... from a translation into English of Gandhi's commentary on the Gita
The interpretation reflects a mixture of classical Indian philosophical views and yogic notions -- but also and importantly provides some indirect insight into Gandhi's attitudes towards his life-long political activities
... Even in 1888-89, when I first became acquainted with the Gita, I felt that it was not a historical work, but that, under the guise of physical warfare, it described the duel that perpetually went on in the hearts mankind, and that physical warfare was brought in merely to make the description of the internal duel more alluring ...
Krishna of the Gita is perfection and right knowledge personified; but the picture is imaginary. That does not mean that Krishna, the adored of his people, never lived ...
Because a poet puts a particular truth before the world, it does not necessarily follow that he has known or worked out all its great consequences or that having done so, he is able always to express them fully. In this perhaps lies the greatness of the poem and the poet. A poet's meaning is limitless. Like man, the meaning of great writings suffers evolution ...
The Gita is not an aphoristic work; it is a great religious poem. The deeper you dive into it, the richer the meanings you get. It being meant for the people at large, there is pleasing repetition. With every age the important words will carry new and expanding meanings. But its central teaching will never vary ...
http://members.aol.com/jajnsn/anasa.html ... Effort is within man's control, not the fruit thereof. All he has to do, therefore, is to decide his course of conduct or duty on each occasion and persevere in it, unconcerned about the result ...
The Vedic ritual lays countless ceremonies and rites with a view to attaining merit and heaven. These .. are worthless.
http://members.aol.com/jajnsn/disco02.html ... In fine, unless man uses all his physical, mental and spiritual gifts in the service of mankind, he is a thief ...
Who does not know that works of charity performed without knowledge often result in great harm? ...
http://members.aol.com/jajnsn/disco04.html ... But man is not a judge knowing past, present, and future. So for him the law is reversed and mercy or forgiveness is the purest justice. Being himself ever liable to be judged he must accord to others what he would accord to himself, viz. forgiveness ...
The five cardinal vows are: non-violence, truth, non-stealing, celibacy, non-possession ...
http://members.aol.com/jajnsn/disco05.html ... And so even iconoclasts are at bottom no better than idol-worshippers. To worship a book, to go to church, or to pray with one's face in a particular direction — all these are forms of worshipping the Formless in an image or idol ...
http://members.aol.com/jajnsn/disco12.html ... If as a result of all this there is no renunciation of the fruit of action, ‘practice' is no ‘practice', ‘knowledge' is no ‘knowledge', and ‘concentration' is no ‘concentration' ...
http://members.aol.com/jajnsn/disco12.html ... The Gita on many occasions presents the ideal to attain which the aspirant has to strive but which may not be possible completely to realize in the world. It is like definitions in geometry. A perfect straight line does not exist, but it is necessary to imagine it in order to prove the various propositions. Even so, it is necessary to hold up ideals of this nature as standards for imitation in matters of conduct ...
http://members.aol.com/jajnsn/disco18.html