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468 The Philosophy of the Bhagavad-gitā [CH. contemplated in the Gitā. It is not, therefore, conceivable that the lower, or the kşara, puruşa might be mere illusory creation, accepted as a necessary postulate to explain the facts of our undeniable daily experience. But it is difficult to say how this kşetra-jña puruşa can have a separate existence from the para puruşa (which is absolutely free from the guņas), as enjoying the guņas of prakrti, unless the former be somehow regarded as the result of the functioning of the latter. Such a view would naturally support a theory that would regard the lower puruşa as being only the para purusa as imaged or reflected in the guņas. The para puruşa, existing by itself, free from the influence of the gunas, is in its purity. But even without losing its unattached character and its lonely purity it may somehow be imaged in the gunas and play the part of the phenomenal self, the jiva or the lower puruşa, enjoying the guņas of praksti and having the superior purusa as its ultimate ground. It cannot be denied that the Gītā theory of puruşa is much looser than the later Sāmkhya theory; but it has the advantage of being more elastic, as it serves better to explain the contact of the lower purusa with the higher and thereby charges the former with the spirit of a higher ideal.
The qualities of sattva, rajas and tamas were regarded as the universal characteristics of all kinds of mental tendencies, and all actions were held to be prompted by specific kinds of sattva, rajas or tamas. Mental tendencies were also designated accordingly as sāttvika, rājasa or tāmasa. Thus religious inclinations (śraddhā) are also described as being of a threefold nature. Those who are of sāttvika nature worship the gods, those who are of rājasa nature worship the yakşas and the raksas and those who are of tāmasa nature worship ghosts and demons. Those who, prompted by vanity, desires and attachments, perform violent ascetic penances unauthorized by the scriptures and thereby starve and trouble their body and spirit, are really demoniac in their temperament. Again, sāttvika sacrifices are those performed solely out of reverence for the scriptural injunctions and from a pure sense of duty, without any desire or motive for any other kind of worldly or heavenly good. Again, rājasa sacrifices are those which are performed for the realization of some benefits or good results or for the satisfaction of some vanity or pride. Tāmasa sacrifices are those which are performed without proper faith, with improper ceremonials, transgressing Vedic injunctions. Again, tapas also is described as
