Hajarimalmuni Smruti Granth

Author(s): Shobhachad Bharilla
Publisher: Hajarimalmuni Smruti Granth Prakashan Samiti Byavar

Page 1024

पंचम अध्याय : १
**********
scruples, everything is right in his estimation and he therefore resorts to means fair and
foul to attain his end."11 Gandhi was convinced that this path of unselfish, dedicated action commanded by the Gita teaches us to follow truth and ahimsa (non-violence). His entire ethic of non-violence, as the force of love, on which he based his political philosophy of satyagraha, or the protest of truth, was based on his understanding of the Gita, as well as on his optimistic view of the nature of God and the world. He freely admits that the Gita was not written to establish ahimsa but implies that the omission of the emphasis on ahimsa was due to the fact that ahimsa was "an accepted and primary duty even before the Gita age."2 In Gandhi's words:
"The message of the Gita is to be found in the second chapter of the Gita where Krishna speaks of the balanced state of mind, of mental equipoise. In 19 verses at the close of the 2nd chapter of the Gita, Krishna explains how this state can be achieved. It can be achieved, he tells us, after killing all your passions. It is not possible to kill your brother after having killed all your passions. I should like to see that man dealing death-who has no passions, who is indifferent to pleasure and pain, who is undisturbed
by the storms that trouble mortal man."13 Though often convincing and eloquent, Gandhi's defence of ahimsa in the Gita, nevertheless, met formidable criticism and opposition. Thus he qualified his defence of ahimsa in the Gita in this manner :
"When the Gita was written, although people believed in ahimsa, wars were not only not taboo, but nobody observed the contradiction between them and ahimsa...Let it be granted, that according to the letter of the Gita it is possible to say that warfare is consistent with renunciation of fruit. But after forty year's unremitting endeavour fully to enforce the teaching of the Gita in my own life, I have, in all humility, felt that perfect renunciation is impossible without perfect observance of ahimsa in every shape and
form." When Gandhi defends his ethics of non-voilence, the emphatic difference in his mind between the transcendent, omnipotent God, or even the avatar, the human Divinity, and the mortal man, becomes clearer. Speaking of Krishna, he says: "My Krishna is the Lord of the Universe, the creator, preserver and destroyer of us all. He may destroy, because He creates."14 Of the avatar, Gandhi comments: "According to the verse [ 4:8 of the Gita ) it is God the All-knowing who descends to the earth to punish the wicked. I may be pardoned if I refuse to regard every revolutionary as an all-knowing God or an avatara."15 Commenting on the verse in the Gita which says: "He who is free from all sense of "I', whose motive is untainted, slays not nor is bound, even though he slays all these worlds," Gandhi emphatically states : "If we believe in Krishna to be God, we must impute to Him omniscience and omnipotence. Such an one can surely destroy. But we are puny mortals ever erring and ever revising our views and opinions. We may not without coming to grief, ape Krishna, the inspirer of the Gita."16 And again he says; "Truth excludes the use of violence, because man is not capable of knowing the Absolute Truth and therefore not competent to punish. God alone is competent."17 Wherever it is possible, Gandhi draws upon the Gita in support of his ethic. While speaking
**
*
*
*
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII aindiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII WITTTTIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
i iiiii Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiterary.org