2023-02-19 11:52:53 by ambuda-bot
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vi
FOREWORD
Pain is the shadow thrown by the dark
form of evil. Not always. Pain is the
means through which we fashion a better
world. It is the inevitable accompaniment
of the fuller triumph of the ethical order.
The mystery of life is a creative sacrifice.
To take another example. Though the
Mahabharata describes a society distracted
by deceit and intrigue and though the story
is reeking with war and the spirit of war,
the author clearly declares himself against
the politics of power and looks upon the
state not as an organisation of force
but as a partnership in dharma. The modern
apostles of the doctrine that the state is
an end in itself with no higher duty than
to maintain itself will not find support for
their views in it. The view that the end of
the state is to organise and establish dharma,
that its powers are strictly limited by the
unalterable laws which it can only enforce,
has a greater appeal to the cultivated
conscience of our times. Yato dharmas tato
jayah. Victory waits on righteousness.
The author refuses to be stampeded by the
transient moods and agitations of the time
but approves of the principle that righteous-
ness exalteth a nation.
This volume presents in readable English
along with the Sanskrit text a condensed
version of the great Epic. Translation has
its limits. It vulgarises the original unless
the translator is a writer of equal quality to
the author. If we make allowance for the
FOREWORD
Pain is the shadow thrown by the dark
form of evil. Not always. Pain is the
means through which we fashion a better
world. It is the inevitable accompaniment
of the fuller triumph of the ethical order.
The mystery of life is a creative sacrifice.
To take another example. Though the
Mahabharata describes a society distracted
by deceit and intrigue and though the story
is reeking with war and the spirit of war,
the author clearly declares himself against
the politics of power and looks upon the
state not as an organisation of force
but as a partnership in dharma. The modern
apostles of the doctrine that the state is
an end in itself with no higher duty than
to maintain itself will not find support for
their views in it. The view that the end of
the state is to organise and establish dharma,
that its powers are strictly limited by the
unalterable laws which it can only enforce,
has a greater appeal to the cultivated
conscience of our times. Yato dharmas tato
jayah. Victory waits on righteousness.
The author refuses to be stampeded by the
transient moods and agitations of the time
but approves of the principle that righteous-
ness exalteth a nation.
This volume presents in readable English
along with the Sanskrit text a condensed
version of the great Epic. Translation has
its limits. It vulgarises the original unless
the translator is a writer of equal quality to
the author. If we make allowance for the