Essays on the Gita, First Series (Arya Publishing House, 1922)

The ^st six ch^ters of the Gita form a sort of preliminary block of the teaching ; all the rest, all the other twelve chapters are the working out of certain unfinished figures in this block which here are seen only as hints behind the large-size execution of the main motives, yet are in themselves of capital importance and are therefore reserved for a yet larger treatment on the other two faces of the work. If the Gita were not a great written Scripture which must be carried to its end, if it were actually a discourse by a living teacher to a disciple which could be resumed in good time, when the disciple was ready for farther truth, one could conceive of his stopping here at the end of the sixth chapter and saying, “Work this out first, there is plenty for you to do to realise it and you have the largest possible basis ; as difficulties arise, they will solve themselves or I will solve them for you. But at present live out what I have told you ; work in this spirit.” True, there are many things here which cannot be properly understood except in the light thrown on them by what is to come after. In order to clear up immediate difficulties and obviate possible misunderstandings, I have had my- THE GIST OF THE KARMAYOGA 3self to anticipate a good deal, to bring in repeatedly, for example, the i dea of the Purushott ama , for without that it would have been impossible to clear up certain obscurities about the Self and aaion and die Lord of action, which the Gifa deliberately accepts so that it may not disturb the firmness of the first steps by reaching out prematurely to things too great as yet for the mind of the human disciple.