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philosophical doctrine of' the Gita. The epic canvas has cruder necessary features which do not and are not meant by the author to belong to the contemplative picture that he wishes to paint thereon.The need for introducing Sanjaya in the middle of the chapter thus becomes justified and necessary to explain the nature of the subject under reference. The concluding verse of the chapter marks the return to the normal contemplative style of the Gita. Values like devotion and non-hatred, which are again introduced, have nothing in common with the spirit of the battlefield. Chapter XIII:   Unitive Devotion and Contemplation (Bhakti- Yoga): This chapter has no reference to warlike attitudes at all, but refers to two degrees of contemplative life: the personal and the impersonal, of which the former is easy but inferior and the latter difficult but superior. Curtain device No. 3 of normal dialogue continues unbroken from here till we reach almost the end of the Gita, where Sanjaya alone comes on the stage again in XVIII, 74. All the teaching to that point has thus to be taken as belonging to the contemplative order. Chapter XIII:  Unitive Understanding of the Distinction between the Actual and the Perceptual (Kshetra-Kshetrajna-Vibhaga-Yoga): This chapter is devoted to methodology and epistemology. The " actual " and the " perceptual " aspects of the Absolute should never be mixed up in the mind of the contemplative if he is to be able to recognize higher contemplative values. Verse 26 enunciates the law that all beings are born of the union of these two aspects.
The Kshetra (the actual field) and the Kshetrajna (the perceptual Knower of the field) are dialectical counterparts, first to be distinguished but later to be equated one with the other to make the Paramount Spirit of chapter XV emerge. Chapter XIV:  The Unitive Way of Transcending the Three Nature-Modalities (Guna-Traya-Vibhaga-Yoga): In  II, 43 Arjuna was asked to discard the Vedas because they had to do with the three gunas or modalities of nature. How have they become in the present chapter so respectable in the eyes of Vyasa? The answer is that here the gunas are used more as symbols or signs of a diagnostic nature for the comparison of contemplative values after the synthesis between the higher and lower notions of the Absolute has been sufficiently explained.

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The last verse here makes it clear that it is the foundation aspect of the Absolute which is given prime place, belonging with equal status to its transcendental or supreme aspect. Irrespective of their relative superiority or inferiority, the modalities have all to be transcended, as stated in verse 20, while neutralization is the revision given by Krishna in verse 22 to 25 inclusive. The yogi so capable of neutralizing the modalities as they act on him from the foundation aspect of the Absolute which he represents in himself by the knowledge of. the supreme Value of the Absolute, is " fit to become the Absolute Itself " as stated in verse 26.
Chapter XV:. The Unitive Approach to the Paramount Person (Purushottama-Yoga): All Vedic values are here discarded by the fusion of the two persons which forms the subject matter of this chapter. The difference between these two personal factors here and the two philosophical concepts of chapter XIII consists in that here two sets of personal values are synthesized, while in chapter XIII the object was for philosophical concepts of methodological importance to be defined and discussed. Values pertain to consciousness and the objectivity or subjectivity of values is only important for guidance in correct philosophical thinking. The Paramount Person of this chapter represents the Absolute unitive notion of Value. No reference to any war situation is even distantly suggested or implied here where the subject is one dealing purely with contemplative or perennial philosophy alone.
  Chapter XVI: . The Unitive Way of Discrimination between Higher and Lower Values (Daivasura-Sampad-Vibhaga-Yoga):  two types of persons attached to sets of values that are ambivalent and wide apart in the scale of human values are discussed in this chapter. Ethics is dealt with, though not social ethics, but rather a new variety of contemplative or personal ethics. The lower virtues or personal endowments, when subjected to the sublimating influence of contemplation within birth limitations, yield the higher virtues or endowments. The Dharma Shastras (Codes of Conduct) such as that of Manu discuss ethics from the angle of relationships between individuals. But here we find it is the individual himself, isolated from his social environment, as a contemplative ought to be, who is kept in the mind of the author. From strength  to ignorance  is the range of these virtues,  as seen from verses 3 and 4. Though born to be only a Kshattriya  (fighter), and not a brahmana or a samnyasi, Arjuna is admitted to the group of persons endowed with the higher series of virtues (verse 5).

