The Bhagawat Gita is considered the most sacred book of Hinduism. However, the importance of the Gita lies in its conceptualization of the universe and its philosophy, particularly the philosophy of Nishkama Karma, or selfless actions. Mahatma Gandhi used to carry the Gita with him and used to refer to the Gita to find the answers to the problems of life. He famously said, “When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of hope on the horizon, I turn to Bhagavad Gita and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow”.
Gita has impressed the devout Hindus, the people of all faiths, and even the greatest scientists and scholars worldwide. Albert Einstein said, “When I read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God created this universe, everything else seems so superfluous.” Likewise, the American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson had full praise of Gita, “I owed a magnificent day to the Bhagavad Gita. It was as if an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an old intelligence which in another age and climate had pondered and thus disposed of the same questions which exercise us.”
The worldwide acceptance of the Gita has led many Hindus to believe that the Gita is not a mere Scripture or Holy Book of Hindus but contains life’s perfect and flawless philosophy. Accordingly, the claim that the Gita can be followed by every person irrespective of faith and is suitable even for rationalists and atheists. In this article, we shall explore whether Gita is a philosophy suitable for all people or a Holy Book suitable for Hindus alone.
Foundational Principles of Gita
When I read Gita two decades ago, I found it excellent because then I was a believer and accepted the fundamental principles of Hinduism as indisputable truth. However, after I read the holy books of other religions and also studied the work of the greatest philosophers of the world and gradually lost faith in God (any God), I found that the philosophy of Gita won’t make any sense unless you believe in the fundamental concepts of Hinduism
Some of the foundational principles of Gita are as follows:-
- God is Omnipotent.
- God is self-created, and He created the world.
- Every living being consists of two components, i.e., the body and the soul.
- The body is mortal, which is born and dies, while the soul is immortal, a part of God (Parmatma), which is never born and never dies.
- As people discard old clothes when worn out, the soul discards the old body and enters a new one.
- The soul is immortal and takes new birth based on the accumulated (sanchit) Karma till it achieves liberation and becomes one with God.
- The effect of Karma is eternal and continues in the next life.
- Karma is supreme, and everyone is rewarded or punished according to Karma by God, sometimes by taking birth Himself as an Avatar.
- The people are created into different Castes, and everyone should work according to his caste.
Some Key Teachings of Gita
Let us now discuss some of the most popular verses of the Bhagawat Gita and see if they are logically sound or empirically valid.
1. कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन (BG 2:47)
Meaning: You have a right to perform your prescribed duties, but never to the fruits of your actions. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.1
Analysis: If you have no right to fruits, who has the right and who awards you fruits? Clearly, the sloka assumes that God award fruits to people. But on what basis? Is it according to the Karma, or anything else? If the karma principle is irrefutable, your outcome should become predictable since good Karma leads to good results, while evil Karma leads to bad outcomes.
The principle of Karma is often claimed to be nonreligious, scientific and rational, as it follows the law of cause and effect i.e. ‘You shall reap what you sow.’ However, this does not happen in the real world as we see many good people suffer and many bad people enjoy life. You must, instead, always plan for success and follow the best strategy to achieve the desired result since there is no God to help you ensure that you get the fruit according to your Karma.
The Karma principle is a great hypothesis with no empirical support. Moreover, Gita’s path of devotion (bhakti-yoga) contradicts the very principle of Karma, as discussed below.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18, Verse 66, Lord Krishna says,
2: सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज (BG 18 66)
Meaning: Abandon all varieties of dharmas and simply surrender unto Me alone. I shall liberate you from all sinful reactions; do not fear.2
Analysis: This sloka teaches the path of Bhakti or devotion to God, as the Lord clearly explains in the next sloka “This instruction should never be explained to those who are not austere or to those who are not devoted.” (BG 18 67). The sloka explains that once you surrender to God, all your sins are washed off, and you will be liberated. This means that by devotion, one can override the effect of Karma, which clearly means that you don’t have to bear the consequence of Karma, and with the grace of God, you can get rid of all your sins.
3. यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत! (BG4:7)
Meaning: Whenever there is decay of righteousness, O Bharata, and there is exaltation of unrighteousness, then I Myself come forth.3
Analysis: This is one of the most popular sloka of Gita, which provides for God’s incarnation in this world. The principle assumes that God not only exists but also takes a deep interest in the world’s affairs. He takes incarnation when the unrighteousness increases.
If that had been true, why is there so much evil, and why has God not taken Avatar so far? Again, why are all God’s avatars only in India? Is God not interested in the people of another part of the world or the universe?
4: न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचि (BG 2.20)
Meaning: The soul is neither born, nor does it ever die; nor having once existed, does it ever cease to be. The soul is without birth, eternal, immortal, and ageless. It is not destroyed when the body is destroyed.4
Analysis: The eternality of soul and rebirth are two of the fundamental assumptions of Hinduism. Since there is no evidence or proof of either soul or rebirth, a rational person would find it difficult to accept this principle. The soul is supposed to carry the sanchit Karma of previous lives, which decides the next birth or liberation. None of us remembers our past lives, and no evidence that there is any separate and independent entity in the body. Moreover, Gods of other religions don’t endorse such a view, and other religions don’t believe in rebirth or the concept of the soul.
5: ब्राह्मणक्षत्रियविशां शूद्राणां च परन्तप | (BG 18: 41)
Meaning: O Arjuna! works for the different castes (Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras), which are variously determined according to their nature and are born of Prakriti.5
Analysis: This sloka divides the work according to caste, which has been decided based on birth in India since ancient times. The subsequent sloka provides duties of each caste. You can change religion, but not caste, even today in India. No evidence exists that people born in a particular caste have specific traits.
6: मां हि पार्थ व्यपाश्रित्य येऽपि स्यु: पापयोनय: ।(Bg. 9.32)
Meaning: O son of Pṛthā, those who take shelter in Me, though they are of lower birth – women, vaiśyas [merchants] and śūdras [workers] – can attain the supreme destination.6
Analysis: This sloka considers women, vaisya, and sudra to be lower than the men born in upper castes, like Brahmin or Kshatriya. In reality, such caste-based competency is a myth. Further, men and women have their own strengths and weaknesses, and it would be incorrect to consider women to be inferior to men.
Conclusion
I can cite dozens of other slokas of Gita, which are very popular, and the Hindus consider them perfect for guiding their life, but they are neither based on reason nor conform to reality. Further, Gita’s philosophy is based on the above assumptions or faith and is not based on reason, logic or evidence. Hence, if you don’t have faith in these key tenets of Hinduism, you can’t accept the philosophy of the Bhagawat Gita to guide your life. Moreover, the foundation of the Gita is faith, which people of other religions would not find really acceptable, as their religion may teach them different and even opposite principles.
Accordingly, Gita is more a book or religion than philosophy, though it contains some philosophical principles that can help people lead righteous lives. However, it would be prudent to understand that all scriptures are the creations of human minds and are imperfect, and only by analyzing them critically can we identify and overcome their weakness and create better knowledge. We should also respect the truths that are contained in other books and discovered by different philosophers all over the world.
Note: The article is based on the author’s post to Quora.
- Bhagavad Gita As It Is Original by Prabhupada ↩︎
- https://www.holy-bhagavad-gita.org/chapter/18/verse/66 ↩︎
- Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4, Verse 7-8: Yada Yada Hi Dharmasya – VivekaVani ↩︎
- https://www.holy-bhagavad-gita.org/chapter/2/verse/20 ↩︎
- https://vivekavani.com/b18v41/ ↩︎
- https://asitis.com/9/32.html#%3A~%3Atext%3DO%20son%20of%20Prtha%2C%20those%2Cor%20higher%20classes%20of%20people. ↩︎
