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THE CONCEPT OF ACTION IN THE BHAGVAD-GITA*
I
The Bhagvad Gita has been interpreted by its admirers in diverse
ways, and critical scholarship has estimated its worth in varying de-
grees. As a philosophico-religious document of ancient India it has
occupied a prominent place in the lives of millions. Scholars have
quarrelled over its central teaching. It is not the intention of this
paper to enter into that controversy. This paper has the modest aim
of examining critically the Gita doctrine of Niskama-Karma as pro-
pounded in the text and then to offer an alternative theory which, in
my view, will be better suited to meet the demands and challenges of
a changing social situation.
In the light of the context and the setting in which the doctrine is
preached it is well-nigh safe to say that the Gita is an exhortation
to duty and a stirring call to action. Krishna undertakes the task of
persuading Arjuna to shake off inertia and perform his duty in a
manly way. This is supposed to be a moral persuasion because it is
aimed at convincing Arjuna and converting him on rational grounds.
The actual arguments may have a mixture of reason and emotional
appeal, but the impression given is that of rational justification for
moral action. It is therefore set out as a philosophy of moral action.
However it is evident to any student of the Gita that moral action
there has not been conceived in isolation but is viewed in the larger
context firstly of a metaphysical commitment derived from proto-
Samkhya and Upanisadic doctrines and secondly of a theistic faith
in a personal God.
The Gita believes in status quo and sets a high value on social
stability. It accepts the established social order and derives the con-
tent of duty from the caste structure and from the notion of differ-
ent stages of life. The ideal of lokasamagraha is held in high esteem
and Krishna appeals to Arjuna to act in its name. (III. 20). Its doc-
trine of Niskama-Karma or disinterested action can be understood
only in the light of the ultimate end which is conceived as Moksa.
Moksa means liberation of the empirical self from all bondage to
the not-self - a total emancipation from the phenomenal world cul-
*Section I of this chapter appeared in the Quest, no. 42 (1964), 23-25, Calcutta, India,
under the title "Doctrine of Niskama-Karma: An Alternative Interpretation." Reprinted
by permission of the editors of the Quest.
34
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THE CONCEPT OF ACTION IN THE BHAGVAD-GITA 35
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36 PHILOSOPHY AND PHENOMENOLOGICAL RESEARCH
and void. Thus the Gita, in effect, encourages a kind of spiritual self-
consciousness which is inimical to moral action.
Secondly it is said that the Gita's doctrine of ethics is deonto-
logical since it exhorts us to do our duties because they are duties
without regard to any consequences they lead to. This would work
only when we assume, as the Gita does, that the content of duty is
derived from the social organization and is in strict conformity with
svadharma and svabhava. However, in actual life moral situations are
always problematic and for their solution the existing code of duties
offers very little, if any, guidance at all. Such a problem is faced by
Arjuna as the opening Chapter of the Gita so ably dramatizes. Hence
the main issue is how to solve a moral problem and how to act in a
moral situation. It appears to me that a rational appraisal and eval-
uation of the problem is called for in the light of the conditions
under which one is to act (here svadharma and svabhava are rele-
vant) and in the light of the consequences which are likely to ensue
and which one thinks desirable or undesirable. If this is admitted
then in order to resolve a moral problem one should act after a
proper appraisal of the situation to achieve the end or the goal which
rational reflection shows to be most desirable. In other words one
should have a firm commitment to achieve the goal and should show
all the care and concern for its fulfilment. One would wonder what
exactly the Gita means by saying that one should not care for the
fruits of one's actions (phalasa) in the performance of duty (II. 47,
48). If it means that one should not be committed to the fulfilment
of the goal then it is almost asking for the impossible as it would
undermine the very need for moral action.