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A non-sublimated or a non-contemplative Kshattriya (fighter) could be one of demoniac endowment. Arjuna, being a disciple of Krishna in the wisdom context, is admitted to the higher group. The greater part of this chapter is devoted to the strong condemnation of the person with demoniac endowments. Duryodhana perhaps comes under this category; at least in so far as he is not affiliated to Absolute Wisdom but only to relativist notions of religious holiness or life values.
Chapter XVII:  The Unitive Recognition of the Three Patterns of Faith (Shraddha-Traya-Vibhaga-Yoga): That the personality of man is determined by what he believes is the dictum (verse 3) on which this chapter is based. The good, indifferent and bad forms of faith are graded and discussed here under the categories of faith which are mainly sacrifice, austerity and offering (or giving). All three types are discussed finally as conforming to the most sacred of patterns known in India, whether in the context of the Vedas or of the larger Upanishadic teaching of the Vedanta based on the great philosophical aphorism  (Maha-vakya) AUM-TAT-SAT (aum - that is Real "). Religion and philosophy are equated here. Religion consists of philosophy and philosophy consists of religion. The contemplative personality of man has its character fixed by the supreme faith in the Absolute at three levels represented by the secret meaning of the Maha-Vakya above. AUM represents affiliation to the Absolute; TAT represents freedom from benefit-motive; and SAT the Reality that is basic and goodness in general. Dedication to the Absolute becomes confirmed at three levels to determine the perfected type of spiritual man who is to be discussed in the final chapter.Chapter XVIII:  The Unitive Way in Behaviour Patterns. (Samnyasa-Yoga). This last chapter has two different grades of' conclusions to arrive at. First there is the particular conclusion resulting from the discussion after chapter IX (which concluded already the theoretical discussion of contemplative philosophy without its applied aspects), and secondly, there is a general conclusion belonging to the whole work, dealing with applied aspects and reaching the discussion of actual patterns of behaviour. Even here no social obligation is involved, but only an intelligent and free recognition by oneself of what particular role one's own personality fits one to play in life, on a given occasion. Arjuna is a free man having divine endowments and already aware of the theoretical implications of wisdom of the most secret kind.

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Necessary  action  in  the  form  of  patterns of  behaviour, each implying its own personal. attitude, is already there in the world that Arjuna is facing. As in the case of faith that is ready-made with its own patterns of sacrifice, austerity and offering, so at that historical epoch in India there were ready-made moulds of available patterns of behaviour, such as that of the renouncer (samnyasi), the relinquisher (tyagi), and those statically codified patterns well known as the brahmana (priest), the kshattriya (fighter), the vaishya (businessman) and the shudra (worker). Each of these static forms of rigid obligatory religious tradition is here taken up by Vyasa and boldly revalued. Neither heredity nor the dead weight of obligation statically and narrowly conceived are allowed to vitiate the question of the free choice of models of active life from the available range open to every man.
When the concluding position has been brought to this important and still philosophical question of matching inner and outer factors in life, there is still left the particular case of Arjuna on the battlefield to which such a theory is to be applied.The Gita takes up the challenge of referring even to the problem of Arjuna in philosophical and contemplative terms. Firmness on a battlefield is a value that could be brought within the contemplative order, as seen in verses 33 and 43:
" The firmness by which the activities of the mind, vital functions and the senses, 0 Partha (Arjuna), are kept from deflecting (from the true path) by Yoga, is pure (sattvik)."
" Prowess, brightness, firmness, skill, and also never-absconding, generosity and dignity of mien refer to the (pattern of) activity of the kshattriya, born of his own nature."
The happiness of a warrior who has done what he should normally do on a given occasion is also another similarly contemplative value as precious as life itself to one whole-heartedly affiliated to the Absolute, as mentioned in verse 36. Just as in the case of a would-be mother caught in the labours of childbirth, it would be futile and absurd at the last moment not to permit her, by wrong philosophy of any kind, to obstruct her free fulfillment of her particular life-activity at that particular moment, so Arjuna is advised by Krishna not to have false scruples of a negative order in fully living according to the pattern of life meant for him by nature and
 
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circumstances which are in his case of an absolutely imperative character. He is still treated as a free man in verse 63:
 " Thus has wisdom more secret than all that is secret been declared to you by Me; (critically) scrutinizing all, omitting nothing, do as you like."
Vyasa takes care to put the reply of Arjuna at the very limit of the part which belongs to the dialogue. The next verse brings in the epic context in which Sanjaya enters again. Whether Arjuna's obedience of Krishna led to killing on the part of Arjuna is not stated in the Gita, as such a subject would not be respectable within a contemplative text. Moreover, in an extra section ranging from verses 50 to 53, Vyasa opens up the possibility of a pattern of life for Arjuna which would be quite outside the harsh context of war, if Arjuna liked to avoid it. This alternative course, which is more truly contemplative, further proves that social obligations are not binding on Arjuna any more than they are binding generally in the wisdom context. Contemplation belongs to the domain of contingent freedom and not to the necessary obligations of the spiritual life of man.In keeping with the two trends of the discussion, one more quietly contemplative, and the other more overtly or actively contemplative, we have two different grades of secrets referred to in verses 63 and 64. We have already quoted verse 63 above. Verse 64 says:
“Listen to My supreme word, the most secret of all…”  These two lines of contemplative life come to a grand conclusion in that famous verse 65, repeated almost verbatim from IX, 34, which brings the Gita teaching to its supreme culminating point:
“Become one in mind with Me: be devoted to Me;sacrifice to Me; bow down to Me; you shall come to Me  alone; I promise you (in) truth; you are dear to Me”.

