The Social Role of the Gita

While the Bhagavadgita is traditionally viewed as a poem with primarily religious meaning, Dr. Agarwal shows how its message can be interpreted to provide practical guidelines for ethical behavior. This book focuses on the practical aspects of the Gita’s teaching. It insists that human behavior should be ethically responsible for involving with the world. The term “Lokasamgraha” is a way to express this involvement with the world. Dr. Dr. Agarwal studied the many ways India has responded to powerful foreign influences over two centuries. Agarwal has done this by studying the lives of select Hindu thinkers, whose writings and ways of living revealed their concern for the preservation of an Indian identity. They all set out to identify these differences and then formulated their opinions on acceptable alternatives to India and Indian genius in relation to those customs and principles that are contrary to Indian tradition. They were not all unanimous in their conclusions and the strategies they used to achieve their common goal. The role of the Bhagavadgita in these thinkers’ lives and works has been the focus of the author.
This work provides a fresh perspective on Bhagavad Gita. It is supported by extensive research. It focuses attention upon the social relevance this revered Hindu scripture. Part 1 offers a detailed analysis of how new interpretations and applications of the Gita played a significant role during India’s social history in the ninteenth century and twenty-first centuries. Five case studies are included in the illustrative material, including Raja Rammohun Roy’s Raja Vivekananda’s, Swami Vivekananda’s, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Aurobindo Goethe, and Mahatma Ghose. Part II explains how social applications of Gita are connected with its most important teaching, Loksamgraha-the good of society. Lokasamgraha, a sanskrit term that occurs in the Gita but is not in Upanishads, is a modern interpretation to the lokasamgraha approach. It is the inculcation and development of social values and a sense for social responsibility in every individual.