The Isavasya Riddle

 

- Jaithirth Rao

MAHATMA GANDHI continues to be quoted by people of different political persuasions. He is seen by some as a “friend of capitalists” and by others as a “votary of socialism”. It is my contention that in order to understand Gandhi’s position on political economy, one needs to understand the sources of Gandhi’s ideas. Who influenced him and how? Gandhi was an English barrister and clearly Common Law concerns about trusts and trusteeship were part of his education and training. He was very friendly with Quakers, who almost certainly influenced him with respect to pacifism. Quakers have also had fairly strong views on issues like slavery, wealth, inherited wealth and so on. In the religious field, the influences of the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramcharitmanas, Gujarati Vaishnava hymns and the Sermon on the Mount are well-known. In this article, I propose to review the influence that the Isavasya Upanishad had on Gandhi and how it accounts for his surprisingly unusual and radical views on wealth, capitalism and trusteeship.

The Mahatma was not acquainted with Sanskrit. But we are told that he read not only the Theosophists’ English translation of the Upanishads, but several other variants as well. What is not in question is his saying that if all other Hindu scriptures were lost, and only the opening verses of the Isa Upanishad were preserved, then Hinduism, or at least Hinduism as Gandhi visualised it, would still survive. This is a pretty strong endorsement of the Upanishad and tells us that while the Gita, the Manas and Vaishnava hymns were undoubtedly important in the development of Gandhi’s persona, the Upanishads and this one in particular, need greater attention on the part of Gandhian scholars. The