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The non-religious and non-obligatory character of  the Gita as a whole is evident from verse 66 where the Absolute is given primacy over all other considerations in the contemplative or spiritual life, which in the Gita is meant to be free and open, while yet offering the highest hope for man:
" Abandoning all duties, come to Me, the One, for refuge: I shall absolve you from all sins; do not despair!"
 

THE TERMINAL DESCRIPTION OF EACH CHAPTER

Every chapter of the Gita has at its end what corresponds to a terminal chapter description (not strictly a colophon) which indicates clearly that it is a particular " yoga " giving primacy to one unitive notion pertaining to the wisdom of the Absolute  by means of a dialogue which of course, is that between Krishna the Guru and Arjuna the disciple. The terms Brahma-Vidya (wisdom-science of the Absolute), Yoga-Shastra (scientific textbook of contemplative discipline), Krishna-Arjuna-samvada (dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna) and the naming of the Bhagavad Gita (Song of God) and its qualification as a series of Upanishads -Vedic philosophical instructions- in the plural, are expressions common to every such terminal chapter description.
It is legitimate to expect from this description which belongs to the work itself as handed down at present that (1) the Bhagavad Gita is an Upanishad series,
(2)  that it treats of the wisdom of the Absolute, (3)  that it is in the form of a dialogue wherein anterior opinion is revalued in terms of finalized knowledge and
(4) above all, that it is a Yoga Shastra, i.e. a systematic and exactly conceived text in the science concerning contemplation.
We have already shown how this work is a song and given justification for most of the other descriptions enumerated above. It remains to examine its claims to be an exact science dealing with Yoga.

A TEXTBOOK ON YOGA

As we have seen, the Gita does not employ reasoning or arguments of the usual ratiocinative or discursive type. Though it has seemingly much in common with schools of philosophy such as that of the Samkhyas (who in turn had much of their

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own method depending on the Nyaya-Vaiseshika school), the logic of the Gita in many respects is its own. It is not altogether its own, but has a very ancient or rather perennial tradition behind it. The author Vyasa himself is aware of this when, in the words of Krishna, he says: " Thus handed down the line in succession, this (wisdom) the King-Sages (Raja-Rishis) understood; by great lapse of time here (however), this unitive wisdom (yoga) came to be lost, 0 Paramtapa (Arjuna)." IV, 12 .There is a yet more direct reference to Samkhya in XVIII, 13.
Each chapter of the Gita being a yoga and the conflict of Arjuna being itself called a yoga in the first chapter, it is easy to see that the word yoga is used in the Gita in a very extended, comprehensive and exactly conceived sense. It is not limited to Patanjali Yoga and the familiar states of progression in yogic practice mentioned in Patanjali's Yoga-Sutras are glaringly absent in the Gita. The Gita has its own definitions and implied descriptions of persons of yogic perfection here and there all over the work, which distinguishes the unique, secret and special character of the yoga meant in the Gita beyond all doubt. It is a perennial way of wisdom based on intuitive reasoning, covering practical and theoretical aspects of contemplative life, in which the method consists of equalizing counterparts of an argument or situation, e.g.:
“Arjuna said: That Yoga which you have outlined as consisting of sameness…, O

Madhusudana (Krishna)” VI, 33 Yoga has an ascent and a descent as mentioned in VI, 3:
" The yoga of a man of self-control who is still an aspirant for it, is said to have action as its motive-principle (karana); for the same person, when he has ascended to the unitive state (of yoga), tranquillity is said to be its motive-principle." The secret of yoga which is to be learnt front very rare philosophers is alluded to in IV, 34:
" Learn this by prostration, by searching questioning and by service; they will instruct you (duly) in wisdom, those wise men who can see the basic principles."

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The rarity, value and extreme secrecy which yoga in the Gita is meant to imply finds profuse mention all over the work. Even to desire to know of yoga promotes a man beyond the Vedic Absolute, as claimed in VI, 44: " By the former practice itself he is drawn on though disabled, as one merely desiring to know of yoga, he transcends the Absolute of sound (shabda-Brahma)."
 
That Samkhya and Yoga have much in common or almost all in common, is to be inferred from V, 4 and 5 . The doctrinal or philosophical aspects of yoga as understood in the Gita are the same as found in the ancient writings of the rishis (seers) including the Brahma-Sutras,  presumably  of  Badarayana-Vyasa,  as stated in XIII, 4:
 " Sung by Rishis (seers) in many ways, severally and distinctly, in (different) metres, and also in the aphoristic words of the Brahma-Sutras replete with critical reasonings and positively determined."     Further, Yoga is also spoken of as the cause or source of the emergence of entities such as the manifestation of the Absolute itself. Yoga and Maya are almost interchangeable terms in such expressions as Yoga-Maya (VII, 25) and Atma-Maya (XV, 6). Krishna as representing the Absolute is also referred to as Yogeshvara (the Lord representing the Principle of Yoga).

