“Thinking along these lines, I have felt that in trying to enforce in one’s life the central teaching of the Gita, one is bound to follow Truth and ahimsa.”
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Probable attribution
This saying is widely associated with Mahatma Gandhi, but the attribution is not supported by a reliable primary source.
Likely origin: Gandhi's commentary in 'The Bhagavad Gita According to Gandhi' (Anasaktiyoga); his first-person reflection on the Gita's teaching of Truth and ahimsa.
About this quote
A principle taken seriously doesn't stay abstract; it forces changes in conduct. Live a teaching all the way down and you find it commits you to honesty and to doing no harm, because those follow from it. You can't hold the center and skip its consequences.
When to use it
- Someone who adopts nonviolence as a rule starts rethinking how they argue at home.
- A person who commits to honesty finds it quietly reshaping small daily choices they'd overlooked.
- A reader lets a book's central idea guide a hard decision instead of treating it as theory.