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There is the pleasure of following that right path which leads to the end of all
pain. What seems at first a cup of sorrow is found in the end immortal wine.
That pleasure is pure: it is the joy which arises from a clear vision of the Spirit.
(BG, 18:36-37)
It is Guy Hamilton who first seems to understand this when Billy is killed. Billy had
explained to Hamilton that to master others one must first learn to master himself (YLD, 81).
Hamilton and Jill Bryant both understand that Billy was trying to master them. Jill says, ‘Billy
wanted us to be a perfect pair of lovers’ and Hamilton says, ‘he thought he and I would be
perfect friends’ (YLD, 258), but only Hamilton knows that Billy has finally learned to master
himself. This means that Billy, the cameraman with the ‘ceaseless mental life’ (YLD, 71),
forever ruminating over questions of right and wrong, of good and evil, of man and God, has
finally calmed his Self. Krishna teaches Arjuna:
Do thy work in the peace of Yoga and, free from selfish desires, be not moved
in success or in failure. Yoga is evenness of mind—a peace that is ever the
same. (BG, 2:48)
(‘Yoga’ is one of those difficult-to-translate Sanskrit terms. Mascaró has chosen not to
translate here at all, depending on the text to clarify it. There are many meanings of the term
as it is used in the Gita. The verb means unite, prepare, get ready for battle; The noun means
yoking, preparation, discipline (Callewaert, 97). Koch, probably because in current English it
refers to a form of exercise which has as much to do with New Age pop culture as with Indian
philosophy, avoids the term altogether, though this does not mean that Krishna’s message is
avoided as well.)
In his argument for an Australian re-enchantment, David Tacey notes how the ‘great
religions have long taught that the ego cannot be its own master and cannot achieve absolute
freedom’. The ego must forgo its delusional drive for absolute freedom, and consciously
choose to serve.
The ego’s task in the psyche, like humanity’s task in creation, is to serve a
greater reality (Jung), to attend to the needs of an Other (Eliage), to further the
incarnation in this world of unmanifest Being (Heidegger). The ego can either
choose a life of service or be made to serve in various involuntary and
destructive ways. The choice is between a relative freedom or no freedom at
all. (Tacey, 185)
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