THE MEANING OF DIALECTICS AND YOGA

The relation that exists between dialectics as in Parmenides and Zeno in the West and the methodology and epistemology proper to Yoga as understood in its wide range of uses and implications indicated above has already been mentioned. Yoga here however in the Gita combines religion and philosophy, cosmology and psychology, austerities and dispositions. To match a proper occupation to a corresponding person is also within the scope of Yoga as seen in the last chapter. From the extreme idealism or rationalism of the early chapters to the pragmatism or realism of the last chapters, Yoga is

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employed as a common method or correlating epistemological factor. The author of the Gita is not to blame if the idea of Yoga is still vague in the mind of the reader. He has taken care to explain sufficiently clearly even in the early chapters what Yoga as used by him implies. Yoga is a dialectical approach to contemplative life and, as such, is concerned with personal spiritual emancipation through the appreciation of all unitive values that normally have a place in human life.
The pre-Socratic philosophers who used dialectics may or may not have had such a personal emancipation in view, but in Plato's Republic (534) we come to passages in which dialectic is referred to as a hymn which ". . . is a strain of the intellect only. . . When a person starts on the discovery of the Absolute by the light of the reason only, without the assistance of the senses, and never desists until by pure intelligence he arrives at the perception of the Absolute Good, he at last finds himself at the end of the intellectual world as in the case of sight at the end of the visible. . . Dialectic then, is the coping-stone of the sciences, and is set over them; it would not be right to place any other science higher, the nature of knowledge can not further go." That even Plato envisaged spiritual value factors within the scope of the use of dialectics is evident from his words (Republic, 533):

" Dialectic alone carries back its hypotheses to the first principle of all in order to make her ground secure; the eye of the soul, which is literally buried in an outlandish slough, is by her gentle aid lifted upwards; and she uses. as handmaids and helpers in the work of conversion the sciences we have been discussing."

A GARLAND OF VALUES

The Neo-Platonic philosopher Plotinus employed this method of dialectics almost as in the Gita, unitively bringing together matter and spirit. In modern times Bergson also understood and employed dialectics in developing his metaphysical ideas.

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Thus we would be in good company still when we say that dialectics is a secret time-honoured way of perennial mysticism or philosophy which is based on intuition rather than reason. It yields unitive results consisting of values in life ranging from the most commonplace to the highest. All values in life could be strung by dialectics into a garland of human values, each precious in its own context. The eighteen  chapters of the Gita string together different values in  life through its own notion of the Absolute - the Absolute  being the correlating Principle as mentioned in VII,

7:
" In Me all this is strung as a classified series (ganah) of precious beads on a string."
A sample of the dialectical method of reasoning is given by Vyasa in that symmetrically balanced verse II, 16:
What is unreal cannot have being and non-being cannot be real: the conclusion in regard to both of these has been known to philosophers."
This method and the three definitions of yoga in the following verses taken together is meant to explain what the word  yoga means in the Gita:
" Engage in activity, 0 Dhanamjaya (Arjuna), taking your stand on the unitive way (of yoga) discarding attachments and capable of regarding both attainment and non-attainment as the same: in sameness consists the unitive way (of yoga)." II, 48.

“ Affiliated to reason one leaves behind here both meritorious and unmeritorious deeds. Therefore affiliate yourself to the unitive way (of yoga): yoga is reason in action, (savoir faire, know-how)." II , 50.“ That should be known by the name of yoga - disaffiliation from the context of suffering. Such a yoga should be adhered to with determination, free from spiritual regret" VI, 23.
Yoga refers to the Absolute and yields unitive interests in every department of life. It implies detachment from the outside world of sense activity.

UNITIVE CONCEPTS OF EACH CHAPTER

That each chapter should be looked upon as having its own frame of reference has been explained already. Here we shall mention some of the further peculiarities of chapter construction, beginning with the unitive concepts of each chapter. Chapter I: The counterparts here are the values represented by Bhishma and Bhima, both of whom are prehistoric stalwarts. Verse 10 brings them together:
 
