Karma-yoga in Gandhi

Attenborough’s Gandhi (1982) is about the life of Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of
India’s struggle for independence from the British. The film has many scenes that touch on
various aspects of Hinduism. This paper examines the film’s depiction of karma-yoga.

Analysis of Karma-yoga

Karma-yoga is one of the three Hinduism spiritual paths. Karma-yoga is a spiritual
action that one performs selflessly for the benefit of other people (Sharma, 2000). Karma-
yoga calls for its practitioners to seek spiritual liberation through work. As long as the action
being taken is rightful, the practitioner of Karma yoga does not bother about the
consequences or results of the action. All he/she has to do is dedicate themselves to the duty
at hand.
Sharma (2000) describes karma-yoga as a “path that consists in performing the duties
of one’s station in life with a spirit of detachment, that is, without hankering after the fruits of
those actions”. He also explains that the essence of karma-yoga is purely deontological. A
practitioner of karma-yoga performs duty for duty’s sake (Sharma, 2000). In determining
one’s duties, Sharma (2000) suggests that karma-yoga draws attention to a person’s class or
varna. Thus, if someone is from the warrior class, they should do their duty of fighting as best
as they can without bothering about the fruits of their fighting, such as glory or political
power. Apart from class or station of life, the duties of a person can also be determined by
what is expected of him or her a given time (Sharma, 2000). For instance, an adult is
supposed to provide food for a hungry child. In summary, at the core of karma-yoga is
complete devotion to one’s duty and complete detachment to the consequences of actions that
are performed as part of one’s duty.

Karma-yoga in Gandhi film

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The scene that best exemplifies the concept of karma-yoga is the Salt March that
Gandhi led between March and April of 1930. It is one of the most powerful scenes in the
film. In the scene, followers of Gandhi, called satyagrahis, attempt to take control of a well-
guarded salt factory. The attempt is part of a wider civil disobedience campaign led by
Gandhi against the British colonialists. As non-violent resisters, the satyagrahis do not have
any arms with them. Unlike the protesters, the khaki-clad guards at the salt factory are armed
with clubs. Without any fear, the protesters approach the guards in small groups. They are
met with blows and clubs from the policemen guarding the factory. The beating is so heavy
that many of the protesters have to be carried away unconscious with blood oozing from the
injuries that they had sustained (Attenborough, 1982). Despite the obvious dangers facing
them, wave after wave of the protesters continue with their quest to take control of the salt
factory. All of them are met with brutal violence. The surprising thing is that even as the
protesters were beaten into insensitivity by the police, none of them even raised an arm to
fend off the forceful blows.
The scene of satyagrahis marching towards armed policemen to take a salt factory
and quietly submitting themselves to violence exemplifies the concept of karma-yoga. The
satyagrahis knew the consequences of their actions. They knew that the police would use
violence against them. Indeed, minutes after arriving at the factory, it was clear to them that
the police would not hesitate to use extreme violence to stop them from taking control of the
salt factory. It was also clear that they were unlikely to take control of the salt factory with
the armed policemen guarding it. Despite this knowledge, they continued marching towards
the factory. Knowing that they could not take control of the factory and that their lives were
at risk due to the violence of the police, perhaps it would have made sense to disperse.
However, such an action would have been against the concept of karma-yoga.

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The concept of karma-yoga calls on a person to persist in their action regardless of the
consequences. As long as one is convinced that their action is the right one, they should have
complete detachment from the consequences of the actions. Thus, for the protesters, it did not
matter whether their actions led them to taking control of the salt factory or not. It also did
not matter whether they would be punished for their actions through brutal violence from the
police. They were simply convinced that their actions were rightful. Whatever resulted from
their actions was not of importance to them. It is this belief in karma-yoga that made them to
persist in an essentially futile action of taking over a well-guarded salt factory even in the
face of extreme violence.
The scene of the Salt March in Attenborough’s Gandhi (1982) is an excellent
depiction of the practice of karma-yoga. Karma-yoga expects its practitioners to
wholeheartedly perform their actions while being completely detached from the results of
those actions. That is what happened in the Salt March scene in the Gandhi movie. Despite
knowing that their actions would not result in their taking of the salt factory and that they
would face extreme police violence, the protesters detached themselves from such outcomes
and persisted in their peaceful march to the salt factory.

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References

Sharma, A. (2000). Classical Hindu Thought: An Introduction. Oxford University Press
Attenborough, R. (1982). Gandhi [motion picture]. United States: Columbia Pictures.