is the
undomesticated man; this ideal must die to the moral aspirant.

The painful duty of killing a part of self is beautifully expressed in the
Bhagavad-Gita, where the hero, Aryuna, hesitates to fight against his
"kindred," to shoot at them--the bow falls from his hand.

Dying relates to the old realms. The old laws expire to make room for the
new. The new life cancels the old deeds. (Cf. Paul, Rom. VII-VII.)

Vedanta doctrine: But as to the duty of the scripture canon and
perception, both last as long as Samsara, i.e., until the awakening. If
this is attained, perception is annulled, and if you derive thence the
objection that thereby the veda is annulled, it must be noted that
according to our own doctrine father is not father and the Veda is not the
veda. (Deussen, Syst. d. Ved., p. 449.)

Bhagavad-Gita, IV, 37:

"Like fire when it flames and turns all the firewood to ashes."
So the fire of knowledge burns for you all deeds to ashes.

For several reasons the father image is peculiarly suited to represent
what has to be resolved. By the father, the old Adam (totality of
inherited instincts) and the strongest imperatives are implanted in the
child. The father is also the type of tenacious adherence to the
ancestors. Again we meet the antithesis, old generation, new generation,
in ourselves after the intro-determination.

The mystical death (sacrifice) is not to be accomplished by mere
asceticism, as it were, mechanically; the alchemists warn us carefully
against severe remedies. The work is to take a natural course; the work is
also, although indeed a consummation of nature, yet not above nature.

"Nature rejoices in nature
Nature overcomes nature
Nature rules nature."

Thus the magician Osthanes is said to have taught. And the Bhagavad-Gita
(VI, 5-7) says:

"Let one raise himself by means of self, and not abase self,
Self is his own friend, is also his own enemy.
To him is his self his own friend, who through self conquers self,
Yet if it battle with the external world, then self becomes enemy
to self."

In the "Clavis Philosophiae et Alchymiae Fluddanae" (p. 57) we read: "So
it is impossible to rise to the supramundane life, in so far as it does
not happen by means of nature. From the steps of nature Jacob's ladder is
reached and the chain to Jupiter's throne begins on earth."

The idea of self-sacrifice (with dismemberment) appear