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" This army of ours which is under the care of Bhishma is insufficient but that army of theirs which is under the care of Bhima is adequate ".
In the sub-section of this chapter where Duryodhana speaks to Drona and Bhishma, the two sets of religious values represented by each of them are the counterparts to be unitively revalued from the Absolutist point of view. Both of these are referred to clearly in II, 4:
 " Arjuna said: How could I, 0 Slayer of Madhu (Krishna), encounter with arrows in battle Bhishma and also Drona who are worthy of worship, 0 Slayer of Foes (Krishna)?" and even in I, 8:  " You and Bhishma, and Karna, and also Kripa, the Victor in war, Ashvatthaman and Vikarna and also the son of Somadatta." At the end of the chapter these two value-representatives have to be fought by Arjuna who is about to be taught by Krishna. Verses 21 and 24 make pointed reference to placing the chariot in the middle  “between the two armies”, and in verse 27 to the two armies taken together “in both the armies”.
That the revaluation is dialectical and neutrally poised between opposing standpoints, as in the example which is given in II, 16, is hinted at even in this first chapter. The conflict of Arjuna has the same contemplative or yogic character, though taking the form of an agony for the present within the limits of this chapter. The very first word of the Gita is dharma (right life that is in keeping with wisdom) which is to be set  off against the merely historical actuality of the Kuru battlefield.

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The latter has to be revalued in terms of the form by the battle about to begin. Absolute Necessity or Urgency in the Actual has to be understood in the light of the highest Absolute sense of intelligent and normal living by Arjuna. He is called upon to be a man of unitive life without conflict, which is that of a yogi.
Chapter II:  The unitive concept is now Reason. Reason in contemplative life has an anterior tradition in the school known as Samkhya. There is a more pragmatic tradition of yoga discipline. It is more orthodox.. Both these kinds of reasoning are stated in revised terms in the two parts of this chapter which is divided by verse 39:

" What has just been taught is reason according to Samkhya; but hear now of the same according to Yoga, attaining to the unity of which reasoning you will be able to throw off the bondage of works." Both these counterparts which are based on an ontological or a here-and-now approach to life, are revalued and restated in terms of what is called the Brahma-sthithi (state of reasoning established in the Absolute) referred to in the last verse of the chapter:
" This is the state of being in the Absolute, 0 Partha (Arjuna), on reaching which one suffers from delusion no more. Established in this at the very last moments of life, one reaches that final state of pure being (nirvana) in the Absolute ".

Chapter III:  Here a revised and eternal status is first given to Necessary Action. Action is inevitable to man. Its tradition is also hoary as hinted in verse 20:
" Janaka and such others reached perfection even per- forming acts." Necessary Action is unavoidable and absolutely necessary. It has to be met by a factor which is even beyond the ontological reasoning of the Samkhyas and the Yogis of the earlier chapter. This is indicated in the last verse of this chapter where a neutral immobilization of spirit is recommended:

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 " Thus knowing Him to be beyond reason, immobilizing the Self by the Self, 0 Mighty-Armed (Arjuna), kill that enemy in the form of desire (so) difficult to encounter."
Chapter IV: This chapter shows that secret, perennial and timeless wisdom can treat action and inaction as its counterparts and thus cancel, neutralize, equate or harmonize one by the other by the true technique of yoga, as in verse 18:
" One who is able to see action in inaction and inaction in action, he, among men, is intelligent; he is one of unitive way (a yogi), while still engaged in every (possible) kind of work." This is a rare secret, as mentioned in verse  34: " Learn this by prostration, by searching questioning, and by service; they will instruct you (duly) in wisdom, those wise men who can see the basic principles."

Action in this chapter has no reference to actual action, but has a perennial symbolic value which was developed in the previous chapter. This is evident from the implication of the last verses read together:
" For one of unitively-renounced action (by Yoga), who by wisdom has sundered doubts, and come. to full self-possession, works can no more bind him, 0 Dhanamjaya (Arjuna)." Therefore, sundering with the sword of Self-Knowledge this ignorance-born doubt residing in your heart, stand firm in the unitive way (Yoga) and stand up, 0 Bharata (Arjuna) ".Chapter V:  Here the anti-ritual rationalist who resorts to quietism is treated as the counterpart of an active contemplative who is able to treat Reason on a par with Action. The edge of action is taken off and the actor even goes to the extent of being able to deny the actuality of action:
“ “I do nothing at all” - saying thus, he of unitive ways, who is a philosopher (too), should think and, (while) seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, going, sleeping, breathing, speaking, excreting, grasping, opening and closing the eyes, treating the senses to be (merely) related to their (corresponding) sense-objects”  (V, 8, 9.)

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The action in the Self is countered by the wisdom in the Self and thus is transcended. In other words, action is raised to the status of ignorance. Peace results from such a harmony established between the counterparts of Action and Reason, as seen in verse 29:
" Having known Me as the Enjoyer of ritual sacrifices, the Acceptor of austerities, the great Lord of all worlds, and the Friend of all beings, one reaches peace."

