L. N. Godbole

“ He believed that continuous questioning, a continuous quest must be pursued in both science and self-knowledge.
“Man, like a bird, has two wings - science and spiritual wisdom, and he needs both together for his happiness. The design of every machine provides two forces, one to generate energy for movement and the other to guide and control it. One cannot work without the other. A car has an engine and a steering wheel, so does a human being. We walk with our feet and not with our eyes, but the eyes show us where to go. Self- knowledge or wisdom is the
eye, science is the feet. ”

“ The Sanskrit word for poet, kavi has a deep meaning. The kavi is the seer of revolution, whose vision pierces beyond the immediate. These two eyes of ours see what lies immediately around us, and shows us all the beauty of the world for our enjoyment. But their powers are limited. Beyond this present world is another world of interest and delight which they cannot reach; but man is blind to the beauty of that world because his two eyes are open only to this immediate world. ”

“ What is the nature of our (teachers) strength? Is it not in the nature of light? The light of knowledge, of wisdom, of thought and reflection. What power in the world can stand before it? When science has made so much progress, when the intellect has such far-reaching power, it will be disaster for humanity if the heart remains small. The problems of today arise from this discrepancy: big brains and small hearts. ”

“ It is better to look at one’s own faults only.
Vinoba then called on Gandhiji who told him that he should enlarge the good qualities in others and also enlarge one’s own faults. Vinoba argue with Gandhiji. He said: You are a seeker after Truth. Then we should stick to truth. Why are you asking me to enlarge the good things in others and bad things in me? Gandhiji replied: What you say is mathematically correct. We should not enlarge or reduce. We should stick to reality. But human beings have to see things in perspective. Our eyes cannot see things from a distance in their actual size. ”

“ The word Kula means a family. All of us teachers are members of one family.
Every aspect of the work we mean to do — to commit ourselves to knowledge; to strive for mental purity; to watch over the development of our students with affectionate care; to study the problems of society with a disinterested endeavour to reach agreed conclusions for the guidance of the public - all of these are part of the task of establishing the unity of the family that is the family of teachers.
Vinoba said, these are the reasons which led him to choose the name Acharyakul. ”

“ Vinoba narrated this story in a meeting for farmers. He said, “You physically cultivate your farms, you do the tilling to level the land, Sun shines on that land and then you wait to see God. How many of you have seen God?" All of them raised their hands. There was not a single farmer who doubted whether he had seen God or not. When it rains, the farmers feel that God has not only come to meet them but to touch them. He touches them physically with thousands of drops of water in the showers of rain. ”

“ A society whose speech is clean and pure, strong and simple, is a happy society. For speech is the binding force joining the inner world with the outer, and science with self-knowledge, and all the energies of the world with one another. The Word is the subtle power, and many other powers are hidden within it. ”

“ Still I call our democracy the greatest. Why? Our country is full of different languages, religions, methods of worship, dresses and people. We are full of plurality. We are full of diversity. But somewhere deep down we are all one. There is this unity, Vinoba says, because Vedanta is the basis of our philosophy.
When the Constitution of India was being discussed in 1947, our founding fathers decided on adult franchise, meaning one-man one-vote. It looks very common today. But there are many countries in the world where people have no voting rights at all. ”

“ Education or learning does the same trick. The world, things and people are the same around us. But we see them better, we look at them better. We know them better. The reality is the same but we become better. Learning changes us. It does not change things. That is what school should do to you. In fact, the English word educate comes from its root “educare”, which means “to draw out”. The school or a teacher draws out from you. The things are already in you. Education or learning draws more and more out of you.
That is what a good teacher does. In the Vedas, the teacher is called “gatu vit”. ”

“ But Vinoba got an idea at Pochampalli in Andhra Pradesh on 18th April, 1951. He could perceive its significance in the Indian context. He could appeal to the people of India. He could appeal to their spiritual roots in their own language. He could “see” a new idea. He was a darsanik. He could achieve it. He achieved it without bloodshed, without money. He achieved it peacefully, by appealing to the hearts of the people.
In other countries of the world, the redistribution of land has been done with force, with bloodshed, and with pain all around. ”

“ The individual becomes great because of the indwelling thought, which is great. The individual becomes the mouthpiece for the thought. The strength lies in the thought. And just as the existence of the individual helps the thought, it may also cause harm to it. After the individual is gone, the pure thought alone remains. That is why Tulsidas says that the name of Rama is greater than Rama, implying that what can be achieved by an individual as great as Rama can be achieved in a much larger measure by the power of his name. ”

“ While reflecting on the spiritualisation of politics it occurs to me that in the process politics does not remain intact, it is destroyed. Its place is taken by Lokaniti (people's power) . With freedom has come the rule of the people. Politics cannot survive its spiritualisation. Just as when you try to ignite wood it burns up. You cannot apply fire to wood and at the same time make it retain its character as wood. ”

“ The Gita was his life breath.
Vinoba has gifted us with one beautiful throught by way of a simile. What is swas (breathing) in individual life is viswas (trust) in social life. Without trust in each other we cannot live together or even sleep. We will be worried about safety. Do you not see prime ministers and others surrounded by body-guards? But you have to trust the body-guards. They can also kill, as they did in the case of Indira Gandhi. Social life is impossible without trust, Real beauty, of course, lies in the short pithy sentence where swas and viswas rhyme beautifully. ”

