The sojjourn at Pavnar brought improvement to the health of Vinoba. But his spirit was in pain. Because to weaken the independence struggle of Indians, the wily British was playing communal card. They were applying divide and rule formula. The communal passions of bigotic Muslim and Hindu fanatics were being raised. The country was being plunged in the throes of communal carnage.
Vinoba was spiritually secular soul. The communal disturbances hurt him. The saint had read holy books of almost all the religions and reverenced the good points of all faiths. Vinoba had studied Islamic holy book ‘Koran’ in original Arabic. Infact, Vinoba was a man of many languages. He knew Gujarati, Bangla, Uria, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Urdu, Arabic, French, English, Marathi, Hindi and Latin as well. He knew many teachings of Koran by heart. To neutralise the bigotic propaganda of Hindu fanatics against Islam, he made it a point to correct the mischief whenever required. He would speak on behalf of Islamic faith whenever the questions were raised. The most common charges used to be:
Q—Islamic Messiah, Hazrat Ali had married a number of times. What was the justification?
Vinoba—He did it partly to bring different sects together, to bridge the communities and it was the best way of that era to take care of the upkeep of the widows of the martyrs who died for the faith. You must remember that he did not do it for carnal pleasures. Islam recommends sex only for procreation. This ideal was so deeply ingrained among the faithfuls that Afghan women at later period used to keep their faces disfigured with mud so as not to invite amorous attention. Infact, the Afghans when they invaded India, saw for the first time the fatal charm of the feminine faces which made their heads spin and a tempting desire to stay on in India took root in their hearts.
And don’t forget how many thousand wives our most reverenced Lord Krishna had. Should we condemn him?
Q—Is not Muslim faith a preacher of violence and intolerance?
Vinoba—It is factually incorrect. Islam came into existence as the backlash of the jungle law and barbarism prevailed at that time. Kill or get killed was the norm in the middle east of that time. We must note that even the enemies used to keep their valuables in trust with Hazrat Mohammad as his honesty was unquestionable. And the honesty is the best form of non-violence.
Being Muslim is not being barbaric.
After the World War I, all nations of the world admitted that the Muslim nation, Turkey was the only European country that gave fair treatment to POWs.
Q.—Their Koran says as a reward faithfuls will get beautiful women and wine in paradise, what’s that?
Vinoba—Same thing as our Swarga paradise promises Apsaras (Heavenly beauties) and sura (wine). Look, the visualisation of paradises or hells in for simple grassroot level folk. To keep them on desired path the promise of heavenly goodies or punishment of hell is used. It is not the soul message of religions. Every religion makes its messiah perform miracles to impress and attract simple simons just like show-people use various gimmicks to attract crowds.
Q.—Doesn’t Koran prescribe slaying of enemies?
Vinoba—There as such references in respect of double betraying ‘Jews’. Jews were Hazrat Mohammad’s enemies. They had raided Madina from Mecca. And the Jews of Madina double crossed and conspired with invaders betraying Hazrat Mohammad. What could he do? What would today’s countries do? More or less the same.
Hazrat Mohammad was not only a founder of a religion but he had to manage a state as well. In his personal life he give prime importance to the mercy and compassion.
Don’t we wish for destruction of our enemy? In our Vedas there are mantras that invoke the instantaneous elimination or destruction of the enemies. But all these things are not the soul of religions.
Vinoba Bhave not only worked for the eradication of untouchability, service for the upliftment of the downtrodden, encouragement to cottage crafts and spread of education but he did pioneering work in treatment and rehabilitation of the lepers who used to be abandoned and despised by the society.
He allowed his disciple Manohar Diwan to open a leprosy care centre named ‘Maharogi Mandal’ about five kilometers away from Vardha.
Infact, he himself had mooted the idea of such centre. But it was a daunting task because the society hated lepers and shunned anything related to them. One associated with lepers could face social ostracization. When Manohar Diwan volunteered for the task he requested Vinoba to talk to his mother to bring her around and get her permission.
When Vinoba broached the subject, at first she was horrified. She expressed her fears of being treated as pariahs by the people, kith and kin. Vinoba very patiently explained the disease of leprosy in medical sense allaying her fears about its contagiousness and removing other misbeliefs. He asked her to realise by volunteering for the service how great spirit of incredible selflessness and sacrifice her son was displaying. Infact it was a matter of pride for her. Vinoba urged her to show the courage befitting the mother of a brave son and stand up against the ignorant society’s attitude. The wise counsel prevailed and the mother finally gave her consent.
