founded the Servants of India Society,
devoted to social and economical sup-
port of the lower classes. At the age of
30 he became a member of the Imperial
Legislative Council, working for admin-
istratrive and financial reforms. He
took great interest in the work of M. K.
GANDHIin South Africa, encouraging
and advising him.Gokula
Rural area on the Yamunä, where
Kø•æa spent his boyhood with the shep-
herds of Braja.Goloka (‘the world of cows’)
Kø•æa’s heaven.Golwalkar, Madhav Sadashiv
(1906–73)
From 1940 to 1973 Sarasanghachalak
(Supreme Chief) of the RÄÆTØÏYA
SVAYAMSEVAKSANGH, author of Bunch
of Thoughtsand Sri Guruji Samagra
Darshana, a seven-volume collection of
his speeches in Hindi.Gonda, Jan (1905–96)
Prolific Dutch Indologist, for many
years professor and department head at
the University of Utrecht, who wrote on
all aspects of Hinduism from Vedic to
contemporary. Some of his major works
are Aspects of Early Vaisnavism(1954),
Die Religionen Indiens(2 vols; 1960–3),
The Ritual Sutras(1977), Vedic Ritual:
The Non-Solemn Rites (1980), The
Indra Hymns of the Rgveda(1989).good and evil
What the Veda prescribes (VIDHI) is
‘good’ and what it forbids (ni•edha) is
‘evil’. Hindu SAßPRADÄYAS, relying on
specific works that they consider revela-
tions, usually extend the range of good
and evil to include sectarian obser-
vances with regard to worship, mode of
life, contacts with members of one’sown and of other communities. For
Advaitins the dichotomy of good and
evil applies only to the lower sphere of
practical life, it is one of the dvandvas
(pairs of opposites) that have no validi-
ty in the ultimate sphere, where those
distinctions are meaningless. Never-
theless all Hindus would agree that the
PURUÆÄRTHASencapsulate what is con-
sidered ‘good’ and that mok•a (emanci-
pation) is the supreme good to be aimed
at. There is also fairly large agreement
that good actions generate good karma,
and bad actions result in bad karma; the
future rebirth of a person will be deter-
mined by the kind of karma she has
acquired in her previous lives. (See also
DHARMA; ETHICS; EVIL.)Gopäla (‘protector of cows’)
An epithet of Kø•æa.Gopäla Bhaflfla (16th century)
One of the original six Gosvämis of
VØNDÄVANA, sent there by CAITANYAto
revive the tradition of Kø•æa worship,
author of Haribhaktiviläsa, a famous
work of GAU¥ÏYAVAIÆŒAVISM, which
describes the proper form of worship.gopïs
Daughters and wives of cowherds in
Braja, whose love for Kø•æa is consid-Gokula 76The gopïs of Vøædävana, models of
highest bhakti to Kø•æa.Encyclo - Letter G 10/2/03 9:42 am Page 76