Ideal of Karmayogin

Author(s): Aurbindo Ghose
Publisher: Prabartak Publishing House

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THE IDEAL OF THE KARMAYOGIN
Krishna to Arjuna insists on the struggle; "Fight and overthrow thy opponents !" "Remember me and fight!" "Give up all thy works to me with a heart full of spirituality, and free from craving, free from selfish claims, fight ! let the fever of thy soul pass from thee". It is an error to imagine that even when the religious man does not give up his ordinary activities, he yet becomes too sattwic, too saintly, too loving or too passionless for the rough work of the world. Nothing can be more extreme and uncompromising than the reply of the Gita in the opposite sense, “Whosoerer has his temperament purged from egoism, whosoever suffers not his soul to receive the impress of the deed, though he slay the whole world yet he slays not and is not bound.” The Charioteer of Kurukshetra driving the car of Arjuna over that field of ruin is the image and description of Karmayoga ; for the body is the chariot and the senses are the horses of the driving and it is through the bloodstained
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