{"id":3627,"date":"2013-07-13T01:50:03","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:50:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3627"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:50:03","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:50:03","slug":"42-the-gunas-faith-and-works-vol-essays-on-the-gita-1950-edn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-other-editions\/essays-on-the-gita-1950-edn\/42-the-gunas-faith-and-works-vol-essays-on-the-gita-1950-edn","title":{"rendered":"-42_The Gunas Faith and Works.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

\nXVIII <\/font><\/b>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nTHE GUNAS, FAITH AND WORKS* <\/font><\/b>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nT<\/font>HE GITA<\/font> has made a distinction between action according to the
\nlicense of personal desire and action done according to the Shastra.
\nWe must understand by the latter the recognised science and art of
\nlife which is the outcome of mankind’s collective living, its culture,
\nreligion, science, its progressive discovery of the best rule of life,\u2014but
\nmankind still walking in the ignorance and proceeding in a half light
\ntowards knowledge. The action of personal desire belongs to the
\nunregenerated state of our nature and is dictated by ignorance or
\nfalse knowledge and an unregulated or ill-regulated kinetic or rajasic
\negoism. The action controlled by Shastra is an outcome of intellectual, ethical, aesthetic, social and religious culture; it embodies an
\nattempt at a certain right living, harmony and right order and is
\nevidently an effort, more or less advanced according to circumstances,
\nof the sattwic element in man to overtop, regulate and control or
\nguide, where it must be admitted, his rajasic and tamasic egoism. It is
\nthe means to a step in advance, and therefore mankind must first
\nproceed through it and make this Shastra its law of action rather than
\nobey the impulsion of its personal desires. This is a general rule
\nwhich humanity has always recognised wherever it has arrived at any
\nkind of established and developed society; it has an idea of an order,
\na law, a standard of its perfection, something other than the guidance
\nof its desires or the crude direction of its raw impulses. This greater
\nrule the individual finds usually outside himself in some more or
\nless fixed outcome of the experience and wisdom of the race, which
\nhe accepts, to which his mind and the leading parts of his being give
\ntheir assent or sanction and which he tries to make his own by living
\nit in his mind, will and action. And this assent of the being, its conscious acceptance and will to believe and realise, may be called by
\nthe name which the Gita gives to it, his faith, śraddhā.<\/i> The religion,
\nthe philosophy, the ethical law, the social idea, the cultural idea in <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

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

<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-425<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nwhich I put my faith, gives me a law for my nature and its works, an
\nidea of relative right or an idea of relative or absolute perfection,
\nand in proportion as I have a sincerity and completeness of faith
\nin it and an intensity of will to live according to that faith, I can
\nbecome what it proposes to me, I can shape myself into an image of
\nthat right or an exemplar of that perfection. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nBut we see also that there is a freer tendency in man other than
\nthe leading of his desires and other than his will to accept the Law,
\nthe fixed idea, the safe governing rule of the Shastra. The individual
\nfrequently enough, the community at any moment of its life is seen
\nto turn away from the Shastra, becomes impatient of it, loses that
\nform of its will and faith and goes in search of another law which
\nit is now more disposed to accept as the right rule of living and regard
\nas a more vital or higher truth of existence. This may happen when
\nthe established Shastra ceases to be a living thing and degenerates
\nor stiffens into a mass of customs and conventions. Or it may come
\nbecause 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
\nhas become imperative. If that does not exist, it has to be discovered
\nby the effort of the race or by some great and illumined individual
\nmind who embodies the desire and seeking of the race. The Vedic
\nlaw becomes a convention and a Buddha appears with his new rule of
\nthe eightfold path and the goal of Nirvana; and it may be remarked
\nthat he propounds it not as a personal invention, but as the true
\nrule of Aryan living constantly rediscovered by the Buddha, the
\nenlightened mind, the awakened spirit. But this practically means
\nthat there is an ideal, an eternal Dharma which religion, philosophy,
\nethics and all other powers in man that strive after truth and
\nperfection are constantly endeavouring to embody in new statements
\nof the science and art of the inner and outer life, a new Shastra. The
\nMosaic law of religious, ethical and social righteousness is convicted
\nof narrowness and imperfection and is now, besides, a convention; the law of Christ comes to replace it and claims at once to abrogate
\nand to fulfil, to abrogate the imperfect form and fulfil in a deeper
\nand broader light and power the spirit of the thing which it aimed
\nat, the divine rule of living. And the human search does not stop
\nthere, but leaves these formulations too, goes back to some past
\ntruth it had rejected or breaks forward to some new truth and power, but is always in search of the same thing, the law of its perfection, <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-426<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nits rule of right living, its complete, highest and essential self and
\nnature. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nThis movement begins with the individual, who is no longer satisfied with the law because he finds that it no longer corresponds to his
\nidea and largest or intensest experience of himself and existence and
\ntherefore he can no longer bring to it the will to believe and practise.
