not entail upon him the necessity of going the round of existences because his actions are selfless and directed to the good of mankind. Action, he says, is better than inaction and he adds that immunity from action can be had by action alone. Action should be for the sake of accomplishing it and not for its resulting rewards. Man has to perform his duty zealously in whatever station of life he may happen to be. He has to be utterly indifferent and unmindful of the fruits of his actions. Or better still, says Krishna, he should do his deeds in the name of his God and for him, and dedicate all his activity to the glory of God.
Ignorance is the penalty that the soul pays when it enters the body. The senses introduce it to the fleeting show of the world. The mind broods over the objects and is drawn in attachment to them. Attachment gives rise to desire which is insatiable like fire. As long as man is swayed by desire, he drifts like a ship that is tossed upon the waves by stormy winds. Desire, wrath, and greed are the threefold entrance to hell. By regulating and controlling the senses, man secures the tranquillity of thought and knowledge. His tranquillity of mind should be such as to remain undisturbed like a flame that is sheltered from the wind and flickers not. He should be temperate in food and sleep, work and rest. As the tortoise draws its head and feet within its shell, so should he be withdrawn from the outer world of senses and, retiring to a secluded spot, think and meditate deeply upon God. When he has attained this state of devotional exaltation, a clod of earth and a lump of gold become of equal worth unto him Joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, success and failure, censure and praise, good and evil, friend and foe are all alike unto him and he is unaffected by the pairs of opposites. Happiness is quiescence and life's goal is its attainment.
The inherent evil nature of matter, however, remains characteristic of all Indian thinkings The human body continues to be regarded as the root of evil. The moralists teach the strengthening of the spirit by breaking the body and the ascetic ideal of life is highly esteemed.
When the Buddhist monk migrated to distant lands they spread the ascetic view of life in places where they lived. The Greek philosophers became acquainted with it at an early date. The Essenes, an ascetic Jewish sect, adopted it from the Neo-Pythagoreans.
