Bhagavadgita Cogitations - Gandhi's Assessment of Gita - Part I

[Guest guest]

Professor Ranade's Discussion of Gandhi's assessment of Gita as a Doctrine of

Detachment

 

Professor Ranade in his book has dedicated an entire chapter discussing

Gandhi's interpretation of Gita and it is reproduced here: (Source:

Bhagavadgita as a Philosophy of God Realization,

Prof. R. D. Ranade, published by the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 3rd. ed.. 1982 ,

$8.00). This discussion will posted in 3 parts:

 

Part I: Doctrine of Anasakti Yoga

Part II: Is Mahabharata Historical or Allegorical ?

Part III Doctrine of Incarnation and Description of an Ideal Devotee and

Saint

 

Part I: Doctrine of Anasakti Yoga

This chapter will be devoted to the discussion of another very important

interpretation which Mahatma Gandhi has put upon the Bhagavadgita. Many years

ago when he first translated this Sanskrit work into Gujarati, he called it

Anasakti Yoga. Later, translations of this Anasakti Yoga appeared in other

languages like Marathi, Kannada and Bengali. But it was reserved for Mahadeva

Desai to carry into effect his scheme of the English translation of Mahatma

Gandhi's Anasakti Yoga with a profound introduction. Mahadeva Desai was one of

the very few disciples of Mahatma Gandhi who love him from the very bottom of

his heart, and he was intellectually very well equipped for carrying out that

kind of work. I had correspondence with him since 1970, as an old friend of

mine, Mr. Y. N. Yadwadkar, whom Mahadeva Desai called Sarkar, was his friend

and worked as co secretary of Mahatma Gandhi at. the time of the Nagpur

Congress. On account of his sound knowledge of Sanskrit and Philosophy,

Mahadeva Desai was well qualified to undertake this great work. Unfortunately,

he did not live to see it published. It was published posthumously.

Nevertheless, the work reflects the freshness and originality of the writer.

 

In this chapter, we shall discuss five chief points in regard to Mahatma

Gandhi's interpretation of the Bhagavadgita : First, his doctrine of Anasakti

; second, his allegorism ; third, his doctrine of incarnation ; fourth, his

description of what constitutes a real devotee ( one of the best descriptions

that may be found in the Gandhi an literature ) ; finally, we shall discuss

Mahadeva Desai's description of what he calls ideal sage. He probably had in

mind Mahatma Gandhi himself.

The word Anasakti might be interpreted either as non-- attachment or

detachment or renunciation. Non attachment is the negative form of it,

detachment is its positive form and renunciation, not in the sense of Samnyasa

as we understand it, but renunciation of the fruits of action as Mahatma

Gandhi calls it. In fact, the title of Mahadeva Desai's English translation of

his work on Anasakti Yoga is the " Doctrine of Renunciation ". In the

introduction we find the following important statements of Mahatma Gandhi. To

quote the very words of Mahatma Gandhi himself : "Anasakti is the central Sun

round which revolve the three planets of devotion, knowledge and works "

(Anasakti Yoga, p.125 ).

 

This is as much as to say that Bhakti, jana and Karma are entirely dependent

on and governed by the doctrine of Anasakti. ( 2 ) A question may now be asked

as to the relation in which Anasakti stands to Ahimsa. Ahimsa is the doctrine

for which Mahatma Gandhi lived and died. (a) Swami Ananda wrote to :Mahatma

Gandhi : " I do not think it is just on your part to deduce from stray verses

that the Gita was written to establish Ahimsa " ( Ibid, p.121 ). Gandhiji

grants that Gita was not written to establish Ahimsa. He says " it was a long

accepted principle even before the Gita age" (Ibid: p.129). (b) Mahatma Gandhi

goes on to say : " After forty years of unremitting endeavor, however, I have

felt that perfect renunciation is impossible without perfect observation of

Ahimsa in every shape and form" (Ibid. p.130). Mahatma Gandhi tells us further

that Anaúsakti may be regarded as a coin of which Ahimsa and Satya are the

obverse and reverse sides. He always spoke not merely about Ahimsa but also

about Satya. If we analyze the conception of Anasakti, we said that it

consists of three points : desireless action, the dedication of all actions to

God and surrendering oneness to God, body and soul. In this way only, says

Mahatma Gandhi, could the body of man be made the temple of God. All these

three points are expressed in one single beautiful sentence by Mahatma Gandhi

: " That great matchless remedy consists in desireless action, in dedicating

all activities to God, that is, by surrendering oneself to Him, body and soul

" ( Ibid. p.125). Mahatma Gandhi further goes on to tell us that real speaking

he who renounces, gains a thouand fold ( p. 1,28 ). There is a very famous

Hindi maxim, is Doha implies that renunciation may apparently involve us in

every possible loss, but really it gives us every possible merit, enabling us

to reap a thousand fold the fruits of the seeds which `we have sown.

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

 

Correction:

 

The date 1970 is a misprint, should be 1920. [Prof. Ranade

passed away in 1957].

 

Regards,

 

s.

 

advaitin , Ram Chandran <rchandran@c...> wrote:

> Professor Ranade's Discussion of Gandhi's assessment of Gita as a

Doctrine of

> Detachment

I had correspondence with him since 1970, as an old friend of

> mine, Mr. Y. N. Yadwadkar, whom Mahadeva Desai called Sarkar, was

his friend

> and worked as co secretary of Mahatma Gandhi at. the time of the

Nagpur

> Congress