43. tatra tam buddhisamyogam
labhate paurvadehikam yatate
ca tato bhüyah
samsiddhau kurunandana
(43) There he regains the (mental) impressions (of union with the Divine) which he had developed in his previous life and with this (as the starting point) he strives again for perfection, 0 Joy of the Kurus (Arjuna).
Progress on the path to perfection is slow and one may have to tread through many lives before reaching the end. But no effort is wasted. The relations we form and the powers we acquire do not perish at death. They will be the starting point of later developments.
44. purvabhyasen a tenai 'va
hriyate hy avaso 'pi sah
jijnasur api yogasya
sabdabrahma 'livartate
(44) By his former practice, he is carried on irresistibly. Even the seeker after the knowledge of yoga goes beyond the Vedic rule.
gabdabrahma: Vedic rule. It refers to the Veda and the injunctions set forth in it. By practising the Vedic rule, we are helped to get beyond it. Cp. "Brahman is of two kinds, the sabdabrahma and the other beyond it. When a person has become well versed in the gabdabrahma, he reaches the Brahman which is beyond it."[1] Then faith ends in experience, tongues shall cease and doctrine shall fade away. The stimulus to religion is generally
supplied by the study of holy writ or participation in a cult. This is helpful until spontaneity becomes so great and absolute as to require no indirect help. Ordinarily the study of the Veda is a quickening influence. But when once we have the awakening which is sufficient unto itself, we need no external aid and so pass beyond abdabrabma or any institutional guidance. One who proposes to cross a river needs a boat, but "let him no longer use the Law as a means of arrival when he has arrived." Majjhirna Nikãya, I, 135. R. takes gabdabrahma to mean prakrti.
45. prayatnad yatamdnas tu
yogi samsuddhakilbisah;
anekajanmasamsiddhas
tato yati param gatim
(45) But the yogi who strives with assiduity, cleansed of all sins, perfecting himself through many lives, then attains to the highest goal.
Though he may fail through weakness to reach the goal of perfection in this life, the lessons of his effort will abide with him after death and help him in his progress in other lives until he attains the goal. God's purpose will not be accomplished until all human beings are redeemed by forgiveness, repentance and healing discipline and restored into communion with the Supreme. Every soul will be won back to God who created him in His own image. God's love will finally restore into harmony with itself even the most rebellious elements. The Gila gives us a hopeful belief in the redemption of all.
