Essays on the Gita, First Series (Arya Publishing House, 1922)
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Thc^jGita is not content, either, to abide within the Sankhya analysis of Prakriti ; for that makes room only for t Be egb-sens e^ahdl ibt for the multiple Pinmha, which is there not a pSt of PraFntl, but sej^rate from her. The Gita affirms on the contrary that the Lord by His nature b ecomes the Jiva . How is that possible, since there are only the twenty-four principles of the cosmic Energy and no others? Yes, says the divine Teacher in effect, that is a perfectly valid account for the apparent operations of the cosmic Prakriti with its three gunas, and the rela- tion attributed to Purusha and Prakriti there is also quite valid and of great use for the practical purposes of the involution and the withdrawal. But this is only the l ower Prakrit i of^ die thrc gjmdes^ the in- cbnscient, tEe apparent ; thereJsaJiiigl^Tiri^^ a ri^srien^nd divine Nature, and it is tl^Ljrfuch has b ^come ^ the i ndividual souL the Jiv a. In th e lower nature each being appe ars as^he ego, in the Wgherire" is the individual Purusl^. In oAer words i4inTHj ^iriiy^s~ ^r^^ spiritual na ture_Q£j£e Qne. This in^vidigil soul i s myself, in the creation It is a partial manifestation of me, namaiva mshah, and it possesses all my powers; i^wilnew, ^iw of the sanction, upholder, k^wer,irgrd. Tt descends into the l ower namre and tjiinks^-itsel f j^ urET by action, so toTenjoyAe lower being: it draw fcacT “and k now it self ^ the passiyg^ jffirusha free from all action. It canl*is^bove the three gunas and, libgi:ated *omlS^.Jwndagel^ yet possess action, even as I do myself, and by adoration of the Purushottama and union with him it can enjoy wholly its divine Nature. Such is the analysis, not confining itself to the apparent cosmic process but penetrating into the occult secrets of superconscious Nature, uttamam ii6 SANKHYA AND YOGA rahasyam, by which the Gita founds its synthesis of 3^edanta^Sankhya and Yoga , its synthesis of knowledge, the pure Sankhya" fRe combining of wqifc and libe radpn is contradictory and iinpossible. By* pure Monism„_alone the permanent coiuiiiuation works a part the indulgence of devotion ^ftex.pe3r|)5c^ knowledge and liberation and union are attained, become impossible or at least irrational and otiose. The Sankhya knowledge of the Gita dissipates and the Yoga system of the Gita triumphs over all these obstacles.
The whole object of the first six chapters of the Gita is to sjnthetise in a large frame of Vedantk truth the two methods, ordinarily supposed to be diverse and even opposite, of Ae Sankhya§_and the ^ gins. The Sanldiya is taken ^s^the starting-point and the basis ; but it is from the beginning and with a pro gressivel y increasing emphasis p_enoeated wi th the ideas and methods of Yoga, and remoulded in its spirit. The practical difference, as it seems to have presented itself to the religious minds of that day, lay first in this that^^ankhyaL^iroceede^^ k^fiijv- ledge and through the Yoga of the intelligence, while \^ga proceededJjy works and the transformation of the active consciousness and, secondly , — a corollary of this first distinction, — that S^nkhpL^i passivity and the renunciation of works, sannydsa, wl^ Yog a held to be quite sufficient tfieTg^r rqmrKiation_pf._^^ the purification of the subjective principle which leack to action^ and the turning of wor^ Godwards, towards the divine existence and towards liberation. Yet both had the sam e aim, the transcendence of birth’ anff of thS terrestrial existence and thejumion^of the human ii8 SANKHYA, YOGA AND VEDANTA soul with the Highest. This at least is the difference as it is presented to us by the Gita.
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