= Vinoba_Bhave =

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= Vinoba_Bhave =
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Introduction
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Vinayak Narahar Bhave, also known as Vinoba Bhave (; 11 September 1895
- 15 November 1982), was an Indian advocate of nonviolence and human
rights. Often called 'Acharya' (Teacher in Sanskrit), he is best known
for the Bhoodan Movement. He is considered as National Teacher of
India and the spiritual successor of Mahatma Gandhi. He was an eminent
philosopher. He translated the Bhagavad Gita into the Marathi language
by him with the title 'Geetai' (meaning 'Mother Gīta' in Marathi).

Early life and background
======================================================================
Vinayak Narahar Bhave was born on 11 September 1895 in a small village
called Gagoji (present-day Gagode Budruk) in Kolaba in the Konkan
region of what is now Maharashtra. Vinayaka was the eldest son of
Narahar Shambhu Rao and Rukmani Devi. The couple had five children;
four sons named Vinayaka (affectionately called Vinya), Balakrishna,
Shivaji and Dattatreya, and one daughter Shanti. His father was a
trained weaver with a modern rationalist 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. Vinayaka was highly inspired after reading the Bhagavad
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. In 1916, after
reading a newspaper piece by Mahatma Gandhi, Bhave threw his school
and college certificates into a fire on his way to Bombay to appear
for the intermediate examination.
He wrote a letter to Gandhi and after an exchange of letters, Gandhi
advised Bhave to come for a personal meeting at Kochrab Ashram in
Ahmedabad. Bhave met Gandhi on 7 June 1916 and subsequently abandoned
his studies. Bhave participated with a keen interest in the activities
at Gandhi's Sabarmati ashram, like teaching, studying, spinning and
improving the lives of the community. His involvement with Gandhi's
constructive programmes related to Khadi, village industries, new
education (Nai Talim), sanitation and hygiene also kept on increasing.

Bhave went to Wardha on 8 April 1921 to take charge of the Ashram as
desired by Gandhi. In 1923, he brought out 'Maharashtra Dharma', a
Marathi monthly which had his essays on the Upanishads. Later on, this
monthly became a weekly and continued for three years. In 1925, Gandhi
sent him to Vaikom, Kerala to supervise the entry of the Harijans to
the temple.

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 to British rule. The jails for Bhave had become the places
of reading and writing. He wrote Ishavasyavritti and Sthitaprajna
Darshan in jail. He also learnt four South Indian languages and
created the script of Lok Nagari at Vellore jail. In the jails, he
gave a series of talks on the Bhagavad Gita in Marathi, to his fellow
prisoners. Bhave participated in the nationwide civil disobedience
periodically conducted against the British and was imprisoned with
other nationalists. Despite these many activities, he was not well
known to the public. He gained national prominence when Gandhi chose
him as the first participant in a new nonviolent campaign in 1940. All
were calling him by his short name, Vinoba.
Bhave's younger brother Balkrishna was also a Gandhian. Gandhi
entrusted him and Manibhai Desai to set up a nature therapy ashram at
Urali Kanchan where Balkrishna spent all his life.

Freedom struggle
==================
He was associated with Mahatma Gandhi in the Indian independence
movement. He stayed for some time at Gandhi's Sabarmati ashram in a
cottage that was named after him, 'Vinoba Kutir'. He gave talks on the
Bhagavad Gita in Marathi to his fellow ashramites. These were later
published in book form, as 'Talks on the Gita', and it has been
translated into many languages both in India and elsewhere. Bhave felt
that the source of these talks was something from above and he
believed that its influence would endure even if his other works were
forgotten.

In the year 1940, he was chosen by Gandhi to be the first individual
Satyagrahi (an individual standing up for Truth instead of a
collective action) against the British colonisation. 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 Brahmacharya principle.
Bhave also participated in the Quit India Movement.

Religious and social work
===========================
Bhave's religious outlook was very broad and it synthesized 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 "जय जगत्" (Jay
Jagat) i.e. "victory to the world" finds reflection in his views about
the world as a whole.

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 'Sarvodaya
movement'. Another example of this is the Bhoodan (land gift) movement
started at Pochampally on 18 April 1951, after interacting with 80
Harijan families. He walked all across India asking people with land
to consider him one of their sons and so gave him one-sixth of their
land which he then distributed to the landless poor. Non-violence and
compassion is a hallmarks of his philosophy, he also campaigned
against the slaughtering of cows.

Bhave said, "I have walked all over India for 13 years. In the
backdrop of the enduring perpetuity of my life's work, I have
established 6 ashrams."

Brahma Vidya Mandir (BVM)
===========================
The Brahma Vidya Mandir was founded in 1959 in Paunar, Maharashtra and
is one of the ashrams established by Bhave. It was created for women
to become self-sufficient and practice non-violence within the
community. They used Gandhi's beliefs, which was heavily influenced by
the 'Bhagavad-Gita', to aid in agricultural practices that were
non-violent and produce sustainable food. The community performed
prayers as a group every day, reciting from the Isha Upanishad at
dawn, the Vishnu Sahasranama at mid-morning, and the 'Bhagavad-Gita'
in the evening. As of today, there are around 25 women who are members
of the community and several men have also been allowed to join the
community.

BVM's existence demonstrates how a self sufficient community can apply
non-violence and radical democracy to their own social and geographic
context in food production. One mainstream narrative is that
large-scale agriculture is "inevitable, necessary, and the sole
possibility of feeding the world" and relies on expensive technology.
However, BVM rejects this narrative and continues to use Gandhian
principles in agriculture such as nonviolence. It is a small community
in India and does not hold much influence to promote its beliefs and
practices in the mainstream. Most agricultural practices in India has
adopted US-style consumerism. BVM is still important as its ideals can
help shape agriculture for the better and focus less on profit.

