{"id":1380,"date":"2013-07-13T01:34:26","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:34:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1380"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:34:26","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:34:26","slug":"44-the-gunas-faith-and-works-vol-13-essays-on-the-gita-volume-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/13-essays-on-the-gita-volume-13\/44-the-gunas-faith-and-works-vol-13-essays-on-the-gita-volume-13","title":{"rendered":"-44_The Gunas, Faith and Works.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

EIGHTEEN<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

      The Gunas, Faith and Works*<\/font><\/b>        <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 T<\/font>HE<\/font> Gita has
\nmade a distinction between action according to the licence of personal desire
\nand action done according to the Shastra. We must understand by the latter the
\nrecognised science and art of life which is the outcome of mankind’s collective
\nliving, its culture, religion, science, its progressive discovery of the best
\nrule of life,\u2014but mankind still walking in the ignorance and proceeding in a
\nhalf light towards knowledge. The action of personal desire belongs to the unregenerated<\/span> state of our nature and is dictated by
\nignorance or false knowledge and an unregulated or ill-regulated kinetic or
\nrajasic egoism. The action controlled by Shastra is an outcome of intellectual,
\nethical, aesthetic, social and religious culture; it embodies an attempt at a
\ncertain right living, harmony and right order and is evidently an effort, more
\nor less advanced according to circumstances, of the sattwic element in man to
\novertop, regulate and control or guide, where it must be admitted, his rajasic
\nand tamasic egoism. It is the means to a step in advance, and therefore mankind
\nmust first proceed through it and make this Shastra its law of action rather
\nthan obey the impulsion of its personal desires. This is a general rule which
\nhumanity has always recognised wherever it has arrived at any kind of
\nestablished and developed society; it has an idea of an order, a law, a
\nstandard of its perfection, something other than the guidance of its desires or
\nthe crude direction of its raw impulses. This greater rule the individual finds
\nusually outside himself in some more or less fixed outcome of the experience
\nand wisdom of the race, which he accepts, to which his mind and the leading
\nparts of his being give their assent or sanction and which he tries to make his
\nown by living it in his mind, will and action. And this assent of the being,
\nits conscious acceptance and will to believe
\n <\/p>\n

*Gita, XVII.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 461<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

and realise, may be called by the
\nname which the Gita gives to it, his faith, śraddhā<\/i><\/span>. The religion,
\nthe philosophy, the ethical law, the social idea, the cultural idea in which I put
\nmy faith, gives me a law for my nature and its works, an idea of relative right
\nor an idea of relative or absolute perfection and in proportion as I have a
\nsincerity and completeness of faith in it and an intensity of will to live
\naccording to that faith, I can become what it proposes to me, I can shape
\nmyself into an image of that right or an exemplar of that perfection.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>But we see also that there is a freer tendency
\nin man other than the leading of his desires and other than his will to accept
\nthe Law, the fixed idea, the safe governing rule of the Shastra. The individual
\nfrequently enough, the community at any moment of its life is seen to turn away
\nfrom the Shastra, becomes impatient of it, loses that form of its will and
\nfaith and goes in search of another law which it is now more disposed to accept
\nas the right rule of living and regard as a more vital or higher truth of
\nexistence. This may happen when the established Shastra ceases to be a living
\nthing and degenerates or stiffens into a mass of customs and conventions. Or it
\nmay come because it is found that the Shastra is imperfect or no longer useful
\nfor the progress demanded; a new truth, a more perfect law of living has become
\nimperative. If that does not exist, it has to be discovered by the effort of
\nthe race or by some great and illumined individual mind who embodies the desire
\nand seeking of the race. The Vedic law becomes a convention and a Buddha
\nappears with his new rule of the eightfold path and the goal of Nirvana; and it
\nmay be remarked that he propounds it not as a personal invention, but as the true
\nrule of Aryan living constantly rediscovered by the Buddha, the enlightened
\nmind, the awakened spirit. But this practically means that there is an ideal,
\nan eternal Dharma which religion, philosophy, ethics and all other powers in
\nman that strive after truth and perfection are constantly endeavouring<\/span>
\nto embody in new statements of the science and art of the inner and outer life,
\na new Shastra. The Mosaic law of religious, ethical and social righteousness is
\nconvicted of narrowness and imperfection and is now besides a convention; the
\nlaw of Christ comes to replace it and claims at once to abrogate and to fulfil, <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 462<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

to abrogate the imperfect form
\nand fulfil in a deeper and broader light and power the spirit of the thing
\nwhich it aimed at, the divine rule of living. And the human search does not
\nstop there, but leaves these formulations too, goes back to some past truth it
\nhad rejected or breaks forward to some new truth and power, but is always in
\nsearch of the same thing, the law of its perfection, its rule of right living,
\nits complete, highest and essential self and nature.<\/p>\n