\nIt does not correspond to his inner way of being, it is not to him sat,
\nthe thing that truly is, the right, the highest or best or real good; it
\nis not the truth and law of his or of all being. The Shastra is something impersonal to the individual, and that gives it its authority over
\nthe narrow personal law of his members; but at the same time it is
\npersonal to the collectivity and is the outcome of its experience, its
\nculture or its nature. It is not in all its form and spirit the ideal rule
\nof fulfilment of the Self or the eternal law of the Master of our nature,
\nalthough it may contain in itself in small or larger measure indications,
\npreparations, illuminating glimpses of that far greater thing. And the
\nindividual may have gone beyond the collectivity and be ready for a
\ngreater 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
\na higher movement; it may take the form of a revolt of the egoistic or
\nrajasic nature seeking freedom from the yoke of something which it
\nfeels to be cramping to its liberty of self-fulfilment and self-finding.
\nBut even then it is often justified by some narrowness or imperfection
\nof the Shastra or by the degradation of the current rule of living into a
\nmerely restricting or lifeless convention. And so far it is legitimate, it
\nappeals to a truth, it has a good and just reason for existence: for
\nthough it misses the right path, yet the free action of the rajasic
\nego, because it has more in it of liberty and life, is better than the
\ndead and hidebound tamasic following of a convention. The rajasic
\nis always stronger, always more forcefully inspired and has more
\npossibilities in it than the tamasic nature. But also this leading may
\nbe sattwic at its heart; it may be a turn to a larger and greater ideal
\nwhich will carry us nearer to a more complete and ample truth of our
\nself and universal existence than has yet been seen and nearer therefore to that highest law which is one with the divine freedom. And
\nin effect this movement is usually an attempt to lay hold on some
\nforgotten truth or to move on to a yet undiscovered or unlived truth
\nof 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 <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-427<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nprogress. And even if the Shastra is still a living thing and the best
\nrule for the human average, the exceptional man, spiritual, inwardly
\ndeveloped, is not bound by that standard. He is called upon to go
\nbeyond the fixed line of the Shastra. For this is a rule for the guidance, control and relative perfection of the normal imperfect man and
\nhe has to go on to a more absolute perfection: this is a system of
\nfixed dharmas and he has to learn to live in the liberty of the Spirit. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nBut what then shall be the secure base of an action which departs
\nboth from the guidance of desire and from the normal law? For the
\nrule of desire has an authority of its own, no longer safe or satisfactory
\nto us as it is to the animal or as it might have been to a primitive
\nhumanity, but still, so far as it goes, founded on a very living part of
\nour nature and fortified by its strong indications; and the law, the
\nShastra has behind it all the authority of long established rule, old
\nsuccessful sanctions and a secure past experience. But this new
\nmovement is of the nature of a powerful adventure into the unknown
\nor partly known, a daring development and a new conquest, and
\nwhat then is the clue to be followed, the guiding light on which it
\ncan depend or its strong basis in our being? The answer is that the
\nclue and support is to be found in man’s śraddhā,<\/i> his faith, his will
\nto believe, to live what he sees or thinks to be, the truth of himself
\nand of existence. In other words this movement is man’s appeal to himself or to something potent and compelling in himself or in universal
\nexistence for the discovery of his truth, his law of living, his way to
\nfullness and perfection. And everything depends on the nature of his
\nfaith, the thing in himself or in the universal soul\u2014of which he is a
\nportion or manifestation\u2014to which he directs it and on how near he
\ngets by it to his real self and the Self or true being of the universe. If
\nhe is tamasic, obscure, clouded, if he has an ignorant faith and inapt
\nwill, he will reach nothing true and will fall away to his lower nature.
