Gita Second Series Part 2 Chapter 24

The Message of the Gita

Note 1

The message of the Gita1, in the words of Sri Krishna, can be summarized as
follows :
The secret of all life and existence can be found in the secret of action. It is an
ERROR to assume that the Nature – Prakriti is purely a mechanical system. Nature
is not, as is depicted in the popular folklore, a Wheel of Law entangling the soul of
man – whether for a moment or for ages. This is NOT true, proclaims the Divine
Teacher. Nature should be viewed as a constant manifestation of the Spirit. Life is
not merely for the sake of life alone. It is for the Divine in us. The living soul of
man is an eternal portion of the Godhead. The real purpose of Action is not just for
its own external and apparent fruits – either for the current moment or for the
future. The secret of Action can be found when we treat it as a process of self-
finding, self-fulfillment and of self-realisation.

We need to understand the inner law of being. The real truth of works lies in the
Supreme and not just the manifested nature of the self. In the outer nature, this
truth can be represented only incidentally and imperfectly. Here in outer nature, it
is often disguised by ignorance. It is immersed in the outer appearances of the
mind and its action. On the other hand, the Supreme Truth is the faultless and
largest law of action. This law is to find out the truth of your own highest and
inmost existence. It is to LIVE in it. It is NOT necessarily to be found in following
any outer standard or Dharma. Till we are able to realize this truth, our life
becomes for us a life of imperfection, of difficulty and of struggle. Our life
becomes a riddle. The right Path is in discovering your true self and living
according to its real truth and its true reality. Only when we follow this Path can
we expect to solve the riddle of life. It is then that the struggle and difficulty is
over-passed. Our action then gets perfected in the security of the discovered self.
Our life then turns into a divinely authentic action.

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The command given is Know Your Self. Know your self to be God. Know that it is
one with the self of all others. Know that your soul is a portion of God. Live in
what you know. Live in the self. Live in your supreme spiritual nature. Be united
with God and Godlike. All your actions should be offered in the Yadnya to the
‘Highest and the One’ in you. It is also to be offered to the ‘Highest and the One’
in the world. Offer all of you and of your actions to the Divine so that the supreme
and universal Spirit can act through you.

Lord says that THIS is the solution I present to you. In the end your will find that it
is THE ONLY WAY – there is no other.
======================================================= =
This is end of the original Sanskrit Text of Gita
======================================================= =

Let us now understand the Gita’s view of the fundamental opposition on which it
founds its position2. First of all, let us accept that this finding of the true self, this
knowledge of the Godhead within US and within ALL is easy said than done.
What’s more, even after we get to this knowledge with our intelligence, we
encounter still higher difficulty. It is extremely difficult to turn this knowledge into
the stuff of our consciousness and the whole condition of our action.

To understand this better, we need to realize that all our action is basically
determined by the effective state of our being. The effective state of our being in
turn is determined by the state of our constant self-seeing will and active
consciousness. What we ARE TODAY is deeply influenced by our sraddha - our
faith. Our faith is made up of what we see and believe with our whole active
nature. What we believe ourselves to be. What we understand about our relations
with the world.

However, the consciousness of man is of double kind. It corresponds to a double

truth of existence. We have a truth of the inner reality and a truth of the outer
appearance. Whether the man will be a mind dwelling in human ignorance or a

