Srimad Bhagavadgita-Rahasya OR Karma-Yoga-Sastra -Bal Gangadhar Tilak
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CHAPTER XIII
THE PATH OF DEVOTION
Those commentators on the Gita, who follow the Path of Devotion, disregard this doctrine ; and in their works, they explain the purport of the Gita to be, that Karma or Action is inferior and Devotion is paramount. But, this summary drawn by commentators pertaining to the School of Devotion, is as one-sided as that drawn by the followers of the School of Renunciation. The Path of Devotion mentioned in the Gita is based on Action, and the most important principle in it is, That the worship of the Paramesvara is made not only by speech or by flowers, but also by Desireless Actions, pertinent to one's own status in life ; and that such a worship must necessarily be performed by everybody. And, as this principle of Devotion cum Action has not been enunciated anywhere else in the same way as in the Gita, this must be considered to be the characteristic of the Philosophy of Devotion mentioned in the Gita. Although in this way, I have established a complete consonnance between the Path of Knowledge and the Path of Devotion from the point of view of Karma-Yoga, yet, I must, before concluding, clearly mention the one important factor which is to be found in the Philosophy of Devotion in addition to those found in the Philosophy of Knowledge. As the Path of Knowledge is based entirely on Intelligence, it becomes difficult to follow for ordinary persons of poor intelligence ; and, as has been stated above, it is easy for everybody to follow the Path of Devotion, as it is based on Faith, and is accessible by love, and visible. But, there is another difficulty in the Path of Knowledge besides its being difficult to follow. If one considers the Mimamsa of Jaimini, or the Upanisads, or the Vedanta-Sutras, they are full of discussions about sacrificial ritual prescribed by the Srutis, or about the Parabrahman in the form of "neti, neti" (i. e., "It is not this, It is not that " —Trans.), which are based on Abandon ment of Action ; and they have ultimately laid down that the right of performing sacrificial ritual prescribed by the Srutis as a means of acquiring heaven, as also of reciting the Vedas and the Upanisads, which was necessary for obtaining Release, belonged only to the three upper classes [1] How the women belonging to these three classes, or the ordinary men and women engaged in agriculture, and other occupations, for the benefit of society, according to the arrangement of the four castes, are to obtain Release, is a Question which has not been considered in these books. Well ; if one says that women and Sudras can never attain Release because the Vedas are thus inaccessible to them, then, there are statements in the Upanisads that Gargi and other women obtained Perfection by acquiring Knowledge; and there are statements in the Puranas that Vidura and other Sudras did likewise [2] |
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