“ The purpose of Acharyakul is not to acquire power; there are other associations for that. The purpose is to make us teachers more aware of our duties, and more ready to fulfil them, and so enable us to regain our rightful place in society. There is so much darkness around us, how can it be removed? If our surroundings seem dark, it is because we have no light. Light knows no darkness. ”

“ You are like a centre point of a circle. The people, the world is like the circumference of a circle. You have to keep control over the centre point, which alone is in your hands. The world will then remain within sight and control. ”

“ Ban on cow slaughter is a directive principle of the Constitution. As a Gandhian, he had been brought up on the belief that Goraksha and Khadi were two major policy thrusts of the Independence movement. All those who fought for the freedom of India under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi had accepted this as an action point and many state governments have passed laws banning cow- slaughter. How could the state power in India be non-responsive to the People’s wishes? ”

“ In Sanskrit, there is no direct word for teaching. The right word is “learning”. The teacher makes learning possible. The meaning of a word is to be learned by you. It is to be searched for in real life. We use a lot of words, but we do not always understand them. We do not experience them. And unless we experience them they do not become a part of our understanding or knowledge. Take the simple word fear. Unless you see something fearful or a car passes very near you and your hairs stand on their ends you do not understand ”

“ Vinoba’s emphasis on not having institutions was very fundamental. After all, we only ‘experience’ life as individuals. Group, family, caste, religion, country, nation, union, company are all theoretical constructs. They are all concepts the reality which we experience is only the individual. It is the individual who has to change himself to change society. If a man is not changed, nothing changes.
A man can be changed only by changing his thoughts. This can be achieved only by the spread of ideas. ”

“ We are today producing people for use in Western countries. There is very little for local consumption. All is exported. We are seeing this all around us.
‘An awareness about our society, our people, our poor and unlettered and who have not received any of the benefits of Independence is totally missing from the minds of our educated people. The education that we have in India makes us more literate, more vocal, more skilled and more selfish. Where is the conscious- ness about others who are less privileged? Each one wants all the cake for himself. He does not bother about others. ”

“ Their economies are in ruin. People paid the price for it with their blood. Philosophy based on economics collapsed with their economies.
The States and their leaders became dictators, power-mad, and ruined their economies. The intellectuals gave respectability to their crimes in the name of Socialism. The communists wanted a similar revolution in India. They started it in Telangana in Andhara Pradesh. That is where Vinoba offered an alternative. He took the ethical fervour of Marx, moulded it in the crucible of Indian reality, and offered bhoodan. ”

“ This division of people between ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ leads to class war. Marxist analysis believes that this class conflict between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’, the rich and the poor is inevitable. The poor can win only when they defeat the rich. Equality cannot be established without annihilating class enemies. Millions of people have been killed in Soviet Russia, China and other countries in the world have paid a heavy price for this theory of class war. Intellectuals, who almost invaribly never even get hurt in violent conflicts were great supporters of this idea of ‘Class War. ”

“ Our own job, our Dharma, is to travel round the villages and to maintain our faith in our ideas. Do not say that the work will never be done by discussion of ideas. The work will never be done in any other way. It can only be done through acceptance of the idea. The power of the idea, the discipline of the idea, our first tool.” () ——
Sankaracharya, the ace Jnanayogi of India being his Guru, Vinoba’s faith in dissemination of ideas was very deep rooted. He believed that organisations and institutions have a role, but a limited one. They are carriers of ideas. ”

“ He wanted teachers to set an example to their students. He thought village power, people’s power. with the power of knowledge wielded by a teacher can withstand the destructive power of politicians.
Vinoba wanted teachers to evolve into an Acharya-kula. Their power of knowledge would emerge when they unite. If they divide themselves, then their power will be dissipated. The answers to the problems facing India can only be given by teachers. But such teachers must first renounce politics. They should not be members of any political party. ”

“ That is the importance of the cow as a giver of Food, and a renewable source of traction power. It is often the only asset a poor man has in India.
Poor farmers cannot resist the temptations of market forces. They sell their cows for slaughtering. In other words, they sell their renewable source of an energy generating asset. The land becomes meaningless without bullocks. The only choice for a poor villager is to become a landless labourer dependent on others, or migrate to city slums. ”

“ He has taken part in every menial activity of the Ashram from scavenging to cooking. Though he has a marvelous memory and is a student by nature, he has devoted the largest part of his time to spinning in which he has specialized as very few have. He believes in universal spinning being the central activity which will remove the poverty in the villages and put life into their deadness. Being a born teacher he has been of the utmost assistance to Ashadevi in her development of the scheme of education through handicrafts. Sri Vinoba has produced a text-book taking spinning as the handicraft. ”

“ Vinoba wanted Dharma to be constantly spreading and growing. Why should the saints of Tamilnadu be as Nalavar (four greats) and not grow in numbers? Why are the Gurus of the Sikhs restricted to ten? Why not more? We must be capable of finding new ways to live and be religious.
Those who are bound to institutions do not find such new ways. Vivekananda, Gandhi, Aurobindo, Sankarcharya, Tolstoy were the people who really spread Dharma, The established mathas, swamis and churches opposed these thinkers. ”