\nIf he is lured by false rajasic lights, he can be carried away by self-will
\ninto bypaths that may lead to morass or precipice. In either case his
\nonly chance of salvation lies in a return of sattwa upon him to impose
\na new enlightened order and rule upon his members which will
\nliberate him from the violent error of his self-will or the dull error
\nof his clouded ignorance. If, on the other hand, he has the sattwic
\nnature and a sattwic faith and direction for his steps, he will arrive
\nin sight of a higher yet unachieved ideal rule which may lead him
\neven in rare instances beyond the sattwic light some way at least <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-428<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\ntowards a highest divine illumination and divine way of being and
\nliving. For if the sattwic light is so strong in him as to bring him to
\nits own culminating point, then he will be able advancing from that
\npoint to make out his gate of entrance into some first ray of that
\nwhich is divine, transcendent and absolute. In all effort at self-finding these possibilities are there; they are the conditions of this
\nspiritual adventure. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nNow we have to see how the Gita deals with this question on its
\nown line of spiritual teaching and self-discipline. For Arjuna puts
\nimmediately a suggestive query from which the problem or one aspect
\nof it arises. When men, he says, sacrifice to God or the gods with faith, śraddhā,<\/i> but abandon the rule of the Shastra, what is that concentrated will of devotion in them, nisthā,<\/i> which gives them this faith
\nand moves them to this kind of action? Is it sattwa, rajas or tamas?
\nto which strand of our nature does it belong? The answer of the Gita
\nfirst states the principle that the faith in us is of a triple kind like all
\nthings in Nature and varies according to the dominating quality of our
\nnature. The faith of each man takes the shape, hue, quality given to
\nit by his stuff of being, his constituting temperament, his innate
\npower of existence, sattvānurūpā sarvasya śraddhā.<\/i> And then there
\ncomes a remarkable line in which the Gita tells us that this Purusha,
\nthis soul in man, is, as it were, made of śraddhā,<\/i> a faith, a will to be, a
\nbelief in itself and existence, and whatever is that will, faith or constituting belief in him, he is that and that is he,
\nśraddhā-mayo’yam
\npuruso yo -yac-chraddhah sa eva sah.<\/i> If we look into this pregnant
\nsaying a little closely, we shall find that this single line contains implied in its few forceful words almost the whole theory of the modern
\ngospel of pragmatism. For if a man or the soul in a man consists of
\nthe faith which is in him, taken in this deeper sense, then it follows
\nthat the truth which he sees and wills to live is for him the truth
\nof his being, the truth of himself that he has created or is creating and
\nthere can be for him no other real truth. This truth is a thing, of his
\ninner and outer action, a thing of his becoming, of the soul’s dynamics, not of that in him which never changes. He is what he is
\ntoday by some past will of his nature sustained and continued by a
\npresent will to know, to believe and to be in his intelligence and
\nvital force, and whatever new turn is taken by this will and faith
\nactive in his very substance, that he will tend to become in the
\nfuture. We create our own truth of existence in our own action of <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-429<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nmind and life, which is another way of saying that we create our own selves? are
\nour own makers. <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nBut very obviously this is only one aspect of the
\ntruth, and all one
\naspected statements are suspect to the thinker. Truth is not merely
\n\u2022whatever<\/i> our own personality is or creates; that is only the truth of
