Srimad Bhagavadgita-Rahasya OR Karma-Yoga-Sastra -Bal Gangadhar Tilak
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CHAPTER XIII
THE PATH OF DEVOTION
In this story, there is a description that when Baskali asked Bahva the question: " My lord, explain to me, please, what the Brahman is", Bahva would not give any answer. Though Baskali repeated that question, Bahva was still silent. When- this had happened three or four times, Bahva said to Baskali : "I have been all this while giving an answer to your question, and yet you ' do not understand it. What more can I do ? The form of the Brahman cannot be described in any way, and therefore, remaining quiet and not giving any description of it, is the truest description of the Brahman. Have you now understood it ?" [1]. In short, how is a man possessing only an ordinary Reason to- realise this indescribable, unimaginable Parabrahman, which is absolutely different from the visible world ( drsyasrsti vilaksana), and which can be described only by keeping quiet, which can be seen only after the eyes have ceased to see, and which can be Realised only after one has ceased to Realise ? [2] ; and how is a man to thereby acquire the. state of Equability and afterwards attain Release ? If there is no means except a keen intelligence for realising by personal experience and in all its bearings, the form of the Paramesvara described by the words "there is only one Atman in all created beings", and for thereby attaining the highest excellence, then, millions of people in the world must give up the hope of attaining the Brahman, and sit quiet; because, highly intelligent people are necessarily always few. If one says that it 'will be enough to place reliance on what these scients say, we come across numerous differences of opinion even among the scients. Besides, if one says that it is enough to merely place such reliance, it necessarily follows that the path of 'faith' or 'belief' is open for acquiring this recondite Knowledge, in addition to the path of Reason ; and really- speaking, it will be seen that Knowledge does not become complete or even fruitful without Religious Faith (sraddha). That all Knowledge is acquired merely by Intelligence, and that no other mental faculties are necessary for that purpose is an idle belief of certain philosophers, whose minds have become crude as a result of life-long contact with sciences based on inferential reasoning. For instance,, let us take the proposition that, ' to-morrow morning the Sun will rise again. |
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