Gita Rahasya -Tilak 441

Srimad Bhagavadgita-Rahasya OR Karma-Yoga-Sastra -Bal Gangadhar Tilak

CHAPTER XII THE STATE AND THE ACTIVITIES OF THE SIDDHA (PERFECT) It is true that the discrimination between the outward effects of Action, is a sign of wisdom and far-sightedness. But, far- sightedness is not synonymous with Ethics; and, therefore, our philosophers have come to the conclusion that the true basis of Proper Action does not lie in the mere mercenary process of discriminating between different external Actions; and that' the HIGHEST IDEAL (paramartha) in the shape of Equability oft Reason, is the fundamental basis of Ethics; and one comes to the same conclusion if one properly considers what the most perfect state of the Personal Self (jivatman), is ; because, though many persons are adepts in the art of robbing each other by avarice, nobody says that this cleverness, or the futile Knowledge of the Brahman, consisting of knowing in what?- 'the greatest good of the greatest number' lies, is the highest ideal of everyone in this world. That man alone is the highest of men, whose Reason is pure. Nay; one may even say that the man, who, without having a- stainless, non-inimical, and pure mind, is only engrossed in the calculating discrimination between outward Actions, runs the risk of becoming a- hypocrite . If one accepts Equability of Reason, as the basis of the philosophy of Karma-Yoga, this objection, does not arise. It is true that by taking Equability of Reason as the fundamental basis, one has to consult saints for' determining between morality and immorality, in circum stances of exceptional difficulty; but there is no help for that. Just as when a man is down with a very serious illness, its diagnosis or treatment is impossible without the help of a clever doctor so also will it be futile for an- ordinary person to proudly imagine that he will be able to arrive at a faultless decision between morality and immorality, without the help of saints, and merely on the basis of the principle of 'the greatest good of the greatest number', when there is a difficult and doubtful situation. One must always increase Equability of Reason by constant practice;, and when the minds of all the human beings in the world gradually reach the state of perfect Equability in this way, the Krtayuga will start, and the highest ideal or the most perfect state of the human race will be reached by everyone. The philosophy of the Duty and Non-Duty has been evolved for this purpose ; and, therefore, the edifice of that philosophy must also be based on the foundation of Equability of Reason. But, even if one does not go so deep as that, but only considers Ethics from the point of view of the test of public opinion, the theory of Equability of Reason expounded in the Gita, is seen to be more valuable and more consistent with fundamental principles, than the Western Materialistic or Intuitionist philosophies, as will be apparent from the comparative examination of these different principles made by me later on in the fifteenth chapter. But, before coming to that subject, I shall deal with one important part of the explanation of the import of the Gita, which still remains to be dealt with.