Anyway, she was sure that a saintly person like Vinoba could never cheat her or mislead her.
‘Maharog Mandal’ proved a great success. The lepers found a home, treatment and the dedicated care of Manohar Diwan. The project earned the praise of everyone. Gandhiji wrote a congratulatory letter.
In 1939 the II World War began. The British tried to drag India in the war but the national leaders protested against it. They said that the war was the concern of the European nations. The colonial rulers had no right to force the war on the Indians. In 1940 Ramgarh Congress Session a resolution regarding the II World War was passed deciding not to support the British in their war effort.
Before passing the resolution some leaders were of the idea that there was no harm in standing by the British if they promised to grant freedom to India after the end of the war. Such a proposal was sent to the British authorities. But the Viceroy shot down the proposal. The British had no intention of granting freedom to India whatever the situation was.
During that period Gandhiji had withdrawn from the political activities and stationed himself at the Sabarmati Ashram to do Harijan upliftment work, social service, anti-untouchability campaigns and bringing out journals. Gandhiji and Vinoba remained in touch with each other sharing thoughts and updating each other on their works.
Meanwhile, Subhash Chandra Bose saw a great opportunity in II World War to get rid of the British. He knew that the British were on the back foot and in deep trouble on European front. Subhash wanted India to seize the opportunity and start a nationwide movement to force British out of India. He got so excited with the idea that he toured the country propagating his viewpoint and asking the people to rise against the enemy.
But Gandhiji was not on the political scene. Without him no meaningful movement could be launched in India. He was the only leader whose command could arouse the people to rally as one man. Then, he had some spiritual power which made people follow him, lined up in millions for whatever crusade. Although antagonist to Gandhiji, Subhash also realised this fact. So, he went to Sabarmati Ashram and pleaded with him on the need to start a nationwide anti-British movement under the leadership and guidance of Gandhiji. But Gandhiji did not agree with the viewpoint of Subhash Bose.
Then Subhash Bose went to Calcutta where he was put under house arrest. He was able to give a slip to the police and reached Kabul. From there he managed to reach Berlin via Moscow. Sometime later, Radio Berlin started broadcasting the message of Subhash Bose.
The British colonial rulers had sent thousands of Indian soldiers on battle fronts. Recruitment melas were being held all over the country and the rich were being forced to donate money to the war fund. The rulers were completely ignoring the political aspirations of the Indians. The people were feeling frustrated and restless. The leaders wanted to tell the thick skinned rulers that Indians had not given up their freedom struggle. They were only lying low hoping for the British to read the writing on the wall.
Mahatma Gandhi had come out of his shell and he had made up his mind to challenge the British with a nationwide movement against the colonial rule when he realised that the rulers were too pig-headed to let the wise counsel prevail.
Gandhiji sent a call to Vinoba who duly arrived in response. He revealed that a nationwide satyagraha against the colonial rule to demand the full independence was about to be launched.
Gandhiji added, “I have chosen you to be the ‘First Soldier’ of my satyagraha. So, leave everything you are currently engaged in.”
Vinoba smiled, “I have already wound up whatever I was doing when I received your command. I consider a call from you as a call from Yamaraj.”
Gandhiji heek-heeked in his squeaky voice and nodded his head to acknowledge Vinoba’s devotion.
Vinoba began his satyagraha battle from Pavnar by issuing an anti-war statement on 17 October, 1940. The administration did not arrest him. He continued to speak against the war being forced on Indians by the colonial rulers. On fourth day, the authorities moved against him. Vinoba got arrested and sent to jail.
He was tried and given a three months prison sentence.
After Vinoba Jawaharlal Nehru took charge of the satyagraha movement.
There was some confusion about Gandhiji’s step of making Vinoba his first soldier. For the people Vinoba was an unknown quantity. The questions were asked who is this Vinoba character? Why Bapu chose him to lead his movement while he had a lot a proven leaders, crusaders, reformers, battle worthy barristers, lawyers and intellectuals of repute at his disposal?
The fact was that inspite of doing a great work in the fields of social services, Harijan upliftment, village industries, teaching and pioneering work in leprosy eradication Vinoba was little known outside ashram circles because he never publicized his achievements. His work was a selfless service and sacrifice oriented.
