Vinoba

Hallam Tennyson
Any morning at 4 O'clock you can see him and his
companions trudging from village to village under a twilight
sky. Behind, lumbers a covered ox-cart. And it is not until you
look inside this cart you realize that Vinoba is leading a new
kind of pilgrimage. The cart contains articles not usually
indulged in by Indian ascetics, Among the bundles of bedding
there are typewriters, stationery and filing cabinets. For the
cart is the mobile office of a mission which, in two years, has
collected no less than one million acres of land as free gifts for
landless peasants. If it reaches its targets of 50 million, the
mission will have achieved the largest peaceful revolution in
history.
The Land Gift Mission started in 1951. That spring, there
was meeting of rural workers in Hyderabad. Vinoba never
uses money; so he decided to walk to this meeting although it
was some 300 miles away from where he lived. On the way, in
which he passed, he came face to face
every village through
with the misery of the landless peasants. When he reached
to the
Hyderabad he went straight to a village, and appealed
he
landlords, 'If you have four sons and a fifth was born,'
said, would certainly give him a share of your land.
'you
and give me my share.' The
Treat me as your fifth son

was touched. Land was given, and the

landlord's imagination
Land Gift Mission was borm. In his two months in Hyderabad,

Vinoba received nearly 12,000 acres of land in trust for the

landless.
first him six years
met
What is Vinoba's secret? When I
n a m e was known to very
few. He lived in seclusion in
ago, his
undeterred by heat and
a village in Central India. Vinoba,

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dust, sat spinning on the verandah of his mud hut. He talked
of his experiments in self-sufficiency. He had a quick smile
and blinked at me over the top of battered, steel-rimmed
spectacles. Then he turned to his spinning. His thin, frail body
and his grey beard make him look much older than his 57
years: reserved, recluse, austere. I was told that he had once
been a scholar and had given up everything to lead the life of
an obscure peasant. I was awe-struck but a little puzzled. I did
not see how such a life, restricted by its bottle-neck of high
principles, could ever affect the work-a-day world.
I ought to have known better. India honours one thing
above all: renunciation. Renunciation of worldly possession -

that ideal finds its echo in every Hindu heart. Even industrial
tycoons are still apt suddenly to throw up everything and
retire to die in a mud hut by the Ganges. Vinoba has reversed
this process. At the age of 57, when most of us are thinking of
retirement, Vinoba has emerged from it.
It was Gandhi who first demonstrated the powerful effect
on his countrymen of renouncing wealth for the sake of
human service rather than personal salvation. Vinoba has
trodden the same pathway into India's heart. He has no
possessions beyond a spinning-wheel and a few homespun
clothes. Hundreds of people have offered hinm their cars so
that he could move more
quickly from village to They
village.
believed he would get more work done. But Vinoba
courteously refused such offers. The peasants can't afford card
and he knows better than to break the magic bond bf
sympathy that binds him to the peasants. Again
Again Vinoba
Vinoba
Sutters from ill-health. Ha has a chronic duodenal ulcer and 1
subject to dysentery. And this made him old and frail betore
his time. Recently, when stricken with severe Malaria,
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refused to be treated with quinine since the peasants could not
afford it. Is it any wonder that seeing this elderly saint
slowly but surely ruining his health in their service, these
same peasants should hold him in veneration?

But it is not only the poor who look on Vinoba as a man of

God. He touches the conscience of the wealthy as well. He
approaches them in a spirit of loving conciliation. They are
lucky, he says, for it is more blessed to give than to receive.
And as the givers of the land they are ennobled, while the
landless are merely the passive recipients of their rights. Not
that Vinoba is unduly tender to the susceptibilities of the rich.
From a large landlord, for instance, he refuses anything less
than 116th of his best property. He would rather have no land
at all than land given merely as a sop given to public opinion.
The gift must spring from a change of heart. And so, the
landlords greet Vinoba with garlands on his entry into a new
village, but they smile a little sheepishly at the prospect of
being fleeced.
His approach is the same to all men whatever their creed
or condition- an effort to reach the divine spark which he
believes them to possess and then to make real to them the
needs of their fellows in a language that they can understand.
This ideal he has put quite literally into practice. Vinona
has taught himself no less than sixteen languages. At forty-six,
he learnt both Persian and Arabic so as to be able to converse
more freely with his Muslim neighbours.
Vinoba has acquired his strength through renunciation
much as India's ancient sages were supposed to acquire

magical powers through their austerities. Vinoba's magic is

singleness of purpose and an iron will. There are many stories
about his will power. At the age of ten he is said to have
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sworn a vow of chastity from which he has never swerved. At
the age of twenty when he joined Gandhi's rural centre, he
took his certificates and diplomas -- and being a
brilliant
scholar a n d mathematician, he h a d many - a n d burned them

one by one in the flame of an oil lamp, in spite of his mother's

horrified protests. Vinoba, although himself born an orthodox
Brahmin, had come to disapprove of the caste-system. When
he joined Gandhi, the Mahatma told him to simplify his life.
Vinoba took his words to heart. He vowed to wear no more
than one garment at a time and to forgo salt, the last

remaining condiment which he allowed himself.

