Wednesday Thought

In today’s blog, I am writing about a true Gandhian, who was not a politician, and he devoted his full life for the upliftment of downtrodden and today’s modern generation is generally unaware  about this person. He is

VINOBA BHAVE

Vinayaka Narahari Bhave (Vinoba Bhave) was born on 11 September 1895 in a small village called Gagoji in Kolaba in the Konkan region of what is now Maharashtra. His father was a trained weaver with a rationalist modern outlook, and worked in Baroda. Vinayaka was brought up by his grandfather, Shamburao Bhave and was greatly influenced by his mother Rukmini Devi, a religious woman from Karnataka He was highly inspired after reading the Bhagwat Gita at a very young age

A report in the newspapers about Gandhi’s speech at the newly founded Banaras Hindu University attracted Bhave’s attention.. He wrote a letter to Gandhi and after an exchange of letters, Gandhi advised Bhave to come for a personal meeting at Ashram in Ahmedabad .Bhave met Gandhi and subsequently abandoned his studies. Bhave participated with keen interest in the activities at Gandhi’s ashram, like teaching, studying, spinning and improving the life of the community. His involvement with Gandhi’s constructive programmes related to Khadi village industries, new education  of sanitation and hygiene also kept on increasing.

Bhave went to Wardha in April 1921 to take charge of the Ashram as desired by Gandhi. Bhave was arrested several times during the 1920s and 1930s and served a five-year jail sentence in the 1940s for leading non-violent resistance British Rule The jails for Bhave had become the places of reading and writing. He gave a series of talks on Bhagavad Gita in Marathi, to his fellow prisoners.. He gained national prominence when Gandhi chose him as the first participant in a new nonviolent campaign in 1940. All were calling him in his short name, Vinoba.^.

He was associated withGandhiji in the independence movement. He stayed for some time at Gandhi’s Sabarmati ashram in a cottage that was named after him, ‘Vinoba Kutir. In 1940 he was chosen by Gandhi to be the first individual Satyagrahi against the British rule.It is said that Gandhi envied and respected Bhave’s celibacy, a vow he made in his adolescence, in fitting with his belief in the Bhramcharya principle. Bhave also participated in the Quit India movement.

Bhave’s religious outlook was very broad and it synthesised the truths of many religions. This can be seen in one of his hymns “Om Tat Sat” which contains symbols of many religions. His slogan Jai  Jagat i.e. “victory to the world” finds reflection in his views about the world as a whole.

After independence,Bhave observed the life of the average Indian living in a village and tried to find solutions for the problems he faced with a firm spiritual foundation. This formed the core of his movement. Another example of this is the Bhoodan (land gift) movement started in April 1951. He walked all across India asking people with land to consider him as one of their sons and so give him one sixth of their land which he then distributed to landless poor. Non Violence and compassion being a hallmark of his philosophy, he also campaigned against the slaughtering of cows.

Bhave walked all over India for 13 years and established 6 ashrams.

The Brahma Vidya Mandir is one of the ashrams that Bhave created. It is a small community for women that was created in order for them to become self-sufficient and non-violent in a community

Since its founding in 1959, members of Brahma Vidya Mandir (BVM), an intentional community for women in Paunar, Maharashtra, have dealt with the struggle of translating Gandhian values such as self-sufficiency, non-violence, and public-service into specific practices of food production and consumption. BVM is a small community in India, therefore it does not hold much power in its beliefs and practices. However, India today proudly proclaims its large and growing middle class, and although many see Gandhi as a hero, some reject his views in favour of US-style-consumerism and look for an alternate route in agriculture with technological advancements. The existence of BVM provides a counter-narrative on enacting alternate agriculture practices and social practices that were believed by woman back in the 1960s.

Vinoba Bhave was a scholar, thinker, and writer who produced numerous books. He was a translator who made Sanskrit texts accessible to the common man.

Bhave had translated the Bhagvat Gita into Marathi. He was deeply influenced by the Gita and attempted to imbibe its teachings into his life, often stating that “The Gita is my life’s breath”

Some of his works are:

• The essence of Quran
• The essence of Christian teachings

On 18 April 1951 Bhave started his land donation movement at Pochampally of Nalgonda district Telengana, the Bhoodan Movement. He took donated land from land owner Indians and gave it away to the poor and landless, for them to cultivate. Then after 1954, he started to ask for donations of whole villages in a programme he called Gramdan. He got more than 1000 villages by way of donation. Out of these, he obtained 175 donated villages in Tamil Nadu alone.

Bhave spent the later part of his life at his Brahma Vidya Mandir ashram in Paunar in Wardha district of Maharashtra. He died on 15 November 1982 after refusing food and medicine for a few days by accepting “Samadhi Maran” as described in Jainism.The then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi who was visiting Moscow to attend the funeral of Soviet leader Brezhnev cut short her visit to be at the Bhave’s funeral.

In 1958 Bhave was the first recipient of the International Magasay Award for Community Leadership. He was also  awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1983.

Awaiting your comments/feed backs/views.

Anil Malik

Mumbai, India

16^th Jan 2019