| 11. Against the
foregoing view some say Moksha can not at all be attained by mere Atmajnananishtha
by mere devotion of Selfknowledge preceded by the renunciation of all works:
By what then? Absolute freedom can be attained by knowledge conjoined with
works, such as the Agnihotra prescribed in the Sruti and the Smriti. This
is the conclusive teaching of the whole Gita· As supporting this view may
be cited they say the verses ii. 33, iii. 47, iv. 15, etc. It should not
be supposed that the Vedic ritual is sinful because it involves cruelty,
etc·Why ?For, our Lord says that, since fighting which is the profession
of the warrior caste is a proper duty (of the caste), it is not sinful though
it involves cruelty to elders, brothers sons and the like and is therefore
very horrible ; and He further says that, in the case of a neglect of this
duty, abandoning thy duty and fame. This is clearly tantamount to asserting
that those rites which are enjoined as lifelong duties by the Vedas are
sinless though they involve cruelty to animals. Sankhya and Yoga distinguished
This is (wrong, since the Lord has made a distinction between Jnananishtha
and Karmanishtha, between the devotion of knowledge and the devotion of
works, as based respectively upon two distinct standpoints. The real nature
of the Self as expounded here by the Lord is called Sankhya and intellectual
conviction of the truth produced by a study of that section that the Self
is no doer, owing to the absence in Him of such changes as birthforms the
Sankhya standpoint (Sankhyabuddhi) ; and the enlightened who hold this view
are called Sankhyas. Yoga consists in the performance before the rise of
the foregoing conviction of works as a means to moksha, requiring a knowledge
of virtue and sin, and presupposing that the Self is distinct from the body
and is the doer and the enjoyer. |