But with all his asceticism, Vinoba has resisted pride of
poverty -that subtlest temptation of the saints. He has never
urged anyone else to follow his way of life. And he goes his
own way with a striking serenity. To someone who asked him
if his work would succeed, he replied," Fire merely burns. It
does not care whether anyone puts a pot on it, fills it with
water and puts rice in it to make a meal. To burn is the limit of
its duty.
Out on the mission, of course, fellow pilgrims have to
share his Spartan routine. At 3.30 a.m. twelve dry and
commanding handclaps echo through the huts where the
mission is sleeping - guests of a poor Muslim or untouchable

as often as of a wealthy landlord. They pack up camp, then, at

4 a.m. they assemble for prayers and silent spinning. In half an

hour they set off on foot for their next stopping-place. When

day breaks, they halt for a roadside breakfast, vegetarian and

sparse like all their meals. A crowd gathers, and while he eat
Vinoba chats with the people and listens to their problems.D
till
10 a.m. the
party has reached the village where it will stay
spin and
next morning. Vinoba settles under a tree to spin a
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summons the local landlords. In the evening a meeting takes
place in a shed specially decorated with flowers and votive
lamps. It starts with prayers. Then the landlords are invited to
declare how much land they are ready to give. Perhaps there
is not enough offered to meet the needs of all the landless. If
so, Vinoba asks the landless themselves to choose, and at the
same time encourages the landlords to make their donations
bigger. At one place, an untouchable who owned only 1\5th of
an acre offered his tiny plot, since he had just got a job inha
nearby factory. Vinoba gravely took a gift-deed from him,
then endorsed it to the effect that since he belonged to the
class to whom land should be given, his plot should be
returned to him forthwith.
Scenes like that arose an atmosphere of almost evangelical
fervor. People start trying to outdo each other in generosity.
But Vinoba is careful to canalize the flood of emotion. He sets
up a village committee to supervise the cultivation of the
distributed land and to obtain seeds and implements from the
government officials. From those receiving land he extracts a
pledge that they will not re-sell it for ten years. By 8.00 p.m.
the meeting is usually over, and an hour later the pilgrims
retire to sleep. They have to be on the move again at 3.30 the
next morning. Vinoba shuns publicity. He has his own
dignity, emphasis and methods. Like a candle, he burns with a

steady light.
Vinoba is the embodiment of India. In spite of his wide
culture and learning Westerners might find him less easy to
approach than Gandhi. When I first met him, I thought him
reserved, almost remote. When he spoke, his simple,
unsophisticated language, suited to an audience of illiterate
peasants, fell oddly on the jaded ears of Europe. My last

11
glimpse of Vinoba was the same as my first. He was squatting
outside his mud hut. A group of peasants crouched around
him expecting guidance and help. He was talking to them in
his quiet, courteous way. And I thought, it will be the same
tomorrow and the day after that until he dies. And there was
something about the image that this thought conjured up,
something in the enormous tranquility of his patience and his
faith, which told me that Vinoba's message was not limited
to the country in which it was uttered. The twentieth century
may be rich in jet aeroplanes, but it is pretty poor in saints. We
need to remember that what we call 'progress' is nothing if it
leads to no corresponding inner change. And Vinoba gives us
the reminder in the one way which has power to move and
impress by the example of a life and character utterly
dedicated to the service of his fellows and the God he believes
to be revealed in them.
Notes and exercise
Vinoba known as Acharya Vinoba Bhave was born in a village
Gagode, in Kolaba district, Maharastra on 11 September 1895.
His original name was Vinayak Narahari Bhave. The name
Vinoba (a traditional Marathi epithet signifying great respect)
was conferred upon him by Mama Phadake at the Sabarmati
Ashram, where Mahatma Gandhi lived. He took part in
India's freedom struggle. On 18 April 1951, the landless
Harijans of a tiny village called -Pochampalli, in Andhra
Pradesh, requested Vinoba to provide them with around 80
acres of land to make a living. They felt if they could get two
or three acres of land each, they would be happy and
contented. Vinoba asked if anyone would volunteer to donate

