects, can be permanent Such Ethical principles must go on changing as the ideas of the material, external, pain and happiness on which they are based, change. Therefore, if one has to escape from, this perpetually changing state of Ethics, one must not take into account the enjoyment of objects of pleasure in this illusory world, but must stand on the sole Metaphysical foundation of the principle, "there is only one Atman in all created things"; because, as has been stated before in the ninth chapter, there is nothing in this world which is perma nent except the Atman ; and the Bame is the meaning conveyed by the statement of Vyasa : " dharmo nityah sukhaduhkhe tv anitye", i. e., "the rules of Ethics or of pure behaviour are immutable, and happiness and unhappiness are transient and mutable". It is true that in a society which is full of cruel and avaricious persons, it is not possible to fully observe- the immutable Ethical laws of harmlessness, truth, etc.; but one cannot blame these Ethical laws for that. Just as one cannot, from the fact that the shade of an object cast by the Sun's rays is flat on a flat surface, but is undulating on an undulating surface, draw the inference that the shade must be originally undulating, so can one not, from the fact that one does not come across the purest form of Ethics in a society of unprincipled persons, draw the inference that the imperfect state of Ethics which we come accross in an imperfect society is the principal or the original form of Ethics. The fault here is not of Ethics, but of the society ; therefore, those who are wise, do not quarrel with pure and permanent laws of Ethics but apply their efforts towards elevating society, so as to- bring it to the ultimate highest state. |
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