Karma Yoga Sastra -Tilak
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CHAPTER III
THE SCIENCE OF RGHT ACTION
(KARMA-YOGA-SASTRA) The well-known Greek philosopher Aristotle has in his book on Ethics prescribed the same test for distinguishing between the doable and the not- doable ; and he has clearly shown how every virtue, in excess, is the cause of one's undoing. Even Kalidasa has come to the conclusion [1] that courage, pure and simple, is like the cruel behaviour of an animal like a tiger ; and morality, pure and simple, is nothing else but cowardice ; and that the king Atithi, used to rule by a judicious admixture of the sword and regal jurisprudence. If a man speaks too much, he is talkative, if he speaks too little, he is reserved ; if he spends too much, he is a spendthrift, if he spends too little, he is a miser ; if he is too advanced, he is wayward, and if he lags behind, he is a laggard ; if he insists on anything too much, he is obstinate, and if he insists too little, he is fickle ; if he is too accommodating, he makes himself cheap, and if he remains stiff, then he is proud : this is how Bhartrhari and •others have described some good and bad qualities. However, such a rule of the thumb does not overcome all difficulties, because, who is to decide what is 'too much', and what is ^moderate' ? What may be 'too much' for one or on any parti- cular occasion, may be too little for another person or on another occasion. Jumping into the firmament at the moment of his birth in order to catch hold of the Sun was as nothing to Maruti [2]. Therefore, as the syena bird advised the King Sibi, every man, when faced with the discernment between the duty (dharmal and the non-duty (adharrna) should on every occasion consider the relative merits and the importance or unimportance of mutually conflicting duties, [3] and intelligently arrive at a conclusion as to the true duty or proper Action :— avirodhat tu yo dliarmah sa dharmah satyavikrama I virodhisu mahlpala itiscitya gurulaghawm I na iadha vidyate yatra tarn dharrmni samupaearet II |
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