The Gita’s Ethics (A Critical Study)
by Arpita Chakraborty | 2017 | 59,351 words
This essay studies the Ethical Teachings of the Gita, as presented in the Mahabharata in the form of a dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna. Ancient Indian ethics as evolved from the Vedas developed through the Upanisads, the Gita, Mahabharata, Ramayana and finally reached the Dharma-Shastras such as the Manusmriti. As the means to liberation, the e...
4. Foundation of Vedic Ethics
Ancient Indian ethics as found in the Vedas, has three-fold basis, the metaphysical, the sociological and the psychological. Rta is the metaphysical basis of Vedic ethics. Varna dharma is the sociological basis and ashrama dharma, the psychological basis of Vedic ethics.
To quote I.C Sharma,
“Ritam represents the basic truth, harmony, system or eternal moral order of the entire universe. That which is universally true is ritam and that which is the opposite or false is termed anritam. It has been the firm belief of the Indian sages that ultimately truth is victorious because it is the basic principle. The Sanskrit quotation imprinted on our national emblem is ‘satyam eva jayate’.
In fact, it is a part of the whole statement,
‘satyam eva jayate nanritam’,
i.e, truth alone is victorious and falsehood”.[1]
Thus rta, a natural law gradually developed into a moral principle. It was the ultimate end of the individual and society. It was on its basis that the concept of dharma and the law of karma evolved. According to it there is not only goodness in human life but in the whole universe. The universe is, therefore, teleological. Social justice is given in the nature of things. It has been ordained by divine. The moral world, according to the Vedas, is a part of cosmos. Goodness is evolved in nature. The world and human society in it have an ingrained principle of harmony and integrality. Therefore, Rig Veda enjoins:
“A man should think on wealth, and strive to win it by adoration of the path of order. And counsel himself with spirit” is to be looked into.[2]
Indian philosophers did not bifurcate metaphysics from moral philosophy and moral philosophy from psychology. Ethics in the Vedas, therefore, has not only a metaphysical basis but equally a sociological and psychological basis. The sociological brain of Vedic ethics is expressed in the form of varna dharma in the Vedas.
Commenting on the importance of the varna dharma in the Vedas, I.C Sharma rightly says,
“This scheme of life brings about a synthesis between the material and the spiritual development on the one hand, and, between the individual and social well being on the other”.[3]
Footnotes and references:
[3]:
Sharma I.C: Ethical Philosophies of India, p-79).