Gita Rahasya -Tilak 249

Gita Rahasya -Tilak

CHAPTER IX THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE ABSOLUTE SELF Those, who are in favour of any opinion other than the Non-Dualistic theory, aie perfectly welcome to accept it. I do not think that anything except a Non-Dualistic import could have been intended to be conveyed by those noble souls, who, after describing their self-experience in unmistakable terms by saying: "neha nariasti kimcana" , i. e., "there is no diversity of any kind in this world", and that whatever there is, is fundamentally "ekamevadvitiyam" , i. e., "one only, without a second", have gone further and said : "mrtyoh sa mrtyum apnoti ya iha naneva pasyati, that is, "he who sees diversity in this world, falls into the cycle of birth and death". But, though there is room for doubt whether all the Upanisads convey one and the same import, since there are different Upanisads of the different branches of the Vedas, one does not experience the same difficulty in the case of the Gita. As the Gita is a single work, it is clear that it expounds one kind of Vedanta ; and, when one considers what that Vedanta is, one has to interpret the Gita as expounding the Non-Dualistic doctrine that the only Reality is "That which remains over after all created things are destroyed" , and Which pervades on all sides all the material bodies (pinda ) as It pervades the Cosmos ( brahmanda ), . Nay, the principle of identifying everything with oneself (atmaupamya), which has been mentioned in the Gita, cannot be fully explained by any aspect of Vedanta other than a Non-Dualistic aspect. I do not mean to suggest that all the various philosophical speculations or doctrines, which were expounded at the time of Sri Samkaracarya, or after him, in support of the Non- Dualistic theory, have been accepted in toto in the Gita. The Gita was in existence before the Dualistic, Non-Dualistic and the Qualified-Monistic doctrines had been formulated; and I also accept the position that the Gita cannot, on that account, contain any doctrinal arguments belonging to any particular sect. But this does not prevent one from saying that the Vedanta expounded in the Gita is generally of the Non- Dualistic kind supported by the Samkara Bchool ( the school of Sri Samkaracarya ), and not Dualistic. But, although, from the point of view of philosophy, there is some common ground between the Gita and the Samkara school, yet, from the point of view of mode of life, the Gita gives higher importance to the doctrine of Action ( Karma-Yoga ) than to the doctrine of Renunciation of Action ( Karma-Samnyasa ) which is sup- ported by Samkaracarya. But, this subject-matter will be considered later on. What I am dealing with at present is the question of philosophy, and all that I have to say here is that this philosophy is of the same kind in the Glta as in the Samkara school, that is, it is Non-Dualistic; and that is the reason why the Samkarabhaaya on the Gita is considered more valuable than the other doctrinal commentaries.