Gandhiji’s Thought’s on the Gita
During Gandhi ji’s last imprisonment in Yeravada jail, he wrote his thoughts on The bhagavad Gita
If we try to understand from all possible points of view, and so continuously meditate on the Gita, we must become one with it. As for myself, I run to my Mother Gita whenever I find myself in difficulties, and up to now she has never failed to comfort me. It is possible that those who are getting comfort from the Gita may get greater help, and see something altogether new, if they come to know the way in which I understand it from day to day.
The Twelfth chapter of the Gita tells of Bhaktiyoga – realization of God through Devotion. At the time of marriage we ask the bridal couple to learn this chapter by heart and meditate upon it, as one of the five sacrifices to be performed. Apart from Devotion, Action and Knowledge are cold and dry, and may even become shackles. So with the heart full of love, let us approach this meditation on the Gita.
Arjuna asks of the Lord: “Which is the better of the two, the devotee who worships the Manifest, or the one who worships the Unmanifest?”
The Lord says in reply: “Those who meditate upon the Manifest in full faith, and lose themselves in Me, those faithful ones are My devotees. But those who worship the Unmanifest, and in order to do so restrain all their senses, looking upon and serving all alike, regarding none as high or low, those also realize Me.”
Furthermore Gandhi ji adds,
The Gita is the universal mother. She turns away nobody. Her door is wide open to anyone who knocks. A true votary of Gita does not know what disappointment is. He ever dwells in perennial joy and peace that passeth understanding. But that peace and joy come not to skeptic or to him who is proud of his intellect or learning. It is reserved only for the humble in spirit who brings to her worship a fullness of faith and an undivided singleness of mind. There never was a man who worshipped her in that spirit and went disappointed. I find a solace in the Bhagavad-Gita that I miss even in the Sermon on the Mount. When disappointment stares me in the face and all alone I see not one ray of light, I go back to the Bhagavad-Gita. I find a verse here and a verse there , and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming tragedies — and my life has been full of external tragedies — and if they have left no visible or indelible scar on me, I owe it all to the teaching of Bhagavad-Gita
