Eternal Mother

Once Gandhiji was introduced to the Bhagavad Gita, his thought-patterns underwent a radical change. The Gita became Bapu’s spiritual reference book. Little wonder that he regarded the Gita as his ‘Eternal Mother’. Gandhiji discovered that the highest ideal was anasakti, non-attachment. He explains the concept of anasakti by making two statements: First, ‘Not one embodied being is exempted from doing work’; and second, ‘It is beyond dispute that all action binds.’ That is, no human being can escape action. Also, action cannot be performed in isolation; one action will require that further actions are performed; a vicious circle of bondage is created. How to escape from bondage? According to Gandhiji, surrendering oneself to the Divine Will is the best way. Gandhiji said anasakti has two dimensions: external and internal. The external nature lays emphasis on uniting the nishkama karmi, one who performs actions with a detached attitude with the idea of performing karma through bhakti (devotion) and jnana (knowledge). The internal character is concerned with the spirit with which an action is performed. In the case of the former, the sole emphasis is on one’s ‘outer being’; and in the latter case, on his ‘inner being’.Anasakti upholds karma, which in turn brings about unity of bhakti and jnana; together they purge the seeker’s mind of all impurities. Then, the action performed becomes pure.

Source: Economic Times, 30/01/2019