In 1901, Vinayak grew up to six years of age. He went through the traditional sacred thread ceremony.
The initial education started at home. To begin with Vinayak was orally told about the basic values of the religion he was born in. Then, he was taught the letters of his mother tongue, Marathi.
His father Narhari and the mother Rakhumai also left positive impression on young Vinayak. Narhari believed in simple life, honest living and selfless service to others. He had done a diploma course in textile dyeing from Baroda Industrial Institute. He worked in the dyeing department of Buckingham Mills for some time. Then, he quit and went back to Baroda.
He was looking for a government job because it offered security. At last Narhari Bhave was able to land a job as a senior clerk in a government department. But his fascination with dyeing and textiles continued. It is considered that the idea of Khadi as a viable cottage industry was his brainchild which later Gandhiji made into a nationwide movement.
In 1903, Narhari took his entire family to Baroda to live with him where he could have his children properly educated. He had four sons and a daughter in all. Besides Vinayak, the other sons were Balkrishna, Shivaji and Dattatreya. The daughter was named Shanta. Vinayak was the darling son of his mother in whose intelligence she had a great faith. And on occasions young Vinayak did not fail his mother. His creative mind would solve her problems.
An incident proves this point convincingly.
Once Vinayak’s mother, Rakhumai pledged the offering of 100,000 grains of rice to God. She was to chant the name of deity (God representative) once for each grain of rice. When she started the process she was unaware of the mathematical problems it would pose.
Everyday she would begin her chant and set aside one grain of rice for every chant. The chanted grains were then collected and stored.
Narhari watched the ritual of his wife in great amusement. At last he could not help asking her what game was going on. The wife explained that each grain of rice represented god’s name chanted and she was pledged to offer 100,000 such grains to God in the temple.
Narhari thought for a while. To him the whole exercise looked mathematically ridiculous.
He said, “Why go through the route of counting one hundred thousand grains of rice?”
“What is your idea?”
“It will take you months to count that many grains. Why should you do the counting in the first place?”
Rakhumai looked puzzled. She asked, “Without counting each grain how would I reach the hundred thousand figure? There is no way out.”
The husband smiled and cleverly revealed, “There is a way out and it is easy. Take a fistful of rice, count grains and weight it. It will tell you how many grains weigh how much. Then, calculate the weight of 100,000 grains. You can offer the calculated weight of rice to your deity. Easy, isn’t it?”
The wife frowned and spoke, “There is some logic but in this case it does not make complete sense. So, I feel. But right now I can’t say what is wrong. Let me think about it.”
Narhari smugly nodded his head with a victorious smile on his lips. Meanwhile, his wife had made up her mind to consult her son, the bright Vinayak.
When Vinayak come home from school his mother placed her dilemma before him. She wanted him to bail her out. Vinayak thought over the issue.
Then, he said, “Ma, when you count out a grain of rice you invoke the name of God. So, the basic purpose is not offering the rice but invoking the name of God. The quantity of rice is not important. What is important is the number of times God is invoked which you want to add up to 100,000. And it can be done by counting each grain out for better satisfaction.”
Rakhumai repeated Vinayak’s reasoning to her husband. Narhari was impressed. He too was proud of the cleverness of his son because he knew who had tutored his wife.
Narhari Bhave was a principled father. He had modern outlook and did not believe in reprimanding or thrashing kids for every mistake or misdemanour. Once his youngest son stole a piece of gur and ate it. The grandma didn’t like it.
She complained to Narhari, “Your youngest one ate a piece of stolen gur. Stealing is no good for a kid. You must straighten him out.”
The old Ma had hoped that Narhari would call his son and give him a thrashing.
But to her surprise Narhari supported the act of the youngest one by saying, “Ma, it is no stealing. The youngest one is also a member of this family. He too has a right over things of our house. His eating a piece of gur does not amount to stealing. His only fault was that he did not inform about it to any one else.”
Then, he called the kid to him and patted his back patronisingly saying, “Did you wash your hands before handling that piece of gur you ate?”
The kid shook his head confessing, “No”.
“You should have cleaned or washed your hands,” he advised and explained, ‘‘Remember to do that before eating. Your hands can have germs or bacteria sticking to them which can cause diseases to you when they go into your stomach with the food you eat.”
The kid cheerfully said, “I will wash my hands before eating anything. I promise, father.”
Narhari smiled at his son and nodded his approval. The kid had now more respect for his father than before. Thus, Narhari had a very innovative and rational way of dealing with children and the others. He was not a slave of orthodox beliefs. His wife held her own traditional beliefs in a very sensible way. The husband and the wife never clashed.
