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BHAGAVADGITA
129 mere animal. The Gitā takes its stand upon this fact, that man cannot ignore the still small voice within, when it asks us to 'steady the self by the self's and commends activity without any reference to the ends which the lower of the two selves may like to pursue. The replacement of the lower aim by the higher, we must remember, is not to be made when or as often as a selfish motive presents itself. That might prove impracticable. We are asked to be forearmed by accepting the true ideal once for all, and to see that our actions become the expression of a single coherent purpose as implied by its acceptance. That is the meaning of telling us to substitute a uniform aim, viz. the betterment of our spiritual nature, for the necessarily divergent ends of the many actions which we have to do in life. Progress in this course may be difficult and protracted, requiring continual self-training. But the Gītā heartens us to put forth our best effort by assuring us that nothing of what we do for self
really runs to waste. "No such effort is lost, nor is there any obstacle in the way of its coming to fruition. Even the little that we may do will help to take us nearer the goal'?; and again, 'The doer of good, O dear one, never comes to grief.'3 It is here that precept is of service. It clarifies our notion of the true self and encourages us to persevere in our course. The question discussed here is the familiar one of freedom of will, only the Gītā, as in other matters, restricts the scope of the discussion to the point arising from the context, viz, whether a man can choose the path to the higher life.
As belief in the karma doctrine characterizes the teaching of the Gītā, we may also briefly refer here to the allied question: how freedom is consistent with the necessity implied in this doctrine. If everything we do is the inevitable consequence of what we have done in the past, all moral responsibility should cease and self-effort should become meaningless. In considering this point, it is necessary to remember that every deed that we do leads to a double result. It not only produces what may be termed its direct result the pain or pleasure following from it according to the karma theory, but it also • iii. 43
3 vi. 40.
* ii. 40.
