CHAPTER II.
The Foundation of Ethics as given by Religion.
WE have already seen that the first proclamation of Religion is " The Self is One." There are indeed many selves in appearance, but they are all portions or reflections of the One. Their separateness is temporary, their unity is eternal.
Many pots may be dipped into a, tank, but the water that fills each is the same water, Many upadhis are dipped into the ocean of existence, but the life that fills each is the same life. This primary truth of religion is the foundation of Ethics.
Many pots may be dipped into a, tank, but the water that fills each is the same water, Many upadhis are dipped into the ocean of existence, but the life that fills each is the same life. This primary truth of religion is the foundation of Ethics.
We must, then, in our Ethical Science recognise the unity of the Self. But this is not enough,for in unity there is neither "I " nor" You," and we have seen that our science deals with relations between "I " and " You." So we must also recognise the "diversity of the Not-Self"; that means that there are many upadhis of matter, and in each separate upadhi there is a part, or reflection, of the One Self. There are innumerable bodies, innumerable minds, and these bodies and minds come into relations with each other.
There-can never be right relations until each separate mind and body act to other minds and bodies on the principle that they are at root one, that what helps all is the only thing that really helps each, and that what injures one really injures all. In hurting another we are really hurting ourselves.
If a hand cut the foot belonging to its own body, the blood would flow from the foot, not from the hand ; but presently the hand would grow weak, for the blood circulates in the whole body and there is only one supply for all parts of the body. So also with men ; and if one man wounds another, the wounder suffers as much as the wounded, only the suffering takes longer in making itself felt.
This, then, is the foundation of right conduct, as seen by the Reason. Boys have at first to take moral precepts on the authority of great Sages and Saints, as taught in the Shastras, because they have not the power nor the time to think them out for themselves. But they can, in their manhood, verify these precepts, given in the Sanatana Dharma, by applying their Reason to them. The One Self is in all beings ; every Jivatma is a portion, or reflection, of the One Self. Let this principle sink deeply into every heart, and let each remember that he who injures another injures himself. Sayeth Shri Krishna : "I am the Self Gudakesha, seated in the heart of all beings ; I am the beginning, the middle, and also the end of beings."*
अहमात्मा गुडाकेश सर्वभूताशयस्थितः।
अहमादिश्च मध्यं च भूतानामन्त एव च।।10.20।।
एको देवः सर्वभूतेषु गूढः सर्वव्यापी सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा।
कर्माध्यक्षः सर्वभूताधिवासः साक्षी चेता केवलो निर्गुणश्च॥
(श्वेताश्वतरोपनिषद् ६. ११)
" One God hideth in all beings. He pervadeth all. He is the inmost Self of all beings. He superviseth all actions. He is the resting-place of all beings. He is the Witness, the Consciousness, the One above limitations and qualities."
एकस्तथा सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा रूपं रूपं प्रतिरूपो बभूव।
कठोपनिषद् -२. २. ९
" This one universal Inner Self of all beings becometh one separate individual self for each form."
यस्तु सर्वाणि भूतानि आत्मन्येवानुपश्यति।
सर्वभूतेषु चात्मानं ततो न विजुगुप्सते ॥
यस्मिन् सर्वाणि भूतानि आत्मैवाभूद् विजानतः।
तत्र को मोहः कः शोक एकत्वमनुपश्यतः ॥
ईशोपनिषद् : ६---७
" He who seeth all beings in the Self, and the Self in all beings, he shrinketh no more (from any, in dislike)."
" He in whose consciousness, full of perfected knowledge, all beings have become the Self in him, thus beholding the unity, there is no more any delusion nor any sorrow."
सर्वभूतस्थमात्मानं सर्वभूतानि चात्मनि।
ईक्षते योगयुक्तात्मा सर्वत्र समदर्शनः।। गीता 6.29।।
" The self, harmonised by yoga, seeth the Self abiding in all beings, all beings, in the Self ; everywhere he seeth the same."
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कोई टिप्पणी नहीं:
एक टिप्पणी भेजें