The Bhagavad Gita, Vinoba Bhave, and Thomas Merton

In 1960, the Catholic monk, Thomas Merton (1915-1968), received a copy of the Talks on the Gita. This commentary on the Bhagavad Gita was written by Vinoba Bhave, disciple, confidant, and spiritual successor to Mahatma Gandhi. The book has a marked impact on Merton, providing him with a framework and language to process his vocational crisis in 1960, to bear non-violent witness in 1962, and to critique contemporary spirituality in 1965. In this paper, we explore a transition in Merton’s understanding of the Gita. We argue that, with the Talks on the Gita, Merton comes to understand the Gita as a text of both personal and universal application, and to see Vinoba as an inter-religious sage. Merton envisions Vinoba and his teachings as universally applicable: transcending ideological boundaries and broadening his more global worldview. Merton’s efforts proffer relevant questions about the identification, meaning, and lived experience of “multiple religious belonging.”