This movement
\nbegins with the individual, who is no longer satisfied with the law because he
\nfinds that it no longer corresponds to his idea and largest or intensest<\/span> experience of himself and existence and therefore
\nhe can no longer bring to it the will to believe and practise<\/span>.
\nIt does not correspond to his inner way of being, it is not to him sat, the
\nthing that truly is, the right, the highest or best or real good; it is not the
\ntruth and law of his or of all being. The Shastra is something impersonal to
\nthe individual, and that gives it its authority over the narrow personal law of
\nhis members; but at the same time it is personal to the collectivity and is the
\noutcome of its experience, its culture or its nature. It is not in all its form
\nand spirit the ideal rule of fulfilment of the Self or the eternal law of the
\nMaster of our nature, although it may contain in itself in small or larger
\nmeasure indications, preparations, illuminating glimpses of that far greater
\nthing. And the individual may have gone beyond the collectivity and be ready
\nfor a greater truth, a wider walk, a deeper intention of the Life-Spirit. The
\nleading in him that departs from the Shastra may not indeed be always a higher
\nmovement; it may take the form of a revolt of the egoistic or rajasic nature
\nseeking freedom from the yoke of something which it feels to be cramping to its
\nliberty of self-fulfilment and self-finding. But even then it is often
\njustified by some narrowness or imperfection of the Shastra or by the
\ndegradation of the current rule of living into a merely restricting or lifeless
\nconvention. And so far it is legitimate, it appeals to a truth, it has a good
\nand just reason for existence: for though it misses the right path, yet the
\nfree action of the rajasic<\/span> ego, because it has more
\nin it of liberty and life, is better than the dead and hidebound tamasic<\/span> following of a convention. The rajasic is always
\nstronger, always more forcefully inspired<\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 463<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

and has more possibilities in it
\nthan the tamasic<\/span> nature. But also this leading may be
\nsattwic at its heart; it may be a turn to a larger and greater ideal which will
\ncarry us nearer to a more complete and ample truth of our self and universal
\nexistence than has yet been seen and nearer therefore to that highest law which
\nis one with the divine freedom. And in effect this movement is usually an
\nattempt to lay hold on some forgotten truth or to move on to a yet undiscovered
\nor unlived truth of our being. It is not a mere licentious movement of the unregulated
\nnature; it has its spiritual justification and is a necessity of our spiritual
\nprogress. And even if the Shastra is still a living thing and the best rule for
\nthe human average, the exceptional man, spiritual, inwardly developed, is not
\nbound by that standard. He is called upon to go beyond the fixed line of the
\nShastra. For this is a rule for the guidance, control and relative perfection
\nof the normal imperfect man and he has to go on to a more absolute perfection:
\nthis is a system of fixed dharmas<\/span> and he has to learn
\nto live in the liberty of the Spirit. <\/p>\n

But what then
\nshall be the secure base of an action which departs both from the guidance of
\ndesire and from the normal law? For the rule of desire has an authority of its
\nown, no longer safe or satisfactory to us as it is to the animal or as it might
\nhave been to a primitive humanity, but still, so far as it goes, founded on a
\nvery living part of our nature and fortified by its strong indications; and the
\nlaw, the Shastra has behind it all the authority of long established rule, old
\nsuccessful sanctions and a secure past experience. But this new movement is of
\nthe nature of a powerful adventure into the unknown or partly known, a daring
\ndevelopment and a new conquest, and what then is the clue to be followed, the
\nguiding light on which it can depend or its strong basis in our being? The
\nanswer is that the clue and support is to be found in man’s śraddhā<\/i><\/span>, his faith, his
\nwill to believe, to live what he sees or thinks to be the truth of himself and
\nof existence. In other words this movement is man’s appeal <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 464<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

