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.
The science of spirituality is India's greatest gift to the world. This land has been producing spiritual masters since antiquity. Vinoba belongs to their distinguished community.
Spirituality attained great heights in India. Vinoba was one of the few who not only assimilated the ancient wisdom in India, but also the wisdom in other traditions. But he also believed that it was wrong to assume that there was no further scope for progress in spirituality. Just as science is continually making great strides, spirituality should also continue to make progress; in fact, it should be a step ahead of science. This was not just a matter of faith for him; he demonstrated its veracity through his own unique contribution. The ideas of collective spiritual pursuit and collective liberation, confluence of science and spirituality and the prime place of productive manual labour in the spiritual pursuit are some of his distinctive ideas, which have much to contribute to the progress in spirituality.
Fascination for spirituality is increasing in the post-modern world. There is no dearth of self-styled godmen. Most of them are concerned with offering psychological solace to their flock, rather than elevating them morally and spiritually. Vinoba was poles apart from them. He did not just reiterate the ancient wisdom, he reinterpreted it with refreshing insights. He challenged those who cared to pay heed to him to experiment with their own lives, to purify their own lives. For him, spirituality was not for pursuit of psychic powers, but for purification of mind and of practical affairs, of the whole individual and social life. He held that power would follow purification.
Being totally saturated with spirituality, whatever Vinoba wrote or spoke had its flavour. His 'Talks on the Gita' can be considered and has indeed served as-a primer of spirituality. His 'The Seadfast Wisdom' can be considered an advanced textbook. He broadcasted spiritual truths not only through metaphysical discourse but also through the elaboration of his political, economic, social and educational thoughts.
It is therefore certainly useful to have a book giving a gist of his ideas on spirituality in a systematic manner, for both the seekers and the laymen. This book has been prepared in this view, mainly from the material compiled in Vol. 14 of 'Vinoba Sahitya' (Selected works of Vinoba in Hindi), edited by Kalindi.
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. Readers are welcome to point out errors and deficiencies and suggest modifications.
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