The Teaching of the Gita/What the Gita Teaches

Documents libres.

Result of Introspection

The Teaching of the Gita ~ What the Gita Teaches written by Mohandas K. Gandhi

My Meaning of the Gita

I do not believe that the Gita teaches violence for doing good. It is pre-eminently a description of the duel that goes on in our own hearts. The Divine author has used a historical incident for inculcating the lesson of doing one's duty even at the peril of one's life. It inculcates performance of duty irrespective of the consequences; for, we mortals, limited by our physical frames, are incapable of controllling actions save our own. The Gita distinguishes between the powers of light and darkness and demonstrates their incompatibility.1

—Yong India February 23, 1921.

I do not agree that the Gita advocates and teaches violence in any part of it. See the concluding discourse at the end of Chapter Two. Although that Chapter lends itself to a violent interpretation, the concluding verses seem to me to perclude any such interpretation. The fact is that a literal interpretation of the Gita lands one in a sea of contradictions. The letter truly killeth, the spirit giveth life.

—Young India : March 12, 1925.

1. "I venture to submit that the Bhagavad Gita is a Gospel of Non-co-operation between the forces of darkness and those of light. If it is to be literally interpreted, Arjuna, representing a just cause, was enjoined to engage in bloody warfare with the unjust Kauravas."

—Young India : August 25, 1920.