that land for distribution among the landless. One of the

landlords immediately ofrerea one hundred acres of land, This

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was the beginning of the Bhoodan Movement. The movement
continued for thirteen years.
Vinoba defined dan not as charity, but an equal
distribution. The movement was meant to create the
awareness that the 'haves' owe a moral responsibility to the
have-nots.' They could contribute their share to social well-
being. Under the influence of a book entitled Unto This Last,
John Ruskin, Gandhiji developed the philosophy of
SARVODAYA (progress for all) which underlines the
principle that every benefit - social, economic, political,
cultural and educational - should reach the people at the

lowest level of society. Vinoba gave shape to this philosophy

by starting the Bhoodan Movement. He brought about not
only an economic revolution, but also a moral one by
preaching the gospel of love, compassion, peace and right
action.

Glossary:
Trudging: walking with slow heavy legs.
Twilight: the time in the evening when the day begins to get

dark [dim]
Lumbers: moves slowly
Indulged in: used to mean 'enjoyed'or 'possessed'
filing cabinet: a kind of shelf with drawers to keep files
aimed at
Target: amount or quantity of something
Mission: organization or movement
Land Gift mission: the Bhoodan
Movement started by Vinoba
ideas
Experiment: trying out n e w
for oneself what one needs
Self-sufficiency: ability to provide
without depending on others.
Battered: old slightly damaged
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Frail: weak
Recluse: one who is alone
Austere: strict, disciplined
Obscure: unknown, unnoticed
Bottle-neck: slow movement of traffic when it is heavy or
when the road is narrow or blocked; used here to mean 'strict
observance
renunciation: act of giving up
tycoons: rich and powerful persons in business or industry

apt: likely to
emerged: come out
trodden: walked [PPC of tread
homespun clothes: simple clothes made from cloth produced
at home
know better: not make a mistake
chronic: serious and lasting for long time
duodenal: ulcer affecting the tip of the small intestines
ulcer: painful area on the inside of an organ in the body that
gets infected and starts bleeding
veneration: high respect
conciliation: used in the sense of friendliness
unduly: beyond reasonable limit
tender: soft, gentle
susceptibilities: feelings, emotions
sop: something of little value - given to please someone or
prevent complaint or
opposition or trouble as a sop to public
opinion: to satisfy the public

sheepishly: in an awkward or embarrassed way at tne

tr
prospect: possibility
fleece: cheat someone to get more CO

14
 took to heart: took seriously
forgo: give up, be without
condiment: substances like salt
taste
or
pepper used to improve
asceticism: leading
proud of poverty
a
very simple life pride of poverty: being
subtlest: most difficult to notice
urges: advised strongly
serenity: leading very simple life
Spartan: plain and simple
commanding: powerful
sparse: limited
summons: calls
votive lamps: lamps lighted at the time of worship to thank
God
endorsed: certified, supported
evangelical: religious
fervor: deep feeling
out do: excel
canalize: regulate
flood: powerful flow or current
shuns: avoids
remote: distant, not easy to approach
unsophisticated: simple
oddly: strangely
jaded: tired, bored on account of excessive work.
conjured up: brought before the mind's eye
tranquility: peace, serenity
corresponding : similar, in equal measure.

15
 Comprehension:
I Answer the following questions in a word, a phrase or a
sentence:
1 At what time Vinoba and his companions started trudging
from village to village?
2Which articles Vinoba's cart contained?
3 When did the Land Gift Mission start?
4 What was Vinoba's appeal to the landlord?
5 How much land Vinoba received in Hyderabad?
6 What does India honor above all?
7 Who first demonstrated the powerful effect of renouncing
wealth?
8 What were the possessions of Vinoba?
9 How many languages Vinoba had taught himself?
10 What was Vinoba's magic?
11 Who was a brilliant scholar and mathematician?

12 What did Vinoba disapprove of?

13 What pledge Vinoba extracted from the land receivers?

14 Who is the embodiment of India?

15What is the twentieth century poor in and rich in?

16 Where is progress nothing?

II Write a brief note on the following:
1 Vinoba's Land Gift Mission.
2 Vinoba's pilgrimage
3 Vinoba's appeal to the landlords.
4 Vinoba's simplicity.
III Answer the following questions each in about 250 words.

1 How did Vinoba try to benefit the lanalesS in our country?

2 What was Vinoba's secret in ceeding in the Land Gift

Mission?

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