E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

84 Contextualising Gandhian ThoughtWhere Gandhi makes a departure and makes distinctcontribution is that following the footsteps of the teacher ofBhagavad Gita. He reconciles and even transcends the debateon pravrits vs nivriti. He pleads for working out for moksha byintegrating nivriti in Pravriti through introducing the twinconcepts of ‘selfless action (niskama karma) and nonattachment(anasakti). It is through such a process that onereaches what the Gita calls the state of sttiprajnata the realstability of mind. This is nothing short of moksha.But Gandhi did believe that attainment of perfectmoksha is not possible for an embodied soul. Hence, he alsosupported the one aspect of the traditional concept of mokshathat it could be attained only after sharirpat (death). As he putit: ‘As a Hindu, I believe that moksha is freedom from birth bybreaking the bonds of flesh by becoming one with God’ 23 Hisfaith in the unity of all beings and in the cosmicinterdependence at the deepest level, prompted him to arrive atthe conclusion that no individual could constitute an island byhimself and, as such, his every act of omission and commissionis bound to affect the other people. One practical implication ofsuch advaitic world view is that the people must love and serveone another. Hence, for Gandhi, service to the fellow-beings isbound to be an integral part of our pursuit of moksha. Two, asper his advaitic faith, every individual is endowed with a soulwhich is pure in its pristine form. Hence, every individual,irrespective of his location and profession in the society is quitecompetent for the pursuit of moksha as his avocation. In otherwords, every man on the street, not only the elected few, isequally qualified for the pursuit of moksha. In this respect,Gandhi views were nearer to Ramanuja rather than Adi-Sankaracharya. Unlike Shankara, in whose view shudra werenot entitled to work for their moksha Acharya Ramanujaopened the gate of Bhakti for everybody irrespective of his/herposition in varnaashram dharma. So did Gandhi, But Gandhi’s