Knowledge Through Disciplic Succession 51
methods. He must understand it as prescribed in  Bhagavad-gītā  itself, by understanding it as Arjuna understood it. If we wish to understand  Bhagavad-gītā  in a different way, or give an individual interpretation, that may be an exhibition of our scholarship, but it is not  Bhagavad-gītā .
By scholarship we may be able to manufacture some theory of  Bhagavad-gītā , just as Mahātmā Gandhi did when he interpreted  Bhagavad-gītā  in an effort to support his theory of nonviolence. How is it possible to prove nonviolence from  Bhagavad-gītā ? The very theme of  Bhagavad-gītā  involves Arjuna's reluctance to fight and Kṛṣṇa's inducing him to kill his opponents. In fact, Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna that the battle had already been decided by the Supreme, that the people who were assembled on the battlefield were predestined never to return. It was Kṛṣṇa's program that the warriors were all destined to die, and Kṛṣṇa gave Arjuna the opportunity of taking the credit of conquering them. If fighting is proclaimed a necessity in  Bhagavad-gītā , how is it possible to prove nonviolence from it? Such interpretations are attempts to distort  Bhagavad-gītā . As soon as the  Gītā  is interpreted according to the motive of an individual, the purpose is lost. It is stated that we cannot attain the conclusion of the Vedic literature by the force of our own logic or argument. There are many things which do not come within the jurisdiction of our sense of logic. As far as scriptures are concerned, we find different scriptures describing the Absolute Truth in different ways. If we analyze all of them, there will be bewilderment.