Acharya Vinoba Bhave (1895-1982) is undoubtedly one of the greatest personalities of the last century. Acclaimed as 'Gandhi's spiritual successor' he was, in fact, a successor to most of the ancient spiritual traditions of the world. Philosophy, metaphysics, sociology, political science, pedagogy, economics-there was hardly any subject that his genius did not touch and in which he did not contribute novel, original and insightful ideas. Those ideas assume more importance in the light of the fact that Vinoba was not only a theoretician, but he also practised what he preached, and demonstrated the practicality of what he conceived. The Bhoodan-Yajna, which he initiated and led, gave more than 2.5 million acres of land to the poor agricultural labourers. This has no parallel in the history of the world.
Vinoba's books, most of which are compilations on different subjects culled from his speeches and writings, have been, and are being, published in various Indian languages. However, only a few of them have been published in English. Hence most of his writings have remained inaccessible in English. This is a serious deficiency, when English is the most widely known international language and the perplexed world urgently needs to become aware of Vinoba's experiential wisdom.
This is what prompted me to resolve to prepare a few books in English by editing and translating Vinoba's thoughts on different subjects, which have not been covered in Vinoba's available literature in English, despite being fully aware of my incompetence to do the job, simply because it has not yet been attempted. The attempt is to give a broad outline of some of Vinoba's thoughts with the hope that they would motivate the readers to delve into Vinoba's timeless wisdom.
'Vichar-Pothi' is a collection of stray thoughts, which Vinoba noted down for some time, between 1928 and 1931. Its style is unique. It has no particular form. The thoughts are not of the same type; some appear ordinary, while the depth in some is unfathomable. They are not logically or systematically arranged, neither subject-wise nor in any other way. Yet they show Vinoba's keen observation, deep scholarship, mastery over words, and even a sense of humour. They are backed by prolonged reflection and experimentation. Naturally, there is no vagueness or tentativeness in them. They demonstrate that Vinoba's philosophy of life had been formed at that time. 'Vichar-Pothi' presents it in a succinct style.
When the book was first published (in Marathi), it had 736 thoughts. Later, Vinoba omitted 36. Editions in Indian languages have been published thereafter with 700 thoughts. However, there are only 594 thoughts in this English translation. The reasons are many. Some thoughts, as Vinoba himself has stated, are intelligible to their author alone. Some thoughts have references to stories and characters from Indian mythology; and although they are fairly intelligible to Indian readers, the English edition would require long footnotes. Some reflections are simply untranslatable. Had Vinoba been around, he could have been consulted about the meanings of some unintelligible and esoteric thoughts. But that is not posible now. Readers will have, therefore, to be satisfied with what could be presented here, at least for the time being.
'Vichar-Pothi', in fact, needs an elaborate commentary to unravel mysterious import and unfold hidden significance in many reflections. Aphorisms, as is well accepted, do need commentaries.
'Vichar-Pothi was first translated by Vasant Nargolkar, a veteran sarvodaya worker, who had written a few books on Vinoba's thoughts, and had the benefit of having contact with him. The translation, titled 'Random Reflections' was published in 1971. However, it has been out of print for many years. I have thoroughly revised the book before preparing this second edition. Although I have tried to retain as much matter from the original translation as I thought fit, responsibility of what appears here, as well as for errors and deficiencies, of course, remains entirely mine.
I am happy that Sarva Seva Sangh Prakashan has taken initiative for the publication of this book as an e-book, while Paramdham Prakashan is publishing it in printed form. Vidarbha Bhoodan-Gramdan Sahayog Samiti and Bhoodan-yajna Mandal, Vidarbha have provided financial assistance to this project. I am grateful to them. I also take this opportunity to thank my friend Kishor Deshpande for the pains he has taken in going through the manuscript and giving valuable suggestions. Readers are welcome to point out errors and deficiencies and suggest modifications.
1 The set-up of my life has been experimentation through meditation and meditation through experimentation. This is what call nididhyasa (constant contemplation). It gives rise to thoughts and ideas. Normally, I am not inclined to record them. But once in a certain state of my mind, I felt inclined to do so. Not that I started noting down all the thoughts; I wrote down only a few. It is of those that this short volume is made. Fortunately, that tendency did not last long. It subsided within a few days.
There was no idea of publishing this collection of thoughts. That is why it remained just a sheaf of loose papers. Moreover, most of the thoughts were expressed in such a style that they were intelligible to their author alone. Yet the curious started making copies of the manuscript. About a hundred and fifty such copies were probably made during the last twelve years. But as bad spelling and illegible handwriting have of late become widely prevalent, and also because not every copy was made from the original, many wrong readings crept into those copies. Consequently, a few sayings became meaningless. Hence, at last, this printed edition had to be taken out.
These reflections are not like well-known maxims. A maxim has to have form. These are almost formless. Nor are they like aphorisms. Aphorisms require a logical construction. These have been expressed freely. What should then these be called? I call them just 'mutterings'. These thoughts, undoubtedly, have the support of ancient scriptures, but they are also independent in their own way. If I may use the words of Jnanadeva, this may be described as an attempt to repay the debt of the linguistic heritage of our predecessors.
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