Overlapping Elements Between Law and Bhagavad Gita

JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC RESEARCH FOR MULTIDISCIPLINARY
Impact Factor 1.625, ISSN: 2320-5083, Volume 3, Issue 8, September 2015
INTRODUCING INTEGRAL DIMENSIONS BETWEEN LAW AND BHAGAVAD

GITA: OVERLAPPING ELEMENTS AND CONSTITUTIONAL LAW PRINCIPLES
DR. K. PARAMESWARAN*
*Professor of Law, Symbiosis School of Law, Pune, India
ABSTRACT
Law as a discipline by its intrinsic nature encompasses all other disciplines of
knowledge. All disciplines of knowledge come to the discipline of law for a final rescue
when it comes to defining and asserting interrelationships among variables, effects and
outcomes. Bhagavad Gita is an ancient document explaining values of life and art of living.
In this age of globalising world, conflicting forces have increased. All aspects of life,
disciplines of knowledge and domains of work push each other to find a place at the top to
dominate the rest. No aspect of study, work and way of life prefers to be subjected to any
control. Everyone claims what they say and do, is the ultimate truth, final say on life and best
alternative to all problems of existence. Religion is no different. It is said religion has brought
problems to life; complex and complicated. Religion deals with sensibilities of mind, emotion
and life that are difficult to understand and measure. What does Bhagavad Gita promise here?
What can a law student and legal researcher learn from it? This article explores the integral
relationship between the two. The author justifies that ‘what Indian Constitution promises,
Bhagavad Gita inspires’.
KEYWORDS: Bhagavad Gita, Constitution of India, Directive Principles of State Policy,

