Gandhian Interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita: A Solution to Sustainable Living

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, an apostle of non-violence and satyagraha (holding firmly to truth), reiterates Lord Krishna’s call to selfless action in his interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita to envisage a society wherein all the people of the world are able to make ends meet peacefully and prosper together to fulfil their needs. In fact, Gandhi’s call for selfless action has a potential to impeccably synchronize with the action plan to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adumbrated by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for a peaceful and decent living for all. To attain selfless action Gandhi propagates the need for inner progress by adopting spiritual means as material progress alone can derail nay destroy humanity and her habitat. Gandhi’s commentary on the Bhagavad Gita’s Anasakti Yoga is an effort to broadcast the message for a sustainable living of humanity that he himself experiments and experiences. The present paper posits that Gandhi’s message of the detached service gives a solution to the world which is troubled with myriad problems especially the ones that are posing an ecological challenge that in itself has acquired the status of an existential threat. Gandhi postulates that desires tend to distract human beings from the right-living. How to subside the desires? To answer the above question Gandhi interprets the Bhagavad Gita in his novel way and presents his own life experiences in controlling the senses, the source of desires. This paper discusses that knowledge with devotion coupled with selfless action will pave the way to sustainable development.