Essays on the Gita, First Series (Arya Publishing House, 1922)
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Still, whatever the precise distinctions of their metaphysical ideas, the practical difference between the Sankhya and Yoga as developed by the Gita is the same as that which now exists between the Vedantic Yogas of knowledge and of works, and the practical results of the difference are also the same. The Sankh^ proceeded like the Vedanti^:^ Yoga of knowledge by the Buddhi, by thi^^saimi- nating intejligexiceu i t arrived by reflective thought, vichdra, at right discrimination, viveka, of the true nature of the soul and of the imposition on it of the works of Prakrit! through attachment and identifi- cation, just as the Vedantic method arrives by the same means at the_jr ight discriminajtjon of the true nature _of jhe Self and of the imposition on it of cosmic appearances by mental illusion which leads to egoistic identification and attachment. In the Vedantic method Maya ceases for the soul by its return to its true and eternal status as the one Self, the Brahman, and the cosmic action disappears ; in SANKHYA, YOGA AND VEDANTA the Sankhya method the working of the gunas falls to rest by the return of the soul to its true and eternal status as the inactive Purusha and the cosmic action ends. The Brahman of the Mayavadins is silent, immutable and inactive ; so too is (he Purusha of the Sankl^a ; therefore for both ascetic renuncia- tion of life and works is a necessary means of liberation. pBut for the Yoga o f the Gito, as for the Vedantic Yoga of works, acjdon is not onl y a pre- p^atipn but itself the means jF l ib era tion ; and it is the justice of this view which the Gita seeks to bring out with such an unceasing force and insistence, — an insistence, unfortunately, which could not prevail in India against the tremendous tide of BudcBiism,* was lost afterwards in the intensity of ascetic illusionism and the fervour of world-shunning saints and devotees and is only now beginning to exercise its real and salutary influence on the Indian mind. Renu nciation is indis pensable^ but t he true renun - ciationjs^ the i nner re jeHIon of desire and egoism ; without that the outer physical abandoning of works is a thing unreal and ineffective, with it it ceases even to be necessary, although it is not forbidden. Knowledge is essential, there is no higher force for liberation, but work^ with knowledg e are also needed ; by the _union of knowledge and works the
* At the same time the Gita seems to have largely in- fluenced Mahayanist Buddhism and texts are taken bodily from it into the Buddhist Scriptures. It may therefore have helped largely to turn Buddhism, originally a school of quietistic and illuminated ascetics, into that religion of meditative devotion and compassionate action which has so powerfully influenced Asiatic culture. soul dwells entirely in the Brahmic status not only in repose and inactive calm, but in the^yery and stress and violence of action. Devotion is all- imjJoVtant, tuit, works with devqtipjti ^e also, important ; by the”union„pf knowledge, Sevotioa and works the sojal is taken up into the highest status of the Ish^ra to^well therein the Purushpt- tama who is m^ter at once of the eternal spiritual calm and the eternal cosmic activity. T^s ^ the synthesis of the Gita. But, apart from the distinction between the Sankhya way of knowledge and the Yoga way of works, there was another and similar opposition in the Vedanta itself, and this also the Gita has to deal with, to correct and to fuse into its large restatement of the Aryan spiritual culture. This was the distinction between Karmakanda and Jnanakan^ between the original Ihou^tTHaT led' to* tlie”]^ sophy of the .Mimansa, the Vedavada, and
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