Bhagvad Gita Rahasya or Karmayoga Shastra VOL 02

Author(s): Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bhalchandra S Sukhtankar
Publisher: R B Tilak Puna

Page 59

CONTINUITY OF CHAPTERS OF THE GITA
629
proper course is to do so without delay, as soon as one gets tired of worldly life; and that is why there are such statements in the Upanisads as, "brahmacaryād eva pravrajet grhad vă vanād va" (Jā. 4), (i.e., "one should renounce the world whether in the state of a celibate, or a householder, or of a denizen of the woods "-Trans.). That ultimate goal which is to be obtained by renouncing the world is obtained by the warrior by falling on the battle-field. It is stated in the Mahābhārata that :
drāv imau purusavyāghra süryamandala bhedinau ! parivāng yogayuktaś ca rane cābhimukho hataḥ 11
(Udyo. 32. 65) that is, “O, tiger in the shape of a man ( purusan yāghra), there are oniy two persons who can pierce the constellation of the Sun and reach the sphere of the Brahman; the one is the Ascetic steeped in Yoga, and the other is the warrior who falls on the battle-field while fighting"; and we find a stanza conveying the same import in the book on Economics (arthasāstra) by Kautilya, that is, by Cānākya, to the effect that:
yān yajña samghais tapasū ca viprāḥ
slargai sunah pătra ca yarś ca yānti i ksanena tūn apy ati yunti šūrāh prūnān suyuddhesu parityajantah 11
(Kauti 10. 3, 150-152 and Ma. Bhā. Sān. 92-100) that is: "Warriors, who give up their lives in warfare, go in a moment far beyond that sphere which is obtained after death by Brahmins desiring heaven, by means of many sacrificial offerings, or of austerities"; that is to say, that goal which is reached not only by austere ascetics or those who have renounced the world, but even by those who perform sacrificial ritual, is also reached by the warrior who falls on the field of battle. This is the summary of the advice given in the Gită to the effect that, "the gateway of heaven in the shape of war, is rarely found open by a warrior; if you die