21 Simple Rules to Live By (by Mahatma Gandhi).

21 Simple Rules to Live By (by Mahatma Gandhi). January 20, 2017

Gandhi, 1948, via Wikimedia Commons.
Gandhi, 1948, via Wikimedia Commons.

Do you have a code or set of rules you live by? I often resort to my favorite authors and books for guidance, but I recently came across a short, but compelling 21-point list from a legendary figure that I’m going to put into my spiritual arsenal. It comes from Mahatma Gandhi.

First, some background: Gandhi was the leader of the Indian independence movement that challenged British rule during the 1930s and 1940s. Through nonviolent civil disobedience, Gandhi helped lead India to independence, inspiring civil rights movements around the world. He later worked to bridge the divide between Hindus and Muslims, an act that would lead to his assassination at the age of 78.

More than a political leader, Gandhi was also recognized as his country’s spiritual leader. He wrote that his way-of-thinking was inspired by the Hindu holy book the Bhagavad Gita. He first became acquainted with “the Gita” in 1888 and he says that it taught him how “a perfected man is to be known.” They were in effect, his rules to live by.

Gandhi believed that all reality is “an incarnation of God.” There was no higher goal in life than to become like God. He believed it was the only way one can truly be at peace and “the only, ambition worth having.” To reach this state of self-realization, it required “desireless action…by dedicating all activities to God, by surrendering oneself to Him body and soul.”

This idea of “desireless action” means that as one goes through life, one must act but not be tied to outcomes. It’s a philosophy perhaps best encapsulated by the line from the Kipling poem If, encouraging us to “meet with Triumph and Disaster, and treat those two impostors just the same”. Gandhi phrases the sentiment like this:

Do your allotted work but renounce its fruit—be detached and act—have no desire for reward, and act. He who gives up action, falls. He who gives up only the reward, rises.

What follows is a passage by Gandhi that addresses what it means to be a true devotee of the Gita. I think you will find its message is pertinent to people of all faiths, and something we all can and should aspire to be. While it appears in his writings as a complete paragraph, I have taken the liberty to break it down line by line, to come up with Gandhi’s 21 simple rules to live by.

Click the Continue bar below to see the list.


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