When the family shifted to Baroda, Vinayak was admitted to the third class in 1903. Vinayak turned out to be a bright kid. He was a fast learner with a good retention power.
What impressed Narhari about his wife was that she was not a religious woman of rituals only but was helpful to others in the mould of a missionary.
Once a woman of a neighbourhood family fell ill. Rakhumai would go to her house and cook food for her family. It was her habit to help out whenever any acquaintance needed. Young Vinayak took note of her act. He saw that his mother first finished her own cooking and then went to cook for the neighbour.
He remarked, “Ma, isn’t it selfish of you to do your own cooking first? Why not cook the neighbour’s food first?” The mother and the son were very frank with each other.
Rakhumai had readymade answer. May be, she had given a thought to the matter already. She said, “How silly of you, Vinya! If I cook the neighbour’s food first I shall have to do it early in the morning to do my own cooking after that. I do their cooking after my own to have them enjoy hot meals.”
So considerate was Rakhumai. Her thought- fullness, compassion, religious punctuality and honesty deeply influenced Vinayak that shaped his own thinking and the habits. Being religious also meant leading a disciplined life. The discipline and the spirit of service to others were inculcated in Vinayak by his mother through her own example.
In the sixth standard Vinayak stood first in his class to the delight of his parents. Rakhumai’s faith in her son’s intelligence was now a proven fact. Sanskrit was the favourite subject of Vinayak in which he secured 85 marks out of 100. His interest in Sanskrit was perhaps the result of the inspiration of his religious mother because most of the Hindu scriptures of ancient kind were in that language. The father was not enthusiastic about Sanskrit.
Vinayak was now in Middle/High classes. As he had been securing handsome marks in all the examinations hold so far, a stipend was granted to him.
The good marks secured by Vinayak made Narhari dream of the bright future for his son. He could vest his hopes in him. He wanted Vinayak to go to Europe to take proper training and education in some subject of the industrial field to make good in life. But he thought that his son was wasting time in learning a dying language like Sanskrit. So, he reasoned with his son and asked him to learn French in place of Sanskrit. Vinayak was already learning English as it was a must subject of the school. The knowledge of English and French could give his son wide access to Europe. Vinayak accepted the advice of his father and took up French. But he continued to study Sanskrit as a hobby.
On one of those days Shivaji’s birthday fell. The students were very enthusiastic about it as Shivaji was everyone’s hero in Maharashtra. For Indians and particularly Maharashtrians he was the symbol of the native spirit of freedom. Vinayak and his friends wanted to celebrate it in some novel way.
Vinayak gave a suggestion, “We must go to the hill top and celebrate Shivaji’s birthday there under open skies and in the freedom of nature. That would be appropriate tribute to the soldier of freedom.
The friends liked the suggestion and it was approved by all. But there was a problem. It was no holiday in the school. The British did not consider Shivaji a national hero. So, what to do? At last it was decided that all of them would skip the history class.
On the ‘Shivaji Jayanti’ day the boys slipped away from the school before the history teacher could arrive to take up his class. The boys went to the hill top and celebrated the Jayanti in the free atmosphere. It was an exhiberating experience for them. But soon after the festivity they realised that by skipping the class they had breached the discipline and incurred punishment. The joyous mood turned into a worry. What could they do about the punishment? The boys wanted Vinayak to find the solution because he was the mastermind.
Vinayak reasoned, “To escape the punishment we must pay the fine. We have seen that the fine is generally ‘Four annas’. By tradition the teachers habitually quote that amount. So, everyone must have four annas in his pocket. As soon as the teacher rebukes us and before he thinks of a punishment we must readily pay four annas each as the fine.”
The boys agreed to the suggestion of Vinayak. The next day, every student of that class reached the school with four annas in his pocket. When the history class began the teacher walked in, in a glum mood, he cast a look at the boys and asked, “Where were you all yesterday during my history period?”
“Sir, we had gone to the hill top to celebrate Shivaji Jayanti.” Vinayak provided the answer.
The teacher hummed and spoke, “Shivaji Jayanti! You could have celebrated it in the school. What was the problem?”
“Sir, Shivaji was a symbol of native spirit of freedom. How could we celebrate it here which has the atmosphere of the foreign domination?”
“Oh!” the teacher moaned and angrily declared, “So, we are the symbols of the foreign domination? What a great idea! You are all misguided rascals who deserve severe punishment. You will pay fine or…”.
