Link between Bhagavad Gita and Gandhi
To Gandhi, the Bhagavad Gita is his “spiritual dictionary”. He will turn to the Bhagavad Gita when he is in doubt and when he is feeling helplessness. The Bhagavad Gita will comfort him and provide answers to his moral dilemma. Therefore, he will carry the Bhagavad Gita around with him at all times.
After reading the Bhagavad Gita, two particular words fascinated him. The two words are aparigraha which means non-possession and samabhava which means equability.
Aparigraha is the concept of non-possessiveness, non-grasping or non-greediness. It means that we should not hoard anything that we do not need. The less you possess, the less you want and the better you are. Better not in the sense for your enjoyment of life but for the enjoyment of personal service to your fellow beings, service to which you dedicate yourself, body, soul and mind for a higher purpose. Upon learning the concept of aparigraha, Gandhi terminated his insurance in order not to rob his wife and children of their self-reliance after his death. Gandhi, throughout his life, did not own any of his possessions and he had never sought for any positions or
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He viewed the war of Arjuna against his relatives as a symbolic war within each of us against those elements of our characters or mind that we are much attached to which inevitably also lead to outcomes that we dread. This means a struggle within us to do what our will opposes in the name of duty. Therefore, Gandhi does not think that the Bhagavad Gita promotes violence. Traditional interpretations are that the body is just a vessel for the soul which is a product of the greater self. When a person is killed, he is not really “dead” as his soul will go though the samsaric cycle until his karma is paid off. Thus, in a sense, the Bhagavad Gita actually promotes violence instead of nonviolence depending on one