BY P. NAGARAJA RAO, M.A.

Renascent Hinduism derives its inspiration from the Gita. The Gita view of life secures social harmony and individual well-being. Adapting the language of Dean Inge in a similar context, "Hinduism is a type of revolutionary idealism, which estranges the revolutionary by its idealism and the conservative by a drastic revaluation of earthly goods."¹ The Gita gives expression to two seemingly different ideas of God, but fundamentally the Gita view of God is that of a Personal Deity whose grace is essential to salvation. ² Although some of the verses in the Gita have been interpreted so as to sustain the Absolutism of Sankara, it is clear that the stress of the Gita is on a supreme Person (Purushottama) to whom loving worship and humble devotion are due. The Lord of the Gita says "whatsoever thou doest, do it as an offering unto me." This and several similar verses show that the God of the Gita is a god whose law is the law of Love, purified from all temporal and base attachments and desires. It has been said that this conception of God owes something to the influence of Christian doctrine about the nature of God. It is hardly necessary to invent this explanation of the Gita’s stress on a Personal God, for some of the Upanishads themselves are not one in their support of the Advaita doctrine of God. The Gita is fundamentally a scripture for life rather than a text for metaphysical speculation. It embodies a scheme of morality which is essentially scientific. It succeeds in reconciling absolute moral values with individual moral possibilities. It takes due account of the svabhava (Nature) of the individual in prescribing his svadharma. ³ This makes for individual perfection and simultaneously subserves the end of general social harmony.

We shall examine the relation of this doctrine to the scheme of the castes in India. The Gita conceives of the caste in a manner radically different from the conception cherished by the reactionary orthodoxy of today. Caste according to the Gita is based on svabhava, i.e., the individual qualities and propensities that go to make up the nature of the man. In the last analysis the caste of an individual is an achievement resulting from the strenuous pursuit of the good life. It is not a gift mechanically bestowed by an external agency. It certainly does not depend upon the accident or the circumstances of an individual’s birth. The contemporary criticism of caste, valid as it undoubtedly is, against the mechanical caste system (jati) actually obtaining in India today, is irrelevant in relation to caste (varna) as conceived in the Gita and the originators of the caste system. ⁴

The Gita idea of Dharma is one of moral altruism. It rejects the mere efficient performance of rituals, quite as much as, it rejects a vague and undisciplined allegiance to God, as both inadequate in themselves. It bridges the gulf between ritualism and vague humanitarianism. The Gita lays equal stress on faith and good work. Faith without an active moral life is as vacuous and inadequate as a lofty moral idealism without a faith in God. Faith in God should be the informing principle of all moral activity. The Gita is not therefore a mere compendium of ethical precepts, but primarily a religious scripture, the central emphasis of which is on a loving Father of Mankind who is the goal of human aspiration.

The moral teaching of the Gita is not a static compound of prescriptions ready made for defined eventualities. It is a dynamic and living call to the individual man to live always in the fear of the Lord and to order his life in accordance with the teaching of the Lord concerning his duty to himself and his duty to society. It is rigid neither in regard to time nor in regard to circumstances. The Kingdom of Heaven is not conceived by the Gita as a realm of pure mystical experience unconnected with concrete human relationships. It is not an unearthly conceptual realm but a just and happy social order.

In The sanyasa of the Gita does not imply the mechanical renunciation of worldly attachments. It is rather the taking upon oneself the duty of transforming by love and service, by example and precept, the existing fabric into a shining thing–a worthy offering at the feet of God. The consummation wished for by the ideal yogin of the Gita is that through love and service he may attain ultimate fellowship with God Himself. It is far from being an unattainable and merely abstract idea. To borrow Betrand Russell’s expression, it is no impossible austere morality, but its adoption will turn Earth into a Paradise. It does not preach a needless inhuman austerity or self-mortification and penances, but insists on the service of fellow human beings. The most inspiring embodiment of the ideal of the Gita is Mahatma Gandhi, the great political sanyasin of India. He has interpreted our ancient Dharma in terms of modern life and taken up the message of Love and Ahimsa where Buddha left it. He restored the purity of Hinduism and purged it of its extravagances. He openly revolted against the rigid lifeless interpretation of the scriptures. He took his stand on the Bhagavad Gita. To the utter surprise of the literalist section of the Hindu thinkers, the Gita proved to be a revolutionary document in his hands.