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soul founded in divine knowledge will depend upon his living in outer or inner
reality.
………… to continue
………. Based on Essays on the Gita by Sri Aurobindo
[[It is what we see and believe with our
whole active nature ourselves to be and our relations with the
world to mean, it is our faith, our ´sraddh¯a, that makes us what
we are. But the consciousness of man is of a double kind and
corresponds to a double truth of existence; for there is a truth of
the inner reality and a truth of the outer appearance. According
as he lives in one or the other, he will be a mind dwelling in
human ignorance or a soul founded in divine knowledge.
In its outer appearance the truth of existence is solely what
we call Nature or Prakriti, a Force that operates as the whole law
and mechanism of being, creates the world which is the object
of our mind and senses and creates too the mind and senses as a
means of relation between the creature and the objective world
in which he lives. In this outer appearance man in his soul, his
mind, his life, his body seems to be a creature of Nature differentiated
from others by a separation of his body, life and mind and
especially by his ego-sense—that subtle mechanism constructed
for him that he may confirm and centralise his consciousness of
all this strong separateness and difference. All in him, his soul of
mind and its action aswell as the functioning of his life and body,
is very evidently determined by the law of his nature, cannot get
outside of it, cannot operate otherwise. He attributes indeed a
certain freedom to his personal will, the will of his ego; but that
in reality amounts to nothing, since his ego is only a sense which
makes him identify himself with the creation that Nature has
made of him, with the varying mind and life and body she has
constructed. His ego is itself a product of her workings, and as
is the nature of his ego, so will be the nature of its will and
574 Essays on the Gita
according to that he must act and he can no other.
This then is man’s ordinary consciousness of himself, this
his faith in his own being, that he is a creature of Nature, a separate
ego establishing whatever relations with others and with
the world, making whatever development of himself, satisfying
whatever will, desire, idea of his mind may be permissible in her
circle and consonant with her intention or law in his existence.
There is, however, something in man’s consciousness which
does not fall in with the rigidity of this formula; he has a
faith, which grows greater as his soul develops, in another and
an inner reality of existence. In this inner reality the truth of
existence is no longer Nature but Soul and Spirit, Purusha rather
than Prakriti. Nature herself is only a power of Spirit, Prakriti

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 the force of the Purusha. A Spirit, a Self, a Being one in all is
the master of this world which is only his partial manifestation.
]]

___________________

Note 2 …… contd from Note 1

From the perspective of the outer appearance the truth of existence centers around
Nature or Prakriti3. Nature is a Force that operates as the whole law and
mechanism of being. It creates the world which is the object of our mind and
senses. Going backwards towards the root cause, it also creates the mind and
senses. It uses them as a means of relation between the creature and the objective
world in which he lives. In this outer appearance man seems to be a creature of
Nature. All of his soul, his mind, his life and his body is a creature of Nature. He is
differentiated from others by a separation of his body, life and mind – especially by
his ego-sense. This subtle mechanism seems to be specially constructed for him for
a purpose. It’s purpose is to enable Man to confirm and to centralize his
consciousness with a sense of strong separateness and difference. Each part of
Man’s existence is very evidently determined by the law of his nature. This
includes his soul of mind and its action as well as the functioning of his life and
body. He can not escape from this law. He can not function in any other manner.
He has a feeling of freedom arising out of his personal will, the will of his ego.
However in reality it amounts to nothing. This is because his ego is nothing else
but a sense. This sense causes an error and it makes him falsely identify himself
with the creation that Nature has made of him. This creation is constructed of
varying mind and life and body of Man. In other words, his ego is itself a product
of the working of Nature. It does NOT have an independent existence outside of
his Nature. There is no final reality to it. In a similar manner, his will is itself a
product of Nature. He must act according to his Nature – though with a false
impression of a free will. In reality he has no freedom to act.

This is the reality of man’s ordinary consciousness of himself4. This is his faith in
his own being. He is a creature of Nature. His is a separate ego establishing
whatever relations with others and with the world. He may be making whatever
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development of himself, satisfying whatever will, desire, idea of his mind. All this
is in reality restricted to what is permissible in the circle of Nature and consonant
with her intention or law in his existence.

However, at the same time, there is something in man’s consciousness which does
not fall in with the rigidity of this formula. He has a faith which progressively
grows with the development of his soul. This faith is in another and an inner
reality of existence – penetrating the outer appearance. In this inner reality the truth
of existence is no longer Nature but Soul and Spirit. It is Purusha rather than
Prakriti. Nature herself is only a power of Spirit. Prakriti is a Force of the Purusha.
A Spirit, a Self, a being which is one in all is the true Master of this World. This
world is only a partial manifestation of his soul. This Spirit is the upholder of
Nature and her action. It is the giver of the sanction by which alone her law
becomes imperative. It is her force and it makes her ways operative. The Spirit
immanent in Nature is the Knower. He illuminates Nature and makes her conscient
in us. This Will is the immanent and superconscient force which inspires and
motives the workings of Nature. The soul in man is a portion of this Divinity. It
shares his nature. Our nature is our soul’s manifestation. It operates by its sanction.
It embodies its secret self-knowledge and self-consciousness. Its will of being in
her motions and forms and causes changes in existence.
………… to continue
………. Based on Essays on the Gita by Sri Aurobindo

