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126 OUTLINES OF INDIAN PHILOSOPHY not thus do away with motives altogether; only it furnishes one and the same motive for whatever we may do, viz. the betterment of our spiritual nature. Thus though the teaching, by insisting upon the discharge of social obligations at all costs, seems to ignore the individual, it does not really do so since it provides at the same time for his advancement on a higher plane of life.
The goal to be reached on this plane is conceived in two ways, according to the double motive that is set before the karma-yogin. If the motive is 'cleansing the heart,' the goal is self-realization; if, on the other hand, it is subserving the purposes of God, the end is God-realization. Of these, the first is to be understood here much as in the Upanişads. It is becoming Brahman (brahma-bhūyam)or absorption in the Absolute. The second is reaching the presence of God, 3 though it sometimes appears, evidently under the influence of the first, as merging in him: 'He who departs from here, thinking of me alone, will enter my being.'4 The important point here is whether individuality persists in the final condition-whether the finite as finite can attain perfection. The absolutist view decides against persistence; the purely theistic view, in favour of it. Even though the latter does not recognize the union of the individual with God, it admits the merging of the individual's will in the divine will. Whichever be the goal becoming Brahman or attaining God's presence-samsāra or the realm of good and evil is transcended. Although there are statements in the work which indicate that the goal-particularly the second one-is to be reached after death,5 the prevalent idea is that it is realizable within the limits of this life. There is more than one beautiful description of the many that has perfected himself; and in the eleventh chapter we find a thrilling account of a direct perception of God by the devotee. The distinctive feature of the perfected state, which is variously termed as
+ Cf. Samkara on By. Up. (Anandāśrama Edn.), pp. 57-58. 1 xviii. 53. 3 iv. 9; ix. 25.
4 viii. 5. s viii. 5.
6 Cf. v. 19 and 26. 7 ii. 55-58; xiv. 22-25. 8 Note the expression 'I give you the eye divine-divyam dadāmi te cakṣuḥ-in xi. 8.