Literary career
=================
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. He was also an orator and linguist with an excellent
command of several languages (Marathi, Kannada, Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu,
English, and Sanskrit).

Bhave was an innovative social reformer. He called "Kannada" script
the "Queen of World Scripts" ('Vishwa Lipigala Raani'). He wrote brief
introductions to, and criticisms of, several religious and
philosophical works like the Bhagavad Gita, works of Adi
Shankaracharya, the Bible and the Quran. His views of Dnyaneshwar's
poetry and works by other Marathi saints are pretty brilliant and a
testimony to the breadth of his intellect.

Bhave had translated the Bhagavad 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".

Vinoba Bhave University, located in Hazaribagh district in the state
of Jharkhand, is named after him.

Vinoba Bhave and Land Donation Movement
=========================================
On 18 April 1951, Bhave started his land donation movement at
Pochampally of Nalgonda district Telangana, the Bhoodan Movement. He
took donated land from landowner Indians and gave
it away to the poor and landless, for them to cultivate. Then after
1954, he started to ask for donations from whole villages in a
programme he called Gramdan. He got more than 1000 villages by way of
donations. Out of these, he obtained 175 donated villages in Tamil
Nadu alone. Noted Gandhian and an atheist Lavanam was the interpreter
for Bhave during his land reform movement in Andhra Pradesh and parts
of Orissa.

Later life and death
======================================================================
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" / "Santhara" as described in Jainism. Then
the Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, who was visiting Moscow to
attend the funeral of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, cut short her
visit to be at the Bhave's funeral.

Criticism
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V.S. Naipaul has scathingly criticised Bhave in his collection of
essays citing his lack of connection with rationality and excessive
imitation of Gandhi. Even some of his admirers find fault with the
extent of his devotion to Gandhi. Much more controversial was his
support, ranging from covert to open, to the Congress Party's
government under Indira Gandhi, which was fast becoming unpopular. He
controversially backed the Indian Emergency imposed by Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi, calling it 'Anushasana Parva' ('Time for Discipline').
Jayaprakash Narayan in his prison diary during the emergency
sarcastically wrote about the meaning of Anushasan Parva. Congress
party opponents at that time had coined the derogatory term "Sarkari
Sant (Government Saint)" to describe him. Noted Marathi writer Pra Ke
Atre publicly criticised him and mocked him by writing an article
titled "Vanaroba" which is a disambiguation of the name "Vinoba" and
means monkey.

Awards and recognition
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In 1958 Bhave was the first recipient of the international Ramon
Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership. He was awarded the Bharat
Ratna posthumously in 1983.

'Vinoba Bhave, The Man', a documentary film on the social-reformer
directed by Vishram Bedekar was released in 1963. It was produced by
the Government of India's Films Division. Indian film director
Sarvottam Badami had earlier made another documentary on him, 'Vinoba
Bhave', in 1951.

See also
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* List of peace activists
* Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
* Gandhism
* Lanza del Vasto
* Shakuntala Choudhary
* Charu Chandra Bhandari

Further reading
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* 'Vinoba Bhave: The Man and His Mission', by P. D. Tandon. Published
by Vora, 1954.
* 'India's Walking Saint: The Story of Vinoba Bhave', by Hallam
Tennyson. Published by Doubleday, 1955.
* 'Acharya Vinoba Bhave', by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting,
India, Published by Publications Division, Government of India, 1955.
* 'India's Social Miracle: The Story of Acharya Vinoba Bhave and His
Movement for Social Justice and Cooperation, Along with a Key to
America's Future and the Way for Harmony Between Man, Nature, and
God', by Daniel P. Hoffman. He is published by Naturegraph Co., 1961.
* 'Sarvodaya Ideology & Acharya Vinoba Bhave', by V. Narayan Karan
Reddy. Published by Andhra Pradesh Sarvodaya Mandal, 1963.
* 'Vinoba Bhave on self-rule & representative democracy', by
Michael W. Sonnleitner. Published by Promilla & Co., 1988.
* "Vinoba Bhave Pictorial Biography" Kindle Edition by Subhash Pawar ,
2018 .
* 'Struggle for Independence : Vinoba Bhave', by Shiri Ram Bakshi.
Published by Anmol Publications, 1989.
* 'Philosophy of Vinoba Bhave: A New Perspective in Gandhian Thought',
by Geeta S. Mehta. Published by Himalaya Pub. House, 1995. .
* 'Vinoba Bhave - Vyakti Ani Vichar' (a book in Marathi) by Dr Anant
D. Adawadkar, Published by Jayashri Prakashan, Nagpur.
* 'Vinoba Darshan' - a pictorial biography with philosophical views

External links
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*
[https://archive.org/details/Gitaai-AcharyaVinobaBhave-MarathiAudiobook
Vinoba Bhave's Geetai Audio Book]
* [https://archive.org/details/GITAI Vinoba Bhave's Geetai PDF]
* [http://www.vinobabhave.org Website to spread the thoughts,
philosophy and works of Vinoba Bhave ]
* [http://www.markshep.com/nonviolence/GT_Vinoba.html The King of
Kindness: Vinoba Bhave and His Nonviolent Revolution]
* [http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Citation/CitationBhaveVin.htm
Citation for 1958 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership]
* [http://www.bioscand.se/kron/Vinoba.htm Vinoba Bahve - his work on
leprosy (with photo 1979)]
*
[https://web.archive.org/web/20071225153018/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,935318-1,00.html
A Man on Foot - Time magazine cover page article dated Monday, 11 May
1953]

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