\nour becoming, one point or line of emphasis in a movement of widest
\nvolume Beyond our personality there is, first, a universal being as
\nwell 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
\nderives and to which it owes its potentialities, elements, original and
\nfinal motives. We may say indeed that all becoming is only an act
\nof universal consciousness, is Maya, is a creation of the will to become, and the only other reality, if there is any, is a pure eternal
\nexistence beyond consciousness, featureless, unexpressed and inexpressible. That is practically the standpoint taken by the Mayavadin’s
\nAdwaita and the sense of the distinction he makes between pragmatic truth which to his mind is illusory or at least only temporarily
\nand Partly real while modern pragmatism takes it to be the true
\ntruth or at least the only recognisable reality because the only reality that we can act
\nand know,\u2014between that pragmatic illusion and on
\nthe other side of creative Maya the lonely Absolute featureless and
\ninexpressible. But for the Gita absolute Brahman is also supreme
\nPurusha, and Purusha is always conscious Soul, though its highest
\nconsciousness, its superconsciousness, if we will,\u2014as, one may add,
\nits lowest which we call the Inconscient,\u2014is something very different
\nfrom our mind consciousness to which alone we are accustomed to
\ngive the name. There is in that highest superconscience a highest
\ntruth and dharma of immortality, a greatest divine way of being, a way of the eternal and infinite. That eternal way of existence and
\ndivine manner of being exists already in the eternity of the Purushottama, but we are now attempting to create it here too in our becoming by Yoga; our endeavour is to become the Divine, to be as
\nHe madbhāva.<\/i> That also depends on śraddhā.<\/i> It is by an act of our
\nconscious substance and a belief in its truth, an inmost will to live
\nit or he it that we come by it; but this does not mean that it does not
\nalready exist beyond us. Though it may not exist for our outward
\nmind until we see and create ourselves anew into it, it is still there
\nin tb6 Eternal and we may say even that it is already there in our
\nown secret self; for in us also, in our depths the Purushottama always <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-430<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nis. Our growing into that, our creation of it is his and its manifestation
\nin us. All creation indeed since it proceeds from the conscious substance of the Eternal, is a manifestation of him and proceeds by a
\nfaith, acceptance, will to be in the originating consciousness, Chit-Shakti. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nWe are concerned at present, however, not with the metaphysical
\nissue, but with the relation of this will or faith in our being to
\nour possibility of growth into the perfection of the divine nature.
\nThis power, this śraddhā<\/i> is in any case our basis. When we live,
\nwhen we are and do according to our desires, that is a persistent act
\nof śraddhā<\/i> belonging mostly to our vital and physical, our tamasic
\nand rajasic nature. And when we try to be, to live and to do according
\nto the Shastra, we proceed by a persistent act of śraddhā<\/i> which belongs, supposing it to be not a routine faith, to a sattwic tendency
\nthat is constantly labouring to impose itself on our rajasic and tamasic
\nparts. When we leave both these things and try to be, to live and
\nto do according to some ideal or novel conception of truth of our
\nown finding or our own individual acceptance, that too is a persistent
\nact of śraddhā<\/i> which may be dominated by any one of these three
\nqualities 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
\ndivine nature, then too we must proceed by a persistent act of śraddhā, <\/i>which must be according to the Gita the faith of the sattwic nature
\nwhen it culminates and is preparing to exceed its own clear-cut limits.
