Essays on the Gita, First Series (Arya Publishing House, 1922)
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“But all even of the Yogins have not attained to this knowledge. “.Some Yogins follow after the sacrifice which is of the gods ; others offer the sacrifice by the sacrifice itself into the Brahman- fire.” The former conceive of the Divine in various forms and powers and seek him by_various_meanSj or dina nces, dh arma sL. Jaws, as we might say, settled rites of action, self-discipline, consecrated works : for the latter, those who already know, the simple fact of sacrifice, of offering whatever work to the Divine itself, of casting all their activities into the unified divine consciousness and energy, is their one means, their one dharma. The m eans »f-g.rr»fice are various : the offermgs^^of many kinds. There is the ^ychological s acrifice of self- control and s elf-discipline which leads to the higher self-possession and self-knowle<%e. “Some offer their senses ipto fires of control, others offer the THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SACRIFICE objects of sense into the fires of sense, and others offer all the actions of the sense and all the actions of the vital force into the fire of the Yoga of self-control kindled by knowledge.*' There is, that is to say, the discipline which receives the objects of sense-perception without allowing the mind to be disturbed or affected by its sense-activities, the senses themselves becoming pure fires of sacrifice ; there is the discipline which stills the ^nses so that the soul in its purity may appear from behind the veil of mind-action, calm and still ; there is the discipline by which, when the self is known, all the actions of the sense- perceptions and all the action of the vital being are received into that one still and tranquil soul. The offering of the striver after perfection may_be nnterial and physic2il, dravya-yajm, like that con- secrated in worship by the devotee to his deity, or it inay _be_the austerity of his ^^discipline and energy of his^soul directed to some high aim, jajbp- yajm , or i t may^ be some , form of JYoga like the Pran^ama^ of^the Rajajogim_md Hathayogins, or any other yogayajrm. All th ese tend to Ae puri: j^a^n of the^bHng ; alL^crif ice is a way towatds^ the attainment of the h ighest.
The one thing needful, the saving principle cpnstanHn j^lLlhese variations, is to su^bqrdin^e tlie flower amyitjes, to diminish the control of desire dncT^lRCeJtiy-ajsupe^^ to abandon the purely egoistic enjoyment for that diviner delight L 177 which comes by sac rifice, by se lf-dedica tion, by self- mastery. by the giving up of one’s lower impulses to a greater and higher aim. “They who enjoy the nectar of immortality left over from the sacrifice attain to the eternal Brahman.” Sacrifice is the law of the world and nothing can be gained without it, neither mastery here, nor the possession of heavens beyond, nor the supreme possession of all ; “this world is not for him who doeth not sacrifice, how then any other world?” Therefore all these and many other forms of sacrifice have been “extended in the mouth of the Brahman,” the mouth of that Fire which receives all offerings ; they are all means and forms of the one great Existence in activity, means by which the action of the human being can be offered up to That of which his outward Existence is a part and with which his inmost self is one. They are “all bom of work” ; all proc^d from and are ordained by the one_vast_£nergy_Qf lheJ3iyine*\^iclL_manifes^^^ the^ni versal karma and makes _alL co smi c _ activity a progressiv e offering to the one ^lJLaGd_ Lord and
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