The Gita according to Gandhi 146

The Gita according to Gandhi -Mahadev Desai

The Four Varnas and Svadharma This is how a modern author on Ethics expresses the moral law: "Thou shalt labour within thy particular province, with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind." That is too what Carlyle meant when he said: "Know what thou canst work at, and work at it like a Hercules." The Gita makes the moral law clearer than any other ethical system in the world by adding to the above somewhat to this effect : 'Work like a Hercules indeed, but offer thy work at the feet of the Lord as your humble flower of worship, without the thought of reward. A selfish performance even of the best thing would render it worse than void.' For, according to the Gita, doing one's duty is not the highest morality as our critic would assert; doing one's duty in complete detachment and selflessness is the highest morality. Provided the work taken up is not morally forbidden, the sole criterion to determine its moral value is detachment, selflessness. Selflessness is the sole content of right.