Living the Bhagavad Gita at Gandhi’s Ashrams

Karline McLain

Research Summary

The Bhagavad Gita is a philosophical Hindu scripture in which the god Krishna imparts lessons to the warrior prince Arjuna about sacred duty (dharma) and the path to spiritual liberation (moksha). This classical scripture has had a long and active life, and by the 19th century it had come to be regarded as a core text, if not the core text, of Hinduism. During the colonial period, interpretations of the Bhagavad Gita considered the relevance of Krishna’s lessons to Arjuna in the context of British colonial rule. While some Indians read a call to arms into their interpretation of this scripture and urged their fellow Indians to rise up in armed resistance, Gandhi famously read a nonviolent message into it. This research argues that equally as important as Gandhi’s hermeneutics of nonviolence is his commitment to enacting the lessons of the Bhagavad Gita as he interpreted them in the daily life of his ashrams (communities). When explored through the lens of daily life in these ashrams, we see that Gandhi’s interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita emphasized not just nonviolence but also disciplined action, including self-sacrifice for the greater good.

Researcher

Karline McLain

Research Institution

Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA

What is this about?

• The Bhagavad Gita.
• Mahatma Gandhi.
• Life and ethics in Gandhi’s ashrams.

What was done?

This is a scholarly essay, analysing source material to cast light on Gandhi’s interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita.

Main findings and outputs

• Firstly, it is clear that Gandhi sought to find the meaning of the Bhagavad Gita in practice, and through life in a community.
•  For Gandhi, the battlefield scene of the Gita was an allegory: “it described the duel that perpetually went on in the hearts of mankind (sic),and that physical warfare was brought in merely to make the description of the internal duel more alluring.”
• The path of karma yoga was understood as disciplined action in pursuit of self-realization, in the course of everyday life.
• For over 40 years, when Gandhi was not residing in prisons run by the British colonial government, he was living on back-to-the-land intentional communities (ashrams) that he founded in South Africa and India. They tried to live out the Gita’s message.
• The ethic of the ashram was not a neutral shared space but a ‘nonviolent neighbourliness’. Social ‘equals’ were treated as friends, ‘subordinates’ with service and superiors through civil disobedience. All this was worked out in local situations as self-discipline in everyday life.
• In 1906 Gandhi took a vow of celibacy. He did this to better practice the Gita’s principle of self-sacrifice and service of others; he would lessen his attachments to his possession of a wife and four sons and treat all ashram members as co-equals.
• When imprisoned, e.g. for refusing to carry an identity card (in South Africa in 1908), he read the Gita in prison and later wrote that its teachings should be carried out fearlessly – people should do their duty by what was right, even at the cost of their lives.
• The practice of selfless service was the basis of Gandhi’s ashrams in India. Duncan Greenlees, a British resident, wrote –
  Then began the day’s work in earnest. Some went daily to the stables to scrub the floors and milk the cows; others swept the Ashram paths with brooms; others again prepared the morning meal in the fine kitchen. All in their turn went to clean the latrines. This was indeed a sacramental, purifying work that, bringing us at once into sympathy with the lowest castes of men, taught us to see God in everything, even in what the ignorant have named unclean.
• On the morning of the Salt March in 1930, Gandhi insisted that only ashram members prepared to be killed should join him. They were allowed to take no food or drink, only a copy each of the Gita.

Relevance to RE

The research will develop teachers’ knowledge of Hinduism (the original article is very detailed, fascinating and to be recommended strongly). The material can certainly be of use in classroom teaching. The various stories can be told and discussed: why did Gandhi insist that only those ready to be killed should join him on the Salt March (note: ‘ready’ included having taken vows of celibacy)? Why were none allowed to bring food or drink? Why were all required to bring a copy of the Gita? Students can carry out their own research into life and ethics in Gandhian ashrams, drawing comparisons with communities of which they are members themselves and evaluating how people benefit from different kinds of community membership.

Generalisability and potential limitations

This research does not provide generalisable data as such, more a distinctive case study with which to deepen knowledge and understanding of the Hindu tradition.

Find out more

The original article is Karline McLain, Living the Bhagavad Gita at Gandhi’s Ashrams, Religions 2019: 10 (11), 619.

The article is available open-access at https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10110619