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GITA-RAHASYA OR KARMA-YOGA
indifferent about the Fruit of Action--or, if the same meaning is conveyed in other words, the Karma-Yoga of the Gitā is sāttvika and the Karma-Yoga of the West is rājasa (Gi. 18. 23 and 24).
The Energistic path, or the Path of Karma-Yoga based on Spiritual Knowledge, of continually performing all worldly affairs as pure duties with the idea of dedicating them to the Parameśvara, and thereby making a sacrifice to, or worshipping lifelong, the Parameśvara, which has been preached by the Gītā, is known as the 'Bhāgavata religion'. The essence of this path is contained in the words: “sve sve karmany abhirataḥ samsiddhim labhate narah" (Gi. 18. 45). This doctrine has been propounded in the Vana-parya in the story of the Brahmin and the hunter (Vana, 208 ), and in the Santi-parva in the conversation between the merchant Tulādhāra and Jājali (Sān. 261) in the Mahābhārata, and even in the Manu-Smrti, after the enunciation of the path to be followed by ascetics, it is stated that this Karma-Yoga of the Vedantist ascetic (vedasamnyāsika) should also be followed, and that it will lead to Release (Manu, 6. 96, 97 ). It becomes clear from the word * veda-samnyāsika' (Vedantist ascetic), as also from the descriptions to be found in the Veda-Samhitās and in the Brāhmanas, that this path had been in vogue in our India from times immemorial. Nay, if it were otherwise, our country would never have reached that prosperity, which it had; for, it is clear that in any country whatsoever, the persons who wield the destinies of the country must be supporters of the Path of Action. But the important point of our Karma-Yoga is that even such nation-builders must, without giving up the Knowledge of the Brahman, keep Action inter-linked with it; and, as has been stated above, this path came to be called the ' Bhagavata religion,' because the Blessed Lord Bhagavān enunciated this path logically, and emphasised it, and gave it wide circulation. On the other hand, it becomes quite clear from the Upanisads that some Jñānins were inherently inclined from the very beginning towards the Path of Samnyāsa ; or at any rate, that after going through the state of a house-holder in the beginning, they, towards the end of their lives, used to conceive the desire of taking up Asceticism,
