Bhagavad Gita

Impact

The impact of the Bhagavad Gita within and outside India can hardly be overestimated. From the Indian philosopher Adi Shankara, of the eighth century CE, to Ramanuja in the eleventh century and Madhva in the thirteenth, the meaning of the Gita has been variously interpreted to support nondualist, theistic, and mystical philosophies, among others. In the nineteenth century, it became a symbol of Hindu nationalism, and in the twentieth, the Indian political and spiritual leader Mohandas Gandhi, viewing the Gita as allegory rather than history, used it as both a political and a moral guide.

The Gita’s message of action in the world for the welfare of others supports an activist element within Indian nationalism, but the book also supports renunciatory views of withdrawal from the world in the quest for liberation. The former was seen especially in connections between social and political action and the Gita’s message about karma yoga. Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the first leader of Indian independence, felt that the Gita taught that action could not be avoided and was necessary for the welfare of the world and therefore the book’s importance lay in its promotion of dedicated action. Gandhi saw the Gita as a work offering comfort, wisdom, and guidance. Interpreting the martial setting of the book allegorically, he believed the Gita taught prayer, devotion, and selfless action that should be nonviolent. He believed the Gita set out the principles of Hinduism more clearly than any other Hindu scripture and rejected the idea that it taught withdrawal from the world. Rather, he believed it taught the merging of religion with everyday life.

In the West, the Gita was first translated into English in 1785, followed by translations into French, Latin, and German. In the nineteenth century, the Gita influenced American transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau and was the subject of lectures by Swami Vivekenanda to Western audiences. In the twentieth century, the Gita has helped spread Hinduism through such important figures as Swami Bhaktivedanta, founder of the Inter national Society for Krishna Consciousness; Paramahansa Yogananda, founder of Self-Realization Fellowship; and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who introduced Transcendental Meditation.

The Gita continues to be highly influential and inspirational to many audiences today. It is a truly international book of spiritual, moral, political, and artistic import. Beyond India, it is often read in the West by those at various levels of involvement with Hindu-inspired movements such as Vedanta, Self-Realization, and Transcendental Meditation. The message of dedicated action, in particular, has been taken as an ideal for political action by influential persons such as Thoreau, Gandhi, and the American civil rights activist Martin Luther King, each of whom worked toward nonviolent resistance to tyranny and oppression and was inspired in goals and methods by the Gita.