All World
Gayatri Pariwar

    This idea of kshetra-sanyasa, of confining oneself to one single place, is certainly an old one. People practiced it for the sake of meditation and the welfare of the soul. My purpose however is not that; I seek to realize a deeper inward power for the sake of the welfare of society. This welfare cannot be achieved by outward activities alone. The more deeply inward the action becomes, the more is achieved.

I came to Brahmavidya Mandir, Paunar in 1970, and I spent a lot of time here in cleaning my surroundings. People ask me why I give so much time to this work, and I tell them what Saint Jnaneshwar said: 'He who stands one moment at the door of the Lord attains four kinds of freedom.' The Lord Rama (in the form of the statue of Bharata..Rama) has come to our courtyard; while cleaning it I feel the joy of His presence, and at the same time I have got the four kinds of freedom.

The first is freedom from outward activity. After being occupied in works of service from 1916 to 1966 I entered on the inward path, and from then on I am in fact free from outward action. It is true that for three or four years I had to give some attention to the great work of Bihar-Dan, which involved some outward activity, but by now (October 1970) that too has come to an end. The second is freedom from books. From now on I shall do no more book-writing. The third is freedom from study. What do I read? Nothing! The fourth is freedom from teaching. I began teaching in 1911, teaching my school friends and class-mates. Later on I taught the people in the Ashram. I have been teaching for about sixty years, but now that also is finished.

As for my continued cleaning work, there was an additional reason: I looked to it as a way of meditation. If instead of a broom I had picked up a rosary and started telling my beads, no one would have said that I was wasting my time! Picking up rubbish acts for me like a rosary - with every straw picked up there is a remembrance of the Name. There is no thinking involved, it is pure contem¬plation. A man who cannot tolerate rubbish around him will not tolerate rubbish inside him either, and will feel a strong urge to get rid of it. That is a spiritual urge. Very soon however I shall take leave even of this work.

In the same way, (in July 1972) I stopped signing copies of Gita-Pravachan (‘Talks on the Gita’) and other books. I have been popularizing it for forty years-1932-72-and I have now no wish to go on doing so. In addition, (in 1976) I took some further steps, which I announced on the holy Christmas Day December 25. 'From: today on," I said, I will not share in the management of any institution, nor act as adviser to party, even to those which I myself have founded. The second thing is that whatever talks I have will be 'with individuals at an individual level, and I have already said what subjects I am 'ready to discuss - science and spiri¬tuality. Science is going ahead by leaps and bounds, and I no longer try to, keep up with it except as it relates to physical health. As for spirituality, I do not mean by this any philosophical analysis of such terms as Brahma (the Supreme), maya (illusion) or jiva (individual soul); I mean that which can loosen the tangled knots in the mind and make it pure. Anyone who wishes to exchange thoughts on these two subjects may come. And just one thing more, these talks will not be held in private.

Kshetra-Sanyasa (Renunciation of Travel)

On November 2, 1969 I came from my travels through my homeland (India), to my special home in Wardha, and spent seven days in Sevagram. I decided to plan ahead for seven days only, not more. The idea was to keep my mind fresh, and at the same time alert. And who knows, by planning for seven days at a time I might well stay in the same place for a whole year!

So from Sevagram I moved on to Gopuri, and then on June 7, 1970 I came to Brahmavidya Mandir. On that date, four years earlier, I had laid all my work of service at Bapu’s feet, obtained my ‘discharge’, and entered upon the path of inwardness. On that day therefore I decided to go to the Brahmavidya Mandir. ‘I don’t wish to tie myself down’ I said to the sisters. ‘Over in Bihar the Naxalites are uttering threats against the Sarvodaya. Workers, and Jayaprakashji has therefore given up the few days’ rest which he had planned to take, and is going from village to village to help them. It is impossible for me to close my mind to these things.

But although I kept an open mind, I remained where I was. I was ready to consider leaving if some happening somewhere in India should demand it, but otherwise I felt strongly that I should stay, and concentrate on strength¬ening Brahmavidya Mandir. The work of the Mandir was being carried on by mutual consultation and agreement among all its members, and so it would continue. Apart from that, I thought, I would be ready to answer those who came to me individually with their questions and opened their hearts to me.