It should not be forgotten that the Gita purports to offer gui-
dance in times of social and moral crisis. When one faces conflicting
obligations and is not able to decide between competing goods, and
in short, when one is confronted with a crisis of the spirit, one needs
to know what is the right thing to do. Arjuna faced such a crisis and
stood in need of enlightenment with respect to the right course to
follow in the specific situation portrayed in the Mahabharata. Now
it appears to me that while Arjuna's situation is revolutionary,
fraught with the gravest of consequences and is such that its moral
significance is uncertain and indeterminate, the advice given by
Krishna is in terms of a static code of duties determined by sva-
dharma. Certainly such a static code of duties is unfit to meet the
dynamic situation faced by Arjuna otherwise he would not have
asked for any moral advice at all. One has a feeling that the whole
tenor of the advice given by Krishna is in terms of a transcendental
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THE CONCEPT OF ACTION IN THE BHAGVAD-GITA 37
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38 PHILOSOPHY AND PHENOMENOLOGICAL RESEARCH
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THE CONCEPT OF ACTION IN THE BHAGVAD-GITA 39
1 I am aware of the empirical research being done in various countries -of the world
on the alleged hypothesis of reincarnation. In connection with the whole field of psychi-
cal research a recent book, Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain by Sheila
Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder makes interesting reading. It has been published by
Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N. J., in 1970.
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40 PHILOSOPHY AND PHENOMENOLOGICAL RESEARCH
them to the joys and sorrows, pleasures and pains, and the various
ups and downs of life. It has to disentangle and illuminate the intri-
cate web of human existence with its tragedies an~d comedies, and its
well-nigh unintelligible contingencies and vicissitudes. Faced with
such a stupendous task the Indian thinkers of the ancient past (in-
cluding the author of the Gita) adopted, on the one hand, a static
concept of right action in terms of conventional class duties and
caste duties (svadharma and svabhava), and on the other hand,
resorted to a metaphysical explanation for the gross inequalities and
manifest injustices of human life in terms of the operation of a mys-
terious "law" of karma. Even the historical Buddha who rejected
traditional caste-ism and broomed away the mystical lore of Vedic
sacrifices, accepted uncritically the so-called law of karma. We can
therefore discern in traditional Indian thought and culture a peculiar
combination of static social morality with an individual quest for
transcendence of the whole social order for the attainment of ulti-
mate freedom (moksa or nirvana) which is supposed to terminate
the whole cycle of births and deaths(samsara). Historically speaking
such a combination led to the total neglect of a historical and dynam-
ic analysis of society and morals. The sages of the Upanisads, the
author of the Gita and the historical Buddha truly recognized change
and flux as a pervasive feature of natural and social reality. But in-
stead of analyzing these changes in terms of natural and socio-
economic and historical factors so as to guide these towards con-
sciously adopted desirable goals, they ridiculed and devaluated the
whole flux of natural and social order as mere phenomenon to be
transcended by the attainment of ultimate freedom - thus leaving
the changing world without an intelligent control and guidance. No
wonder they discovered the cause of man's varying fortunes and mis-
fortunes in his ignorance (avidya) of ultimate reality, of the trans-
cendent self or of nirvana. Thus a metaphysical cause (Ignorance of
reality) was substituted for a slow, careful, and painstaking analysis
of economic, political, social, and historical factors which determined
the fate of millions. They adopted a wholesale metaphysical remedy
for the evils of the temporal world of change - namely, a withdraw-
al of personal involvement in social affairs together with the perfor-
mance of fixed static caste duties in a mechanical but nonattached
manner. This heightened and intensified awareness of one's own
transcendental freedom (moksa) meant in practice either sheer hypo-
crisy or a passive acceptance of one's fate according to the mysteri-
ous operation of the law of karma. Was such an attitude caused by
the tropical climate of India or by an inveterate metaphysical trait
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THE CONCEPT OF ACTION IN THE BHAGVAD-GITA 41
2 Cf. Katha, II. 18-20, 20-5; III. 3, 4, 7-8, 10-15; also Mundaka, III, 1. 1-3.
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42 PHILOSOPHY AND PHENOMENOLOGICAL RESEARCH
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THE CONCEPT OF ACTION IN THE BHAGVAD-GITA 43
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44 PHILOSOPHY AND PHENOMENOLOGICAL RESEARCH
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THE CONCEPT OF ACTION IN THE BHAGVAD-GITA 45
D. C. MATHUR.
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