THE HARMONY OF VIRTUE

IV. 2.Vyasa: Some Characteristics169philosophical exposition, the style is undoubtedly his or so closely modelledon his as to defy differentiation. Moreover, the whole piece is but the philosophicaljustification and logical enlargement of the gospel of action preachedby Krishna in the Mahabharata proper, the undoubted work of the poet. Ihave here no space for anything more than a quotation. Sanjaya has come tothe Pandavas from Dhritarashtra and dissuaded them from battle in a speechtaught him by that wily and unwise monarch; it is skilfully aimed at the mostsubtle weakness of the human heart representing the abandonment of justiceand their duty as a holy act of self-abnegation and its pursuit as no better thanwholesale murder and parricide. It is better for the sons of Pandu to be dependentsand beggars and exiles all their lives than to enjoy the earth by theslaughter of their brothers, kinsmen and spiritual guides. Contemplation is purerand nobler than action and worldly desires. Although answering firmly to theenvoy, the children of Pandu are in their hearts shaken, for as Krishna afterwardtells Kama, when the destruction of a nation is at hand, wrong comes tomen's eyes clothed in the garb of right. Sanjaya's argument is one Christ andBuddha would have endorsed; Christ and Buddha would have laboured to confirmthe Pandavas in their scruples. On Krishna rests the final word and his answeris such as to shock seriously the conventional ideas of religious teachers towhich Christianity and Buddhism have accustomed us. In a long and powerfulspeech he deals at great length with Sanjaya's arguments. We must remembertherefore that he is debating a given point and speaking to men who have notlike Arjuna the adhikÀra to enter into the “highest of all mysteries”. We shallthen realise the close identity between his teaching here and that of the Gita.AiSmn( iv/O vtRmane yqavdŒCcavca mtyo baõ,anam( --kmR,a__hŒ" isi×mekw pr] ihTva kmR ivÛya isi×mekw -n.uHjano .+y.oJySy t*PyeiÜÜanpIh iviht' baõ,anam( --ya vW ivÛa" sa/yNtIh kmR tasa' fl' ivÛte netrasam( -t]eh vW d*Z$fl' tu kmR pITvodk' xaMyit t*Z,ya__tR" --so_y' ivi/ivRiht" kmR,Wv s'vtRte sHjy t] kmR -t] yo_Nyt( kmR," sa/u mNyeNmo`' tSyalipt' dŒbRlSy --kmR,a_mI .aiNt deva" pr] kmR,Wv Plvte matirXva -Ahora]e ivd/t( kmR,Wv AtiNdto inTymudeit sUyR" --masa/Rmasanq n=]yogantiNdtXcNdmaXca>yupWit -AtiNdto dhte jatveda" sim?yman" kmR k¦vRn( p[ja>y" --AtiNdta .arimm' mhaNt' ib.itR devI p*iqvI blen -AtiNdta" xI`mpo vhiNt sNtpRyNTy" svR.Utain nÛ" --