Fundamental Duties, Preamble, Religion.
INTRODUCTION
It is very difficult to assess the full importance of a work that is known as Bhagavad
Gita. A study course by John Algeo titled The Bhagavad Gita at the Department of
Education, Theosophical Society in America summarised what is Bhagavad Gita in the
following words (Algeo, 2000).
‘The Bhagavad Gita is one of the world’s most important books—indeed, one of the great
books of human culture, Eastern and Western alike. In India, the Gita is many things: it is the
major guidebook to the spiritual life in the Hindu tradition; it is an eirenicon—a work that
harmonizes the diverse views of life that find a place within traditional Indic religious
philosophy, and it is an inspirational and culture-defining book that is to Indian society what
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the gospels are to the West. It is hard to overstate the importance and centrality of the Gita to
Indian life’.
Detailed researches have been made to analyse the significance of Bhagavad Gita (BG)1.
They have given numerous expositions in almost all domains of knowledge and subjects of
study. Some say BG is a case-study in Vedic psychology (Dillbeck, 1991), has management
lessons (Mahadevan, 2008) and leadership lessons (Mahadevan, 2012), gives tips on
managerial consciousness (Rarick & Nickerson, 2009), views on conflict resolution (Gayathri
& Meenakshi, 2014), a tool for psychological transformation (Dash, 2014), study on war-
philosophy (Kothari, 2002), method of organizational consciousness (Virdi, 2012), part of
natural law (King, 2003), study on modern corporate social responsibility (Muniapan & Dass,
2008), must for people who are busy (Sivananda, 1998), treasure of scientific explanations
(Newcomb, 2015), lesson for comparative study of philosophy (Maitra, 2006), significant for
pure consciousness in education (Grant & Jones 2014), document for protection of
environment (Mascaro, 1964), science-connected (Narla, 2015), wonderful philosophy by
itself (Row, 1912), measure of sustainable development (Razak & Sanusi, 2010), study that
gives political thoughts (Kapila & Devji, 2013), quest for the scientist Robert Oppenheimer
(Hijiya, 2000) and what not? The list is endless. This is only a sample survey of what BG has
to offer and what has been taken from BG so far. There might be many more as well,
considering the plethora of research that has been culled out from this ancient and historical
book satisfying the modern day needs for inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary studies.
However, what connection does it have with the principles of Constitutional Law of India
which is a charter of democratic polity of India? Does it mean that BG has principles and
elements which legal reasoning can take into account, jurisprudence can dissect and legal
philosophy can include under its umbrella? Generally, the elements and variables of any
religion especially like BG are associated with aspects that are largely non-material and non-
physical aspects of life, dealing with metaphysical inquiries of life. What should it do to deal
with mundane aspects of our daily life which a law like Constitution of India is endowed
with? Yet, what BG promises is something tangible, concrete and corporeal to our daily life
making it an experience of peace, happiness, equality, justice and liberty (individual as well
as collective) which the law of the Indian Constitution too is busy with. BG claims it has a
key to life that lays harmony between animate and inanimate aspects of life making life and
daily living integral which the followers of Constitution can take benefit from. This makes
BG unique when it comes to daily life and all its aspects where a legal person finds it
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interesting to see how life is integral without any disconnections as BG teaches. This integral
aspect which BG teaches can throw light on our understanding and influence our behaviour
with which social order and rule of law can become a living reality. If so, can jurisprudence
of legal philosophy accommodate a book which has been considered as a book of religion?
One of the tenets of the State polity and its sovereignty is that State is (must be) free from the
clutches of religion that is widely known as the separation of church and State (BOISI, 2015).
The American judiciary and its Constitution has explained a lot on this aspect of State and
religion through its First Amendment that came into existence as a result of influence from
Thomas Jefferson besides many others. However the author in this present article shows ways
to find interrelations between these two great living documents. One, that holds ‘values of
life’ from the viewpoint of a discipline though segregated into a specific and entrenched
domain; call it spirituality or religion or yoga and, the other, which holds values to the ‘basis
of law’ from the viewpoint of a ‘role of order’ in the society for everyone who belong to it. In
this context what John Algeo says is interesting (Algeo, 2000).
The Gita has been also, however, a powerful influence in the West. It is indeed part of a
remarkable chain of links connecting East and West. The New England Transcendentalists—
a group of nineteenth-century Americans who were an important school of thinkers and
writers, in a number of respects anticipating later Theosophical thought—read the first
English translation of the Gita. Henry David Thoreau, one of that group, in particular wrote
about reading the Gita on the shore of Walden Pond, and its philosophy inspired a famous
essay of his, “On Civil Disobedience,” about how to cope with societal injustice. Much later,
when Mohandas Gandhi was a young man and a law student in England, he was introduced
to the Gita by Theosophists, and then he read Thoreau’s essay, which in turn inspired his
policy of satyagraha or passive resistance. Later Martin Luther King was in turn inspired by
Gandhi’s policy to create his own program of nonviolence. So the Gita has echoed back and
forth across the globe between India and America, as a defining document of contemporary
thought and action. No other work has had a comparable influence across cultures in binding
together East and West.
Bhagavad Gita and its Importance and Timeless Message

