Essays on the Gita, First Series (Arya Publishing House, 1922)
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S irtial Avatarhqod. The I^rd staads ^ i , a J Ja f?: Jie^ ^ the Gita, — by wludi it means of course the heart of the subtle being, the nodus of the emotions, sensations, mental consciousness, where the indm- dual Purusha also is seated ; — -but he stands tl^re ieiled, enveloped by his Mayaj But above, on a plane within us but now superconscient to us, called heaven by the ancient mystics, the Lord and the Jiva stand together revealed as of one essence of being, the Father and the Son of certain symbolisms, the Divine Being and the divine Man who comes forth from Him born of the higher divine Nature,* the virgin Mother, pard prakriti, pard mdyd, into the lower or human nature. This seems to be the jnner doctrine of the Christian incarmtion ; in its ^Trinity the Father is above in Yhis inner Heaven ; the §on or supreme Pi^riti become Jiva of the Gita descends^^ jhe divine^Maii upoET^Ttfi, in” the mortal body; the Holy Spirit , ^rel3elt Brahmic consciousness is that which makes them one and that also in ^whlch_ttey tomihunicateT for we hear of the Holy Spirit d^cehdrng upon Jesus and it is the same descent which brings down the powers of the higher consciousness into the simple humanity of the Apostles. But also the higher divine consciousness of the
* In the Buddhist legend the name of the mother of Buddha makes the symbolism clear; in the Christian the symbol seems to have been attached by a familiar mjdihopoeic process to the actual human mother m Jesus of Nazareth. THE PROCESS OF AVATARHOOD Purushottama may itself descend into the humanity and that of the Jiva disappear into it. This is said by his contemporaries To”Tiave “happened in the occasional transfigur ations of C haitanya when he who in his normal cohscidusnST was only the lover and devotee of the Lord and rejected all deification, became - in these abnorqpial . moments the Lord himslfff and so spoke and acted, with all the butflboding light and love and power of the divine Presence. Supposing this to be the normal condition, the human receptacle to be constai^y no more than a^v^el of This divine Presence and divine Conscicmffi^si^^we^ThbuId liave" the Avatar according to this intermediary idea of the incarna- tion. That easily recommends itself as possible to our human notions ; for if the human being can elevate his nature so as to feel a unity with the being of the Divine and himself a mer^ channel of its consc io usn ess, liglu, power, foveT his own will and pe^naHty los^ and that being, — and this IS a recognised spiritual status, — then there is no inherent imp ossibility of the reflex action of th^ Will, Being, Power, Love, Light, Consciou^<MS per^nali^ human Jiva. And this would not be merely an ascent "of our hjanaaility into"" the diyi^ birth and the dmVie n^ure, but a descent of the divine_ Purusha into hum anity , an A vata r. The Gita, h owever, goes much farther. It spe^s^ clearly of_the Lord himself being bom ; KrishnaTspeaEroThis many births that are past and makes it clear by his language that it is not merely the receptive human being but the Divine of whom he makes this affirmation, because he uses the very language of the Creator, the same language which he will employ when he has to describe his creation of the world. '‘Ahhough I a m the unb o rn Lo rd of c reatu res, I create (loose forth) my self by my maya,’* presiding oveF the actions oFniiy FrakfifT Here there is no question of the Lord and the human Jiva or of the Father and the Son, the divine Man, but only of the Lord and his Prakriti. The Divine^ descends _ by his own Pra birth in its human form and type ajid^ brings, into it the divine Consciousness and the divine Power, though consenting, though willing to act in the form, type, mould of humanity, and he governs its actions in the body as the indwelling and over-dwelling Soul, adhishthdya. above he governs always,
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