Vinayak at once cut in, “Sir, we accept our fault. We shall pay whatever fine you announce.”
The teacher glared at Vinayak and hissed, “Some cheek!” then, he declared, “Vinayak talks like a lawyer, huh! So, he will pay the fine first…four annas.”
Vinayak was just waiting for this. He dipped his hand into his pocket and dug out four anna coins. He deposited the coins on the table of the teacher. The teacher looked stunned. He had not hoped that a student could produce that amount on demand as four annas were a tidy amount during that period.
The teacher stared at the coins.
He said to Vinayak, “Alright, you paid the fine. But it amounts to your own fine only. What about the others? Tell your friends to pay four annas each or they will take the punishment.” The teacher’s voice was sarcastic. He could never imagine that every kid would carry four annas in his pocket.
Vinayak said to his classmates, “Friends! Pay the fine as our respected teacher is demanding.”
The teacher laughed in his heart.
But he was in for a shock. The boys produced four annas each from their pockets and dumped them on the teacher’s table.
The teacher stood speechless. He had never imagined that the boys would be able to pay the fine.
It had become a habit of Vinayak that in the first place he would not commit a deliberate mistake, if he ever did he paid the penalty without any protest. He was a conscientious boy.
That very spiritual element made him a nature loving boy. Vinayak had a deep attraction for the forests, hills, trees and streams. He loved to roam into the wilds. Sometimes he went alone and other times he would take along his pals to nearby hills for exploration into woods and other wonders of the nature. He was a frail kid but never felt taxed during those expeditions. Vinayak used to tell his friends that a 10-15 mile walk into the greens was good to refresh the body and mind.
Vinayak hated bad habits. He did not pick any himself and tried to rid his friends also of if any. Sometimes he went too far. One of his friend was addicted to tea. And tea was on the ‘Baddy’ list of Vinayak and he considered it his sacred duty to rescue his friend from the deadly clutches of the monster of Assam tea gardens. He tried to reason, cajole and persuade his friend to give up tea. He recounted all the misfortunes and calamities the tea would cause. But the friend remained unimpressed.
It was a great challenge for young Vinayak. Now he looked for an opportunity to bring his friend on the right path with whatever devious trick it took. And one day an opportunity presented itself.
The friend had gone into the toilet, not a flush one. It was the traditional one—where one found a tray placed on the floor in a (telephone both size) confined cubicle. Vinayak crept up to the cubicle and bolted the door from outside.
The boy inside shuddered. No one liked to stand in there for more than a minute, the stench used to be so revolting. He pleaded for door to be opened. He yelled and then screamed when the door remained shut.
Vinayak declared, “It is your punishment for drinking tea.”
The friend ignored his explanation and barked, “Let me out of this hell for God sake! Come on, quick!”
“The tea will open the doors of hell for you anyway. Get used to it. I will open the door if you promise to give up tea or the door remains shut.”
The boy inside was really desperate to get out. He yielded, “Alright, I give up tea! No more tea…not even a drop. Now let me out…please.”
After securing the promise Vinayak opened the door. Thus, sometimes he displayed very adamant behaviour to prove his point, though with a good intention. So, the boys were slightly afraid of him and shunned him. Some thought that Vinayak was a bit harsh and dry natured. Many boys hesitated in talking to him. Although he was laconic but sometimes when taunted he would retaliate with sharp and hurting words which silenced the others.
Once a friend asked, “Hey! Why have you grown nails and hair long?”
“Are you a barber?” Vinayak hit back.
His close friends had become used to his abruptness and a bit weird attitude.
In Baroda’s city atmosphere Vinayak would walk around in markets bare torso with his kurta slung over his left shoulder without any embarrassment. His friends also did that emboldened by his example.
If someone tried to talk to Vinayak in English he would ask, “Was your ma a ma’am?”
But it does not mean that he was opposed to the English language. Of course, he was proud of his mother tongue but learnt English studiously and he was very particular about pronunciation in correct manner.
In 1913 Vinayak went to Ahmedabad with his classmates to appear in the matriculation examination. His preparation was satisfactory except in French, he had taken up as an optional foreign language. But he worked hard on it in the last couple of weeks and make enough improvement to get through.
After passing the matriculation he took admission in college. Now he had become a serious student. Mathematics was his favourite subject. He had gained such proficiency in the subject that even the student of higher class used to consult him.
He still was in the habit of using testy language. So, still other boys avoided engaging him in conversations. The help seeker student would hand him a piece of paper with his name and the mathematical problem written on one side. Vinayak would return the paper next day with answer worked out on the other side. One could find often his pockets bulging with such papers. One pocket would contain new arrivals and the other ready for delivery slips after dealing with the problems.