The note of the Columbia University on the Bhagavad Gita is interesting to read as it
comprises many details succinctly in one length. It reads the following (Prasad, 1988).
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The Bhagavad Gita was originally not a standalone text, but was rather a dialogue embedded
within a much larger epic, the Mahabharata. It is located at a very important juncture of the
story. The hero, Arjuna, and his four brothers were dispossessed of their kingdom by their
cousins, and are about to begin what will prove to be a very bloody internecine battle. Arjuna
is in his chariot surveying the battlefield when the story begins. The Bhagavad Gita has been
variously dated to 300 BCE to 300 CE, although current estimates tend toward the turn of the
millennia or a bit earlier. While the epic itself is undoubtably quite ancient in its earliest
portions, it is also a composite text, and the Bhagavad Gita is one of its later additions. It
appears to be written in response to the Buddhists, whose message of renunciation is clearly
rejected by the divine charioteer Krishna. It also reflects a new era of Hindu worship in
which the older sacrificial rituals were waning in popularity, and a new trend toward theistic
devotion was gaining strength. It was considered an important and quasi-independent text
since at least the sixth century, when influential thinkers began writing commentaries upon it.
The foreword given by Swami Chidananda on the Commentary of BG by Swami Sivananda
is very illuminative. It says the following (Sivananda, 2000).
The modern man in this present decade of the second half of the 20th century is greatly in
need of an effective guide to light. He is groping. He sees only problems everywhere and no
solutions are to be found anywhere. He does not know which way to turn, what course to
adopt and how to move towards a better state of things. Therefore, his life is filled with
restlessness, unhappiness and complication. The Bhagavad Gita contains words of wisdom
and practical teachings that contain the answers to the above-mentioned condition of the
present-day individual.
Sri Aurobindo who is one of the most prolific writers who had appealed to the modern mind
of humanity has explained what must be our demand and need from the Gita in the following
words. They are so comprehensive that it resolves all the possible issues of debates that one
might have with a book like BG. This gives us an interesting insight by which we can caution
ourselves and put a restraint to ourselves that we do not take one form of methodology and
epistemology as the sole repository of truth. Mankind has seen the kind of futility of
exclusivism and the ostentatious attitude of the dogmatic pride in accepting and giving a final
status to the word and to the idea that they consider as the ‘final analysis of knowledge’ as
well as the ‘final knowledge on the analysis’. This has led to intellectual fundamentalism that
is creeping nowadays into the mental and emotional landscape of mankind creating
intolerance and animosity leading to problems in the rule of law. At this juncture what Sri
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Aurobindo says here is something significant for us to understand the integral dimensions. He
writes the following (Sri Aurobindo, 2001).
‘The world abounds with scriptures sacred and profane, with revelations and half-
revelations, with religions and philosophies, sects and schools and systems. To these the
many minds of a half-ripe knowledge or no knowledge at all attach themselves with
exclusiveness and passion and will have it that this or the other book is alone the eternal
Word of God and all others are either impostures or at best imperfectly inspired, that this or
that philosophy is the last word of the reasoning intellect and other systems are either errors
or saved only by such partial truth in them as links them to the one true philosophical cult.
Even the discoveries of physical Science have been elevated into a creed and in its name
religion and spirituality banned as ignorance and superstition, philosophy as frippery and
moonshine. And to these bigoted exclusions and vain wranglings even the wise have often
lent themselves, misled by some spirit of darkness that has mingled with their light and
overshadowed it with some cloud of intellectual egoism or spiritual pride’.
Thus, we must have an approach that is free of ideological bias where we do not hold any
single or exclusive aspect of knowledge as the finality in conclusion. With this state of mind,
we must seek for fresh perspectives whereby we research into methods that are integral to the
system of the knowledge. What are the common considerations that we can keep together to
our study of Constitution and BG? These common considerations must give us the necessary
connect with which we can see and read both documents together.
Firstly, it is the natural law principle where we consider the ‘fundamental aspect’ essential to
law. It is foundational in nature that we cannot avoid it. Avoiding it is an act towards one’s
own self-extinction. Preamble is a fundamental law that cannot be changed (Basic Structure).
There are interesting perspectives about natural law and its role in the development of law-
making and law-understanding. Its clear reason (Pope, 2015), growing and contemporary
perspectives (Anon-I, 2015), connections with justice and human rights (Nirmal, 2007) and
many more show us values for the society.
Secondly, the legal research of deductive and inductive approaches (Anon-II, 2015; Worster,
2014) that we take into account for law-assessment, need and performance between the social
needs and the necessity of State legislature become robust when we derive an understanding
from natural law as available in the sense of legislative foresight that come by innate sense of
duty. Again, when Preamble gives such a dictate it becomes easy for the State and its organs
to know what it should do.
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Thirdly, it is the ‘a priori sense’ to the fact of experience before the fact of the sense of
experience. Such things are found again in Preamble which largely lays down the principle of
social, political, cultural, religious, economic, psychological and all kinds of human life.
Overlapping Elements and Constitutional Law Principles

Let us analyse the overlapping elements from BG and Constitutional Law principles from the
Indian Constitution based on Preamble and the Fundamental Duties.
Preamble of the Indian Constitution (Ministry of Law & Justice, 2007):

