The Gita according to Gandhi 127

The Gita according to Gandhi -Mahadev Desai

INDIVIDUAL ETHICS (Discourses 16 and 17) There is no godly sorrow that enlightens or enlivens their lives, they carry through life a load of ungodly sorrows which drag them down to their doom. Such people, says the Lord, He casts (or do they not cast themselves?) unto devilish wombs, the jaws of hell, for indeed they live in hell, there being no hell on earth but the one with the triple door of lust and wrath and greed (XVI. 1-21). It is not that the path of the godly involves no struggle. He must not forget that the virtues and vices are die manifestations of the three gunas which coexist. They may have a preponderance, in their nature, of sattva, but rajas and tamas are there dormant yet ready to awake if sattva relaxes its vigilance. Sleeplessly, therefore, has the godly soul to keep watch against those heralds of hell, and fight them "by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and the left" or "with the whole armour of God." (XVI. 22).