Bhubaneswar: The Madras High Court has observed that the Bhagavad Gita is a work of “moral science” and an intrinsic part of “Bharatiya civilisation”, rather than a purely religious text. The remarks were made by Justice G R Swaminathan while hearing a petition filed by the Arsha Vidya Parampara Trust challenging an order of the Union Home Ministry under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA).
The Home Ministry had rejected the trust’s FCRA registration, citing alleged receipt of foreign contributions without prior permission and categorising the organisation as a religious body based on its activities, including imparting teachings from the Bhagavad Gita.
Disagreeing with this characterisation, Justice Swaminathan held that the Bhagavad Gita transcends the narrow definition of a religious scripture. “The Bhagavad Gita is not a religious book. It is rather a moral science,” the court observed, adding that it embodies philosophical wisdom evolved by India’s ancestors.
The judge further noted that the same understanding would apply to Vedanta, which he described as pure philosophy rooted in India’s civilisational heritage. Teaching or disseminating such philosophical ideas, the court said, cannot automatically render an institution religious in nature for the purposes of the FCRA.
The observation is significant in the broader debate on the classification of Indian philosophical texts and may have wider implications for organisations engaged in the study and propagation of traditional Indian knowledge systems.
-OdishaAge