to himself or to something potent
\nand compelling in himself or in universal existence for the discovery of his
\ntruth, his law of living, his way to fullness and perfection. And everything
\ndepends on the nature of his faith, the thing in himself or in the universal
\nsoul\u2014of which he is a portion or manifestation\u2014to which he directs it and on
\nhow near he gets by it to his real self and the Self or true being of the
\nuniverse. If he is tamasic<\/span>, obscure, clouded, if he
\nhas an ignorant faith, an inept will, he will reach nothing true and will fall
\naway to his lower nature. If he is lured by false rajasic lights, he can be
\ncarried away by self-will into bypaths that may lead to morass or precipice. In
\neither case his only chance of salvation lies in a return of sattwa<\/span> upon him to impose a new enlightened order and rule
\nupon his members which will liberate him from the violent error of his
\nself-will or the dull error of his clouded ignorance. If on the other hand he
\nhas the sattwic nature and a sattwic faith and direction for his steps, he will
\narrive in sight of a higher yet unachieved ideal rule which may lead him even
\nin rare instances beyond the sattwic light some way at least towards a highest
\ndivine illumination and divine way of being and living. For if the sattwic
\nlight is so strong in him as to bring him to its own culminating point, then he
\nwill be able advancing from that point to make out his gate of entrance into
\nsome first ray of that which is divine, transcendent and absolute. In all
\neffort at self-finding these possibilities are there; they are the conditions
\nof this spiritual adventure. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Now we
\nhave to see how the Gita deals with this question on its own line of spiritual
\nteaching and self-discipline. For Arjuna<\/span> puts
\nimmediately a suggestive query from which the problem or one aspect of it
\narises. When men, he says, sacrifice to God or the gods with faith, śraddhā<\/i><\/span>,
\nbut abandon the rule of the Shastra, what is that concentrated will of devotion
\nin them, nisthā<\/i><\/span>,
\nwhich gives them this faith and moves them to this kind of action? Is it sattwa<\/span>, rajas or tamas<\/span>? to which
\nstrand of our nature does it belong? The answer of the Gita first states the
\nprinciple that the faith in us is of a triple kind like all things in Nature
\nand varies according to the dominating quality of our nature. The faith of each
\nman takes the shape, hue, quality given to it by his stuff of being, his
\nconstituting temperament, his innate power of existence, sattvānurūpā<\/i><\/span> sarvasya<\/i><\/span> śraddhā<\/span><\/i>.
\nAnd then there comes a remarkable line in which the Gita tells us that this Purusha<\/span>, this soul in man, is, as it were, made of śraddhā<\/i><\/span>,
\na faith, a will to be, a belief in itself and existence, and whatever is that <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 465<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

