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806
GITA-RAHASYA OR KARMA-YOGA
Worldly Life? The reply of Buddha to this question is that a good doctor first determines the root cause of any disease, and then removes that cause in order to cure the disease. In the same way, in order to cure the disease of worldly unhappiness, a wise man must (3) understand what the cause of that unhappiness is, and (4) follow that path by which that cause can be totally destroyed. Now, when one considers the question of the cause of this unhappiness, one sees that Thirst or Desire is the root of all the unhappiness in the world, and that when once the Name-d and Form-ed Body has been destroyed, other Name-d and Form-ed Bodies come into existence one after the other from this seed of Desire, which survives the destruction of the Name-d and Form-ed body. And Buddha has come to the conclusion that (i) in order to escape the painful cycle of birth and death, the path of becoming a Samnyāsin or a bhiksu, after having destroyed Desire by control of the organs, by meditation, and by asceticism, becomes the only true path; and that (ii) eternal peace and happiness can be reached only by this Renunciation based on indifference to worldly life. In short, Buddhism does not attach any importance to sacrificial ritual etc., nor to the meditation on the Ātman and the NonĀtman; but rests on the four visible factors, (i) the fact of the existence of worldly unhappiness, (ii) the cause of such unhappiness, (iii) the necessity of controlling or removing it, and (iv) the means in the shape of Renunciation, for totally doing away with it; or, in Buddhistic terminology, on 'unhappiness' (duḥkha), 'origin of unhappiness' (samudaya), 'control of unhappiness' (nirodha), and 'the path of destroying it'(märga); and Buddha has called these four fundamental elements of his religion, the 'Sublime Verities' (ūrya-satya). Although the Buddhistic religion is in this way founded on the visible foundation of the four 'Sublime Verities', instead of on the Upanisadic Knowledge of the Atman, yet, as the Path (the fourth Verity) proached by Buddha for acquiring eternal peace or happiness, namely, the path of making the Mind desireless by destroying Thirst or Desire, is the same as the path mentioned in the Upanisads for obtaining Release, it becomes quite Olear that Desirelessness of the Mind is the ultimate visible ideal according to both these religions. But the writers of
