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

The Qito_resolyes this opposition by insisting that the Devas a re only fpjim-^^the o n e Deva , the Ishwara, the Loid^>of . .all . Yoga ^d_worshi p and sacriiice and aus terit y, and if it is true that sacrifice offered to the Devas leads only to material results and to Paradise, it is also true that S3ciifice--Qffered to the yiwara leads, beyond them to the great li bera- tion. For the Lord and ^Jthe imm utab le Brah man irejiot two^^different beings, ^bi^^ and the_same Being^juid whoever strives towards either, is striving WORKS AND SACRIFICE towards that one divine Existence. ^11 works in their totality find^ their culmination and com^ete- ness in the knowledge of the Divine, sarvam karmd- khilam pdrtha Jndne parisamdpyate. They are not an obstacle , but the way to_the suj>r^e knowle dg e. Thus this opposition too is reconciled with the help of a large elucidation of the meaning of sacrifice. In fact its conflict is only a restricted form of the larger opposition between and Sankhya.

Vedism is a specialised and narrow f6fm“’df Toga ; th'e^principle of the Vedantists is identical with that of the Sankhyas, for to both the movement of salvation is the recoil of the intelligence, the imddfii, from the differentiating powers of Nature, from ego, iriind; senses, from the subjective and the objective, and its return to the undifferentiated and thFtilimu table. It is with this object of reconcilia- tion in his mind that the Teacher first approaches his statement of the doctrine of sacrifice ; but throughout, even from the very beginning, he keeps his eye not on the restricted Vedic sense of sacrifice and works, ^but on their 'larger arid universal SppBSSSil;— that widening of narrow and formal notions to admit the great general truths they unduly restrict which is always the method of the Gita.

The Gita^ theoi^^ stated in two separate passages ; one we find iruthe Airdxhapter, another in the fourth ; the first gives it in language which might, taken by itself, seem to be speaking only of the ceremonial sacrifice ; the second inter- preting that into the sense of a large philosophical symbolism, transforms at once its whole significance and raises it to a plane of high psychological and spiritual truth. ‘‘With sacrifice the Lord of creatures of old created creatures and said, By this shall you bring forth (fruits or offspring), let this be your milker of desires. Foster by this the gods and let the gods foster you ; fostering each other, you shall attain to the supreme good. Fostered by sacrifice the gods shall give you desired enjoyments ; who enjoys their given enjoyments and has not given to them, he is a thief. The good who eat what is left from the sacrifice, are released from all sin ; but evil are they and enjoy sin who cook (the food) for their own sake. From food creatures come into being, from rain is the birth of food, from sacrifice comes into being the rain, sacrifice is born of work : work ^now to be born of Brahnmn, Brahman is bom of the Immutable ; Aerefore.. is the all-pervadiDg. i66 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SACRIFICE