Note 3 …… contd from Note 2

The ignorance of inner things hides the real soul and self of us from our
intelligence5. It is caused by a false identification and by an absorption in our
outward mechanism of mind, life and body. When the active soul of man draws
back from this identification with its natural instruments, then all is changed to it.
He needs to see and live in the entire faith of its inner reality. Then life and
existence take on another appearance. The action takes a different meaning and
character. Our being then becomes no longer this little egoistic creation of Nature.
It becomes the largeness of a divine, immortal and spiritual Power. 6Our
consciousness no longer remains limited and struggling mental and vital creature.
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It becomes an infinite, divine and spiritual consciousness. Similarly, our will and
action exceed the limitations of this bounded personality and its ego. It then
becomes a divine and spiritual will and action. It is the will and power of the
Universal, the Supreme, the All-Self and Spirit acting freely through the human
figure.

The message of the Godhead in man, the Avatar, the divine Teacher is as follows :
“This is the great change and transfiguration. Only the select few are called for this
venture by me. These men are those who can turn their will away from the
ignorance of the natural instruments. They need to focus it on the soul’s deepest
experience, its knowledge of the inner self and spirit. They need to dwell on its
contact with the Godhead and its power to enter into the Divine. The elect are all
who can accept this faith and this greater law.

For a human being whose intellect is always attached to its own cloud-forms and
half-lights of ignorance, this Path is extremely difficult. They get lost in the
obscurer habits of man’s mental, nervous and physical parts. On the other hand,
once a man is able to turn his gaze inwards and be in constant contact with his true
soul, the Path becomes easy and sure. This is because then it gets identical with the
true truth of man’s being. It is the authentic movement of his inmost and supreme
nature.

“ This change is a very great one. It is an enormous transformation. It cannot be

done without an entire turning and conversion of your whole being and nature. For
this to happen, it is necessary to have a complete consecration of your self, nature
and life to the Highest and to nothing else but the Highest. All life and activity
must be held only for the sake of the Highest. Nothing should be accepted except
as it is in god and a form of God. It should be done only for the sake of the Divine.
There will be needed an admission of a new truth. There has to be an entire turn
and giving of your mind to a new knowledge of self and others. There will be a
new vision of the world and God and soul and Nature. It is a knowledge of oneness
and of universal Divinity. It will at first be an acceptance by the understanding
mind. Thereafter it becomes in the end a vision, a consciousness, a permanent state
of the soul and a frame of its movements.

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“There will be needed a will that shall turn this new knowledge, vision and
consciousness into a motive of action. It will surely be its sole motive. It must not
be a grudging action which is limited and confined to a few necessary operations
of Nature. It should also not be limited to the few things that seem helpful to a
formal perfection, pertinent to a religious turn or to an individual salvation. 7It must
be an all encompassing action of human life which is taken up by the spirit based
in equality. It need to be done for the sake of God and the good of all creatures.
There will be needed an uplifting of the heart in a single aspiration to the Highest.
It should be single love of the Divine Being, a single God-adoration. And there
must be a widening too of the calmed and enlightened heart to embrace God in all
beings. There will be needed a change from his present state of the habitual and
normal nature to a supreme and divine spiritual nature. There will be needed in a
word a Yoga. It shall be at once a Yoga of integral knowledge, integral will and its
works, integral love, adoration and devotion. It will be a Yoga of an integral
spiritual perfection of the whole being as well as of all its parts, states, powers and
motions.
………… to continue
………. Based on Essays on the Gita by Sri Aurobindo
_________________________