will, faith or constituting
\nbelief in him, he is that and that is he. Śraddhā-mayo\u2019yam<\/i><\/span> puruso<\/span> yo<\/span> yac-chraddhah<\/span> sa<\/span> eva<\/span> sah<\/span><\/i>.
\nIf we look into this pregnant saying a little closely, we shall find that this
\nsingle line contains implied in its few forceful words almost the whole theory
\nof the modern gospel of pragmatism. For if a man or the soul in a man consists
\nof the faith which is in him, taken in this deeper sense, then it follows that
\nthe truth which he sees and wills to live is for him the truth of his being,
\nthe truth of himself that he has created or is creating and there can be for
\nhim no other real truth. This truth is a thing of his inner and outer action, a
\nthing of his becoming, of the soul’s dynamics, not of that in him which never
\nchanges. He is what he is today by some past will of his nature sustained and
\ncontinued by a present will to know, to believe and to be in his intelligence
\nand vital force, and whatever new turn is taken by this will and faith active
\nin his very substance, that he will tend to become in the future. We create our
\nown truth of existence in our own action of mind and life, which is another way
\nof saying that we create our own selves, are our own makers.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>But very obviously this is only one aspect of
\nthe truth, and all one-aspected<\/span> statements are
\nsuspect to the thinker. Truth is not merely whatever our own personality is or
\ncreates; that is only the truth of our becoming, one point or line of emphasis in
\na movement of widest volume. Beyond our personality there is, first, a universal
\nbeing as well as a universal becoming of which ours is a little movement; and
\nbeyond that too there is the eternal Being out of which all becoming derives
\nand to which it owes its potentialities, elements, original and final motives.
\nWe may say indeed that all becoming is only an act of universal consciousness,
\nis Maya, is a creation of the will to become, and the only other reality, if
\nthere is any, is a pure eternal existence beyond consciousness, featureless,
\nunexpressed and inexpressible. That is practically the standpoint taken by the Mayavadin’s<\/span> Adwaita<\/span> and the sense
\nof the distinction he makes between pragmatic truth which to his mind is
\nillusory or at least only temporarily and partly real\u2014while modern pragmatism takes
\nit to be the true truth or at least the only recognisable<\/span>
\nreality because the only reality that we can act and know,\u2014between that
\npragmatic ill- <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 466<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\nusion<\/span>
\nand on the other side of creative Maya the lonely Absolute featureless and inexpressible.
\nBut for the Gita absolute Brahman is also supreme Purusha<\/span>,
\nand Purusha<\/span> is always conscious Soul, though its highest
\nconsciousness, its superconsciousness<\/span>, if we
\nwill,\u2014as, one may add, its lowest which we call the Inconscient,\u2014is something
\nvery different from our mind consciousness to which alone we are accustomed to
\ngive the name. There is in that highest superconscience<\/span>
\na highest truth and dharma of immortality, a greatest divine way of being, a
\nway of the eternal and infinite. That eternal way of existence and divine
\nmanner of being exists already in the eternity of the Purushottama<\/span>,
\nbut we are now attempting to create it here too in our becoming by Yoga; our endeavour<\/span> is to become the Divine, to be as He, madbhāva<\/i><\/span>.
\nThat also depends on śraddhā<\/i><\/span>.
\nIt is by an act of our conscious substance and a belief in its truth, an inmost
\nwill to live it or be it that we come by it; but this does not mean that it
\ndoes not already exist beyond us. Though it may not exist for our outward mind
\nuntil we see and create ourselves anew into it, it is still there in the
\nEternal and we may say even that it is already there in our own secret self;
\nfor in us also, in our depths the Purushottama<\/span> always
\nis. Our growing into that, our creation of it is his and its manifestation in
\nus. All creation indeed since it proceeds from the conscious substance of the Eternal,
\nis a manifestation of him and proceeds by a faith, acceptance, will to be in
\nthe originating consciousness, Chit-Shakti.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>We are concerned at present, however, not with
\nthe metaphysical issue, but with the relation of this will or faith in our being
\nto our possibility of growth into the perfection of the divine nature. This
\npower, this śraddhā<\/i><\/span>
\nis in any case our basis. When we live, when we are and do according to our
\ndesires, that is a persistent act of śraddhā<\/i><\/span> belonging mostly to our vital and
\nphysical, our tamasic<\/span> and rajasic nature. And when we
\ntry to be, to live and to do according to the Shastra, we proceed by a
\npersistent act of śraddhā<\/i><\/span>
\nwhich belongs, supposing it to be not a routine faith, to a sattwic tendency
\nthat is constantly labouring<\/span> to impose itself on our
\nrajasic and tamasic<\/span> parts. When we leave both these
\nthings and try to be, to live and to do according to some ideal or novel
\nconception of truth of our own finding or
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 467<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

our own individual acceptance,
\nthat too is a persistent act of śraddhā<\/i><\/span> which may be dominated by any one of these
\nthree qualities that constantly govern our every thought, will, feeling and
\nact. And again when we try to be, to live and to do according to the divine
\nnature, then too we must proceed by a persistent act of śraddhā<\/i><\/span>, which must be
\naccording to the Gita the faith of the sattwic nature when it culminates and is
\npreparing to exceed its own clear-cut limits. But all and any of these things
\nimplies some kinesis or displacement of nature, all suppose an inner or outer
\nor ordinarily both an inner and an outer action. And what then will be the
\ncharacter of this action? The Gita states three main elements of the work we have
\nto do, kartavyam<\/span> karma, and these three are
\nsacrifice, giving and askesis<\/span>. For when questioned by
\nArjuna<\/span> on the difference between the outer and inner
\nrenunciation, sannyāsa<\/i><\/span>
\nand tyāga<\/i><\/span>,
\nKrishna insists that these three things ought not to be renounced at all but
\nought altogether to be done, for they are the work before us, kartavyam<\/i><\/span> karma,
\nand they purify the wise. In other words these acts constitute the means of our
\nperfection. But at the same time they may be done unwisely or less wisely by
\nthe unwise. All dynamic action may be reduced in its essential parts to these
\nthree elements. For all dynamic action, all kinesis of the nature involves a
\nvoluntary or an involuntary tapasya<\/span> or askesis<\/span>, an energism<\/span> and concentration
\nof our forces or capacities or of some capacity which helps us to achieve, to
\nacquire or to become something, tapas<\/i><\/span>. All action involves a giving of what we are or have,
\nan expenditure which is the price of that achievement, acquisition or becoming,
\ndāna<\/i><\/span>.
\nAll action involves too a sacrifice to elemental or to universal powers or to
\nthe supreme Master of our works. The question is whether we do these things inconsciently<\/span>, passively, or at best with an unintelligent
\nignorant half-conscient<\/span> will, or with an unwisely or
\nperversely conscient<\/span> energism<\/span>,
\nor with a wisely conscient<\/span> will rooted in knowledge,
\nin other words, whether our sacrifice, giving and askesis<\/span>
\nare tamasic<\/span>, rajasic or sattwic in nature.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>For everything here, including physical
\nthings, partakes of this triple character. Our food, for example, the Gita
\ntells us, is either sattwic, rajasic or tamasic<\/span>
\naccording to its character and effect on the body. The sattwic temperament in
\nthe mental and <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 468<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

