Gita Rahasya -Tilak
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CHAPTER III
THE SCIENCE OF RGHT ACTION
(KARMA-YOGA-SASTRA) A writer, who has written in English the history of the Devil, has said in his book that if one considers the history of the warfare between the supporters of the gods and of the Devil, we see that very often the gods (devas) have cheated the non-gods (daityas) ; and in the same way, in the kausitaki-Brahmanopanisad [1], Indra says to Pratardana : "I have killed Vrtra (although he was a Brahmin) ; I have torn into pieces the ascetic Arunmukha, and thrown the lives ; and, breaking all the various treaties which had been made by me, I have killed the friends and clansmen of prahlada and also killed the demons named Pauloma and yet on that account, " tasya me tatra na loma ca mamiyate i. e., " not a hair of my head has been touched ". if some one says: "You have no occasion to consider the evil doings of these venerable persons, but, as stated in the Taittiriyopanisad [2], imitate only their good actions, and neglect the rest ; for instance, obey your father, as was done by Parasurama, but do not kill your mother ", then, the primary question of how good actions are to be differentiated from bad actions again arises. Therefore, after laving described his various deeds as mentioned above, Indra says to Pratardana : "Bearing in mind that that man who has fully Realised his Self is not prejudicially affected by patricide, matricide, infanticide, theft, or any other sinful actions, try and realise in the first instance what the Atman is, so that all your doubts will be answered" ; and he has thereafter explained to Pratardana the science of the Atman. In short, although the precept "mahajano yena gatah sa panthah" may be easy to follow for ordinary persons, yet it does not meet all possible contingencies ; and thoughtful persons have ultimately to enter into the Philosophy of the Atman (atma-jnana) and ascertain the true principle underlying the actions of the venerable persons (maliajanah), however deep that principle may be. It is for this reason that the advice : "m devacaritam caret ".i.e., "one must not follow only the external actions of gods", is given, Some persons have hit upon an easier way for determining the doable and the not-doable. They Bay that whatever virtue is taken, we must always take care against excess of it, foT such excess turns a virtue into a vice. Charity is a virtue; but, " atidanad balir baddkah ", i. e., " because of too much charity, Bali was undone ". |
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