The Gita according to Gandhi 145

The Gita according to Gandhi -Mahadev Desai

The Four Varnas and Svadharma 'What then is one to dc when performance of one's dharma is considered to be the highest morality, and dharma is to be determined by the shattered caste system?' is a Critic's poser. The answer is that dharma or one's duty or the task to which one is born is no wooden phrase. It means the task to which one is born in the particular time or place we have in view. New occasions teach new duties, Time makes ancient good uncouth; and whilst one's allotted task may have been fighting 2500 years ago, today it may be to carry on a bloodless war to end all wars; whilst it may have been a duty to kill a foe then, today it may beyone's duty to lay down one's life in defending a sacred principle or individual or national honour. 'One's allotted task' has its natural meaning and it should not be more difficult for any one in India to find it out than it is for anyone in the West.