Waiting, Meaning, and Illusion: Reading Waiting for Godot through the Lens of the Bhagavad Gita
This blog is written as a task assigned by the head of the Department of English (MKBU), Prof. and Dr. Dilip Barad Sir. Here is the link to the Syllabus for background reading: Click here.
Here is the Mind Map of this blog: Click here
Introduction:
Samuel Beckett’s 'Waiting for Godot' is widely regarded as one of the most significant works of the Theatre of the Absurd. The play presents a bleak yet profound portrayal of human existence, characterized by waiting, uncertainty, cyclical time, and the apparent absence of meaning. Traditionally, critics have interpreted the play through existentialist and modernist frameworks influenced by European philosophical traditions. However, in recent years, interdisciplinary approaches have encouraged scholars to examine Western literary texts through non-Western philosophical lenses. One such approach is the application of Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), particularly the philosophical teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, to reinterpret Beckett’s dramatic universe.
The pedagogical model of integrating IKS with Western literature is increasingly encouraged in postgraduate literary studies, especially in alignment with interdisciplinary learning and critical pedagogy. A classroom framework designed for MA English students demonstrates how concepts such as karma, maya, kala, and detachment from the Bhagavad Gita can deepen our understanding of Absurd drama and the existential crisis portrayed in Waiting for Godot.
This blog explores how reading Waiting for Godot through the philosophical insights of the Bhagavad Gita transforms our understanding of waiting, action, time, and meaning in human life.
Section A: Conceptual Warm-Up (Short Answers)
1. In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna experiences vishada (existential crisis). Briefly explain how Vladimir and Estragon experience a similar crisis in Waiting for Godot.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna’s vishada (despair) arises when he confronts the meaninglessness of war, the fragility of human relationships, and the moral confusion about duty. His crisis is existential because he questions the purpose of action, life, and righteousness until Krishna provides philosophical guidance.
Similarly, in Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, Vladimir and Estragon experience an existential crisis through endless waiting, uncertainty, and lack of meaning. They are unsure why they wait for Godot, what their purpose is, or whether their actions have any significance. Their repetitive conversations, boredom, and thoughts of suicide reveal anxiety, despair, and spiritual emptiness, much like Arjuna’s initial state of confusion and helplessness.
Difference:
Arjuna’s crisis leads to resolution and insight through philosophical teaching, whereas Vladimir and Estragon remain trapped in uncertainty, receiving no clear answer or guidance. Thus, Beckett presents a modern, absurdist version of vishada where meaning is never fully revealed.
2. Krishna emphasises karma (action) without attachment to results. How does Beckett portray the absence or failure of karma in the play?
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna teaches karma-yoga, the principle of performing one’s duty with dedication but without attachment to results. Action itself is meaningful because it sustains order (dharma) and leads to inner growth.
In contrast, in Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, karma is absent or ineffective. Vladimir and Estragon do not engage in purposeful action; instead, they remain passive, waiting for Godot to give their lives meaning. Their attempts at action deciding to leave, thinking of suicide, or making plans always collapse into inaction. This paralysis suggests that in the absurd world of the play, action neither leads to progress nor produces meaningful results.
Thus, while Krishna presents action as the path to meaning, Beckett portrays a modern condition in which the failure or suspension of action results in stagnation, uncertainty, and existential emptiness.
3. The Gita presents time (Kala) as cyclical and eternal. Identify two moments in Waiting for Godot that reflect cyclical time.
In the Bhagavad Gita, time (Kala) is understood as cyclical, eternal, and repetitive, where events recur in cosmic rhythms.
In Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, cyclical time is reflected in several moments:
1. Repetition of the Two Acts
At the beginning of Act II, Vladimir and Estragon return to the same road and tree, repeating almost the same conversations and actions as in Act I. Nothing essentially changes, creating a sense that time moves in a circle rather than in a straight line.
2. The Boy’s Repeated Message
At the end of both acts, the boy arrives to say that Godot will not come today but will come tomorrow. This repeated message reinforces the idea of endless postponement, where each day resembles the previous one and the waiting continues indefinitely.
Thus, Beckett portrays time as static and repetitive, resembling the cyclical nature of time described in the Gita, but without the spiritual meaning or renewal that the Gita associates with cosmic cycles.
Section B: Guided Close Reading (Text + IKS)
Read the following idea carefully:
“Godot is not a character but an expectation.”
