This document summarizes Gandhi's interpretation of chapters 2 of the Bhagavad Gita according to TK G Namboodhiri. It discusses key concepts from the chapter including distinguishing between the eternal soul and perishable body, accepting pleasure and pain impartially, and having a resolute intellect focused on spiritual knowledge and duty over material rewards. Gandhi believes the Gita does not condone violence but rather teaches us to overcome attachment to ego and surrender to God through knowledge, action, and devotion.

1. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
T K G NAMBOODHIRI
THIRUVALLA, KERALA
Presentation adapted from
The Bhagavad Gita According to Gandhi, Orient
Paperbacks,2011
T K G Namboodhiri

2. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
T K G Namboodhiri
CHAPTER 2
SAMKHYA YOGA

3. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Chapter 2.1
Sri Krishna tells Arjuna, who was dejected & willing to
forgo everything, to shake off faintness of heart and rise
to fight. Many readers get confused & believe that Gita
propagates battle
I have always felt that it would have been much better if
the Sage Vyasa has not taken this illustration of fighting
for inculcating spiritual knowledge. Though the Sage did
not believe that fighting was wrong, the epic
Mahabharata was not written with the aim of describing
a battle. The description of the battle serves only as a
pretext. In the Mahabharata virtues and vices are
personified and great moral truths conveyed through
those figures.
T K G Namboodhiri

4. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Chapter 2.2
In the Gita, the author cleverly makes use of the battle to
teach great truths. If the reader is not on his guard, he
may be misled. The reader will not succeed till he has
made himself fit by observing the yamaniyamas & other
rules of discipline. To understand Gita without having
equipped oneself in such a manner would be like taking
up a study of botany without ever having seen plants.
Arjuna who is called Gudakesa, the ever vigilant, falls
into the error of ,making a distinction between kinsmen
& outsiders. The Gita says that it is not right. We have no
right to point an accusing finger at others. We should
point out the lapses of our own people first. It permits no
distinction between one’s relations & others.
T K G Namboodhiri

5. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Chapter 2.3
Sri Krishna starts His advise to Arjuna from Verse 2.11.
He starts with the distinction between the Atman and the
body, for that is the first step to spiritual knowledge.
Earlier, Arjuna had pleaded that killing of kinsmen was
wrong & thus should be avoided, not that it was wrong to
kill at all. There he was asked to forget the distinction of
kinsmen & outsiders. The question whether or not it is
right to kill does not arise, because Hindu scriptures say
that Non-Violence is the Supreme Dharma. Ahimsa is an
ideal impossible to realize to perfection in action.
Violence in one form or other is unavoidable. Evil is
inherent in action. If one’s kinsmen deserved to be killed,
they ought to be killed; & one must not hesitate even if
the entire world were likely to be destroyed in
consequence.
T K G Namboodhiri

6. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Chapter 2.4
The Gita does not only teach the path of action, or
of knowledge, or of devotion. One will not shed the
sense of “I” & “mine” till one has attained
knowledge. One can attain Self-realization only if
one sheds his attachment to the ego. A man’s
devotion to God is to be judged from the extent to
which he gives up his stiffness & bends low in
humility. Only then will he be, not an imposter, but a
truly illuminated man, a man of genuine knowledge.
We can follow truth only in the measure that we
shed our attachment to the ego. The Gita has been
composed to teach this one truth.
T K G Namboodhiri

7. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verse 2.13
As every human being passes through
childhood, youth, and so on to old age, so also
does he or she meet death. The word
Dehantaraprapti here means fear of death, not
that of a new life. We feel afraid only so long as
we take the rope to be a serpent. Likewise, if
we know the natural stages of growth of the
body, we shall not grieve over death. In order to
help Arjuna to overcome his agitation, Sri
Krishna explains to him the difference between
the atman & the body.
T K G Namboodhiri

8. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verses 2.14 & 2.15
Contacts of the senses with their objects bring cold & heat,
pleasure & pain; they come & go and are transient. Endure
them. The wise man who is not disturbed or agitated by these,
who is unmoved by pleasure & pain, he alone is fit for
immortality.
Any being who is not subject to the impressions of senses will
never experience fear. One spends more energy when one is
angry, & one whose energy is thus wasted cannot attain
immortality. A person who can be totally absorbed in every task
on hand, who lives in such a state of self-absorption will attain
immortality. The meaning of the Gita on the common-sense
level is that once we have plunged into a battle, we should go
on fighting. One ought not to give up the task one has
undertaken. The Gita does not decide for us. But if, whenever
faced with a moral problem, you give up attachment to the ego
& then decide what you should do, you will come to no harm.
This is the substance of the arguments in the entire Gita.
T K G Namboodhiri

9. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verse 2.16
What is non-Being is never known to have been, and what
is Being is never known not to have been. Of both these
the secret has been seen by the seers of the Truth.
That which never was, cannot exist, and that which
exists, cannot cease to exist. Even the Sun is transient,
coming into existence and vanishing. Everything which
has a name & a form ceases one day to exist in that
particular mode, though it does not cease to be a
creation of God. The men of knowledge have discovered
what exists & what does not exist. Name & form are
brittle as glass. We only know one simple thing: God is,
nothing else is.
T K G Namboodhiri

10. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verses 2.17 & 2.18
Know That to be imperishable whereby all this is
pervaded. No one can destroy that immutable Being.
Know that this Bodiless One, which can lift many
Govardhan mountains on its little finger cannot be spent
(avyaya) (the imperishable Soul).
These bodies of the embodied one who is eternal,
imperishable & immeasurable are finite. The Soul is
infinite. It is Aprameya – for which there can be no
evidence. Since all bodies are perishable, can one kill
anybody? Bhagavad Gita does not give this license to kill.
Here, since Arjuna, being a Kshatriya whose duty is to
kill enemies, is asked to kill without any ignorant
attachment.
T K G Namboodhiri

11. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verses 2.19 to 2.21
He who thinks of This (Atman) as slayer & he who believes This
to be slain, are both ignorant. This neither slays nor is ever
slain. The Atman never kills nor is ever killed.
This is never born nor ever dies, nor having been will ever not
be any more; unborn, eternal, everlasting, ancient. This is not
slain when the body is slain. This Atman was never born & will
never die; it is not as though it never was and may not be again.
The Atman is unborn, eternal & ancient.
He who knows This to be imperishable, eternal, unborn, &
immutable- whom and how can that man slay or cause to be
slain?
The Gita was written not for the learned, but for all the people
to read & understand. It was written for the Sudras, the
bhangis, and for women. Hence the author has used a variety of
epithets for a subject, though all of them means the same thing,
in order that we may grasp what he wants us to understand.
T K G Namboodhiri

12. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verses 2.22 to 2.25
As a man casts off worn-out garments & takes others that are
new, even so the embodied one casts off worn-out bodies &
passes on to others new. If the eyes cannot see, the ears
cannot hear and the palate cannot relish food, would a person
wish to live on bedridden, or die? He dies to be born in another
fresh body.
This no weapons wound, This no fire burns, This no water wet,
This no wind doth dry. Weapons cannot cleave It. If we strike
the air with a weapon, can we hurt it? The Atman is subtler
even than air. Fire cannot burn It, nor can water wet It; how can
air, then, dry It?
Beyond all cutting, burning, wetting & drying is This- eternal,
all-pervading, stable, immovable, everlasting.
Perceivable neither by the senses nor by the mind. This is
called unchangeable; therefore, knowing This as such, thou
should not grieve.
Such is the Atman, says Shri Krishna, and you should not,
therefore, grieve over anyone’s death. Thus Shri Krishna takes
Arjuna slowly from darkness to light.
T K G Namboodhiri

13. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verses 2.26 to 2.28
And if thou deemest This to be always coming to birth &
always dying, even then, O Mahabahu, thou shouldst not
grieve. For certain is the death of the born, and certain is
the birth of the dead; therefore, what is unavoidable thou
shouldst not regret. The state of all beings before birth is
unmanifest; their middle state is manifest; their state
after death is again unmanifest. What occasion is there
for lament, O Bharata?
He who dies is certain to be born again. All beings were
unmanifest before birth and will again become
unmanifest after death. Birth & death are God’s concern.
He alone knows their mystery. For bestowing & taking
away life, God does not require any lengthy time. As a
magician creates the illusion of a tree & destroys it, so
God sports in endless ways & does not let us know the
beginning & end of his play. Why grieve over it?
T K G Namboodhiri

14. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verses 2.29 & 2.30
One looks upon This as a marvel; another speaks of This
as such; another hears thereof as a marvel; yet having
heard of This none truly knows This. This embodied one
in the body of every being is ever beyond all harm, O
Bharata; thou shouldst not, therefore, grieve for anyone.
Some wise men see the atman as a thing of wonder &
some describe it so. Others hear it so described but
cannot understand what it is. There can be no end to
describing God’s greatness, so mysterious is His part.
This atman which dwells in everyone’s body can never be
killed. The body’s death is like breaking of a piece of
glass. The cycle of birth & death goes on for ever & ever
T K G Namboodhiri

15. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verses 2.31 & 2.34
After discussing the problem from the spiritual point of view
Shri Krishna considers it from the mundane point of view. He
tells Arjuna what his duty in the practical world requires.
Again, seeing thine own duty thou shouldst not shrink from it;
for there is no higher good for a Kshatriya than a righteous war.
The world will forever recount the story of thy disgrace; and for
a man of honour, disgrace is worse than death.
A Kshatriya has no duty higher than that of fighting in a
righteous war. The Mahabharata war was righteous because it
was thrust upon Arjuna by Duryodhana. A bhangi should do his
work of cleaning latrines sincerely. If he runs away from his
work, he would lose his good name. Similarly, for Arjuna running
away from a war would make people talk ill of him for ever. For
a man who has a good reputation in society, its loss is worse
than death.
T K G Namboodhiri

16. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verse 2.38
Sri Krishna sums up this part of the argument with
this verse.
Hold alike pleasure & pain, gain & loss, victory &
defeat, & grid up thy loins for the fight; so doing
thou shalt not incur sin.
This spiritual advice is addressed to all of us. If a
person remains unconcerned with defeat or victory,
knowing that they are a part of life, he commits no
sin in fighting. Even the best thing has an element
of evil in it. Nothing in the world is wholly good or
wholly evil. Where there is action there is some evil.
If we cultivate an attitude of indifference & learn to
check anger, we shall one day succeed in freeing
ourselves from these pairs of opposites.
T K G Namboodhiri

17. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verse 2.39
Thus have I set before thee the attitude of Knowledge;
hear now the attitude of Action; resorting to this attitude
thou shalt cast off the bondage of action.
Shri Krishna uses the Word Samkhya for the
discussions held till now. It may mean a number of
things for the learned, but for us, it just means that
what we had was a theoretical explanation of the
difference between the atman & the body. Now I shall
explain it with reference to Yoga, or practice. i.e.. How
to translate your knowledge into action. If you
understand this, you will escape from the bondage of
action. At every moment we have to decide whether a
particular action will serve the atman or the body.
T K G Namboodhiri

18. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verse 2.40
Here no effort undertaken is lost, no disaster
befalls. Even a little of this righteous course
delivers one from great fear.
No sin is incurred by those who follow the path of
action. A beginning made is not wasted. Even a
little effort along this path saves one from great
danger. Once a beginning is made, nothing will
stand in our way. This is the path of truth. There is
no harm, no fear of destruction in following it.
This is a very important verse. It contains the
profound idea that nothing done is ever lost, there is
no sin, only safety.
T K G Namboodhiri

19. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verse 2.41
The attitude, in this matter, springing, as it does, from
fixed resolve but one, O Kurunandana; but for those who
have no fixed resolve the attitudes are many-branched
and unending.
O Arjuna, the resolute intellect here is one-track. One
must hold one’s intellect so firm that there is no
wavering. The actions of a man whose intellect is not
fixed on one aim, who is not single minded in his
devotion, will branch out in many directions. As the mind
leaps, monkey-fashion, from branch to branch, so does
the intellect. The mind of a person of uncertain purpose
grows weak day by day & becomes unsettled. Such a
person loses his soul, his dharma, & capacity for good
work. Such a person loses both this world & the other.
T K G Namboodhiri

20. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verses 2.42 to 2.44
These verses describe a man whose intellect is not resolute.
The ignorant, revelling in the letters of the Vedas, declare that
there is naught else; carnally-minded, holding heaven to be their
goal, they utter swelling words which promise birth as the fruit of
action & which dwell on the many & varied rites to be performed
for the sake of pleasure & power. Intent as they are on pleasure &
power, their swelling words rob them of their wits, & they have no
settled attitude which can be centred on the supreme goal
In these verses, Sage Vyasa has run down the Vedas as he has
done nowhere else. We have gone on believing that everything in
them is divinely inspired, thus making us mere pedants. The Karma
Kanda part of the Vedas persuade people to perform innumerable
rituals to secure enjoyment & win greatness. Individuals who are
ever thinking of heavenly enjoyments, filled with endless desires,
who assert that there is nothing beyond heaven, push us deeper &
deeper into quagmire. The fancies & thoughts which often trouble
our minds are evidences of an intellect branching out in many
directions. They induce us fanciful prayers to imaginary gods & run
us away from prayer to the God of all gods.
T K G Namboodhiri

21. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verse 2.45
The Vedas have as their domain the three Gunas;
eschew them, O Arjuna. Free thyself from the pairs
of opposites, abide in eternal truth, scorn to gain or
guard anything, remain the master of the soul.
Arjuna is asked to be above the pairs of opposites,
to be indifferent to happiness & sufferings. He
should keep his mind always steadfast. He should
give up all thought of acquiring, holding and
defending possessions. He should cultivate
detachment & live & act thinking that he is not the
body, not an entity with a name & a form.
T K G Namboodhiri

22. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verse 2.46
To the extent that a well is of use when there is a
flood of water on all sides, to the same extent are
all the Vedas of use to an enlightened Brahman.
What may be found in a well will also be found in a
big lake. Brahman will know everything else. The
three Gunas are dealt within the Vedas; he who
rises above them attains the knowledge of
Brahman. The person occupying the throne will not
aspire for a subordinate position. Similar is the case
of one with the knowledge of Brahman. He will not
be interested in the Vedas.
T K G Namboodhiri

23. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verse 2.47
Action alone is the province, never the fruits thereof; let
not thy motive be the fruit of action, nor shouldst thou
desire to avoid action.
This is the sovereign Yoga Shri Krishna wished to teach
Arjuna. Your right is to work, & not to expect the fruit.
God has put us under this restriction. We may work if we
wish, but the reward of work is entirely for Him to give. A
wise man consciously wishes to be the slave of God &
not the world’s. Let not your actions be motivated by
fruits of your actions; do not be attached to action; or be
over-eager to do anything. Think that everything is done
by Him. You should not feel tempted to be Akarmani, i.e.
be actionless or feel drawn to take up work outside your
duty.
T K G Namboodhiri

24. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verses 2.48 & 2.49
Act thou, O Dhananjaya, without attachment, steadfast in
Yoga, even-minded in success & failure. Even mindedness is
Yoga.
For action is far inferior to unattached action; seek refuge in
the attitude of detachment. Pitiable are those who make
fruit their motive.
Shri Krishna tells Arjuna to work without attachment, being
established firmly in Yoga. Yoga means renouncing the fruit
of action. We should do no work with attachment.
Detachment from work, whether good or bad, makes our
means pure. One should be even minded in success &
failure. One should dedicate to God all that one does, &
surrender oneself completely to Him. Work done without the
yoga of intellect is extremely harmful. One should,
therefore, seek refuge in the resolute intellect. Anyone who
works for reward is a person deserving our pity.
T K G Namboodhiri

25. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verse 2.50
Here in this world a man gifted with an attitude
of detachment escapes the fruit of both good &
evil deeds. Gird thyself up for yoga, therefore.
Yoga is skill in action.
A person who is firmly yoked to his resolute
intellect, who is totally merged in it, & who is a
yogi, such a one renounces the (fruit of) work
both good & bad, i.e. is disinterested towards
either. Shri Krishna asks Arjuna to be a yogi.
Yoga is nothing but skill in work.
T K G Namboodhiri

26. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verses 2.51 to 2.53
For sages, gifted with the attitude of detachment, who
renounce the fruit of action, are released from the
bondage of birth & attain to the state which is free from
all ills.
When thy understanding will have passed through the
slough of delusion, then wilt thou be indifferent alike to
what thou hast heard & wilt hear.
When thy understanding, distracted by much hearing, will
rest steadfast & unmoved in concentration, then wilt
thou attain Yoga.
Yogis renounce the fruits of work, & are freed from the bonds
of birth. When one’s intellect has crossed the muddy ground of
delusion, one becomes disinterested & indifferent all outside
inputs. When the intellect is totally absorbed in the
contemplation of God, one will attain Yoga. Then one is filled
with ecstatic love & therefore, can be completely indifferent to
this world.
T K G Namboodhiri

27. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verse 2.54
Now Arjuna asks how we may know the
man established in Samadhi from his
speech & outward behaviour.
The food which the Gita offers is different
from what one’s mother gives. Before
Mother Gita, the earthly mother stands no
comparison. He who has the Gita always
engraved in his heart & keeps it there till
the moment of death, will attain moksha.
We should recite these verses daily so that
we may understand their meaning & be
guided by them.
T K G Namboodhiri

28. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verse 2.55
When a man puts away all the cravings that arise in the
mind & finds comfort for himself only from atman, then is
he called the man of secure understanding.
He who banishes all desires arising in his mind may be
described as a sthita-prajna - one who is situated in
perfect knowledge, who is steadfast in action. Even the
desire to see God must eventually vanish. In such a
state, the self abides in serene content in itself. The
Brahman has all its joy through the Brahman in the
company of the Brahman. We should learn to be content
in ourselves. The means & the end should become one.
The man who lives contented in the self through the self
will have no desires. But one can live in such a state only
if the desire to become better, to grow spiritually,
awakens in one.
T K G Namboodhiri

29. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verses 2.56 to 2.58
Whose mind is untroubled in sorrows & longeth not for joys,
who is free from passion, fear & wrath- he is called the ascetic
of secure understanding.
Who owns attachment nowhere, who feels neither joy nor
resentment whether good or bad comes his way – that man’s
understanding is secure.
And when, like the tortoise drawing in its limbs from every side,
this man draws in his senses from their objects, his
understanding is secure.
In these verses, Shri Krishna gives a description of the man of
steady understanding. The man who does not feel depressed by
suffering & is indifferent to joys, is no more subject to
attachment, fear & anger, is one with steadfast intellect. The
man who has withdrawn interest from all objects, given up
desire for them, who is unconcerned & indifferent in good or ill
chance, & who is neither pleased nor annoyed by anything- his
intellect is steadfast. A person who holds in his senses &
prevents them from going out to their objects, as the tortoise
draws in his limbs, has a steadfast intellect.T K G Namboodhiri

30. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verse 2.59
When a man starves his senses, the objects of these senses disappear from
him, but not the yearning for them; the yearning too departs when he
beholds the Supreme.
When a person denies his body the food it craves for, he will cease to be
troubled by his senses. The senses of a well-fed man always keep
awake. Scriptures say that a man whose senses are not under his
control, it will be best for him to fast. This is the meaning of the first
half of the verse.
The appetites subside, but our pleasure in the objects of senses
remains. During a fast, impure desires will probably subside, but one
gets impatient for the fast to end. If we see God our instinctive desire
for objects of senses will also subside. We should, slowly & gradually
learn to feel God’s presence in the depth of our hearts.
The purport of this Verse is that we should fast for self-purification.
While fasting we should wish with all our strength for freedom from
desire. In addition, we should yearn to see God, then only our fasting
bear fruit. To see Him one should completely conquer one’s appetites, &
even the instinctive pleasure one feels in objects of sense must
subside.
If we understand the truth that we eat only to give the body its hire,
then we are fit to understand the Gita.
T K G Namboodhiri

31. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verses 2.60 & 2.61
For, in spite of the wise man’s endeavour, O Kaunteya, the
unruly senses distract his mind perforce.
Holding all these in check, the yogi should sit intent on Me; for
he whose senses are under control is secure of understanding.
However much an intelligent man may strive, the senses
are restless, they shake his self-control & forcibly draw
his mind towards their objects; they draw even a Jnani
after them. The senses are like uncontrollable horses. If
the rider is not vigilant & the reins are not all right, there
is no knowing where they will carry him.
The man of steady wisdom, having controlled all his
senses, will rest wholly absorbed in Me. Anyone who
strives in this manner & succeeds in holding his senses
under control, is a Yogi.
T K G Namboodhiri

32. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
ON FASTING & LIBERATION (MOKSHA)
In order that our pleasure in the objects of senses may subside
completely, fasting, bhakti, prayer & vigils are necessary. But the
pleasure in objects will not disappear till we have realized God. Can
it disappear completely while the body is there? I have come to the
conclusion that no one can be called a Mukta (liberated) while he is
still alive; one may become fit for moksha. Thus the cravings of the
senses die away only when we cease to exist in the body. The
Dweller (atman) in the body cannot be free while He dwells in it.
It is doing violence to the words to say that a man has attained
deliverance even while he lives in the body. If our egoistic
attachment to ourselves has completely disappeared, the body
cannot survive. Some attachment is bound to persist while our
bodies are capable of motion. The slightest movement of the body
involves some violence; as long as we commit even a little
violence, moksha is not possible. We can only conceive the state of
moksha; We can attain deliverance only when leave the body.
Terrible or not, this is the truth.
T K G Namboodhiri

33. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verses 2.62 & 2.63
In a man brooding on objects of the senses, attachment to them
springs up; attachment begets craving & craving begets wrath.
Wrath breeds stupefaction, stupefaction leads to loss of memory,
loss of memory ruins the reason, & the ruin of reason spells utter
destruction.
If we constantly think about having a certain object, the mind
will become strongly attached to the thought of its possession.
This in turn will grow into a passionate desire to possess it, so
the object takes still greater hold of our mind. Attachment
produces impatience & passion gives rise to anger. When we
fail to get the object of our desire, we become angry. Anger
clouds a man’s vision, so that he loses his judgement & forgets
what he is. He then loses his power of discrimination. Such a
person is as good as dead.
One should therefore crush the craving of sense the moment it
arises. The first thing to do is to get over the habit of dwelling
on objects of sense-pleasure in our imagination. For that, one
should constantly think of God; should live as if one were in a
state of Samadhi.
T K G Namboodhiri

34. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verse 2.64
But the disciplined soul, moving among sense-objects
with the senses weaned from likes & dislikes & brought
under the control of atman, attains peace of mind.
He who lives with his senses no longer subject to attachments
& aversions and perfectly under his control becomes fit for
God’s grace. His ears, nose, eyes, & so on go on performing
their functions naturally without conscious willing on his part. A
man is established in Samadhi when his atman abides in serene
content in itself. His senses must be under his perfect control.
We are the slaves of our senses. From this slavery we must win
swaraj for the atman. The atman dwelling in the body must live
as the master & God of the body. The person ruled by his atman
will have the gift of inner senses & will not need the outer ones.
T K G Namboodhiri

35. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verses 2.65 & 2.66
Peace of mind means the end of all ills; for the understanding of
him whose mind is at peace stands secure.
The undisciplined man has neither understanding nor devotion;
for, for him who has no devotion there is no peace, & for him
who has no peace whence happiness?
When God’s grace descends on us, bringing us peace, all our
suffering ends. The intellect of a man whose mind has become
calm & whose only thought is of God, stands secure & is
protected against error.
The man who has not become one in God, lacks the faculty of
intellect altogether. One who is unsteady has an intellect which
is many - branched; of what good is such an intellect? He who
lacks devotion & does not meditate on God, how can he attain
peace? How can he be happy?
T K G Namboodhiri

36. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
BHAGAVAD GITA & SWARAJ
On April 6, 1926 Gandhi began his daily discourse on
Bhagavad Gita. He described it as marking for India the
day of religious awakening in an allusion to the campaign
of civil disobedience, the beginning of satyagraha.
Gandhi saw a link between the study of the Bhagavad
Gita & the struggle for swaraj. He described the impulse
for swaraj as ‘to bring about spiritual awakening in us….
To go from untruth to truth, from darkness to light’
through the cultivation of the self & reigning in the
senses. Gandhi told the people that non-violence & truth
are symbolised in the spinning wheel (Charkha). He was
sure that the country will get swaraj through the spinning
wheel. He urged people to cultivate firmness of mind &
do not let the senses distract the mind, & thus become
fit for satyagraha.
T K G Namboodhiri

37. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verse 2.67
For when his ( an undisciplined person’s) mind runs after
any of the roaming senses, it sweeps away his
understanding, as the wind (pushes) a vessel upon the
waters.
A pleasure-loving man wastes his time in aimless
wandering. If one of his pleasure-loving senses is so
undisciplined that it seeks gratification anywhere &
anyhow, & totally enslaves his mind, it will drag his
intellect behind it as the wind drives a ship before it
in the sea & wrecks it on a rock or runs it aground.
Thus the man whose senses are completely out of
his control, & his mind totally enslaved by them,
will, as a consequence of attachment, be ruined
gradually.
T K G Namboodhiri

38. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verses 2.68 & 2.69
Therefore, O Mahabahu, he, whose senses are reined in on
all sides from their objects is the man of secure
understanding.
When it is night for all other beings, the disciplined soul is
awake; when all other beings are awake, it is night for the
seeing ascetic.
The man whose senses are under his control & kept
away from their objects is a man established in
Samadhi.
In one verse, Sri Krishna gives the mark of a
Sthithaprajna. He is awake when it is night for other
human beings, & when other human beings & all
creatures seem to be awake, it is night for the
ascetic who sees.
T K G Namboodhiri

39. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verse 2.69 & Satyagrahi
What is contained in Verse 2.69 should be ideal for Satyagraha
Ashram. Let us pray that we may see light when all around us is
darkness. If we are brave, the whole world will be brave; as in
our body, so in the universe. We can bear the burden of the
world if we do it as tapascharya. We shall then see light where
others see nothing but darkness. The world will tell us that
senses cannot be controlled, truth does not prevail in the world.
We should reply that senses can be controlled & truth does
prevail. The world & the man established in Samadhi are like
the East & the West. The world’s night is our day & the world’s
day is our night. There is thus non-cooperation between the
two. This should be our attitude if we understand the Gita
rightly. If we can achieve self-realization through fasting &
spinning, then self-realization necessarily implies swaraj. The
yogi has an inner vision which is different from the world’s. The
body should function entirely under the control of the atman.
T K G Namboodhiri

40. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verses 2.70 & 2.71
He in whom all longings subside, even as the waters subside in the
ocean which, though ever being filled by them, never overflows- that
man finds peace; not he who cherishes longing.
The man who sheds all longing & moves without concern, free from the
sense of ‘I’ & ‘mine’- he attains peace.
The sea, though being ever added to, remains confined
within its bounds; it stands where it has always stood
despite countless rivers emptying their waters into it.
The man in whom evil impulses & desires subside in the
same manner, is a yogi. A yogi is like the sea & not like a
rivulet or brook which soon overflows & soon dries up.
Like the sea he is ever full. Every evil subsides &
disappears in the sea of a yogi’s mind.
Peace may be experienced by a man who has given up all
cravings & lives untroubled by desires. He attains it by
shedding the consciousness of ‘I’ & ‘mine’. He alone is a
true yogi who never feels ‘I am doing this’.
T K G Namboodhiri

41. THE BHAGAVD GITA
ACCORDING TO
GANDHI
Verse 2.72
This is the state, O Partha, of the man who rests in
Brahman; having attained to it, he is not deluded.
He who abides in this state even at the hour of
death passes into oneness with Brahman.
In this verse, Sri Krishna sums up the argument by
saying that, having attained the Brahmi state ( the
state in which one realizes the Brahman), a man
never falls again into delusion. A person who is in
this state, at least at the moment of his death,
attains Brahma-nirvana. Even the one who has lived
a wicked life throughout one’s life, but turns to a
good life before death, becomes eligible for Brahma-
nirvana. We may know that a man has attained
moksha only if he died in the Brahmi state.
T K G Namboodhiri