Mahatma Gandhi credited his commitment for "ahimsa" to the "Gita". For Gandhi, the "Gita" is teaching that people should fight for justice and righteous values, that they should never meekly suffer injustice to avoid a war. According to the Indologist Ananya Vajpeyi, the "Gita" does not elaborate on the means or stages of war, nor on "ahimsa", except for stating that ""ahimsa" is virtuous and characterizes an awakened, steadfast, ethical man" in verses such as 13.7–10 and 16.1–5. For Gandhi, states Vajpeyi, "ahimsa" is the "relationship between self and other" while he and his fellow Indians battled against the colonial rule. Gandhian ahimsa is in fact "the essence of the entire "Gita"", according to Vajpeyi. The teachings of the "Gita" on "ahimsa" are ambiguous, states Arvind Sharma, and this is best exemplified by the fact that Nathuram Godse stated the "Gita" as his inspiration to do his "dharma" after he assassinated Mahatma Gandhi. Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk and author of books on Zen Buddhism, concurs with Gandhi and states that the "Gita" is not teaching violence nor propounding a "make war" ideology. Instead, it is teaching peace and discussing one's duty to examine what is right and then act with pure intentions, when one's faces difficult and repugnant choices.