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702
GĪTĀ-RAHASYA OR KARMA-YOGA
the Non-Dualistic Vedānta, that one must also accept the. doctrine of Renunciation. For instance, not only were Janaka and others, who had fully learnt the Non-Dualistic Vedānta from Yājñavalkya and others, followers of the Path of Action, but even the Gītā has advocated the path of Action based on Spiritual Knowledge, instead of advocating the Path of Renunciation, although it has adopted the doctrine of the Realisation of the Non-Dual Brahman from the Upanisads Therefore, it must be first borne in mind that the accusation against the School of Samkarācārya that it encouraged Renunciation, does not apply to the Non-Dualistic basis of that cult, but may probabely be ranged against the doctrine of Renunciation included in the cult. Although this Path of Renunciation was not something new which had been invented by Sri Samkarācārya, yet, it is true that he removed the inferiority which had become attached to it, as it had been included among the things prohibited in the Kali-yuga. But, if the Path of Renunciation had not acquired favour with people before the date of Samkarācārya for some other reason, it is doubtful whether his advocacy of Renunciation would have gained as much ground as it hid. Christ has said that when one cheek has been slapped, one should proffer the other cheek also for being slapped (Luke. 6. 29). But if one considers how many followers of this position are to be found among the European kingdoms, it will be seen that something does, not come into vogue merely because a religious preacher has praised it, but that there are at first some other substantial reasons why the minds of people are attracted towards it, and why there is thereafter a change in the public customs, and a sympathetic change in the religious rules. This is what is meant by the saying in the Smrtis that 'Custom is the root of law or religion'. Schopenhauer sponsored the Path of Renunciation in Germany in the last century; but we find that that seed has not even yet taken root in that country; and Nietzsche has found greater favour there than Schopenhauer; and even if we turn to India, we find that although the Path of Samnyāsa was already in vogue in the times of the Vedas long before Samkarācārya, it had never put the Karma-Yoga into the shade. It is true that there are directions in the Smrtis
