Page:Essays On The Gita - Ghose - 1922.djvu/311

Rh to mean the Immutable, to denote primarily at least the inner timeless Self withdrawn from active participation even though immanent 'in the externality of Nature. We have to see then,what is the drift of the Gita here, and especially whether this peace is the peace of an abso- lute inactive cessation, whether the self-extinction in the Akshara means the absolute excision of all know- ledge and consciousness of the Kshara and of all action in the Kshara. We are accustomed indeed to regard Nirvana and any kind of existenceand action in the world as incompatible and we might be inclined to argue that the use of the word is by itself sufficient and decides the question. But if we look closely at Buddhism we shall doubt whether the absolute incompatibility really existed even for the Buddhists ; and if we look closely at the Gita, we shall see that it does not form part of this supreme Vedantic teaching.

The Gita after speaking of the perfect equality of theBrahman-knower who has risen into the Brahman- - consciousness, brahmavid brakmani sthitah, develops in nine verses that follow its idea of Brahmayoga and of nirvana in the Brahman. When the soul is no longer attached to the touches of outward things, ” it begins, “then one finds the happiness that exists in the Self; such a one enjoys an imperishable happiness, because his self is in Yoga yukta, by Yoga with the Brahman.” The non- attachment is essential, it says, in order to be free from the attacks of desire and wrath and passion, a freedom without which true happiness is not possible. That hap- piness and that equality are to be gained entirely by man in the body: he is not to suffer any least remnant of the ‘subjection to the troubled lower nature to remain in the