ABSTRACT
This chapter looks closely at the commentaries of a select group of Indian national leaders on the Bhagavad-gītā: Mohandas Gandhi, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and Sri Aurobindo. The Bhg’s call to action in the world was like a spiritual tocsin to the leaders of the modern Indian nationalist movement who were Hindu. Many in the nationalist movement saw their struggle as not merely a mundane battle, but a spiritual one. The sentiment was not uncommon among the nationalists to understand that India had suffered the depredations of British imperialism and even the earlier Muslim dominance in part because India had lost its way spiritually. So the 20th century saw a proliferation of commentaries on the Bhg by men of action, who felt that the insights of the ancient text were not only relevant, but necessary to help guide their struggle.