A month or two later (on October 6, 1970) I announced that I was going to become a sthanakavasi, a dweller in one place only. This sthanakavas is a practice among the Jains. Just as they renounce possessions, so also they renounce place. I proposed to begin it on the following day, October 7. One should certainly regard every day as holy, but October 7 has a special importance for me, for it was on that date forty years ago that I began to write the Gitai. On that date therefore I entered my ‘detention camp’. The Jains call it sthanakavas, the Hindus call it kshetra-sanyasa, the modem word is ‘detention camp’. When a man halts in one place like this, it makes it easy for everyone to find him. This is not my own decision; it is an inward call which I regard as a command. I hope that my friends will come to see me sometimes, for friendship’s sake or even for a game!

Entering More Deeply into the Inward Life

This idea of kshetra-sanyasa, of confining oneself to one single place, is certainly an old one. People practiced it for the sake of meditation and the welfare of the soul. My purpose however is not that; I seek to realize a deeper inward power for the sake of the welfare of society. This welfare cannot be achieved by outward activities alone. The more deeply inward the action becomes, the more is achieved. Now the time has come to practice this deeper inward action. I entered on this inward path five years ago, but circumstances then compelled me to use the outward path also; it was needful to carry forward the work of Bihar¬dan to a certain point. Now that the local people have taken it up, and Jayaprakashji has staked his life on it; I have settled down here in the middle of India.

This deeper inwardness means that one contemplates this whole created universe and sees in it the image of the divine. It means to stand face to face with humanity and lose oneself in the soul within. The individual who enters on this path will be reduced to nothing, to less than nothing; that is the test. It is inwardly experienced, and bears fruit in the individual life. For society it means the release of a power which, like the power of the atom, is inward and hidden, but whose effect is far greater than that of outward force. This inward energy is just as great as that of the atom, but it cannot be described in material terms.

The work which our friends have done recently, the collection of a Gram-Swaraj Fund" has, I think, been done very well. Years ago a Swaraj Fund was collected in the name of Lokmanya Tilak when he was at the peak of his fame. That is not the case with me; my reputation is now at the lowest ebb! There must be many people in the country who feel affection for me, but who regard my gramdan work as bogus. That is only what I expected. I said in Bihar that bhoodan is a cash transaction, something definite, so much received, so much given away. But gramdan work is not like that; as I said, it could have infinite results, or none whatever; there is no middle way. Today it looks like a zero. Jayaprakashji and others are trying to turn the zero into infinity, and I believe they will succeed, because that is the demand of the age.

But having settled down in one place I find that my mind is inclined towards silence. My body also has become very weak. People ask what I am thinking about nowadays, and I answer that I am not thinking at all, it is as if I had no mind at all. I take a morning walk and see the planet Venus shining before me, and the people going to and fro, and the trees. I am conscious of nothing, for much of the time, but a ‘mindless' bliss. When I talk with people my intellect comes into play, but not my surface mind.

I have stopped thinking about the state of the country, and leave it in the hands of God. Nor do I keep particular individuals in mind; my thoughts are only of the Lord. But I do read the newspapers, and so have some idea of what is going on, especially just now (1971) the happenings in East Bengal. Apart from that I just sit here like a reference book, ready for any who may wish to consult me.

People ask me what I am planning to do next, and I tell them that today I have been engaged in meditation, but as for tomorrow, who can say? There was one thing I never accepted from Gandhiji, the writing of a daily diary. In this I had the blessing of the ancients; their words, 'abandon all attachment to the past, all anxiety for the future,' had a great influence on me; I neither remember the past nor trouble about the future. People tell me that I ought to write my autobiography. (The Hindi word is atma-katha, ‘Story of the Self’.) But if I did, it would be only the story of the body, for it is not possible to write the story of the Self. In the preface I should have to say that there is no guarantee that what is written here is true, because I am ‘Vinoba the Forgetful’. I have forgotten a great deal and I go on forgetting. I don't allow the past to become a burden on me.

I am however engaged in one experiment, and it has two sides; on the one hand to keep the world in my remembrance, on the other to send out my blessings by the channels of thought. Remembrance of the world implies remembrance of oneself. This is the basis of my experiment in abhidhyana, 'specific' meditation. I ask everyone of our workers to write to me once a month, but I do not answer their letters in writing. I read them, I reflect on them, I seek to unite the power of my own thought with whatever is good in them and so to strengthen it.

This intensive reflection, this meditation on specific people and their endeavours, bears fruit only if two con¬ditions are fulfilled. On my part there should be complete freedom from egoism. On the part of my correspondent there should be, as it were, a radio receiving set, an open mind. Then the results will appear.