\nBut all and any of these things implies some kinesis or displacement
\nof nature, all suppose an inner or outer or ordinarily both an inner
\nand an outer action. And what then will be the character of this
\naction? The Gita states three main elements of the work we have
\nto do, kartavyam karma,<\/i> and these three are sacrifice, giving and
\naskesis. For when question by Arjuna on the difference between
\nthe outer and inner renunciation, sannyāsa<\/i> and tyāga,<\/i> Krishna insists
\nthat these three things ought not to be renounced at all but ought
\naltogether to be done, for they are the work before us, kartavyam
\nkarma,<\/i> and they purify the wise. In other words these acts constitute the means of our perfection. But at the same time they may be
\ndone unwisely or less wisely by the unwise. All dynamic action may
\nbe reduced in its essential parts to these three elements. For all dynamic action, all kinesis of the nature involves a voluntary or an
\ninvoluntary tapasya or askesis, an energism and concentration of our <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-431<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nforces or capacities or of some capacity which helps us to achieve, to
\nacquire or to become something, tapas.<\/i> All action involves a giving
\nof what we are or have, an expenditure which is the price of that
\nachievement, acquisition or becoming, dāna.<\/i> All action involves too
\na sacrifice to elemental or to universal powers or to the supreme
\nMaster of our works. The question is whether we do these things inconsciently, passively, or at best with an unintelligent ignorant halfconscient will, or with an unwisely or perversely conscient energism,
\nor with a wisely conscient will rooted in knowledge, in other words,
\nwhether our sacrifice, giving and askesis are tamasic, rajasic or sattwic
\nin nature. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nFor everything here, including physical things, partakes of this
\ntriple character. Our food, for example, the Gita tells us, is either
\nsattwic, rajasic or tamasic according to its character and effect on
\nthe body. The sattwic temperament in the mental and physical body
\nturns naturally to the things that increase the life, increase the inner
\nand outer strength, nourish at once the mental, vital and physical
\nforce and increase the pleasure and satisfaction and happy condition
\nof mind and life and body, all that is succulent and soft and firm
\nand satisfying. The rajasic temperament prefers naturally food that
\nis violently sour, pungent, hot, acrid, rough and strong and burning,
\nthe aliments that increase ill-health and the distempers of the mind
\nand body. The tamasic temperament takes a perverse pleasure in cold,
\nimpure, stale, rotten or tasteless food or even accepts like the animals
\nthe remnants half-eaten by others. All-pervading is the principle of
\nthe three gunas. The gunas apply at the other end in the same way
\nto the things of the mind and spirit, to sacrifice, giving and askesis,
\nand the Gita distinguishes under each of these three heads between
\nthe three kinds in the customary terms of these things as they were
\nformulated by the symbolism of the old Indian culture. But, remembering the very wide sense which the Gita itself gives to the idea of
\nsacrifice, we may well enlarge the surface meaning of these hints and
\nopen them to a freer significance. And it will be convenient to take
\nthem in the reverse order, from tamas to sattwa, since we are considering how we go upward out of our lower nature through a certain
\nsattwic culmination and self-exceeding to a divine nature and action
\nbeyond the three gunas. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nThe tamasic sacrifice is work which is done without faith, without, that is to say, and full conscious idea and acceptance and will <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-432<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\ntowards the thing Nature yet compels us to execute. It is done mechanically, because the act of living demands it, because it comes
\nin our way, because others do it, to avoid some other greater difficulty
\nwhich may arise from not doing it, or from any other tamasic motive.
\nAnd it is apt to be done, if we have in the full this kind of temperament, carelessly, perfunctorily, in the wrong way. It will not be performed by the vidhi<\/i> or right rule of the Shastra, will not be led in
\nits steps according to the right method laid down by the art and
\nscience of life and the true science of the thing to be done. There
\nwill be no giving of food in the sacrifice,\u2014and that act in the Indian
\nritual is symbolic of the elements of helpful giving inherent in every
\naction that is real sacrifice, the indispensable giving to others, the
\nfruitful help to others, to the world, without which our action becomes a wholly self-regarding thing and a violation of the true universal law of solidarity and interchange. The work will be done
\nwithout the dakshina, the much-needed giving or self-giving to the
\nleaders of the sacrificial action, whether to the outward guide and
\nhelper of our work or to the veiled or manifest goodhead within us.