Chapter VI:  There is here more than neutrality maintained between Activity and Reason. Action as “means” must have corresponding  “ends” in the form of benefits, results, or “fruits” called karma-phalam (resulting benefit of an act). When the actor's Self is self-sufficient without this benefit, we again attain to a neutralized state which is the state of harmony or yoga. Arjuna refers to the balancing of counterparts in this kind of Yoga in verse 33: ". That Yoga you have outlined as consisting of sameness…”
That Yoga involves practice or an ascent of some sort is implied in verse 3 (quoted earlier on page 46). The essentials of the practice in which the counterparts are the Self and the Self without interference with any horizontal factor called benefit-motive (phala) and resulting in a Self that is unitive and without conflict is implied in verses 29 to 32:
“ One whose Self is united by yoga sees the Self as abiding in all beings and all beings as abiding in the Self, everywhere seeing the same.
“ He who sees Me everywhere, and sees everything in Me, to him I am not lost, and he is not lost to Me.
 “ That yogi who honours Me as abiding in all beings, established  in unity, remaining as he may, in every (possible) way, he abides in me “By establishing an analogy with the Self, he who sees equality everywhere, O

Arjuna, whether in pleasant or painful (situations ), he is considered a perfect yogi”.
Yoga conceived in the Absolute way knows no setback and is the supreme perfection here raised above all others.

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The need for the establishment of a bipolar relation with the Absolute is here treated in advance as belonging to Yoga. This statement (verse 47):
" Of all yogis, he who with inner Self is merged in Me, full of faith, devoted to Me, is considered by Me the most unitive (yuktah tamah)."                 
puts the doctrine here in line with the doctrines stated at the end of chapter IX and repeated at the end of the Gita, XVIII, 65:
"Become one in mind with Me - be devoted to Me; sacrifice to Me; bow down to Me; you shall come to Me alone; I promise you (in) truth; you are dear to Me."

Chapter VII:  In this chapter the counterparts extend from life here to  values  in  the  hereafter.  The  hylozoic,  cosmological,  and transcendental value factors of the “here”  and the “hereafter” are equated and harmonized by a notion of the Absolute which is ontological and teleological at once. Positive wisdom is referred to in verse 2:
" I shall teach you this (pure) wisdom together with this (applied) knowledge, without any omission, knowing which, there will be nothing more here left over that should be known." And the need for establishing bipolarity with Absolute wisdom is implied in the very opening verse of the chapter:
" Krishna said: Having a mind attached to Me, 0 Partha (Arjuna), and joining unitively through yoga, and having Me as refuge, how you will know Me without any doubt, comprehensively, that do hear."

Chapter VIII:  Here the synthetic revaluation of all anterior strands of spiritual life known at the time of the Gita is put on one side and the yogi himself as understood in the Gita and raised to the status of the Absolute through wisdom is the counterpart placed on the other side, and then both are brought unitively together.

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Chapters IX and X: These together constitute the key chapters of the whole work. The Absolute attains perfect unity of value as the highest object of meditation by the contemplative. In chapter X the unitive values involved are actual presences or value factors belonging to the universe, into relationship with which we can enter. These values range from reason to personal honour in the first instance, and continue into objectified values or presences. These result from the same nitive Absolute. The difference between the values of the two chapters is very subtle and negligible. We can only generalize and say that those of the earlier chapter are more conceptual than perceptual.

Chapter XI: Here the Absolute is viewed as existing between the past and the future in the positive actuality of the present, which itself is represented as in a state of flux or becoming. Conventional theological notions are subjected to revaluation in terms of the Absolute. The author takes advantage of the tragic aspect of the Absolute to refer to the actual waging of war by Arjuna, justifying it on the ground that in the general flux of becoming all but the pure Absolute suffers hange.

Chapter XII: The contemplative has two alternative counterparts to choose from: the Manifested Absolute and the Unmanifested. The Manifested is the value recommended in the name of facility in establishing the bipolarity which is the essence of the Yoga of the Gita. Those who are able to fulfil the condition of polarity even with an abstract notion of the Absolute are considered all the better in the last verse:
" But they who cherish devotedly this righteous immortal value, as stated, endowed with faith, with Me for Supreme, those devotees are exceedingly dear to Me”.

Chapter XIII:  In this chapter the counterparts are the Field and the Knower of the Field. A delicate unity is established between these two philosophical aspects of reality.Chapter XIV : Here the lower Self still within the sway of the three modalities of nature (gunas) is on one side, and the higher Self which is its own counterpart is on the other side, both to be equated together unitively to yield a neutral state in the Absolute Self.

Chapter XV: Here the synthesis of the two aspects of the Person is more complete and helps in the formulation of the Absolute as a Paramount Person representing the most Supreme of Values.

