Gita Second Series Part 2 Chapter 24
The Message of the Gita
Note 1
The message of the Gita[1], 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.
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.
Let us now understand the Gita’s view of the fundamental opposition on which it founds its position[2]. 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 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
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