\nIt will be done without the mantra, without the dedicating thought
\nwhich is the sacred body of our will and knowledge lifted upwards
\nto the godheads we serve by our sacrifice. The tamasic man does not
\noffer his sacrifice to the gods, but to inferior elemental powers or to
\nthose grosser spirits behind the veil who feed upon his works and
\ndominate his life with their darkness. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nThe rajasic man offers his sacrifice to lower godheads or to perverse powers, the Yakshas, the keepers of wealth, or to the Asuric
\nand the Rakshasic forces. His sacrifice may be performed outwardly
\naccording to the Shastra, but its motive is ostentation, pride or a strong
\nlust after the fruit of his action, a vehement demand for the reward
\nof his works. All work therefore that proceeds from violent or egoistic
\npersonal desire or from an arrogant will intent to impose itself on the
\nworld for personal objects is of the rajasic nature, even if it mask
\nitself with the insignia of the light, even if it be done outwardly as
\na sacrifice. Although it is ostensibly given to God or to the gods, it
\nremains essentially an Asuric action. It is the inner state, motive and
\ndirection which give their value to our works, and not merely the
\napparent outer direction, the divine names we may call to sanction
\nthem or even the sincere intellectual belief which seems to justify us
\nin the performance. Wherever there is a dominating egoism in our <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-433<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nacts, there our work becomes a rajasic sacrifice. The true sattwic
\nsacrifice, on the other hand, is distinguished by three signs that are
\nthe quiet seal of its character. First, it is dictated by the effective
\ntruth, executed according to the vidhi,<\/i> the right principle, the exact
\nmethod and rule, the just rhythm and law of our works, their true
\nfunctioning, their dharma; that means that the reason and enlightened will are the guides and determinants of their steps and their
\npurpose. Secondly, it is executed with a mind concentrated and fixed
\non the idea of the thing to be done as a true sacrifice imposed on us
\nby the divine law that governs our life and therefore performed out
\nof a high inner obligation or imperative truth and without desire for
\nthe personal fruit,\u2014the more impersonal the motive of the action and
\nthe temperament of the force put out in it, the more sattwic is its
\nnature. And finally it is offered to the gods without any reservation; it is acceptable to the divine powers by whom\u2014for they are his masks
\nand personalities\u2014the Master of existence governs the universe. <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nThis sattwic sacrifice comes then very near to the ideal and leads
\ndirectly toward the kind of action demanded by the Gita; but it is
\nnot the last and highest ideal, it is not yet the action of the perfected
\nman 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
\nthe universe. Work done with a disinterested religious faith or selflessly for humanity or impersonally from devotion to the Right or
\nthe Truth is of this nature, and action of that kind is necessary for
\nour perfection; for it purifies our thought and will and our natural
\nsubstance. The culmination of the sattwic action at which we have
\nto arrive is of a still larger and freer kind; it is the high last sacrifice
\noffered by us to the supreme Divine in his integral being and with
\na seeking for the Purushottama or with the vision of Vasudeva in all
\nthat is, the action done impersonally, universally, for the good of the
\nworld, for the fulfilment of the divine will in the universe. That
\nculmination leads to its own transcending, to the immortal Dharma.
