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)
The same was the advice of the Chinese philosopher La-O-Tse, who lived before Christ, and there are even stories of this having been done by Ekanatha Maharaj and others from among our Maratha saints. I have not the slightest intention of belittling the sacred importance of these examples, which show the highest development of the principle of forgiveness or peace. There is no doubt that the religion of Forgiveness will, just like the religion of Truth, always remain permanent and without exception in the ultimate or the most perfect state of society. Nay, we even see in the imperfect condition of our present society, that results are achieved on various occasions by peace, which cannot be achieved by anger. When, in trying to find out what warriors had come forward to help Duryodhana, Arjuna saw venerable persons like ancestors and preceptors among them, he realised that in order to circumvent the evil-doings of Duryodhana, he would lave to perform not only Action, but also the difficult action of killing by his weapons those preceptors who had sold themselves for money [1] ; and he began to say, that according to the rule, "na pape pratipapah syat", it was not proper for him to become an evil-doer because Duryodhana had become an evil-doer; and that "even if they kill me, it is proper for me to sit quiet with a 'non-inimical' mind" [2]. The religion of the Gita has been propounded solely for solving this doubt of Arjuna ; and on that account, we do not anywhere come across an exposition of this subject, similar to the exposition made in the Gita. For instance, both the Christian and the Buddhistic religions adopt the principle of Non-Enmity, as is done by the Vedic religion; but it is nowhere clearly stated either in the Buddhistic or in the Christian religious treatises, or at any rate not in so many words — that it is not possible for the conduct of a person, who gives up all Energistic Action and renounces the world, disregarding universal welfare and even self-preservation, to be in all respects the same as the conduct of the Karma-yogin, who, notwithstanding that his Reason has become non-inimical and unattached, takes part in all Energistic activities with that same non-inimical, and unattached Reason. On the other hand, Western moralists find it very difficult to harmonise properly the advice of Non-Enmity given by Christ with worldly morality, [3] and Nietzsche, a modern German philosopher, has fearlessly stated his opinion in his works, that the ethical principle of Non-Enmity is a slavish and destructive principle, and that the Christian religion, which gives a high place to that principle, has emasculated Europe. But, if one considers our religious treatises, one sees that the idea, that the two ethical and religious courses of Renunciation and Energism are to be distinguished from each other in this matter, was accepted by and was well-known not only to the Gita but even to Manu. Because, Manu has prescribed the rule, "krudhyan tam na pratikrudhyet", i.e., "do not become angry in return towards one who has become angry towards you" (Manu. 6. 48), only for Samnyasins, and not for the householder or in regal science.
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