MORARJI DESAI ON THE GITA
Morarji Desai was an Indian politician and Independence
activisit. He served as the Prime Minister of India between 1977 and 1979
leading the government formed by the Janata Party.
According to his biography titled the Story of My Life he was born on 29
February 1896 in Bhadeli. A small village in the present State of Gujarat. He
died in Mumbai (then Bombay) on April 10, 1995 at the age of 99, making him the
world’s oldest former head of government at the time of his passing away. He
was conferred with India’s highest civilian honour. the Bharat Ratna.
During his life time he held many
official positions and was always known for his moral uprightness.
Given below is his permanent
approach to anger after reading the
Hindu sacred book the Gita. He says that by reading the following verses he was
convinced that a man lost his temper only when he had no argument left and that,
if he had done something wrong, he tried to suppress the fact by getting angry instead
of accepting his fault.
The four verses of the Gita which he
cited were:
By becoming angry, you confuse your
mind. By confusing your mind, you forget the lesson of experience. By forgetting
experience, you lose discrimination; and by losing discrimination, you miss
life’s only purpose.
“The Gita, says Morarji Desai, is essentially
a book of religion for all human beings. It is relevant and useful in all times
and situations and for all human societies and individuals. I was convinced
that the mind could find peace in any difficulty from the Gita. It is such a
wonderful book. It was from this study that I could get better control over my
temper.”
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G.R.Kanwal
7th December 2025
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