\nFor then comes a freedom in which there is no personal action at all,
\nno sattwic rule of dharma, no limitation of Shastra; the inferior
\nreason and will are themselves overpassed and it is not they but a
\nhigher wisdom that dictates and guides the work and commands its
\nobjective. There is no question of personal fruit; for the will that
\nworks is not our own but a supreme Will of which the soul is the <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-434<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\ninstrument. There is no self-regarding and no selflessness; for the
\nJiva, the eternal portion of the Divine, is united with the highest
\nSelf 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
\nof our works and it is he that does the action through the divinised
\nPrakriti. There is no sacrifice,\u2014unless we can say that the Master of
\nsacrifice is offering the works of his energy in the Jiva to himself in
\nhis own cosmic form. This is the supreme self-surpassing state arrived at by the action that is sacrifice, this the perfection of the soul
\nthat has come to its full consciousness in the divine nature. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nTamasic tapasya is that which is pursued under a clouded and
\ndeluded idea hard and obstinate in its delusion, maintained by an
\nignorant faith in some cherished falsehood, performed with effort and
\nsuffering imposed on oneself in pursuit of some narrow and vulgar
\negoistic object empty of relation to any true or great aim or else with
\na concentration of the energy in a will to do hurt to others. That
\nwhich makes this kind of energism tamasic is not any principle of
\ninertia, for inertia is foreign to tapasya, but a darkness in the mind
\nand nature, a vulgar narrowness and ugliness in the doing or a brutish
\ninstinct or desire in the aim or in the motive feeling. Rajasic energisms
\nof askesis are those which are undertaken to get honour and worship
\nfrom men, for the sake of personal distinction and outward glory
\nand greatness or from some other of the many motives of egoistic will
\nand pride. This kind of askesis is devoted to fleeting particular objects which add nothing to the heavenward growth and perfection
\nof the soul; it is a thing without fixed and helpful principle, an energy
\nbound up with changeful and passing occasion and itself of that nature. Or even if there is ostensibly a more inward and noble object
\nand the faith and will are of a higher kind, yet if any kind of arrogance or pride or any great strength of violent self-will or desire enters
\ninto the askesis or if it drives some violent, lawless or terrible action
\ncontrary to the Shastra, opposed to the right rule of life and works
\nand afflicting to oneself and to others, or if it is of the nature of self-torture and hurts the mental, vital and physical elements or violates
\nthe God within us who is seated in the inner subtle body, then too
\nit is an unwise, an Asuric, a rajasic or rajaso-tamasic tapasya. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nSattwic tapasya is that which is done with a highest enlightened
\nfaith, as a duty deeply accepted or for some ethical or spiritual or other higher reason and with no desire for any external or narrowly <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-435<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\npersonal fruit in the action. It is of the character of self-discipline
\nand asks for self-control and a harmonising of one’s nature. The Gita
\ndescribes three kinds of sattwic askesis. First comes the physical, the
\naskesis of the outward act; under this head are especially mentioned
\nworship and reverence of those deserving reverence, cleanness of the
\nperson, the action and the life, candid dealing, sexual purity and
\navoidance of killing and injury to others. Net is askesis of speech,
\nand that consists in the study of. Scripture, kind, true and beneficent
\nspeech and a careful avoidance of words that may cause fear, sorrow
\nand trouble to others. Finally, there is the askesis of mental and
\nmoral perfection, and that means the purifying of the whole temperament, gentleness and a clear and calm gladness of mind, self-control
\nand silence. Here comes in all that quiets or disciplines the rajasic
\nand egoistic nature and all that replaces it by the happy and tranquil
\nprinciple of good and virtue. This is the askesis of the sattwic dharma
\nso highly prized in the system of the ancient Indian culture. Its
\ngreater culmination will be a high purity of the reason and will, an
\nequal soul, a deep peace and calm, a wide sympathy and preparation
\nof oneness, a reflection of the inner soul’s divine gladness in the mind,
\nlife and body. There at that lofty point the ethical is already passing
\naway into the spiritual type and character. And this culmination
\ntoo can be made to transcend itself, can be raised into a higher and
\nfreer light, can pass away into the settled godlike energy of the supreme nature. And what will remain then will be the spirit’s immaculate Tapas, a highest will and luminous force in all the members,
\nacting in a wide and solid calm and a deep and pure spiritual delight,
\nAnanda. There will then be no farther need of askesis, no tapasya,
\nbecause all is naturally and easily divine, all is that Tapas. There
\nwill be no separate labour of the lower energism, because the energy
\nof Prakriti will have found its true source and base in the transcendent
\nwill of the Purushottama. Then, because of this high initiation, the
\nacts of this energy on the lower planes also will proceed naturally and
