WHAT IS HINDUISM?
through the karmayoga of worldly action in accordance with
their ordained duties or dharmas – a life of total non-action
being impossible as long as one is incarnate. Persuaded by
the argument that disinterested action does not bring
karmic bondage – bondage to action or karman – and that
even the acts of a warrior will therefore not bring negative
karmic consequences, Arjuna duly goes into battle together
with Krishna.
It is likely that Krishna himself was originally a clan
hero who became elevated over time to the status of a
supreme god. In contrast, Gandhi was a simple human
being who embodied a quite different model of the socially
active yogin or karmayogin. His message to the would-be
warriors or kshatriya of his time was not one that sanctified
war through the over-riding value and virtue of devotion,
loyalty and sacrifice of ego to a single divine personage –
but rather demanded of them a sacrificial renunciation of
violence itself in fulfilling their duty or dharma of defending
others. Along with this went recognition of both the heroic
courage and the discipline or ‘yoga’ required to follow the
principle of non-violence – thus offering a spiritual
understanding of ‘heroism’ as a virtue and feat of the soul
rather than the sword. That is why Gandhi constantly
stressed how important it was for believers in non-violence
to feel that “they had come into possession of a divine
force or power infinitely superior to the use of the one they
had” (arms and violence).