In vacant periods and the classes of the subjects he thought he needed not pay attention to he would take out the problem papers and work out solutions.
Once a lecturer after his lecture was dictating notes to the students. Vinayak already knew the chapter and notes, so, he had paid no attention to the lecturer’s ritual and had been busy in solving mathematical questions. The lecturer had taken note of it and was annoyed. He asked Vinayak to stand up and asked, “Vinayak! Have you written down the notes?”
“Yes, sir,” Vinayak answered.
The lecturer had seen that Vinayak had noted nothing. He thought that it was about time the errant boy was straightened up. He said to Vinayak, “Readout what you have written!”
Vinayak nonchalantly rose up and began to recite as if he were reading out from the notebook he held in his hand. Infact, he had written nothing. The teacher thought that the fluent recitation could not come from a blank page. The teacher wondered, may be, he had written indeed. So, the puzzled teacher asked Vinayak to show his notebook in which he had taken the notes.
Vinayak smiled saying, “Sir, you won’t be able to decipher it,” and he placed his open notebook with blank pages.
The teacher stared at the blank pages.
From the very college period Vinayak had been betraying signs of disenchantment with the material world and rise of the patriotic feelings. It reflected in his odd behaviour and growing dislike for the education system. Once a professor happened to get involved in an argument with Vinayak over a matter of education. The two had taken opposite stands. The professor tried hard with all his lecturing skills to convince the young Vinayak that he was right. But Vinayak stood his ground and was just not trying to understand what the professor was saying.
At last, the exasperated professor hissed, “I have been in the field of education for 18 years.” Vinayak shot back, “An ox tethered to an engine for 18 years does not become an engineer. Would it?”
The aggressive reply shocked the professor. He stared at Vinayak for some time and then walked away.
Vinayak had progressed into becoming the leader of the ring of his friends. With the co-operation of the friends he started a club called ‘Vidyarthi Mandal’. The club held meeting every week where one of the members spoke on some subject and then it was discussed or debated in detail. The subject invariably revolved around foreign rule in India and the independence movements. Then, the country was in political turmoil. Needless to say that Vinayak and his pals had pro-independence bend of mind.
Congress leader Lokmanya Tilak was waging independence war against the colonial rulers. One of his popular methods to fan anti-British feelings amongst the masses was to organise religious festivals like ‘Shivaji Jayanti’, ‘Ganesh Jayanti,’ Das Navami’ etc. to gather crowds to which the propaganda was unleashed. Vinayak’s ‘Vidyarthi Mandal’ used to work assiduously in organising and propagating those festivals as its contribution to independence effort.
Vinayak used to deliver impassioned speeches in the meetings of the club in support of the end to the colonial rule and the independence. He was specially brilliant in describing the examples of the world revolutionaries, freedom fighters and icons of patriotism. His oratory carried the fire of the youth.
‘Vidyarthi Mandal’ had its own club set up with donations collected by the club members. They even resorted to begging for their noble cause and were able to pool 1600 books of inspiring quality. Later all the books were donated to Sabarmati Ashram.
The activities of Vinayak were leading him into the direction his subconscious mind was charting.
In 1914 when the World War-I started in Europe, the freedom struggle of India gained a new momentum. At places preparations for armed rebellion started clandestinely. Vinayak was quietly taking stock of the situation. He was feeling uneasy inside and wanted to do his bit for the country in its quest for freedom. But his conscience would not agree to violence and armed struggle. Spiritual thoughts prevailed in his mind.
Meanwhile, Vinayak happened to read a piece of Maratha history which vaguely solved his mental confusion. The episode related to Shivaji’s taking of Singhgarh Fort.
The Maratha soldiers stealthily climbed up the fort wall by an anchored rope at night and engaged the soldiers of the fort garrison. In the battle Shivaji’s confidant commander Tanaji got killed. The Maratha soldiers panicked. Many of them ran to the anchored rope and began to climb down to flee.
Tanaji’s brother Suryaji didn’t like it. He ran to the anchor and cut down the rope which fell to the ground below. The very means of retreat from the battle was cut off for the Marathas who were still up there. The battle up there was, then, do-or-die matter. Marathas fought for their lives with such ferocity that the enemy was soon on the floor in defeat. Thus, the fort was won.
‘Cut the rope’ idea took root in Vinayak’s mind. He wanted to advance into the spiritual space by cutting off all connections with worldly relationships, desires and material attractions but without derelicting his duties to the society and the nation. Nevertheless he wished to cut the rope off to block his return to the material world after crossing over.
