Gita According to Gandhi

A sloka-by-sloka interpretation of one of the world's most enduring and influential spiritual texts of the twentieth century. Among the various interpretations of the Bhagavad Gita, the one by Mahatma Gandhi holds a unique position. Unlike other interpretations, Gandhi's commentary is direct and to the point, not offering an opinion on the meaning of the text, but fleshing out the message, often relating it to his own extraordinary experiences.

Gandhi interpreted the Bhagavad Gita, which he regarded as a gospel of selfless action, over a period of nine months from February 24th to November 27th, 1926 at Satyagrah Ashram, Ahmedabad. The morning prayer meetings were followed by his discourses and discussions on the Bhagavad Gita. During this time—a period when Gandhi had withdrawn from mass political activity—he devoted much of his time and energy to translating the Gita from Sanskrit into his native Gujarati. As a result, he met with his followers almost daily, after morning prayer sessions, to discuss the Gita’s contents and meaning as it unfolded before him. This book is the transcription of those daily sessions.

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Born in 1869 in the coastal town of Porbandar, India, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was raised in a devout Hindu family heavily influenced by Jain pacifist teachings. After completing his early education in India, he traveled to London in 1888 to study law and jurisprudence. Upon passing the bar, he briefly attempted to establish a legal practice in Bombay before accepting a fateful year-long contract to work in South Africa in 1893.

Instead of a brief stint, Gandhi spent over two decades in South Africa, where he faced severe, systemic racial discrimination. These experiences fundamentally transformed him from a shy lawyer into a resilient civil rights activist. It was here that he first developed and implemented Satyagraha, his defining philosophy of nonviolent civil disobedience, successfully mobilizing the Indian expatriate community to protest oppressive colonial laws.

Returning to India in 1915, Gandhi brought his formidable organizing skills and moral authority to the Indian independence movement. Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress, the "Mahatma" (Great Soul) orchestrated massive nationwide campaigns against British colonial rule, including the famous Salt March of 1930 and the "Quit India" movement of 1942. His methods relied entirely on peaceful non-cooperation, boycotts, and fasting, which continually captured the world's attention.

Throughout his life of activism, Gandhi was also a remarkably prolific writer and journalist. He founded and edited several influential newspapers, using them to advocate for social reforms, religious harmony, and the eradication of untouchability. His most enduring literary contribution is his deeply introspective autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, which detailed his lifelong pursuit of spiritual purity, dietary discipline, and the profound moral convictions that guided his political vision.

Though India finally achieved independence in 1947, the violent partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan left Gandhi deeply sorrowful. While tirelessly working to quell Hindu-Muslim communal violence, he was assassinated by a Hindu nationalist in January 1948 at the age of seventy-eight. He left behind an unparalleled legacy as the father of modern India and a global icon of peaceful resistance.