Gita Second Series Part 2 Chapter 24

The Message of the Gita

Note 4
…… contd from Note 3
The Divine Teacher continues in his message :
“Let us understand as to what and how this knowledge is made real and living to
the mind, heart and life 8? This is the knowledge which will have to be admitted by
the understanding and supported by the soul’s faith. It is the knowledge of the
supreme Soul and Spirit in its oneness and its wholeness. It is the knowledge of
One who is eternal, beyond Time and Space. It is beyond name and form and
world. It is high beyond his own personal and impersonal levels. At the same time,
it is also the source of all. It is the One whom all manifests in manifold Nature and
her multitude of figures. It is the knowledge of him as an impersonal eternal
immutable Spirit, the calm and limitless thing we call Self. He is infinite, equal and

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always the same. He is unaffected and unmodified and unchanged. He keeps this
attribute even amid all this constant changing and all this multitude of individual
personalities. And even amid all the soul powers and Nature powers. And even
amid all the forms and forces and eventualities of this transitory and apparent
existence.

On the other hand, it is also exactly OPPOSITE of what is described above. It

is the knowledge of him at the same time as the Spirit and Power who seems ever
mutable in Nature. He is the Inhabitant who shapes himself to every form and
modifies himself to every grade and degree and activity of his power. He is also
the Spirit who, becoming all that is even while he is for ever infinitely more than
all that is. He dwells in man and animal and thing, subject and object. He dwells in
soul and mind and life and matter. In fact, he dwells in every existence and every
force and every creature.

“It is not by insisting only on this or that side of the truth that you can practice this
Yoga. There are multitude of ways to approach him. The Divine whom you have to
seek, the Self whom you have to discover, the supreme Soul of whom your soul is
an eternal portion, is simultaneously all these things9. You have to know them
simultaneously in a supreme oneness. You have to enter into all of them at once
and in all states and all things see Him alone. If he were solely the Spirit mutable
in Nature, there would be only an eternal and universal becoming. If you limit
your faith and knowledge to that one aspect, you will get stuck in your personality
and its constant changeful figures. You will be tied to the revolutions in Nature if
you were to base your understanding on such a foundation.

“But you are not merely a succession of soul moments in Time. There is an
impersonal self in you which supports the stream of your personality. It is one with
God’s vast and impersonal spirit. These are the two opposite poles of your
existence. Both are true. But your real existence is even beyond this. It is
incalculable beyond this impersonality and personality. It is dominating these two
constant poles of what you are here. You are eternal and transcendent in the
Eternal Transcendence.

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“Let us look at it from different perspective. If we assume that only truth is that of
an eternal impersonal self that neither acts nor creates, then there is no real basis to
your soul or the world. In such a case, the world and your soul would be illusions
without any real basis. If you limit your faith and knowledge to this one lonely
aspect, then the renunciation of life and action is your only resource. But God in
the world and you in the world are realities. It is NOT an ILLUSION. The world
and you are true and actual powers and manifestations of the Supreme. Therefore
accept life and action and do not reject them. Be one with God in your impersonal
self and essence. Be an eternal portion of the Godhead. Turn to God by the love
and adoration of your spiritual personality for its own Infinite. Make of your
natural being what it is intended to be - an instrument of works, a channel, a power
of the Divine. Anyway, that it always is in its truth – whether you are conscious or
not of this knowledge. At present you are acting unconsciously and imperfectly
through the lower nature. It is doomed to a disfigurement of the Godhead by your
ego. Therefore AWAKE and be AWARE of your true nature. Do not let it be
distorted by your ego. Make it consciously and perfectly a power of the Divine in
his supreme spiritual nature. Make it a vehicle of his will and his works. In this
way you will live in the integral truth of your own being. You will possess the
integral God-union, the whole and flawless Yoga.
………… to continue
………. Based on Essays on the Gita by Sri Aurobindo
______________________

