I read this classic of Indian literature at the age of 15 (in 1956), having hoarded my meagre pocket-money for the whole of one school term in order to buy an expensive hardback edition of the Gita translated by Zaehner – one that is still held in high regard for its scholarship and for the inclusion of the transliterated Sanskrit text. I confess I found it hard going – not because of the translation, which I took to be faithful to the original, but because of the kind of philosophy that the text appeared to promulgate.
I could see then, even at the age of fifteen, that the Big Idea behind the text was that one is subject to the fate or ‘accident’ of one’s birth; that one must do one’s caste duty; and that though one might ‘appear’ to kill or ‘appear’ to be killed, ‘in reality’ no-one kills and no-one dies. I found these ideas not only incomprehensible, but even pernicious in that they seemed to me even at that tender age, and with no experience of India whatsoever, to be potentially very misleading and even amoral.
A sub-text of the Gita is, of course, the injunction not to be attached to the fruit of one’s actions. Whilst on the surface reasonable enough, further reflection shows that one cannot act whole-heartedly without a clear idea of one’s goal. And having a clear idea of one’s goal and purpose in life means that not only is one going to desire the result, one is going to desire it passionately – or if you prefer – fervently, religiously. Otherwise one is professing a luke-warm, even half-hearted belief in the injunctions of one’s religion, or submitting to a higher authority which is incomprehensible. Thus, I could not at that time - and still do not see - how it is possible to act effectively and decisively on the basis promulgated by the Gita unless one submits one’s intelligence to a supposedly higher power.
Whilst it is true that keenness to experience exactly what will be the fruits of one’s actions is likely to be unhelpful, one does need to know the general trend of them, otherwise one won’t be able to act wholeheartedly and effectively. Furthermore, one WILL experience the fruits of one’s actions, of that one can be sure – if not in the immediate aftermath, then some time later - perhaps in a future life, who knows?. Without a pure motivation, however, without being skilfully motivated – that’s to say by Compassion and the desire for the welfare of all, one is, I firmly believe, serving neither oneself nor any higher power worthy of the name.