We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a
[Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic] and to secure to all its citizens: Justice,
social, economic and political; Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
Equality of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all Fraternity assuring the
dignity of the individual and the [unity and integrity of the Nation]; in our Constituent
Assembly this twentysixth day of november, 1949, do hereby adopt, enact and give to
ourselves this Constitution.
Indian Constitution is a supreme document. It is a charter that binds the entire nation, her
populace, and all the mental, emotional and physical activities of a billion people. A
document bearing this magnitude in its values and reach ‘ought’ to consider and accept
everything that the nation is composed of; constituted for. It cannot afford to have any ‘if and
but’, which, will reduce its value from its eternal character, its immortal values to something
transient and temporal in nature and kind. Mankind has suffered a lot to reach the present
state of Nature. Studies on the origin of life and its history (Anon-III, 2015), evolution of the
human lifespan, its past, present, and future (Finch, 2012), the play of human life (Norbeck,
1911), the problems of humanity (Bailey, 1998), manifold secrets (Blavatsky, 1888), and
many more, illustrate how life and living have come to what it is now. How do we encompass
all these understandings and accept the multitude and interplay of life? It is easy to think and
feel what is popularly known as ‘unity in diversity’. However it will be impossible to
crystallise everything that humanity has crossed through and passed from an evolutionary
crucible whose intensity is what the universe, planetary existence and nations in the
international community is holding to in their experience. To understand this and allow the
interplay of life with all social, cultural, political, religious, economic and psychological
aspects without conflict is a matter of great concern for a law-making energy and body of
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people who have taken up this mammoth legal exercise. Indian Constitution is marvellous
example of this. One can see this from the Preamble of Indian Constitution which is a
summary of principles of all the religions of the world in its outcome. There are various
aspects to Preamble which are of common knowledge to all those interested in Preamble can
see below how Preamble can be connected to some of the verses in the Bhagavad Gita. Let us
analyse them one by one. The structure of the analysis is such that the bare words of the
Preamble are given, followed by verse(s) from the BG along with meaning. This is followed
by a short summary of integral dimensions between the Indian Constitution and BG. Chapter
is referred with ‘Ch’ with the respective serial number followed by the Verse(s) with
corresponding number(s).
Preamble:
We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a
[Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic] and to secure to all its citizens:
BG: Ch:10 Verse 39 (Swami Prabhupada, 2015)2
yac capi sarva-bhutanam bijam tad aham arjuna
na tad asti vina yat syan maya bhutam caracaram
Meaning:
Everything has a cause, and that cause or seed of manifestation is Kṛṣṇa. Without
Kṛṣṇa's energy, nothing can exist; therefore He is called omnipotent. Without His potency,
neither the movable nor the unmovable can exist. Whatever existence is not founded on the
energy of Kṛṣṇa is called māyā, that which is not.
Integral Dimensions:
In this verse Krishna is considered as the Supreme Being and from whom all the
beings have manifested. Similarly Indian Constitution is the Supreme Being and from whom
all the subjects owe their existence. We all exist because of the Constitution and our potent
personalities of kinds of rights have been derived out of it. All animate and inanimate objects,
things and beings that exist within the territory of the nation owe its source from the
Constitution. Constitution controls every one of them.
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Preamble:
Justice, social, economic and political
BG: Ch:4 Verse 7
yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya tadatmanam srjamy aham
BG: Ch:4 Verse 8
paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca duskrtam
dharma-samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge
Meaning: Ch:4 Verse 7
Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata,
and a predominant rise of irreligion-at that time I descend Myself.
Meaning: Ch:4 Verse 8
In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to re-establish the
principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.
In this verse Krishna says that every time there is lawless-ness, he descends to rectify
the same. Similarly Indian Constitution is given the same stature of Sovereignty, Supreme
Will to rectify all the problems that arise out of the absence of rule of law. Fundamental
Rights (Part-III) and its Writs jurisdiction, the jurisprudence of administrative law, and all
forms of public law narratives are what are to be seen that act as conscious watch-towers of
the society. Judiciary as one of the tripartite structure of organs of the Montesquieun
postulate is the agent of this Constitutional service.
Preamble:
Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
BG: Ch. 18 Verse 47
sreyan sva-dharmo vigunah para-dharmat sv-anusthitat
svabhava-niyatam karma kurvan napnoti kilbisam
BG: Ch. 18 Verse 48
saha-jam karma kaunteya sa-dosam api na tyajet
sarvarambha hi dosena dhumenagnir ivavrtah
Meaning: Ch. 18 Verse 47
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Every endeavor is covered by some sort of fault, just as fire is covered by smoke. Therefore
one should not give up the work which is born of his nature, O son of Kuntī, even if such
work is full of fault.
Meaning: Ch. 18 Verse 48