Gita Second Series Part 2 Chapter 24

The Message of the Gita

Note 5
…… contd from Note 4
The divine teacher continues with his message :
“Who is Supreme ? He is the Purushottama. He is eternal beyond all manifestation.
He is infinite beyond all limitation by Time or Space or Causality of any of his
numberless qualities and features.10 However, it will be wrong to assume that
because he is beyond all manifestation, he is least interested with the happenings in
this world of mortals or that he is cut off from world and nature, or that he is aloof
from all these things. It is true that he is the supreme ineffable Brahman. He is
impersonal self. But it is also true that he is all PERSONAL existences. Spirit as
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well as life and matter, soul and Nature and the works of Nature are nothing else
but aspects and movements of his infinite and eternal existence. Yes, he is the
supreme transcendent Spirit. At the same time, all comes into manifestation from
him and are his forms and his self-powers. There is no contradiction here. Both of
his aspects are inter-related. In his nature of ‘ONE SELF’, he is here all-pervasive
and equal and impersonal in man and animal and thing and object and every force
of Nature. He is the supreme Soul and all souls are tireless flames of this one Soul.
All living beings are in their spiritual personality deathless portions of the one
Person or Purusha. He is the eternal Master of all manifested existence, Lord of the
worlds and their creatures. He is the omnipotent originator of all actions. He is no
bound by his work. To him go all action and effort and offerings. He is in all and
all are in him. He has become all and yet too he is above all and not limited by his
creations. He is the transcendent Divine. He descends as the Avatar. He is manifest
by his power in the Vibhuti. He is the Godhead secret in every human being. All
the gods whom men worship are only personalities and forms and names and
mental bodies of the one Divine Existence.

“The Supreme has manifested the world from his spiritual essence and in his own
infinite existence. He has also manifested himself variously in the world. All
things are his powers and figures and to the powers and figures of him there is no
end. This is because he himself is infinite. He is all pervading and containing
impersonal self-existence. In this capacity he informs and sustains all this infinite
manifestation in Time and the universe. He does this equally and without any
partiality, preference or attachment to any person or thing or happening or feature.
This pure and equal Self does not act, but supports impartially all the action of
things. And yet it is the Supreme who in is aspect of the cosmic Spirit and the
Time Spirit wills and conducts and determines the action of the world. He does this
through his multitudinous power-to-be. This is the power of the Spirit which we
call Nature. He creates, sustains and destroys his creations. He is seated too in the
heart of every living creature. From this station he acts as a secret Power in the
individual.11 At the same time he also acts from his universal presence in the
cosmos. He originates by force of Nature. He manifests some line of his mystery in
quality of nature and in executive energy of nature. He shapes each thing and being
separately according to its kind. He also initiates and upholds all action. The
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complex nature of the cosmos is created out of this transcendent first origination
from the Supreme. It is caused by this constant universal and individual
manifestation of Him in things and beings.

………… to continue
………. Based on Essays on the Gita by Sri Aurobindo

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Gita Second Series Part 2 Chapter 24

The Message of the Gita

Note 6
…… contd from Note 5

12
The Divine Being has three states of existence. These states are eternal. They are
as follows :
1 Eternal Immutable Self-Existence. It is the basis of all existent things. It
supports them.
2 Spirit which is mutable in Nature. It is manifested by her as all these
existences.
3 Transcendent Divine. It can be both of these two states as mentioned
above at the same time. In other words, it can be a pure and silent Spirit
and at the same time it can also be the active soul and life of the cycles of
the universe. This is because he is something other and more than these
two. This is true irrespective of whether we take them separately or
together.
What dwells in us is Jiva. It is a spirit of this eternal Spirit which is the conscious
power of the Supreme. He carries power of the Supreme in his deepest self. The
whole of the immanent Divine is carried in him. As Nature he lives in the universal
Divine. This Nature is not a temporary creation. It is an eternal soul acting and
moving in the eternal Self – in the eternal Infinite.

This conscient soul in us can adopt either of these three states of the Spirit as
explained above.

Man can live here exclusively in the mutability of Nature. In this state, he is
ignorant of his real self as well as of the God-head within him. In this state he
knows only the Nature. He sees her as a mechanical executive and creative Force.
He sees himself and others as her creations. He only perceives egos and the
separated existences in her universe.

Superficially this describes the current existence of Man. He needs to exceed this
outer consciousness. He need to have the knowledge of what is within him. Until
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this is realized, all his thought and science can only be a SHADOW OF LIGHT
thrown upon screens and surfaces. The greater reality of God is lost to our view.
This ignorance happens or we can even say it is IMPOSED, because the Godhead
within us is hidden by the veil of his own power. Though his creations here are
only his partial manifestation, he has completely identified himself with it. He has
let his mind get fully absorbed in the deceptive workings of his own Nature.