physical body turns naturally to
\nthe things that increase the life, increase the inner and outer strength,
\nnourish at once the mental, vital and physical force and increase the pleasure
\nand satisfaction and happy condition of mind and life and body, all that is
\nsucculent and soft and firm and satisfying. The rajasic temperament prefers
\nnaturally food that is violently sour, pungent, hot, acrid, rough and strong
\nand burning, the aliments that increase ill-health and the distempers of the
\nmind and body. The tamasic<\/span> temperament takes a
\nperverse pleasure in cold, impure, stale, rotten or tasteless food or even accepts
\nlike the animals the remnants half-eaten by others. All-pervading is the
\nprinciple of the three gunas<\/span>. The gunas<\/span>
\napply at the other end in the same way to the things of the mind and spirit, to
\nsacrifice, giving and askesis<\/span>, and the Gita distinguishes
\nunder each of these three heads between the three kinds in the customary terms
\nof these things as they were formulated by the symbolism of the old Indian
\nculture. But, remembering the very wide sense which the Gita itself gives to the
\nidea of sacrifice, we may well enlarge the surface meaning of these hints and
\nopen them to a freer significance. And it will be convenient to take them in
\nthe reverse order, from tamas<\/span> to sattwa<\/span>,
\nsince we are considering how we go upward out of our lower nature through a
\ncertain sattwic culmination and self-exceeding to a divine nature and action
\nbeyond the three gunas<\/span>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The tamasic<\/span>
\nsacrifice is work which is done without faith, without, that is to say, any
\nfull conscious idea and acceptance and will towards the thing Nature yet
\ncompels us to execute. It is done mechanically, because the act of living
\ndemands it, because it comes in our way, because others do it, to avoid some other
\ngreater difficulty which may arise from not doing it, or from any other tamasic<\/span> motive. And it is apt to be done, if we have in the
\nfull this kind of temperament, carelessly, perfunctorily, in the wrong way. It
\nwill not be performed by the vidhi<\/span> or right rule of
\nthe Shastra, will not be led in its steps according to the right method laid
\ndown by the art and science of life and the true science of the thing to be
\ndone. There will be no giving of food in the sacrifice,\u2014and that act in the
\nIndian ritual is symbolic of the element of helpful giving inherent in every
\naction that is real sacrifice, the indispensable giving to others, the fruitful
\nhelp <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 469<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