It is better to engage in one's own occupation, even though one may perform it
imperfectly, than to accept another's occupation and perform it perfectly. Prescribed duties,
according to one's nature, are never affected by sinful reactions.
These two verses become tricky when we connect them to the understanding of
liberty. Liberty comes by freedom and freedom is basically an evolution of energy from one
stage to another. Hence Krishna advices the path of action whereby one evolves and learns to
know what life is and what constitutes life. Similarly through Indian Constitution liberty and
freedom are inherent in the nature of things and one must use liberty and freedom to evolve
and grow without any restrictions. Errors and imperfections are a part of growth in the
evolution of human energies and they cannot hamper and restrict the flow of ideas and
actions except that they do not injure anyone which get due protection from laws.
Preamble:
Equality of status and of opportunity;
BG: Ch. 6 Verse 9
suhrn-mitrary-udasina madhyastha-dvesya-bandhusu
sadhusv api ca papesu sama-buddhir visisyate
Meaning:
A person is said to be still further advanced when he regards all-the honest well-wisher,
friends and enemies, the envious, the pious, the sinner and those who are indifferent and
impartial-with an equal mind.
In this verse we see duty and directory given to human behaviour and conduct.
However in case injury comes out of non-observance (commission or omission) of any
behaviour and conduct, law indeed comes to operation. Nevertheless Krishna advises
everyone to view and relate with everyone and everything with an impartial and equal mind.
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Similarly Indian Constitution treats everyone equally and, according to the requirements
which equality-clause demands in case of inequality as a result of social and economic
circumstances.
Preamble:
To promote among them all Fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual
BG: Ch. 12 Verses 13-14
advesta sarva-bhutanam maitrah karuna eva ca
nirmamo nirahankarah sama-duhkha-sukhah ksami
santustah satatam yogi yatatma drdha-niscayah
mayy arpita-mano-buddhir yo mad-bhaktah sa me priyah
Meaning:
One who is not envious but who is a kind friend to all living entities, who does not
think himself a proprietor, who is free from false ego and equal both in happiness and
distress, who is always satisfied and engaged in devotional service with determination and
whose mind and intelligence are in agreement with Me-he is very dear to Me.
In this verse we see who becomes dear to Krishna – one who gives the best service to
everyone without bias, fear, favour or any kind of feeling except with a clear and equal-mind.
Similarly the Indian Constitution gives such scope of conduct to all the citizens. This attitude
gives a great nobility and sanctity to the Preamble of the Indian Constitution which must be
practiced. When one feels that he/she is also a part of everyone without superiority or
inferiority, who is not troubled by the situations – social, political, cultural and economic, yet
remains dutiful to the core commitment of oneself in service to one’s self as well as everyone
else, with a clear and equal-mind he/she becomes the best example and great follower of the
Constitution.
From these aforementioned ideas integrating BG with the Constitutional Preamble we come
to understand how Preamble and its principles become everlasting of life, for life and by life
if one knows how to connect BG and Preamble in daily life. The Universal Declaration of
Human Rights (1948) also affirms the essence of these principles for everyone to follow.
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Fundamental Duties (Ministry of Law & Justice, 2007):