Gandhiji felt it necessary to introduce Vinoba to the people and reveal his greatness. He wrote several articles in ‘Harijan Sewak’ journal detailing the pioneering work done by Vinoba in social services. The gist of the articles was—
‘Who is Vinoba Bhave? Why did I choose him for satyagraha as the first soldier? Why was not any other familiar person given the responsibility who was popular with masses? Let me tell you who my ‘First Soldier’ is. When I returned to India from my South African crusade for the Indian settlers there and doing experiments with truth, Vinoba had abandoned college midway driven by a desire to serve the society and the motherland. We exchanged letters in Kashi when I had gone there to take part in the inaugural function of Kashi Hindu University. He was studying Sanskrit there and delving into the ancient scriptures as 19-20 year old youngman.
Then, he joined my ashram at Kocharab, Ahmedabad. He was one of the first members of my ashram. After some time he took a break from the ashram to fulfil a noble mission of gaining scholarly mastery over Sanskrit. Exactly one year later at the dot of the appointed hour he quietly came back into the ashram. I had forgotten that he was expected back on that day and hour to honour his word. He willingly took part in the activities of the ashram like labour work, cleaning, cooking and even carrying out the nightsoil with equanimity. Infact he became an example in discipline and austere life for the rest of the inmates. Mind you, he was only a youngman then.
He has an incredible memory. By nature he is studious. He devotes most of his time to the task of spinning or grinding on manual stone mills. In those tasks he has gained amazing skills that only a few can. He believes that mass spinning held the key to the solution of the problems faced by rural sector, mainly that of poverty. It is not an empty belief but he has practically applied it in villages he rendered social services to. He even experimented on himself by trying to live on what his day’s spinning earned him. In the process he worked out a valuable data which became a base while espousing the cause of the rural spinners and weavers.
Being a teacher by nature Vinoba has contributed a lot to Smt. Asha Devi’s programme of ‘Basic Education through Handicrafts’.
Vinoba also has to his credit a book based on the idea that the spinning was the basic handicraft. It is an original thing. He proved to the cynics who had laughed at him that spinning was a craft that can be used as a platform for the primary education.
He has revolutionise the art of the spinning on finger rotated spindle. Vinoba has brought out all the miracles of finger spinning.
There is not even a faint smell of untouchability in his heart. He truly sees everyone as equal to all others naturally. He is perfectly secular and has faith in communal amity, unity and harmony as I do. To understand the sublime values of Islam Vinoba learned Arabic to study the holy book in the original expression. He devoted a full year of his life to that endeavour. He considered it necessary to understand the feelings of his Muslim brethren.
Vinoba has created a legion of dedicated disciples and workers who would lay down their lives for his cause. One of his disciples dedicated his life to the service of the lepers defying the fear of social stigma, condemnation and the ostracization by the society. Vinoba was the spirit behind all that courage.
Vinoba has no medicinal education. Yet on his own for serving the sick and helpless he learnt some treatment processes of leprosy. Several centres are using that process benefiting hundred of lepers. He had written a book in Marathi on some treatments.
Vinoba has served as the manager of the Vardha Women ashram. The desire to serve the poorest and the most helpless took him to Nalwari, a Harijan hamlet. At present he lives at Pavnar, a nearby place from where he renders service to the villages around through his dedicated and selfless bands of workers.
For a long period he has been living a life of saintly austerity and frugality. Vinoba thinks that political
independence is imperative for the country. He is an impartial scholar of the history. His belief is that true independence will remain only a dream for the rural masses until they get the benefit of concerted constructive programmes. And the soul of the constructive programmes is Khadi.
According to Vinoba spinning wheel is the outer symbol of non-violence. It has become the part of his life. Vinoba has taken part in the past-satyagraha movements as a soldier. His role was not highlighted because the selfless dedication has been the basic element of his character. He had no use for name, fame or adulation.
He never pushed himself on the political stage of the country. Like many others of his ilk he believes that quiet constructive contribution to the research of Civil Disobedience Movement was more effective than the business of going on the stage to deliver yet another hot speech where already river of words is flowing, all the speakers serving as tributaries.
Vinoba has a firm belief that without putting heartfelt faith in the spinning wheel and without actively taking part in constructive works a non-violent counteraction is impossible.
Vinoba is against the war. But he respects like his own conscience, the conscience of those who are not against war in principle but are not supporting the current war on the diktat of the conscience. Although Vinoba here represents both kinds of war protesters yet if I feel that the group that opposes only the current World War as a matter of the national interest needs exclusive spokesman, I will appoint one. The Vinoba will only represent those who are against the war as a matter of the principle of non-violence.’
Many high official confided that leaders like Jawaharlal or Bhulabhai were big names who required exemplary punishments. But Vinoba was a small fry having little influence. The former category of leaders had immense popularity and the corresponding influence on the masses. The government may not be afraid of the influence of Vinoba. Fear or no fear…now even Mr. Amrie has included Vinoba’s name in his account and described him as a true spiritual-cum-political entity.