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Chapter XVI:  Now the problem of evil in the world is faced squarely, though still in a contemplative manner. Men are divided into two distinct groups as good and bad. Evil does exist in this world as part of the foundation aspect of the Absolute referred to in the last verses of the previous chapter. To avoid evil, the shastras (texts) are to be relied on, as stated in the last verse of the present chapter:
" Therefore the scripture is your authority in deciding what should and should not be done. Understanding what is indicated for guidance in scripture, it is right you should work here." Chapter XVII: This chapter deals with ready-made patterns of contemplative behaviour (as a form of action) open to men to choose from, and the contemplative is helped to guide himself wisely between forms of belief by a graded theory based on the modalities of nature (gunas) used diagnostically.

Chapter XVIII: The ready-made patterns of behaviour open to a contemplative to conform to or to select, are discussed here on the same basis of the three modalities of nature (gunas) used diagnostically. Arjuna can put on the armour of a warrior or don the mantle of a quieter contemplative pattern of life, as he likes. Whether he fought and felt happy only by killing is left an open question. The decision on this point, however, is not important for those who do not have exactly the same temperament as Arjuna, and who are not placed exactly in the same circumstances. To the last, Arjuna is left a free man in the Gita. He can act as he likes, as we see from verse 63: 

“scrutinizing all, omitting nothing, do as you like”. A true contemplative, free of war-mindedness, faced with a pattern of true and calm contemplative behaviour, is outlined in verses 50 to 53 inclusive:
“ How he who is ascended to Perfection thereby obtains the Absolute, that supreme consummation of wisdom, that do you learn from Me, 0 Son of Kunti (Arjuna), in brief;  Endowed with pure Reason, restraining the Self with firmness, detaching oneself from sound and other sense-objects, and casting out liking and disliking; Dwelling in solitude, frugal in diet, controlling speech, body and mind, ever in meditation and contemplation, resorting to dispassion;
 And relinquishing egoism, power, arrogance, desire, anger, possessiveness, free from ownership and tranquil; he is worthy of becoming the Absolute.” Thus each chapter of the Gita has a central value and value counterparts referring to the life of contemplation. Some are conceived dualistically, though still subjectively; others are conceived objectively. When there are two value components, they should be treated as counterparts to be coordinated or accorded one with the other according to the requirements of an Absolutist outlook. This Absolutist outlook could be conceived in the general terms of a philosophical theory or in the most specific particularized terms of a positive or a fully-lived life.

VERSES ILLUSTRATING DIALECTICS
When we examine the structure of individual verses, we find this same method of juxtaposing counterparts and equalizing them is strikingly employed. We have already referred to the example in II, 16 which states the case of dialectics in as clear a manner as possible:
" What is unreal cannot have being, and non-being cannot be real: the (unitive) conclusion in regard to both these has been known to philosophers."

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"And relinquishing egoism, power, arrogance, desire, anger, possessiveness, free from ownership, and tranquil; he is worthy of becoming the Absolute."
Thus each chapter of the Gita has a central value and value counterparts referring to the life of contemplation. Some are conceived dualistically, though still subjectively; others are conceived objectively. When there are two value components, they should be treated as counterparts to be coordinated or accorded one with the other according to the requirements of an Absolutist outlook. This Absolutist outlook could be conceived in the general terms of a philosophical theory or in the most specific particularized terms of a positive or a fully-lived life. Here we have two propositions stated together, one being the counterpart of the other. This is not a type of reasoning which is strictly syllogistic. There is no middle term and the principle of contradiction is not availed of, nor that of an excluded middle. If we try to place this form of argument in the context of the Tarka Shastra (Textbook on Logical Reasoning Method) of Annam Bhatta of the Nyaya-Vaiseshika school, we find that instead of abhava (non-being) postulated by them, we have here a vague middle term entity which is admitted  and put forward by implication as possible. None of the dualistic schools could be meant here by the reference to philosophers. This way of reasoning has its background in the Upanishads and the Vedas themselves. To cite but one instance, we have the famous reference to vidya (science) and avidya (nescience) which are taken up in the Isha Upanishad for dialectical treatment side by side with the parallel example. The relation between action (karma) and inaction (akarma) cannot be here one of complete mutual exclusion without any middle ground between them. There is here a possibility implied that action and inaction, could exist neutrally in one of the two concepts of sambhuti (becoming) and vinasha (extinction).