51A. It shall be the duty of every citizen of India—(a) to abide by the Constitution and
respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem; (b) to cherish
and follow the noble ideals which inspired our national struggle for freedom; (c) to uphold
and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India; (d) to defend the country and render
national service when called upon to do so; (e) to promote harmony and the spirit of common
brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional
or sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women; (f) to
value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture; (g) to protect and improve the
natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for
living creatures; (h) to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and
reform; (i) to safeguard public property and to abjure violence; (j) to strive towards
excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly
rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement; [(k) who is a parent or guardian to
provide opportunities for education to his child or, as the case may be, ward between the age
of six and fourteen years.]
The aforementioned Fundamental Duties in the Indian Constitution have yet another
interesting integral dimension when compared with one of the verses of BG.
BG: Ch. 3 Verse 20
karmanaiva hi samsiddhim asthita janakadayah
loka-sangraham evapi sampasyan kartum arhasi
Meaning:
Even kings like Janaka and others attained the perfectional stage by performance of
prescribed duties. Therefore, just for the sake of educating the people in general, you should
perform your work.
In this verse Krishna tells the importance of duties no matter what one’s position and
stature is. Jurisprudentially rights and duties are necessary corollaries. Similarly Indian
Constitution explains the importance of duties irrespective of one’s legal position and
personality. Duty is a must and that must be completed. It is not only beneficial to oneself but
also to everyone in the society. Hence doing one’s duty brings the attention of everyone in
the society as the benefits reach everyone.
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We all know the importance of fundamental duties, how it has come into force and what the
implications are. It is a creative idea of obligation to be taken up by the citizens (42nd
Amendment, 1976) in order to make the national life vibrate and rule-of-order friendly.
Though there are difficulties as to what each duty given in the abovementioned Article really
means (hence it has become non-justiciable) it is more of a directory of duties to govern our
thoughts and deeds in order to bring them into the society and collective well-being. The
Constitution has no provision to connect Fundamental Duties and Fundamental Rights,
whether the non-fulfilment of the former can lead to violation of the latter. However the
Indian Courts3 are giving effect to duties to the extent that it remains to be seen whether these
duties given in 51A can remain as mere duties that are non-justiciable in the days to come.
Conclusion:
Adherence or acceptance or practice of a law and legal principle in the society is a
matter of cognitive association in which cultural and sociological surroundings play a great
role, says the psychology research on human behaviour and habits. Noted research studies on
human behaviour and its connection with the society show the link between thought, action
and acceptance with the ecological surroundings and, how human behaviour forms and
reacts. Several studies like evolutionary psychology, behavioural ecology and dual
inheritance models (Smith, 2000) give us a clue to human behaviour with which we can asses
why and how a human behaviour accepts a particular mode of function in thought and action.
Law and legal rules demand ‘thinking and action’ which can be studied largely from these
psychological factors. To put it in simple terms man following a law (law-habit) is based on
how he was brought up, his cultural surrounding and various other social and political factors.
Man is not alone devoid of any contact with the surroundings. In this he sees law as only a
form which brings the source of his law-habit, no matter it is natural or positive law postulate.
In fact a common and ordinary man might not even know the differences between various
kinds and types of laws, its sources and legislative insights. He follows the rules of laws (law-
habits) only up to his convenience, willingness and ability to follow or by the popular
command of the sovereign. A detailed research report of the World Bank 2015 titled ‘Mind,
Society and Behaviour’ is highly interesting which says that its report ‘aims to inspire and
guide the researchers and practitioners who can help advance a new set of development
approaches based on a fuller consideration of psychological and social influences’ (World
Bank Group, 2015). It has provided three principles of human decision-making such as
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‘Principle of Thinking Automatically’, ‘Principle of Thinking Socially’, and finally ‘Principle