to others, to the world, without
\nwhich our action becomes a wholly self-regarding thing and a violation of the true
\nuniversal law of solidarity and interchange. The work will be done without the dakshina<\/span>, the much-needed giving or self-giving to the
\nleaders of the sacrificial action, whether to the outward guide and helper of
\nour work or to the veiled or manifest godhead within us. It will be done
\nwithout the mantra, without the dedicating thought which is the sacred body of our
\nwill and knowledge lifted upwards to the godheads we serve by our sacrifice.
\nThe tamasic<\/span> man does not offer his sacrifice to the
\ngods, but to inferior elemental powers or to those grosser spirits behind the
\nveil who feed upon his works and dominate his life with their darkness.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The rajasic man offers his sacrifice to lower
\ngodheads or to perverse powers, the Yakshas<\/span>, the
\nkeepers of wealth, or to the Asuric<\/span> and the Rakshasic<\/span> forces. His sacrifice may be performed outwardly
\naccording to the Shastra, but its motive is ostentation, pride or a strong lust
\nafter the fruit of his action, a vehement demand for the reward of his works.
\nAll work therefore that proceeds from violent or egoistic personal desire or
\nfrom an arrogant will intent to impose itself on the world for personal objects
\nis of the rajasic nature, even if it mask itself with the insignia of the
\nlight, even if it be done outwardly as a sacrifice. Although it is ostensibly
\ngiven to God or to the gods, it remains essentially an Asuric<\/span>
\naction. It is the inner state, motive and direction which give their value to
\nour works, and not merely the apparent outer direction, the divine names we may
\ncall to sanction them or even the sincere intellectual belief which seems to
\njustify us in the performance. Wherever there is a dominating egoism in our
\nacts, there our work becomes a rajasic sacrifice. The true sattwic sacrifice on
\nthe other hand is distinguished by three signs that are the quiet seal of its
\ncharacter. First, it is dictated by the effective truth, executed according to
\nthe vidhi<\/i><\/span>,
\nthe right principle, the exact method and rule, the just rhythm and law of our
\nworks, their true functioning, their dharma; that means that the reason and
\nenlightened will are the guides and determinants of their steps and their
\npurpose. Secondly, it is executed with a mind concentrated and fixed on the
\nidea of the thing to be done as a true sacrifice imposed on us by the divine
\nlaw that governs<\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 470<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

our life and therefore performed
\nout of a high inner obligation or imperative truth and without desire for the
\npersonal fruit,\u2014the more impersonal the motive of the action and the temperament
\nof the force put out in it, the more sattwic is its nature. And finally it is
\noffered to the gods without any reservation; it is acceptable to the divine
\npowers by whom\u2014for they are his masks and personalities\u2014the Master of existence
\ngoverns the universe.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>This sattwic sacrifice comes then very near to
\nthe ideal and leads directly towards the kind of action demanded by the Gita;
\nbut it is not the last and highest ideal, it is not yet the action of the
\nperfected man who lives in the divine nature. For it is carried out as a fixed
\ndharma, and it is offered as a sacrifice or service to the gods, to some
\npartial power or aspect of the Divine manifested in ourselves or in the
\nuniverse. Work done with a disinterested religious faith or selflessly for humanity
\nor impersonally from devotion to the Right or the Truth is of this nature, and
\naction of that kind is necessary for our perfection; for it purifies our
\nthought and will and our natural substance. The culmination of the sattwic
\naction at which we have to arrive is of a still larger and freer kind; it is
\nthe high last sacrifice offered by us to the supreme Divine in his integral
\nbeing and with a seeking for the Purushottama<\/span> or with
\nthe vision of Vasudeva<\/span> in all that is, the action
\ndone impersonally, universally, for the good of the world, for the fulfilment
\nof the divine will in the universe. That culmination leads to its own
\ntranscending, to the immortal Dharma. For then comes a freedom in which there
\nis no personal action at all, no sattwic rule of dharma, no limitation of
\nShastra; the inferior reason and will are themselves overpassed<\/span>
\nand it is not they but a higher wisdom that dictates and guides the work and
\ncommands its objective. There is no question of personal fruit; for the will
\nthat works is not our own but a supreme Will of which the soul is the
\ninstrument. There is no self-regarding and no selflessness; for the Jiva<\/span>, the eternal portion of the Divine, is united with the
\nhighest Self of his existence and he and all are one in that Self and Spirit.
\nThere is no personal action, for all actions are given up to the Master of our
\nworks and it is he that does the action through the divinised<\/span>
\nPrakriti<\/span>. There is
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 471<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n