One of the reason why this is made possible is that the real, the eternal, the
spiritual Nature is NOT manifest in their outward phenomena. 13This Nature is the
secret of things in themselves. What is manifested here is only a LOWER FORCE.
This is what we see here when we look outwards. This lower force is what acts in
our mind and body and senses. It is a derivation of the real thing, but not the real
thing itself. Figuratively we can say that it is the Magician who creates figures of
the Spirit while at the same time hides the Spirit in its figures. He conceals the
truth and makes men look upon masks. It is a Force which is only capable of a sum
of secondary and depressed values. It does not have the full power and glory and
ecstasy and sweetness of the manifestation of the Divine.

This Nature in us is a Maya of the ego. It is a tangle of the dualities. It is a web of

ignorance and the three Gunas. So long as the soul of man lives in the surface fact
of mind and life and body, he can not see God and himself and the world as they
really are. He can not overcome this Maya. He must do what he can with its terms
and figures but not its original source. In order to transcend this tangle of dualities,
Man need to live in his true self and spirit.

………… to continue
………. Based on Essays on the Gita by Sri Aurobindo

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Gita Second Series Part 2 Chapter 24

The Message of the Gita

Note 7
…… contd from Note 6

14
In order to live in his true self and spirit and get out of this Maya of the ego, Man
has to draw back from the lower turn of his nature in which he now lives. He need
to awake from this (false) light that is in reality a darkness. He need to live in the
luminous truth of the eternal and immutable self-existence. When he starts living in
this way, he is no longer bound up in his narrow prison of egoistic personality. He
then no longer sees himself as this little I. This little I which thinks and acts and
feels and struggles and labours for a little. Instead, he is then (i.e. after he starts
living in the luminous Truth) merged in the vast and free impersonality of the pure
spirit. He becomes Brahman. He knows himself as one with the one self in all
things. HE is then no longer aware of his ego. He is no longer troubled by the play
of dualities. He no longer feels the anguish of grief or disturbance of joy. He is no
longer shaken by desire. He is also no longer troubled by sin or limited by virtue.

………… to continue
………. Based on Essays on the Gita by Sri Aurobindo
[[Or if the shadows of these
things remain, he sees and knows them only as Nature
working
in her own qualities and does not feel them to be the truth of
himself in which he lives. Nature alone acts and works out
her
mechanical figures: but the pure spirit is silent, inactive and
free.
Calm, untouched by her workings, it regards them with a
perfect
equality and knows itself to be other than these things. This
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spiritual state brings with it a still peace and freedom but not
the dynamic divinity, not the integral perfection; it is a great
step,
The Message of the Gita 581
but it is not the integral God-knowledge and self-knowledge.
“A perfect perfection comes only by living in the supreme
and the whole Divine. Then the soul of man is united with the
Godhead of which it is a portion; then it is one with all
beings in
the self and spirit, one with them both in God and inNature;
then
it is not only free but complete, plunged in the supreme
felicity,
ready for its ultimate perfection. He still sees the self as an
eternal
and changeless Spirit silently supporting all things; but he
sees
also Nature no longer as a mere mechanical force that works
out
things according to the mechanism of the gunas, but as a
power
of the Spirit and the force of God in manifestation. He sees
that
the lower Nature is not the inmost truth of the spirit’s action;
he becomes aware of a highest spiritual nature of the Divine
in
which is contained the source and the yet to be realised
greater
truth of all that is imperfectly figured now in mind, life and
body. Arisen from the lower mental to this supreme spiritual
nature, he is delivered there from all ego. He knows himself
as a
spiritual being, in his essence one with all existences and in
his

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active nature a power of the one Godhead and an eternal
soul of
the transcendent Infinite. He sees all in God and God in all;
he
sees all things as Vasudeva. He is delivered from the
dualities of
joy and grief, from the pleasant and the unpleasant, from
desire
and disappointment, from sin and virtue. All henceforth is to
his
conscious sight and sense the will and working of the Divine.
He
lives and acts as a soul and portion of the universal
consciousness
and power; he is filled with the transcendent divine delight, a
spiritual Ananda. His action becomes the divine action and
his
status the highest spiritual status.]]

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