Essays on the Gita, First Series (Arya Publishing House, 1922)
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* Upanishad, Neither the dynamism of the kinetic man nor the actionless light of the ascetic or quietist, neither the vehement personality of the man of action nor the indifferent impersonality of the philosophic sage is the complete divine ideal. These are the two conflicting standards of the man of this world and the ascetic or the quietist philosopher, one immersed in the action of the Kshara, the other striving to dwell entirely in the peace of the Akshara ; but the complete divine ideal proceeds from the nature of the Purushottama which transcends this conflict and reconciles all divine possibilities.
The kinetic man is not satisfied with any ideal which does not depend upon the fulfilment of this cosmic nature, this play of the three qualities of that nature, this human activity of mind and heart and body. The highest fulfilment of that activity, he might say, is my idea of human perfection, of the divine possibility in man ; some ideal that satisfies the intellect, the heart, the moral being, some ideal of our human nature in its action can alone satisfy the human being ; he must have something that he can seek in the workings of his mind and life and body. For that is his nature, his dharma, and how can he be fulfilled in something outside his nature? For to his nature each being is bound and within k he must seek for his perfection. According to our human nature must be bur human perfection ; aTid each man must. strive for it according to thejine^f his personali ty, his but jn lii^ in THE PRINCIPLE OF DIVINE WORKS action, QOJLiQut^ck life a nd action . Yes, there is a truth in that, replies the Gita ; the fulfilment of God in man, the play of the Divine in life is part of the Meallperfection. But if you seek it only in the external, in life, in the principle of action, you will never find it ; for you will then not only act according to your nature, which is in itself a rule of perfection, but you will be — and this is a rule of the imperfection — eternally subject to its modes, its dualities of liking and dislike, pain and pleasure and especially to the rajasic mode with its principle of desire and its snare of wrath and grief and longing, — the restless, all-devouring principle of desire, the insatiable fire which besieges your worldly action, the eternal enemy of knowledge by which it is covered over here in your nature as is a fire by smoke or a mirror by dust and which you must slay in order to live in the calm, clear, luminous truth of the spirit. The^enses, min^ and intellect ar e the se at of this eternal cause of imperil tion and yet it is witEin ffiis_^'me, mind^ar^ in_tellect, this play of the lower nature that you would limit your search for perfection! The effort is vain. The kinetic side of your nature must first seek to add to itself the quietistic ; you must uplift yourself beyond this lower nature to that which is above the three gunas, that which is founded in the Si^gSfjnhciple, in the soul. Only^'when you att5imeH~ to peace of soul, can you become capable of a free and divine action.
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