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Both become a part of who we are and who we will be, a part of the very marrow of the human experience, they shape our thoughts and emotions. The Hindu text, The Bhagavad-Gita and the mythical work Till We Have Faces by Christian author C.S. Lewis are separated by an inconceivable amount of time and place. Yet, each hungrily delves into the themes of sacrifice and freedom, and in doing so, offers an answer to some of the most difficult questions about how (and why) to live. Each novel recounts stories of a growth in knowledge of their main characters, providing practical advice for the right way to lead life. The Bhagavad-Gita details the story of the warrior Arjuna who is plagued with the idea that he must engage in battle with his relatives. In agony, he seeks the advice of the god Krishna to help him sort through right and wrong. Through Krishna’s counsel, Arjuna reaches a new level of understanding about life. Till We Have Faces expounds upon the ancient Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche. The story follows the life of Orual, a woman who is forced to come to terms with her own corrupt nature through a series of events primarily dealing with her younger sibling, Psyche. While The Bhagavad-Gita is essentially a guide for believers, Till We Have Faces is a story for stories sake. Yet, there are many comparisons and contrasts to be made when talking about the way each novel deals with the themes of sacrifice and freedom. Essentially, The Bhagavad-Gita can be considered a “gospel of selfless service”. As Arjuna questions whether or not he should fight against his cousins in the war, he learns from the god Krishna that selfless service is necessary. As identified in The Bhagavad-Gita, sacrifice means complete abandonment of ones own desires. All ones duties in life, or Dharma, should be carried out with nothing short of pure joy and devotion to the Lord. The Bhagavad-Gita formulates the theory of the three paths, or margas (Knowledge, Devotion and Action), thus teaching us that action, devotion and knowledge should work in one’s life in perfect harmony. The Bhagavad-Gita states, “So, a true Tyaagi, or a true man of abandonment is one for whom duty has no aspects such as agreeable or disagreeable, dignified or undignified. He gets the same satisfaction from the performance of all kinds of work.” Arjuna is called to be a Sattvic doer, or one whose work is worship of the Lord. In Till We Have Faces, sacrifice is developed similarly. The themes of sacrifice and spilled blood are found throughout the novel and especially developed in the characters of Psyche and Orual. The ability to be self-sacrificing, which is highly respected among the members of the Greek community in the novel, is intricately tied to the strength of the characters’ belief in the gods. Psyche, who fully believed in their existence, was always willing to please them and was, therefore, completely unselfish. Orual described Psyche as “…what every woman, or even everything, ought to have been and meant to be, but had missed by some trip of chance” (22). Psyche’s capacity for self-sacrifice was inspiring. When the god, Ungit, must be placated through the Great Offering, the King decides that Psyche will be the sacrifice. Although Orual has great difficulty accepting the fate of her younger, beloved sister, it is later developed that she only feels this way because of a lack of faith. Psyche, on the other hand, finds joy in the situation, saying to her sister “Do you think it all meant nothing, all the longing? The longing for home? For indeed it now feels not like going, but like going back” (76). It is possible to point to several comparisons in the way each book explores the theme of sacrifice. Both speak of sacrifice as a selfless devotion to one’s god. Also, each novel relates sacrifice and love for one’s god. Sri Krishna teaches that devotion to God in order to gain something from Him is lower form of love but love for the sake of love is a higher form of devotion and is called Parabhakti. This theme of love and sacrifice is also developed in Till We Have Faces. By experiencing Psyche’s sacrificing behavior, Orual was able to understand that a love for the gods in turn produced a love and joy for all things. In hindsight, she saw how her own self-centerdness had corrupted the quality of her love. Further, both novels marinate the idea that the way one perceives things is highly important. To Arjuna, fighting his cousins seemed immoral. Similarly, offering Psyche as a sacrifice was an inconceivable offense to Orual. However, each character learns that what may seem at the outset as unjustified can often actually be holy necessity. Out of a willingness to act unselfishly, each novel concludes that true freedom will result. Although it sounds like a contradiction to say that giving up one’s own desires leads to freedom, both Arjuna and Orual learn that it is so. In each instance, freedom is perceived as liberation from earthly unhappiness. In The Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna explains that by surrendering all of one’s actions to the Lord, one will be liberated from sins and no longer grieve. Krishna claims, “Such true abandonment of fruits of actions is very powerful and instantly gives peace.” The Lord speaks of Sattvic sukha, a kind of happiness that is lasting and secure, that results from full devotion to the Lord. Similarly, in Till We Have Faces, Orual receives liberation from unhappiness when she begins to devote her life to the pleasing of the gods. Her liberation comes, metaphorically, in the form of her beauty. She was considered an ugly woman and was plagued, throughout her life, by the feeling of inadequacy about her appearance. As a human, she thirsted for a kind of joy, but never was able to satisfy the desire completely. After recognizing her own ugliness, she was made more beautiful and experienced joy. Each novel seeks to point the reader toward the ideals of self-sacrifice and liberation. We are meant to discover alongside the main characters, each novel drawing us into the action. The Bhagavad-Gita is effective in this way in that is asks many questions, such that each human struggles with, and then proceeds to answer them with practical and useful advice. Till We Have Faces also achieves this by taking the point of view of Orual, so that the reader can experience firsthand the error of her ways. In The Bhagavad-Gita, Arjuna needed to learn to follow the will of god, despite his trepidation at the idea of fighting his cousins. And in Till We Have Faces, Orual learned from her younger sister’s example completely unselfish motives lead to the appeasement of the gods and, therefore, happiness in one’s own life. Each novel concludes that sacrifice consists of being willing to give your own desires over to your god and that, in doing so, true happiness will abound. Bibliography: Word Count: 1214
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