Srimad Bhagavadgita-Rahasya OR Karma-Yoga-Sastra -Bal Gangadhar Tilak
|
CHAPTER XII
THE STATE AND THE ACTIVITIES OF THE SIDDHA (PERFECT)
According to Metaphysics, when a man's Reason has become desireless and has reached the state -of equability, he does not of his own accord do harm to anybody; and if somebody is harmed as a result of something which he does, that harm is the result of the Karma of such other person; or in other words, the desireless Sthitaprajna does not, by the act which he performs in these circumstances — even if it appears as terrible as matricide, or the murder of a preceptor— incur the bondage or the taint of the good or evil effects of the act.' [1]. The rules of self-defence included in criminal law are based on the same principle. There is a tradition about Manu that when he was requested by people to become a king, he at first said : “ do not wish to become a king for punishing persons who commit sins, and to thereby incur sin"; but when in return, "tam abruvan prajah ma bhlh kartrneno gamisyati [2], that is, "people said to him: 'do not be afraid, the sinner will incur the sin, and you will acquire the merit of having protected the people", and, when on top of it, they further gave him a promise that : " we will give' to you toy way of taxes that amount which will have to be expended for the protection of the people", he consented to become a king. In short, the natural laws of a reaction being equal in intensity and effect to the action, which is seen in the lifeless world, is translated into the principle of 'measure for measure' in the living world. Those ordinary persons whose Mind has not reached the state of equability, add their feeling of mine ness (mamatva) to this law of Cause and Effect, and making the counterblow stronger than the blow, take their revenge for the blow; or if the other person is weak, they are ready to take advantage of some trifling or imaginary affront, and rob him to their own advantage, under pretext of retaliation. But, if a. man, whose Mind has become free from the feelings of revenge, enmity, or pride, or free from the desire of robbing the weak as a result of anger, avarice, or hatred, or free from the desire of obstinately making an exhibition of one's greatness,, authority, or power, which inhabits the minds of ordinary people, merely turns back a stone which has been thrown at him, that does not disturb the peacefulness, non-inimicality,. and equability of his Mind; and it is on the other hand his duty, from the point of view of universal welfare, to take such retaliatory action, for the purpose of preventing the predo minance of wrong-doers and the consequent persecution of the weak in the world [3]; and the summary of the entire teaching of the Gita is that : even the most horrible warfare which may be carried on in these circumstances, with an equable state of mind, is righteous and meritorious.
|
|