The inter-exam was nearby. Vinayak had no fears about it. He was well prepared to face it. But the question that haunted his mind was that what would he do with certificates and degrees? He was clear in his mind that he would not seek any salaried job or run a shop or work as a middleman. So, what does the education he was getting mean him? Next to nothing. The further studies would only get him more marksheets, certificates, degrees and diplomas for which he had no use. They could only trap him in the worldly desires and attractions. He made up his mind to do Suryaji by destroying the certificates earned so far.
So, Vinayak took all his accumulated certificates to the wood stove on which his mother was cooking food. He sat beside his mother. The wood stove was shooting up flames. Vinayak took a certificate and threw it in the flames.
The mother looked sharply at her son and asked in a puzzled voice, “What are you doing, Vinya?”
“Burning my certificates,” the son said matter of factly. He tossed one more certificate in the flames.
“But why?”
“Ma, I don’t need them.”
“You don’t need them now…but suppose you do tomorrow. What is the harm in keeping them?”
Vinayak shook his head saying, “Why keep at all ma? Keeping them means I might be tempted to use them some day. I don’t want that. I want total freedom to dedicate myself totally to social service.”
The mother knew her son’s mind well. She realised that her Vinya wanted to renunciate all social ties. The son had revealed his resolve to remain celibate all his life and go out to seek the true peace. The parents loved their son but did not wish to put any hurdles in the way of his mission. So, Vinayak, consigned all his certificates to fire and his mother did not intervene.
The parents had detected the ascetic streak in their son at the early age. They were reconciled to the hope that Vinayak’s asceticism might prove propitious for them all if the destiny willed so. Infact the mother encouraged her son. Regarding celibacy and martial life she would say, “Son, marital life salvages a generation of the family but celibacy redeems seven generations.”
Such religious thoughts of the mother inspired Vinayak into seeking the spiritual knowledge of the sublime kind. He didn’t want to take inter-exam but his friends persuaded him to do it since social work required good education as well, at least of B.A. level. The inter-exam was to be held in Mumbai (Bombay). So, Vinayak and his friends took the train to Mumbai from Baroda. But something was going on in Vinayak’s mind.
At Surat railway station he impulsively got down with his two other close friends on whom Vinayak had unwittingly rubbed off his disenchantment. The three did not board that train again. They let it steam off with rest of the examinees who were puzzled at the disappearance of three of them. The three deserters boarded a train bound for Kashi (Benaras) via Bhusawal. Vinayak wrote a letter to his father informing him of his step—
‘I am going to some place else instead of Mumbai to take examination. I know you have faith enough in me that wherever I may go I won’t commit any immoral act.’
The parents were shocked at first. Then, the mother declared in a confident voice, “My son has not gone on a pleasure trip wherever he is. He has gone in the service of the country and God. I know that.”
The wife’s faith in their son gave some solace to Narhari Bhave. He nodded his head in support.
Meanwhile, the three deserters reached Kashi. They discussed their further plan of action which they had not yet finalised. At last it was decided that first they would study Sanskrit and then if everything went well they will go into Himalayas to do intense penance.
The three hired a room at a monthly rent in a low down colony called Durgaghat. It was on the third floor. At noon they used to go to some temple to feed themselves. As a religious tradition charitable rich offered food to Brahmins and students in Kashi. The charity people used to feed them and offer 2 paisas each as dakshina custom. In a month they collected just enough paisas to pay the rent. During day they would go to central library and read Sanskrit books. That was the routine they set for themselves.
It was no bed of roses but a tough and deathly monotony. One of the three, Shankar Rao Tagare could not take it for long and fled back to the comforts of his home. Another of the three, Bedekar fell to malnutrition. The charity food was always of poor quality and in small quantity. He died after a brief illness. Vinayak himself performed his last rites. Now he was alone and alone he could not pay the rent. So, he tried and found a job to teach English in a school.
At the time of offering the job the principal asked him what salary he was expecting.
Vinayak replied, “Two rupees a month!”
The principal stared at him incredulously and asked, “How would you live on two rupees only?”
“Sir,” Vinayak politely said adding, “I get free food and 2 paisas as charity at a temple. The two paisas buy me supper. The two rupees I am asking for is the rent for the room I live in.”
The principal was amazed at his detachment to money. Was he meeting an embodiment of the spirit of austerity? Vinayak lived such frugal life but kept gleaning rich knowledge of the books.
