Gita Rahasya -Tilak 520

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

CHAPTER XIV THE CONTINUITY OF THE CHAPTERS OF THE GITA Just as the form of the Ganges does not change whatever the number of rivers which come and join it, so also is the case with the Gita. Whatever it may contain, the Karma-Yoga ultimately remains the principal subject-matter of the Gita. But, though the Karma- Yoga is thus the principal subject of the Gita, yet, as the essence of the philosophy of Release has been beautifully described in it, side by side with the Philosophy of Action, the Blessed Lord has said to Arjuna, in the beginning of the Anugita, that this Gita religion, which was propounded to enable him to properly discriminate between the Doable and the Not-Doable is fully competent to place the Brahman within one's reach — " sa hi dharmah suparyapto brahmanah padavedane "  ; and that those who follow this path do not need any other arduous worship for attaining Release. I fully realise that this statement will not be appreciated by people who advocate the Path of Renunciation and who maintain that Release is impossible unless all Action is abandoned ; but there is no help for that. Not only does the Gita not support the Path of Samnyasa or any other path of renunciation, but, I will go further and say that the Gita has been preached in order to satisfactorily explain, from the point of view of the Knowledge of the Brahman, why Action should not be abandoned even after the Acquisition of Knowledge. Therefore, the followers of the Path of Renunciation must remain satisfied with the numerous Vedic treatises which support the Path of Samnyasa, instead of attempting to foist Samnyasa on the Gita. Or, just as the Blessed Lord has without pride referred to the Path of Renunciation in the Gita as leading to Release, so also and with the same equable frame of mind, should the followers of Samkhya philosophy say : "as the Paramesvara intends the world to go on, and as He from time to time takes incarnations for that purpose, the Path of carrying on the activities of worldly life , with a desireless frame of mind, even after the Acquisition of Knowledge, which has been preached by the Blessed Lord in the Gita, is the most proper path to be followed in the Kali-yuga".