I am practicing this intensive meditation on five specific themes, following the pattern of fivefold worship which Shankaracharya began, and which is called Shan-na-ra-ga-¬de. 'Shan' stands for Shankar, 'na' for Narayan, 'Ra' for Ravi, the Sun, 'Ga' for Ganapati or Ganesh, 'De' for Devi, Goddess. What then is my fivefold Shan-na-ra-ga-de? My Shankar, who watches' over the welfare of all, is Brahmavidya, for without that knowledge of the Supreme we shall never obtain our true welfare. Those who regard our movement as merely economic and social are taking a completely one-sided view and have not understood it at all. The movement is spiritual, and founded on Brahmavidya. Spiritual disciplines such as meditation, prayer, self-examination and striving for inward purity must always be a vital part of it. Then comes Narayan, the god of human society; Narayan stands for gram-swarajya, village self-government, and that is my second theme. The Sun is the Shanti-sena, the Peace Army, my third theme. The sunbeams shine upon all, so let our Shanti-sena shed its light upon the whole of India. The fourth, Ganapati, is the god of Knowledge, so the Acharya-kul is a theme of my meditation. And the fifth, the Devi, is the Devanagari script. I am very deeply interested in what my fellow-workers have done and are doing about these five matters, and what their difficulties are.

The Gift of Fasting

These days (December 1973) I have started fasting for a half day on the 11th of the month and for a half day on the 25th. These dates have meaning for me; the 11th is my birthday, the 25th the day on which I left home. Both days are good for reflection, and the two together make up a full day's fast with no bad effect on health.
My food costs about three rupees a day, so in this way I save three rupees a month, thirty-six rupees a year. I thought I would give this amount to the work of the Sarva Seva Sangh.  It seemed to me that it would be a very big thing if every one of the workers, sympathizers and supporters of Sarvodaya ideas would fast once a month and give the amount saved each year to the Sarva Seva Sangh. Up to now we have been accepting all kinds of gifts for our work, and in that way we have worshipped the Sarva Brahma, the Supreme in all. Now let us worship the Vimala Brahma, the pure Supreme, with a pure offering. Fasting purifies; a gift derived from fasting is a pure gift.

One Year of Silence

(In December 1974) my mind was full of the idea of keeping silence for a time. The 25th was approaching. It was the holy eleventh day of the half-month of Magh in the Hindu calendar, the 'birthday' of the Gita, and also Christmas; I decided that beginning on that auspicious day I would keep silence for one year.

But should I not then complete the work which I had already planned? A spiritual decision does in fact entail breaking such commitments, it cannot wait until some work or other has been finished. To accept sanyasa means that such ties have to be broken, otherwise nothing is gained. So from December 25 I kept silence for a year.

Before entering the silence I told people that in one sense I had been observing silence even while speaking, and that now I should go on speaking even in my silence! Silence is an active power. The Sun shines outside the door, but if the door is closed, the sunlight does not push its way in. This silence is not like that, it pushes, it presses forward.

This silence means not only no speaking, but also no writing. I shall write nothing but Rama-Hari, the Name of God. Even after I took kshetra-sannyasa I was involved in a few outward matters and in discussions about them, for these too seemed to me to be in the natural course of things. Then I began to think that though there was nothing wrong with these natural activities, the power of intensive inward meditation could only be released by entering more deeply into the inward life. So I decided that I should stop speaking and writing.

God had already stopped my ears. I was sent two or three hearing aids, and I put them on and tried them, and found I could hear well. I used the hearing aid for ten or twelve days, but then I gave it up. Why should I use an aid to get back what God in his grace has taken from me? By God's grace I have already become one of those three (Chinese) monkeys, the one who is stopping his ears. Now I am going to become the second monkey who keeps his mouth shut. But I am not going to be the third monkey and keep my eyes closed, instead of that I shall stop using my hand, that is to say I shall do no more writing. I shall keep the use of my eyes, in order to read the letters of all those friends and fellow-workers who write to me regularly, and of those who write occasionally as they feel the need. I want to go on reading these letters and to give myself to intensive meditation about each one separately. The inward thoughts which the letters reveal can be influenced, the knotty problems loosened, by the power of this intense meditation. When I stop speaking, even those who do not have 'receiv¬ing sets' will be reached by this power. The silence will be aggressive; it will push its way into the heart of the one who wrote.

Some will ask, why one year only of silence? Why not more? The answer is that in such difficult spiritual matters one must be guided by experience. This is a small first step, a year only. I have not thought any further ahead. Experience will decide.
(Vinoba then remained silent until December 25, 1975)

[From his Memoirs ‘Moved By Love’ – with glad permission of the compiler – Kalindi Behan of Brahma Vidya Mandir]