Krishna urges Arjuna to valiant activity on the
battle-field, but that is for a special purpose, viz., the establishment
of caste distinctions. It is wholly foreign to Hindu philosophy; it is
even contradictory. The author of the poem, who seems to be aware of the
inconsistency of arousing Arjuna to the mighty activities of the
battle-field, and at the same time indoctrinating him in the spirit of
a dead and nerveless asceticism, struggles hard with the awkward task of
bridging the illogical chasm with three chapters of mystification.

But we take the different chapters as they stand, and in their obvious
meaning. "The man of meditation is superior to the man of action," says
Chapter I., 46, "therefore, Arjuna, become a man of meditation." How the
man of meditation is to proceed is told in Chapter VI., 10-14. "Let him
who has attained to meditation always strive to reduce his heart to rest
in the Supreme, dwelling in a secret place alone, with body and mind
under control, devoid of expectation as well as of acceptance. Having
placed in a clean spot one's seat, firm, not very high nor very low,
formed of the skins of animals, placed upon cloth and cusa grass upon
that, sitting on that seat, strive for meditation, for the purification
of the heart, making the mind one-pointed, and reducing to rest the
action of the thinking principle as well as that of the senses and
organs. Holding the body, neck, and head straight and unmoved, perfectly
determined, and not working in any direction, but as if beholding the
end of his own nose, with his heart in supreme peace, devoid of fear,
with thought controlled and heart in me as the supreme goal, he
remains."

How different from all this is that prayer of Christ, "I pray not that
Thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldst keep
them from the evil." Or those various words spoken to his disciples:
"Let your light so shine before men that others seeing your good works
shall glorify your Father which is in heaven." "Work while the day
lasts, for the night cometh in which no man can work."

Who can imagine Paul spending all those years of opportunity in sitting
on a leopard skin, watching the end of his nose instead of turning the
world upside down! In that true sense in which Christ lived within him,
He filled every avenue of his being with the aggressive spirit of God's
own love for dying men. The same spirit which brought Christ from heaven
to earth sent Paul ou