of Thinking with Mental Models’. They are based on groundbreaking research from across
the social sciences, though studied for the developmental economics; it is indeed relevant to
the psychology of human behaviour which is same when it comes to its energy from where
thought and action decide the pattern of human behaviour. It is immaterial whether man’s
actions affect economics or sociology or business. Formation of energy, mental will, emotion
and instinct are scientifically the same except its outcome which affect man positively or
negatively. This shows the relationship between human behaviour and development towards
adherence to law and legal systems. Laws like the Indian Constitution, its Preamble and
Fundamental Duties are very much concerned with these as they feel nobler spirit of the
Preamble and Fundamental Duties ought to be imbibed. And this needs the support of many
things other than man’s relationship only with himself (Reis, Collins & Berscheid, 2000).
Based on this knowledge of psychology of the human behaviour which is helpful to
understand law-habits of people, it will not be an overestimation or over-assessment to
conclude that an ancient document such as Bhagavad Gita which is guiding the conscience of
the human societies for 1000s of years will prove effective in achieving the Constitutional
ethos and principles given in the Preamble and Fundamental Duties. In the context of an
interdisciplinary study promoting integral dimensions between law and Bhagavad Gita
studying their overlapping elements with constitutional law principles is a welcome trend for
scholars and legal researchers. Let us listen to one of the ardent practitioners of Bhagavad
Gita, Swami Krishnananda who speaks the language of the law in the way it is explained
above. He says the following (Swami Krishnananda, 2015).
When we fulfill the requirements of law, abide by the law that reigns supreme or operates in
the atmosphere, that law is supposed to take care of us. Law protects. It does not always
punish. It protects when we abide by it. It punishes when we disregard and disobey it. Our
sufferings in life are therefore to be attributed to our disobedience of the law that operates in
this world. We may be thinking that we are obeying a kind of law of a particular country, of a
community and a family in which we are born. We think that is all-in-all, and that is enough
to take care of us. But we know that if we are confined merely to the obedience of the law that
prevails only within our family, and are disobedient to the law of the nation as a whole, our
obedience to the family-law is not going to help us. The national law will pursue us, because
we have disregarded it, notwithstanding the fact that we are humbly obedient to the family-
law. And we can extend the analogy, further. The international law is also important, and if
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we kick it aside, as if it is nothing, and we are obstinately patriotic in respect of our own little
country, that also would not be a solace to us. Our whole country can be placed in a
precarious situation because of its disobedience to the international set-up of things. Such is
the case with everything, everywhere. We may be obedient to the little laws of this land, but
we may be disobedient to a higher law, not merely the international law, but the inter-
planary law, the universal law as we may call it. That may take action against us if we are
ignorant of its workings. The Bhagavadgita displays before us the structure of the universal
law that operates everywhere. And if we can abide by it, it shall supremely protect us as the
protection that we can expect from the Central Constitution of a Government, and our little
laws are subsumed under it. Such is the beauty of this message, the Bhagavadgita.
Finally be it Plato’s perfect society (Levin, 2015) or Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘India of My
Dreams’ (Gandhi, 1947), Constitutional spirit of Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity
remains the same, guiding our human behaviour.
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1
Hereinafter referred as BG.
2
All Sanskrit verses of Bhagavad Gita, their meaning and translation as mentioned in this article are
taken from website: http://asitis.com
3
AIIMS Students’ Union vs AIIMS (2002) 1 SCC, 428, Ranganath Mishra vs Union of India (2003) 7
SCC 133, KRK Vara Prasad vs Union of India, (1980) AIR, AP 243, Mohan vs Union of India (1992)
Suppl 1 SCC, 594, Ramprarasad vs State of Uttar Pradesh, AIR, 1988 All (309)
245
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Overlapping Elements Between Law and Bhagavad Gita

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JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC RESEARCH FOR MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Impact Factor 1.625, ISSN: 2320-5083, Volume 3, Issue 8, September 2015

INTRODUCING INTEGRAL DIMENSIONS BETWEEN LAW AND BHAGAVAD

KEYWORDS: Bhagavad Gita, Constitution of India, Directive Principles of State Policy,

Bhagavad Gita and its Importance and Timeless Message

Overlapping Elements and Constitutional Law Principles

Preamble of the Indian Constitution (Ministry of Law & Justice, 2007):

Meaning: Ch. 18 Verse 48

Fundamental Duties (Ministry of Law & Justice, 2007):

‘Principle of Thinking Automatically’, ‘Principle of Thinking Socially’, and finally ‘Principle

Retrieved from International Journals of Multi Dimensional Research website:

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