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no sacrifice,\u2014unless we can say
\nthat the Master of sacrifice is offering the works of his energy in the Jiva<\/span> to himself in his own cosmic form. This is the supreme
\nself-surpassing state arrived at by the action that is sacrifice, this the
\nperfection of the soul that has come to its full consciousness in the divine
\nnature.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Tamasic<\/span> tapasya<\/span> is that which is pursued under a clouded and
\ndeluded idea hard and obstinate in its delusion, maintained by an ignorant
\nfaith in some cherished falsehood, performed with effort and suffering imposed
\non oneself in pursuit of some narrow and vulgar egoistic object empty of
\nrelation to any true or great aim or else with a concentration of the energy in
\na will to do hurt to others. That which makes this kind of energism<\/span>
\ntamasic<\/span> is not any principle of inertia, for inertia
\nis foreign to tapasya<\/span>, but a darkness in the mind and
\nnature, a vulgar narrowness and ugliness in the doing or a brutish instinct or
\ndesire in the aim or in the motive feeling. Rajasic energisms<\/span>
\nof askesis<\/span> are those which are undertaken to get honour
\nand worship from men, for the sake of personal distinction and outward glory
\nand greatness or from some other of the many motives of egoistic will and
\npride. This kind of askesis<\/span> is devoted to fleeting
\nparticular objects which add nothing to the heavenward growth and perfection of
\nthe soul; it is a thing without fixed and helpful principle, an energy bound up
\nwith changeful and passing occasion and itself of that nature. Or even if there
\nis ostensibly a more inward and noble object and the faith and will are of a
\nhigher kind, yet if any kind of arrogance or pride or any great strength of
\nviolent self-will or desire enters into the askesis<\/span>
\nor if it drives some violent, lawless or terrible action contrary to the
\nShastra, opposed to the right rule of life and works and afflicting to oneself
\nand to others, or if it is of the nature of self-torture and hurts the mental,
\nvital and physical elements or violates the God within us who is seated in the inner
\nsubtle body, then too it is an unwise, an Asuric<\/span>, a
\nrajasic or rajaso-tamasic<\/span> tapasya<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Sattwic<\/span> tapasya<\/span> is that which is
\ndone with a highest enlightened faith, as a duty deeply accepted or for some
\nethical or spiritual or other higher reason and with no desire for any external
\nor narrowly personal fruit in the action. It is of the character of self-discipline
\nand asks for self-control and a harmonising<\/span> of one’s
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 472<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n

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nature. The Gita describes three
\nkinds of sattwic askesis<\/span>. First comes the physical,
\nthe askesis<\/span> of the outward act; under this head are
\nespecially mentioned worship and reverence of those deserving reverence,
\ncleanness of the person, the action and the life, candid dealing, sexual purity
\nand avoidance of killing and injury to others. Next is askesis<\/span>
\nof speech, and that consists in the study of Scripture, kind, true and
\nbeneficent speech and a careful avoidance of words that may cause fear, sorrow
\nand trouble to others. Finally there is the askesis<\/span>
\nof mental and moral perfection, and that means the purifying of the whole
\ntemperament, gentleness and a clear and calm gladness of mind, self-control and
\nsilence. Here comes in all that quiets or disciplines the rajasic and egoistic nature
\nand all that replaces it by the happy and tranquil principle of good and
\nvirtue. This is the askesis<\/span> of the sattwic dharma so
\nhighly prized in the system of the ancient Indian culture. Its greater
\nculmination will be a high purity of the reason and will, an equal soul, a deep
\npeace and calm, a wide sympathy and preparation of oneness, a reflection of the
\ninner soul’sdivine<\/span> gladness in the mind, life and body.
\nThere at that lofty point the ethical is already passing away into the
\nspiritual type and character. And this culmination too can be made to transcend
\nitself, can be raised into a higher and freer light, can pass away into the
\nsettled godlike energy of the supreme nature. And what will remain then will be
\nthe spirit’s immaculate Tapas<\/span>, a highest will and
\nluminous force in all the members acting in a wide and solid calm and a deep and
\npure spiritual delight, Ananda<\/span>. There will then be no
\nfarther need of askesis<\/span>, no tapasya<\/span>,
\nbecause all is naturally and easily divine, all is that Tapas<\/span>.
\nThere will be no separate labour<\/span> of the lower energism<\/span>, because the energy of Prakriti<\/span>
\nwill have found its true source and base in the transcendent will of the Purushottama<\/span>. Then, because of this high initiation, the acts
\nof this energy on the lower planes also will proceed naturally and
\nspontaneously from an innate perfect will and by an inherent perfect guidance.
\nThere will be no limitation by any of the present dharmas<\/span>;
\nfor there will be a free action far above the rajasic and tamasic<\/span>
\nnature, but also far beyond the too careful and narrow limits of the sattwic
\nrule of action.<\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 473<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n

