The Spiritual-Moral Principles of the Śrīmad Bhagavad Gītā: a Genesis of Gandhian Ideology of Satyagraha

Mahātmā Gandhi’s ideology of Satyāgraha is not only a political phenomenon, but a spiritual mission too. The main objective of the Satyāgrahī is to win the opponent’s mind. Mahatma Gandhi relied immensely on moral spiritual guidance and religious thought of the Śrīmad Bhagavad Gita to unite the people of India. He inspired by the principles of love, truth, affection, non-attachment, selfless action (nishkama karma) and spiritual liberation and selfsurrender of the Gita deeply and tried to impinge these moral principles within the Satyagrahis. Gandhi got an unfailing source of strength and solace from the Śrīmad Bhagavad Gita. In the Gita, Sri Krishna advised Arjuna to follow the way of selfless action to gain knowledge. The essence of selfless action or Karma Yoga is to gain knowledge and liberate oneself from doing good deeds by sacrificing oneself. The key concept of the Gita is to seek salvation through selfless action. Gandhi also emulates to selfless action in his concept of Satyagraha. The main objective of the present article is to explore how Gandhi influenced by the principles of the Gita and how he molded Satyagrahis by the spiritual-moral principles of the Gita.