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There is reference to ancient philosophers even there who were capable of treating these two counterparts together as implied in the expression ubhayamsaha (bearing both) used there. The expression ubhayam (both) is the characteristic of this rare type of philosophical reasoning employed also in the Gita.
Let us take another example from the Gita, XVIII, 12,  which shows the special character of this kind of argument:
" Pleasant, unpleasant and mixed benefits accrue in the spiritual progress beyond of the non-relinquisher (atyagi) but none anywhere for the renouncers (samnyasis)." Here the question involved is one of comparing the renouncer (samnyasi) with the relinquisher (tyagi). But instead of more simply and directly accomplishing this task by taking a relinquisher and a renouncer; both of whom have points of similarity, this verse takes the non-relinquisher and compares him with a renouncer. The atyagi has nothing in common with the samnyasi, but there is a common ground to the imperfect, humanly conceivable samnyasi and a tyagi who is quite advanced in spirituality. So by opposing the full samnyasi and the non-tyagi, we arrive at a conclusion where the samnyasi and the tyagi have a common ground wherein one is as good as the other. The method implied here may be said to be that of DIALECTICAL REVALUATION of both renunciation (samnyasa) and relinquishment (tyaga) in the light of the neutral Absolute. The middle way, common to both the tyagi and the samnyasi is the path recommended by the Gita.
In IV, 18 we have another striking example of the use of subtle dialectics in the Gita, (this type is representative of others, such as II, 69 and VI, 6) as an interesting sample: " One who is able to see inaction in action and action in inaction, he among men is intelligent; he is the one of unitive way (yogi) while still engaged in every (possible) kind of work." The relation between action (karma) and inaction (akarma) cannot be here one of complete mutual exclusion without any middle ground between them. There is here a possibility implied that action and inaction, could exist neutrally in one and the same person.

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For examples we should have to turn to the paradoxes of Zeno, the pupil of Parmenides. Very clever commentaries have been lavished by intelligent thinkers on the possible meaning of these contradictory requirements. Some explain it dualistically; others insist on giving a strictly non-dualistic meaning.
The neutral Absolute is attainable only to a certain rare type of reasoning sometimes called intuition and at other times direct awareness. Sankara refers to this faculty by the term uha-poha, a double way of thinking where there is a forward and a backward movement employed in arriving at certitude.

When the methods of comparison and contrast are employed together in a certain organic way, that would correspond to what this way of reasoning represents. Apparent paradoxes give up their intrinsic verity and are solved by the same intuitive method. The term nearest to this type of reasoning is " dialectics " which we have already explained. More examples of this subtle use of dialectics abound throughout the Gita, and will be found dealt with in the body of the commentary.

PECULIAR EXPRESSIONS

Enigmatic Paired Compounds:  If we focus our attention more minutely on the constituent elements of structure making up certain expressions peculiar to the Gita, we discover the same dialectics employed by the author. Many of the enigmas of the Gita become understandable. As a supreme example of this we could take the expression in the second Sanskrit line of XV, 15:
" And I am seated in the heart of all; from Me are memory and (positive) wisdom and its negative process; I am that which is to be known from all the Vedas; I am indeed the Vedanta-Maker and the Veda-Knower too."
Reference is made here to the Absolute unitively conceived, both as the Vedanta-Maker (vedanta-krit) and the Veda- Knower (vedavit). It is well known that Vedanta teaches wisdom and involves no action and, on the other hand, it is also well known that the Vedas are full of injunctions and mandates of an obligatory nature referring to various actions of ritual or of religious observance in general.

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But we find here in the combined expression made up of the two expressions above, that the term which should normally apply to Veda is applied to Vedanta, and vice versa. The explanation can only be in the light of dialectics. In the revalued Vedanta of the Gita we find there are practical aspects referred to as

abhyasa, (practice), e.g.:
" By practice ...  and by dispassion (the mind) is held (together) ". VI, 35.
" Meditating with the mind engaged in the yoga involving positive effort . . he goes to the Supreme Person. . ." VIII, 8.
" If you are unable to fix your thoughts steadily on Me, then by means of unitive ascent (yoga of practice) seek to reach Me. . " XII, 9.
Again, the expression vedavit is a similar enigma. Veda is what gives importance to obligatory injunction (vidhi) and tabu (nisheda) which refer to actions. At the end of chapter XVII however, the Gita accepts in a revalued form the great dictum Aum-Tat-Sat (Absolute-Word That which is Real) as in XVII, 23 where the Vedas are directly referred to: " Aum-Tat-Sat  - this has been known in the past as designating the Absolute.

The scriptures (called) Brahmanas, the Vedas and Sacrifices also by this were prescribed of old." The Vedas are dialectically revalued so as not to enter into conflict with free contingent wisdom. It is this revalued Vedic spirituality which is referred to as the Veda to be known - not practiced- in the expression Veda-Vit as used here. Both the expressions - Vedanta-krit and Veda-vit - together refer to the unitively revalued notion of the Absolute of the Gita teaching.
Double-Edged Recommendations: In certain chapters of the Gita we find double recommendations such as  “ remember Me; fight also” (VIII, 7) and
 “ repeating the one syllable Aum and remembering Me” (VIII, 13) In such cases the instructions or recommendations must be thought of as referring to two aspects of the personality. The ambivalent concept of the Self is implied in many parts of the Gita as in III, 39, where the enemy of wisdom in the form of desire is likened to an eternally insatiable fire. Ambivalent tendencies are also implied in XIV, 18.