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As with tapasya<\/span>, all giving also is of an ignorant tamasic<\/span>, an ostentatious rajasic or a disinterested and
\nenlightened sattwic character. The tamasic<\/span> gift is
\noffered ignorantly with no consideration of the right conditions of time, place
\nand object; it is a foolish, inconsiderate and in reality a self-regarding
\nmovement, an ungenerous and ignoble generosity, the gift offered without
\nsympathy or true liberality, without regard for the feelings of the recipient
\nand despised by him even in the acceptance. The rajasic kind of giving is that
\nwhich is done with regret, unwillingness or violence to oneself or with a personal
\nand egoistic object or in the hope of a return of some kind from whatever
\nquarter or a corresponding or greater benefit to oneself from the receiver. The
\nsattwic way of giving is to bestow with right reason and goodwill and sympathy
\nin the right conditions of time and place and on the right recipient who is
\nworthy or to whom the gift can be really helpful. Its act is performed for the
\nsake of the giving and the beneficence, without any view to a benefit already
\ndone or yet to be done to oneself by the receiver of the benefit and without
\nany personal object in the action. The culmination of the sattwic way of dāna<\/i><\/span> <\/i>will bring into the action an
\nincreasing element of that wide self-giving to others and to the world and to
\nGod, ātma-dāna<\/i><\/span>,
\nātma-samarpana<\/i><\/span>,
\nwhich is the high consecration of the sacrifice of works enjoined by the Gita.
\nAnd the transcendence in the divine nature will be a greatest completeness of
\nself-offering founded on the largest meaning of existence. All this manifold
\nuniverse comes into birth and is constantly maintained by God’s giving of himself
\nand his powers and the lavish outflow of his self and spirit into all these
\nexistences; universal being, says the Veda, is the sacrifice of the Purusha<\/span>. All the action of the perfected soul will be even
\nsuch a constant divine giving of itself and its powers, an outflowing<\/span>
\nof the knowledge, light, strength, love, joy, helpful shakti<\/span>
\nwhich it possesses in the Divine and by his influence and effluence on all
\naround it according to their capacity of reception or on all this world and its
\ncreatures. That will be the complete result of the complete self-giving of the
\nsoul to the Master of our existence.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The Gita closes this chapter with what seems
\nat first sight a recondite utterance. The formula OM,
\nTat, Sat, is, it says, the
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 474<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

triple definition of the Brahman,
\nby whom the Brahmanas<\/span>, the Vedas and sacrifices were
\ncreated of old and in it resides all their significance. Tat, That, indicates
\nthe Absolute. Sat indicates the supreme and universal existence in its
\nprinciple. OM is the symbol of the triple Brahman, the
\noutward-looking, the inward or subtle and the superconscient causal Purusha<\/span>. Each letter A, U, M indicates one of these three
\nin ascending order and the syllable as a whole brings out the fourth state, Turiya<\/span>, which rises to the Absolute. OM
\nis the initiating syllable pronounced at the outset as a benedictory prelude
\nand sanction to all act of sacrifice, all act of giving and all act of askesis<\/span>; it is a reminder that our work should be made an expression
\nof the triple Divine in our inner being and turned towards him in the idea and
\nmotive. The seekers of liberation indeed do these actions without desire of
\nfruit and only with the idea, feeling, Ananda<\/span> of the
\nabsolute Divine behind their nature. It is that which they seek by this purity
\nand impersonality in their works, this high desirelessness<\/span>,
\nthis vast emptiness of ego and plenitude of Spirit. Sat means good and it means
\nexistence. Both these things, the principle of good and the principle of
\nreality, must be there behind all the three kinds of action. All good works are
\nSat, for they prepare the soul for the higher reality of our being; all firm
\nabiding in sacrifice, giving and askesis<\/span> and all
\nworks done with that central view, as sacrifice, as giving, as askesis<\/span>, are Sat, for they build the basis for the highest
\ntruth of our spirit. And because śraddh<\/span>ā is the
\ncentral principle of our existence, any of these things done without śraddhā<\/i><\/span>
\nis a falsity and has no true meaning or true substance on earth or beyond, no
\nreality, no power to endure or create in life here or after the mortal life in
\ngreater regions of our conscious spirit. The soul’s faith, not a mere intellectual
\nbelief, but its concordant will to know, to see, to believe and to do and be
\naccording to its vision and knowledge, is that which determines by its power
\nthe measure of our possibilities of becoming, and it is this faith and will
\nturned in all our inner and outer self, nature and action towards all that is
\nhighest, most divine, most real and eternal that will enable us to reach the
\nsupreme perfection. <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 475<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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