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1060
GĪTĀ-RAHASYA OR KARMA-YOGA
women, Vaisyas, and Śūdras, because no one is born as a woman, or a Vaisya, or a Sūdra, unless he has committed some sin in previous births. According to them, the word *pāpayoni' is a common word, and women, Vaisyas, and Sūdras, are specific divisions of such papayoni, given by way of illustration. But this interpretation is not correct according to me. The word 'pāpayoni' indicates such tribes as are referred to as 'criminal tribes' in present legislation; and, the doctrine laid down in these stanzas is, that people belonging to even these classes obtain Perfection by means of Devotion to the Blessed Lord. Women, Vaisyas, and Sūdras do not come under these tribes, and their difficulty in obtaining Release, is that they are not. authorised to hear the Vedas; and it is, therefore, stated in the Bhāgavata-Purāna that:
strī sūdra dvija-bandhūnām trayż na śrutigocarū i karmaśreyasi mūdhānām śreya evam bhaved iha ! iti bhāratam ākhyānam krpayā muninā krtam Il
(Bhāg. 1. 4. 25 ) that is, "in order that women, Sūdras, and the nominal. Brahmins of the Kali-Yuga (i. e., the present age), who do not get a chance of hearing the Vedas, should not remain ignorant, the sage Vyāsa has benevolently and intentionally written the Mahābhārata,--and necessarily also the Gītā-for their benefit". The above stanzas from the Bhagavadgitā have, with minor alterations of reading, also appeared in the Anugitä (Ma. Bhā. Aśva. 19. 61, 62). The true worth of this royal road of Devotion to the Blessed Lord, which gives a good final state to all, without considering the difference between castes, or between classes, or between women and men, or between persons of black or white colour, will become fully intelligible to any one who considers the history of the Mahārāstra saints. A fuller explanation of the above stanza has been given in Chapter XIII of the Gītā-Rahasya at pp. 613 to 618, to which the reader is referred. The advice given to Arjuna in the latter part of the 33rd stanza, to follow this religion of Devotion, is continued in the 34th stanza. ]