Gandhian Mahadevbhai Desai wrote—The people will know the greatness and the importance of Vinoba in future years and not today. Presently his impact looks like a sapling, watch it twenty years later and find a giant banyan tree.
I will point out a few of his exceptional qualities. He is a committed celibate. There may be few others. He is a brilliant intellectual, there may be others like him. He lives extremely simple life, many other Gandhi followers also do that. He is a great believer in constructive work and keeps himself always applied to it, some other Gandhians also may be doing that. There are others too who have sharp brains like him but these are things others won’t be able to match with Vinoba.
A resolve made, an element imbibed and right away acting upon it is a sublime quality. The second speciality is ever uninterrupted progression. It is hard to find a person anywhere who can with conviction claim that he truly has made ceaseless progression. There is always some lapse or break here or there.
This quality I have found only in Vinoba other than Bapu himself. At the age of 46 Vinoba suddenly was seized with the desire to learn a difficult language like Arabic. But the applied himself assidomously to the task and soon he was studying ‘Koran’ in the original script and analysing the messages. Then we found that he had better understanding of the holy book than most of the pedantic clerics. Gandhiji had many followers who earned immense fame and popularity. But none of them could match Vinoba in creating the numbers of true believers in Gandhian values like non-violence and dedicated workers who rendered selfless service to the cause of the ashram movement and satyagrahas. Every drop of the sweat he shed in the service to downtrodden produced a dedicated worker just like mythological Raktabeeja demon’s drops of blood each created a demon to fight for him in evil sense, whereas the former’s creations were for noble causes.
Like others Vinoba was not secular just to appear fair minded for impression. His body and mind were simply manifestation of secularism. He had made deep studies of the holy books of other faiths. Future yogi he is, by thought, word and act, so beautifully harmonised that the equal is difficult to find. His life is a soft musical composition of equanimity and secular behaviour. Such a disciple of Gandhiji is a tribute to him and satyagraha.
After spending three months in jail, Vinoba was released. He again commenced satyagraha to be jailed again. This continued for three acts spanning over a period of 18 months.
In jail he continued his ascetic life style, preached Geeta to the prisoners, explained the tenets of Holy Koran and Bible. Besides that he continued to enrich his knowledge of various languages. His fungal life amazed the jail authorities. They found that Vinoba’s self regulated austere life was more harsh than the prison life. He earned such a respect that the jail staff would listen to his sermons with all reverence to the chagrin of bigotic colonial officers.
Meanwhile, Gandhiji realised that the colonial rulers were not taking the peaceful satyagraha seriously. It pained him and he decided to confront the rulers in a more forceful way.
In August, 1942 Gandhiji issued a seven day ultimatum to the British to leave India or face the consequences of ‘Quit India’ movement to be launched on the day of its expiry. It shocked the British. They had never imagined that a soft non-violent leader like Gandhi would adopt such aggressive postures.
The Viceroy rejected the ultimatum. The British hawkish prime minister instructed the Viceroy not to bow down before the naked fakir (Gandhi).
Gandhiji gave a call of ‘Do-or-die’ to the countrymen. And with that the unrest gripped the country. Millions of protesting Congress workers took to the streets. The British retaliated by resorting the mass arrests and brutal repression of the people. Most of the leaders were arrested and put in jails. Only a few remained out of the prison and continued to struggle clandestinely.
Vinoba also was arrested and sent to Vellore jail. All the ashrams and workshops run by him were confiscated by the government. After a year in Vellore jail Vinoba was shifted to Sivni jail situated in Madhya Pradesh. During these jail terms Vinoba studied books, delivered religious sermons to the fellow prisoners and learnt several South Indian languages.
In protest against the British repression Gandhiji announced a 21-day fast. It worried the authorities. But Winston Churchil said, “Let the old man die. He has always been an enemy of the empire. In no way we should buckle down.”
But the Indian government was in a dilemma because it knew that if anything bad happened to Gandhiji there would be a hell to pay as the Indian masses would revolt en-masse.
Meanwhile, the war in Europe come to an end with the capitulation of Germany. Some months later Japan also surrendered after the atom bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Subhash Bose’s Azad Hind Fauz was taken prisoner by the Indian British army.
In the post-war general elections of Britain Labour Party came to power. It was not interested in continuing on with the colonial rule in India. The new Prime Minister Attlee had made up his mind to withdraw from India. Consequently all the Indian leaders and the workers were released from jails.
