Phalam is a Sanskrit for fruit, and is the word used in the Bhagavad Gita to describe the personal gains acquired as the result of human action. According to the Gita theory of action, one should strive to be detached from these fruits. The goal is to learn to act selflessly and according to one’s duty rather than… read more
Definitions
glossary category
karma yoga
Karma yoga is the path of detached, selfless action. In yogic tradition, it is one of four paths to self-realization—along with bhakti, devotion or selfless, detached love, jnana, wisdom or intuitive awareness of the real, and raja, the royal path, a blend of the other three based on the practice of meditation. Gandhi was a supreme practitioner… read more
swadharma
In the Indian spiritual tradition, dharma means the way, literally law or duty. Everything and everyone in existence has its own dharma — its essential way of being in the world — that is in harmony with the overriding dharma of nonviolence that applies to all life (ahimsa paramo dharma). Thus a person’s swadharma (swa, own,… read more
Karma
Karma is the Sanskrit word for action. Because thought is an action, karma includes our thoughts and actions and their collective effect on us. This is known in psychology as our conditioning. Everything that is experienced, including thoughts, leaves a kind of mark on us, a fact now borne out by modern neuroscience. These experiences… read more
Bhagavad Gita
The Bhagavad Gita appears as a section of 700 verses within the ancient Indian epic the Mahabharata, where the warrior prince, Arjuna, collapses in dismay at the prospect of going into battle against his own relatives. He is admonished and encouraged by his charioteer Krishna (none other than an incarnation of Vishnu), and the dialog… read more
Gita Theory of Action
The Gita Theory of Action, derived from the ancient Indian spiritual text the Bhagavad Gita, is Gandhi’s approach to nonviolent action in a nutshell. The basic formula for selfless action is: choose the right goal, use the right means, and leave the results to God. The right goal is unity, or reconciliation, rather than winning or… read more
Vedanta
The vedanta is the ancient worldview that underlies all systems of Indian philosophy. A primary source for this worldview is the Upanishads. The Upanishads were handed down by tradition at the end of the Vedas, and Vedanta literally means “end of the Vedas.” This foundation of Indian spiritual thought, with its insistence on the underlying… read more
Detachment
According to the Gita Theory of Action, the philosophical basis of Gandhi’s approach to nonviolence, inaction is not possible for the human being as our thoughts themselves are actions. In effect, the decision not to act is a kind of action in itself. Since inaction is impossible, human beings must focus on how to act in… read more
Three Gunas
The three gunas of the Yogic tradition are the three energy states of the phenomenal world, tamas, rajas, and sattva. Tamas is a state of apathy and inaction, rajas of excitement and activity, and sattva meaning law or balance, is a state in which detachment, or selfless action is possible. Tamas describes people who respond to… read more
“Nagler’s Law”
This is a semi-facetious term made up by (of course) Michael Nagler to describe the very real phenomenon that a small amount of violence can subvert the nonviolent character of a demonstration or, for that matter, a person’s consciousness. As Nagler states his ‘law:’ NV + V = V. More seriously, this effect is a… read more