Bhagvad Gita Rahasya or Karmayoga Shastra VOL 02

SR No.: 011090
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bhalchandra S Sukhtankar
Publisher: R B Tilak Puna
Publication Year: 1936
Total Pages: 767
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 74 MB

Page 56

626
GITA-RAHASYA OR KARMA-YOGA
put into the mouth of Sri Krsna a stanza or two containing such words as: "Hullo! what a nice thing you have said! I am very glad to notice your repentance! Come ; let us both give up this worldly life which is full of Action, and redeem our respective Selfs by the Path of Renunciation or the Path of Devotion!”; and he could have thus ended the Gītā. Then, if the war had taken place thereafter, and Vyasa had misemployed his speech by spending three years (Ma. Bhā. A. 62. 52) in describing it, Arjuna and Sri Krsna at any rate would not have been to blame for it. It is true that the thousands of warriors, collected together on the battle-field of Kuru, would have derided Arjuna and Sri Krsna; but, would a man who was bent on redeeming his own Self, pay even the slightest attention to such derision? Whatever the world said, the Upanisads themselves have said: "yad ahar eva virajet tad ahar eva pravrajet" (Jā. 4), i. e., "that moment when you repent, that very moment you should renounce the world, and not delay the matter". Even if one says that the repentance of Arjuna was not based on Self-Realisation, but on Ignorance (moha), yet, the fact that there was a repentance at all, would finish half the task; and it was not impossible for the Blessed Lord to remove his Ignorance and to give that repentance the foundation of Knowledge. Even among those who follow the Path of Renunciation or the Path of Devotion, there are examples of persons who have given up worldly life, as they had for some reason or other got tired of such life, and later on obtained complete perfection; and Arjuna could have been dealt with in the same way. One could easily have found in the field of Kuru, the handful of saffron colour necessary for colouring the clothes of Arjuna like those of a Samnyāsin, or the cymbals, drums, and other instruments necessary for him for singing the praises of the Blessed Lord.
But instead of doing so, Sri Krsna has on the contrary said to Arjuna in the beginning of the SECOND CHAPTER that: “O Arjuna, whence have you got this disastrous idea (kaśmala)? This impotency (klaibya) is unworthy of you! your reputation will go to dogs! therefore, give up this weakness (daurbalya) and stand up and fight!" But when in spite of that advice, Arjuna reiterated his previous unmanly