The modalities of the transfer of power was being worked out. The Viceroy held discussions with the leaders of India to determine the form and the constitution of post-British India. Indian Muslim League under Mohammad Ali Jinnah was hell bent on a separate land ‘Pakistan’ for Muslims.
A provisional interim government was formed under the premiership of Jawaharlal Nehru. It had become clear that British won’t grant freedom until Indians agreed to partition of the country. The Congress leaders agreed. But Gandhiji was dead set against the partition.
The Cripps Commission determined the Muslim majority areas to carve out ‘Pakistan’ from India. The tension between Muslims and Hindus increased throughout the country. It gravely pained Gandhiji and Vinoba. To oversee the transfer of power Lord Mountbatton was appointed the last Governor General of India.
At last, the country was divided into two parts. India, that is Bharat and Pakistan. Pakistan was granted independence on 14th August 1947. And India became free on 15th August at midnight when Jawaharlal Nehru unfurled the tricolour on the Red Fort of Delhi with his ‘Tryst and destiny’ speech.
But the joy of the freedom was tempered with sadness of partition and communal carnage that followed. The people appeared to lust for one another’s blood. Millions of people left India and Pakistan to seek refuge in the perceived sanctuaries the other part promised to be.
Gandhiji and Vinoba tried their best to douse the flames of communal hatred. Noakhali was the worst hit. Gandhiji went on ‘Fast unto death’ demanding communal amity. Better sense prevailed and the leaders of both the communities assured him that they would work for peace and coexistence.
Delhi was flooded with refugees from Pakistani Punjab. Communal hatred was in the air. Gandhiji camped in Delhi preaching communal peace, harmony and non-violence.
On 30 January, 1948 as usual Gandhiji arrived in the prayer meeting at the appointed hour. A degenerated youth named Nathuram Godse in the posture of wishing to touch Gandhiji’s feet moved towards the stage and from a close quarter he fired his revolver thrice. All the three bullets hit Gandhiji. He collapsed on the spot saying ‘Hey Ram’.
The entire country was plunged into deep shock and unfathomable grief.
Vinoba received the news stoically. He did not beat his breast and shed tears like others. Many of the people were surprised at his unemotional reaction. The fact was that Vinoba was too devoted to Gandhiji. For him Gandhiji was beyond death. Spiritually he had achieved such lofty position that his physical existence had lost its meaning in his very life time. When the people talked of Gandhiji they did not refer to the old man with a frail body, but the sublime ideals of the truth and non-violence he stood far.
After the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi the countryman naturally looked upto Vinoba Bhave to try to fill the void by providing spiritual guidance to the nation. Vinoba did not disappoint the people. Jawaharlal nehru wrote a letter to Vinoba requesting him to help government run refugee camps in a peaceful way and to provide solace to the people who had lost everything in Pakistan.
Vinoba obliged. After arriving at Delhi he visited the refugee camps and expressed his sympathies for the traumatic experience refugee had gone through. He found that refugees were full of anger and only thing they were obsessed with was the revenge, the revenge against those who had taken over their properties, humiliated them, abused them, desecrated their faiths, butchered their near and dear ones before their own eyes, dishonoured their women and persecuted them in other ways.
Vinoba understood their pain but made it clear that the refugees must give up their hatred and revenge mentality. He said that the independent India was a secular country that believed in peaceful co-existence where there was no place for hatred and communal passions. He promised all help to refugees for their resettlement but they should try to forget all the dreadful things that happened to them and start life a new.
Then, Vinoba learnt that some upper castes had celebrated ‘Gandhiji Week’ in Bikaner by sweeping the Harijan colony clean. For that crime rest of the upper castes were not allowing them in the local temple. So, they sat in front of the temple in satyagraha.
Vinoba reached Bikaner and met locals. In his prayer meeting he said—‘I met the satyagrahis and told them for serving Harijans they were no more allowed in the temple. Consider it a reward because what you did for the country by serving Harijans has pleased God.
Here Harijans are not allowed in the temple. So, if you go into the temple you will be abandoning them. God does not wish so. Don’t go into this temple until it does not open its doors for Harijans.
Let me tell you that there was a temple at Pavnar near my ashram. It was closed to Harijans. So, I did not go there ever. Because where everyone is not allowed in without any discrimination there God can not reside, there only remains a stone idol.
God is like mother to all of us. Can a mother stay away from her children? His sight and the divine voice must reach to everyone. Where the faithfuls of God are disallowed, how would God be there?’