Answer the questions below:
1. How does this idea change your understanding of the title Waiting for Godot?
2. Compare Godot with any one concept from the Bhagavad Gita:
- Maya (illusion)
- Phala (fruit of action)
- Asha (hope/desire)
- Ishvara (idea of God)
In Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, the idea that “Godot is not a character but an expectation” shifts our understanding of the title. The play is not truly about a person named Godot; rather, it is about the human condition of waiting for meaning, change, or salvation. The emphasis falls on the act of waiting itself, which reveals the characters’ dependence on something external to give purpose to their lives. The title therefore symbolizes a universal state of anticipation rather than a literal meeting.
Godot can be meaningfully compared with Asha (hope or desire) in the Bhagavad Gita. In the Gita, hope and desire often bind human beings to attachment and suffering when they depend on future results instead of present action. Similarly, Vladimir and Estragon remain trapped because their hope in Godot prevents them from acting or creating meaning on their own. However, the Gita ultimately advises overcoming attachment through disciplined action, while Beckett presents a world in which hope continues endlessly without resolution. Thus, Godot represents hope that sustains life but also imprisons it in perpetual waiting.
Section C: Comparative Thinking (IKS + Absurdism)
Complete the table below:
Concept in Bhagavad Gita Explanation Parallel in Waiting for Godot
- Karma (Action)
- Nishkama Karma
- Maya
- Kala (Time)
- Moksha / Liberation
Arjuna: O Krishna, as a student of literature, I have been reading a play called Waiting for Godot. I find it strange and unsettling. Two men wait endlessly for someone who never arrives. What does this waiting mean?
Krishna: Arjuna, what you see in that play is a reflection of the human mind. Waiting, in this sense, is not only physical but spiritual and psychological. Human beings often believe that meaning lies somewhere in the future when success comes, when circumstances change, or when someone appears to guide them.
Arjuna: But, Madhava, in the play nothing truly happens. The men talk, quarrel, grow tired, and yet continue to wait. Is this not meaningless?
Krishna: It appears meaningless because they do not understand the value of action. They depend on an external event Godot’s arrival to give purpose to their lives. When a person postpones meaning in this way, life begins to feel empty. The present moment is lost in the hope of tomorrow.
Arjuna: So their suffering comes not from waiting itself, but from their dependence on what may never happen?
Krishna: Just so. Waiting can be peaceful when it is joined with awareness and action, but it becomes suffering when it is filled with anxiety and illusion. Those men neither act nor transform themselves; therefore, time moves, yet their lives do not move with it.
Arjuna: I begin to see. As students of literature, we often say the play shows the absurd condition of humanity people searching for meaning in a silent universe.
Krishna: And that insight is valuable. Yet remember, Arjuna, the lesson is not only about despair. It is also a reminder. Meaning is not granted by some distant arrival; it is shaped by understanding, by right action, and by clarity of mind.
Arjuna: Then the true teaching hidden in their waiting is that one must not surrender one’s life to expectation alone.
Krishna: Indeed. To wait without awareness is bondage; to act with wisdom is freedom. That is the difference between confusion and understanding.
Section E: Critical Reflection (Metacognition)
1. How does using Indian Knowledge Systems change your reading of a Western modernist text?
Using Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) changes the reading of a Western modernist text by providing alternative philosophical frameworks to interpret themes such as suffering, time, action, and meaning. Western modernist works such as Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett often present life as fragmented, absurd, and lacking clear purpose. When read only within a Western existential context, the play emphasizes despair, meaninglessness, and alienation.
However, when interpreted through IKS, especially ideas from the Bhagavad Gita, the same themes can be understood differently. Concepts like karma (right action), maya (illusion), asha (hope or desire), and kala (cyclical time) provide a philosophical lens that explains human suffering not as pure absurdity but as part of a deeper metaphysical or psychological condition. For example, the endless waiting of Vladimir and Estragon may be seen as a form of attachment or dependence on external meaning, which the Gita advises one to transcend through self-awareness and action.
Thus, IKS does not simply replace the modernist interpretation but enriches it, allowing readers to compare two civilizational perspectives: one that highlights existential uncertainty, and another that seeks inner balance and spiritual insight. This comparative approach deepens critical understanding and reveals the universality of human concerns across cultures.
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