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.
A sage, a philosopher, a reformer and a revolutionary, a man of letters-Vinoba was all these, and yet the people in India, particularly the simple village folk, looked upon him as a saint. And as a 'Saint on the March's that the world came to know him. Indeed, Vinoba was a link in the long chain of saints that India produced.
With the heart full of devotion and compassion, Vinoba naturally empathized with the hearts of the saints. His writings on the saints has, therefore, a rare touch of something transcendental.
During the course of his walking tour for thirteen years for Bhoodan-Gramdan (Land-gift and village-gift) Movement, Vinoba traversed the whole of India from Kashmir to Tamil Nadu and from Gujarat to Assam. To reach the hearts of the people in every region and strike a chord in the hearts of the listeners, he studied the literature of saints in every language-he knew all the major languages of India reasonably well. He would quote from that literature profusely to drive home his points, besides referring to the lives and teaching of the saints whom the people revered, and whose words had given them comfort and stregth to face trials and tribulations.
It was Vinoba, who acquainted The rest of India with the great Assamese saint duo of Shri Shankardeva and Shri Madhavdeva, who are household names in Assam. He extracted the essence of the latter's celebrated work, 'Namaghosha'. He also condensed Tulsidas' 'Vinay-patrika'. From Lalla of Kashmir to Thiruvalluvar of Tamil Nadu and from Narasinha Mehta of Gujarat to Chaitanya of Odisha-there was hardly any popular saint on whom Vinoba did not speak or write.
Being a Maharashtrian, Vinoba was well versed in the devotional literature in Marathi. His selections from Jnanadeva, Namadeva, Eknath, Tukaram and Ramdas, five major saints in middle ages, present the essence of their teaching. Jannadeva was one of the three great men who had influenced Vinoba the most (the other two were Shankaracharya and Gandhi). His commentary on Jnanadeva's abhangas (devotional songs) ('Jnanadeva Chintanika') is a spiritual classic, written in the state of deep absorption. Sadly, it has not yet been translated in English. His commentary on some of the abhangas of Tukaram ('Santancha prasad') is also noteworthy.
What Vinoba spoke or wrote on various saints has been compiled in Vol. 9, 10 and 11 of 'Vinoba Sahitya' (Selected works of Vinoba in Hindi) by Gautam Bajaj. It is mainly on the basis of the material therein that this book has been prepared.
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 Bhoodanyajna Mandal, Vidarbha have provided financial assistance to this project. I am grateful to them. I also take this opportunity to thank Shri B.J.K. Tampi, ex-D.G. Police 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.
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