\nspontaneously from an innate perfect will and by an inherent perfect guidance. There will be no limitation by any of the present
\ndharmas; for there will be a free action far above the rajasic and
\ntamasic nature, but also far beyond the too careful and narrow
\nlimits of the sattwic rule of action. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nAs with tapasya, all giving also is of an ignorant tamasic, an ostentatious rajasic or a disinterested and enlightened sattwic character. <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-436<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nThe tamasic gift is offered ignorantly with no consideration of the
\nright conditions of time, place and object; it is a foolish, inconsiderate
\nand in reality a self-regarding movement, an ungenerous and ignoble
\ngenerosity, the gift offered without sympathy or true liberality, without regard for the feelings of the recipient and despised by him even
\nin the acceptance. The rajasic kind of giving is that which is done
\nwith regret, unwillingness or violence to oneself or with a personal
\nand egoistic object or in the hope of a return of some kind from
\nwhatever quarter or a corresponding or greater benefit to oneself
\nfrom the receiver. The sattwic way of giving is to bestow with right
\nreason and good will and sympathy in the right conditions of time
\nand place and on the right recipient who is worthy or to whom the
\ngift can be really helpful. Its act is performed for the sake of the
\ngiving 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
\nwithout any personal object in the action. The culmination of the
\nsattwic way of dāna<\/i> will bring into the action an increasing element
\nof that wide self-giving to others and to the world and to God, ātma-dāna, ātma-samarpana,<\/i> which is the high consecration of the sacrifice
\nof works enjoined by the Gita. And the transcendence in the divine
\nnature will be a greatest completeness of self-offering founded on
\nthe largest meaning of existence. All this manifold universe comes
\ninto birth and is constantly maintained by God’s giving of himself and
\nhis 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. All the action of the perfected soul will be even such a constant
\ndivine giving of itself and its powers, an outflowing of the knowledge,
\nlight, strength, love, joy, helpful shakti which it possesses in the
\nDivine and by his influence and effluence on all around it according
\nto their capacity of reception or on all this world and its creatures.
\nThat will be the complete result of the complete self-giving of the
\nsoul to the Master of our existence. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nThe Gita closes this chapter with what seems at first sight a recondite utterance. The formula OM, Tat, Sat, is, it says, the triple
\ndefinition of the Brahman, by whom the Brahmanas, the Vedas and
\nsacrifices were created of old and in it resides all their significance.
\nTat, That, indicates the Absolute. Sat indicates the supreme and
\nuniversal existence in its principle. OM is the symbol of the triple
\nBrahman, the outward-looking, the inward or subtle and the super<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-437<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nconscient casual Purusha. Each letter A, U, M indicates one of these
\nthree in ascending order and the syllable as a whole brings out the.
\nfourth state, Turiya, which rises to the Absolute. OM is the initiating
\nsyllable pronounced at the outset as a benedictory prelude and sanction to all act of sacrifice, all act of giving and all act of askesis; it is
\na reminder that our work should be made an expression of the triple
\nDivine in our inner being and turned towards him in the idea and
\nmotive. The seekers of liberation do these actions without desire of
\nfruit and only with the idea, feeling, Ananda of the absolute Divine
\nbehind their nature. It is that which they seek by this purity and
\nimpersonality in their works, this high desirelessness, this 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
\nof reality must be there behind all the three kinds of action. All
\ngood works are Sat, for they prepare the soul for the higher reality
\nof our being; all firm abiding in sacrifice, giving and askesis and all
\nworks done with that central view, as sacrifice, as giving, as askesis,
\nare Sat, for they build the basis for the highest truth of our spirit.
\nAnd because śraddhā<\/i> is the central principle of our existence, any
\nof these things done without śraddhā<\/i> is a falsity and has no true
\nmeaning or true substance on earth or beyond, no reality, no power
\nto endure or create in life here or after the mortal life in greater
\nregions 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
\nbe according to its vision and knowledge, is that which determines
\nby its power the measure of our possibilities of becoming, and it is
\nthis faith and will turned in all our inner and outer self, nature and
\naction towards all that is highest, most divine, most real and eternal
\nthat will enable us to reach the supreme perfection. <\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-438<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

XVIII   THE GUNAS, FAITH AND WORKS*   THE GITA has made a distinction between action according to the license of personal desire and action…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essays-on-the-gita-1950-edn","wpcat-90-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3627\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}