Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Religious Studies – Anthology
185
Questioner: But Lord Krishna ac tually c ounters the doc trine of ahimsa. For Arjuna
ut t ers t his pac ifist resolve:
Better I deem it, if my kinsmen strike,
To face them weaponless, and bear my breast
To shaft and spear, than answer blow with blow.
And Lord Krishna teac hes him to ‘answer blow with blow’.
Gandhi: There I join issue with you. Those words of Arjuna were words of
pret ent ious wisdom. ‘Unt il yest erday’, says Krishna t o him, ‘you fought your
kinsmen with deadly weapons without the slightest c ompunc tion. Even today you
would strike if the enemy was a stranger and not your kith and kin!’. The question
before him was not of non-violenc e, but whether he should slay his nearest and
dearest.
2.8.4 Ashram Vows
[Gandhi sent during 1930 a series of weekly disc ourses from Yeravda Jail (whic h he
c alled mandir o r t e mp le ) t o me mb e rs o f h is A s h ra m a t S a b a rma t i. Four of these,
dealing with the Ashram vows of Truth, Non-violenc e, Chast it y and Non-possession
are given here. The remaining seven vows of the Ashram are: Control of the Palate,
Non-st ealing, Fearlessness, Removal of Unt ouc habilit y, Bread Labour, Equalit y of
Religions and Swadeshi. Gandhi’s disc ourses on these also will be found in the
booklet From Yeravda Mandir (published by the Navajivan Press, Ahmedabad).]
Importance of Vows
Taking vows is not a sign of weakness, but of strength. To do at any cost
something that one ought to do c onstitutes a vow. It becomes a bulwark of
strength. One, who says that he will do something ‘as far as possible’, betrays
either his pride of his weakness. I have notic ed in my own c ase, as well as in the
c ase of ot hers, t hat t he limit at ion ‘as far as possible’ provides a fatal loophole. To
do something is to succumb to the very first temptation. There is no sense in
saying that one would observe truth ‘as far as possible’. Even as no businessman
will look at a note in whic h a man promises to pay a c ertain amount on a c ertain
date ‘as far as possible’, so will God refuse to accept a promissory note drawn by
one, who would observe truth ‘as far as possible’.
God is the very image of the vow. God would cease to be God if He swerved
from His own laws even by a hair’s breadth. The sun is a great keeper of
observanc es; henc e the possibility of measuring time and publishing almanac s. All
business depends upon men fulfilling their promises. Are such promises less
nec essary in c harac ter-building or self-realisat ion? We should therefore never doubt
the necessity of vows for the purpose of self-purific at ion and self-realisat ion.