Essays on the Gita, First Series (Arya Publishing House, 1922)
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THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SACRIFICE universal j^oijdngs ; from the Purusha in Prakriti, ffom-iJiis .Brahman with, qualities, proce ^ all the wor ks pf^ the universal energy, Karma, in maiv "and in all existences ; from that work 'proceed the principle of sacrifice. Even the material interchange between gods andTinen proceeds upon this principle^ as typefied in the dependence of rain and its product food on this working and on them the physical birth of creatures. For all the working of Prakriti is in its true nature a sacrifice, yajna, with the Divine Beir^ as jhe enjoyer of all eneigisms and works and- sacrifice, and The great Lord of all existences, hhoktdram yajnatapasdm sarvabhuta-maheswarafn, and know „ ll:^ Divine all-pervading and established in sacrifice, sarvagatam yajne pratisthi- tam, w _the true, tfre Vedic knowledge. But he may be known in an inferior action through the devas, the gods, the powers of the divine Soul in Nature and in the eternal interaction of * That this is the right interpretation results also from the opening of the eighth chapter where the universal principles are enumerated, Akshara {brahma) ^ swabhdva, karma, kshara bhdva, purusha, adhiyajna. Akshara is the immutable Brahman, spirit or self, Atman; swabhava is the principle of the self, adhydtma, operative as the original nature of the being, “own way of becoming* **, and this proceeds out of the self, the Akshara ; Karma proceeds from that and is thrf cieative movement, visarga, which brings all natural^ beings and all changing subjective and objective shapes of being into existence; the result of Karma therefore is all this mutable becoming, the changes of nature developed out of the original self-nature, kshara bhdva out of swabhdva; purusha is the soul, the divine element in the becoming, adhidaivata, by whose presence the workings of Karma broome a sacrifice, yajna, to the Divine within; adhiyajna is this secret Divine who receives the sacrifice.
these powers and the soul of man, mutually giving and receiving, mutually helping, increasing, raising each others’ workings and satisfaction, a commerce in which man rises towards a growing fitness for the supreme good. He recognises that his life is a part of jhis divine action in Namre and not a thing separate and to be held and pursued for its own sake. He regards his enjoyments and the satisfaction of his desires as the fruit of sacrifice^ and the gift oF the gods in their divine universal workings and he ceases to pursue them in the false and evil spirit of sinful egoistic selfishness as if they were a good to be seized from life by his own unaided strength without return and without thankfulness. As this spirit increases in him, he fflbordinates his desires, beco mes satisfie d with sacrifice as the law of life_ and works and is content with whatever remains over from the sacrifice, giving up all the rest freely as an offering in the great and beneficent interchange between his life and the world-life. Whoever goes contrary to this law of action an d pursues works and enjoyment for his own isolated personal self-interest, lives in vain ; he misses the true meaning and aim and utility of living and the ujpward growth of the soul ; he i&.j2oLon the path w leads to the highest good. But„..the highest only cqmes----when the sacrifice is_ no Jonger to the gods, b ut t o the one aTjj>e rvading Djh'^ine__jest^lished in the ^sacrific e, nf whnm thf g ods are inferio r forms and po wers, and when he puts away the lower self that desires and enjoys and gives up his personal sense of being
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