Apart from the legal and public interest causes that Gandhi immersed himself in, he also began to spent time on matters religious. It was his Christian friends who influenced him the most during his early South African days. While in Johannesburg later, it was the Theosophical Society and its members that influenced him to a great extent. 

One can also find that Gandhi spent a lot of time in reading books on Hinduism and discussing the tenets of Hinduism with those who are interested. The Bhagavad Gita, the Yogasutras of the Sage Patanjali, Rajayogam by Swami Vivekananda were some of the books he sought after and began studying. 

He organized a small group of people who were interested in studying religious texts. Gandhi and some of his friends made it a daily practice reading the original Sanskrit text of the Bhagavad Gita side by side with its translation in English. Learning by heart one or two stanzas from the Bhagavad Gita became a routine business with this group. The reading of the Gita became a regular practice with him every day.