Page:Essays On The Gita - Ghose - 1922.djvu/321

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NIRVANA AND WORKS IN THE WORLD
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higher self one should not think of anything at all, Whenever the restless and unquiet mind goes forth, it should be controlled and brought into subjection in the Self. When the mind is thoroughly quieted, then there comes upon the Yogin, highest, stainless, passionless, the bliss of the soul that has become the Brahman. “Thus freed from stain of passion and putting himself cons-. tantly into Yoga, the Yogin easily and happily enjoys the touch of the Brahman which is an exceeding bliss.”

And yet the result is not, while one yet lives, a Nir- vana which puts away every possibility of action in the world, every relation with beingsin the world. It would seem at first that it ought to be so. When all the desires and passions have ceased, 'when the mind is no longer permitted to throw itself out in thought, when the prac- tice of this silent and solitary Yoga has become the rule, what farther action or relation with the world of outward touches and mutable appearances is any longer possible? No doubt, the Yogin for a fime still remains in the body, but the cave, the forest, the mountain-top seem now the fittest, the only possible scene of his continued living and constant trance of Samadhi his sole joy and occupation. But, first, while this solitary Yoga'is being pursued, the renunciation of all other action is hot recommended by the Gita. This Yoga, it says, is not for the man who gives up sleep and food and play and action, even as it is not for those who indulge too much in these things of the life and the body; but the sleep and waking, the food, the play, the putting forth of effort in works should all be yukta. This is generally interpreted as méaning that all should be moderate, regulated, done in fit measure, and that may indeed be the significance.

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