Biography

The Biography of Famous Personalities of India will tell you about the controversies, the dark sides of a person that you may have never heard of.

Swaraj is My Birth Right and The Final Days of Tilak

Swaraj is My Birth Right

Independence entails the power to the masses and conscious responsibility towards others. Tilak termed Swaraj as the natural consequence of the diligent performance of duty. ‘While the Karma Yogi strives for Swaraj, the Jnana Yogi yearns for it’.

He thundered the call ‘Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it’. Through Swaraj, freedom fosters creativity, empowerment brings forth responsibility, and enlightened consciousness inspires individuals to achieve higher ideals and propels them to ‘karma’ in right earnestness.

In India’s freedom struggle, millions of individuals sacrificed their lives for future generations and Gandhian vision and idealism inspired the nation to follow certain values and activised the masses into action and thrilled the nation with hope.

In short, Swaraj for him, meant independence from alien control, economic independence, moral and social independence, dharma, self-control, control over proximate environment and existence of peace and security. To attain Swaraj, all the citizen should fill the importance of it in their mind.

For Tilak, Swaraj was not freedom from all restraint but it is complete disciplined rule from within. It is the freedom to err and the power to correct them.

Thus, self rule and self control leads to creation of disciplined society. It also means a society whose ideology includes social upliftment, religious harmony, educated people, self-reliant villages and towns and a positive approach towards mental and moral development.

Swaraj was not isolated independence, but healthy, positive and dignified independence. The sense of duty and enlightened use of power makes the state an embodiment of equality and justice.

As days passed, Tilak began to stamp the slogan ‘Swaraj is our birth right’ on the minds of every Indian. Lokamanya Tilak’s popularity grew rapidly.

In 1916, Tilak completed sixty years of a fruitful life. Scholars, leaders and friends thronged his house on the occasion of the sixtieth birthday celebrations. Tilak was honoured with the presentation of an “Address of Felicitations” and a purse of one lakh rupees.

The celebrations were on a grand scale. Lokamanya gave away the money to be used in the service of the country. To him, money had nothing to do in his private life.

The British government also gave him a present on the occasion of his birthday. On the day before his birthday, the government served him with a notice; it ordered him to give a surety of Rs. 20,000/- for his good behaviour for one year.

His body gradually grew weaker. His talks and writings were not as fiery as before. Yet he successfully tried to unify the divided Congress.

In the mean time, a journalist of England by name Chiral, visited India. He studied the movement directed by Tilak and made false allegations against Tilak. He charged that ‘Tilak was the leader of a violent revolution in India.’

Tilak claimed that this was an insult to him and went to court for damages. He had to go to England for the ‘Chirol episode’ and had to remain there for 13 months. On account of this, he had to spend his precious time and money.

The visit to England was not solely for the case. His purpose was also to explain to the British government, the conditions in enslaved India. He addressed hundreds of meetings and intensified the ‘Home Rule’ movement. He won the friendship of leaders of the Labour Party.

The Final Days

During the World War-I, the British government sought the help of Indians. Victory in the war intoxicated the British and tyranny was let loose in India. When the Rowlat Act was opposed, the ‘Jallianwala Bagh Massacre’ took place. The heartless government murdered in cold blood hundreds of unarmed civilians in a brutal way.

This massacre made Bal Gangadhar Tilak rush back to India at once. He issued a call to the Indians not to stop their movement no matter what happened, till their demands were met.

The health condition of Lokamanya had become very weak by this time. The body was tired and yet, he undertook tours to awaken the people. He visited Sangli, Hyderabad, Karachi, Sollapur and Kashi and lectured at all these places. Finally, he aimed for Bombay, and came to the city with great enthusiasm.

In 1920, the condition of Bal Gangadhar Tilak was i worsened. In the early hours of August 1, the light went out. Even as this sad news was spreading, a veritable ocean of people surged to his house to have the last glimpse of their beloved leader.

Around two lakhs of people witnessed his last journey. Mahatma Gandhi, Lala Lajpat Rai, Shaukat Ali and others shouldered the bier by turns.

The way the British feared Tilak, can be gauged from the letter the Governor of Bombay wrote in 1908 to the Secretary of State for India in England:

‘He is one of the chief conspirators opposed to the British rule in India. He may even be the Chief conspirator. He has planned the Ganesha Festival, the Shivaji Festival, the Paisa Fund and the National Schools, with the sole aim of destroying British rule in India ’.

When Tilak passed away, Mahatma Gandhi said: “He used his steel-like will power for the country. His life is an open book. Future generations will remember Tilak with reverence, as the man who lived and died for their sake. Love of India was the breath of life with Mr. Tilak and in it he has left to us a treasure, which can only increase, by use. The endless procession of yesterday shows the hold the great patriot had on the masses. ”

The Biography of Famous Personalities of India will tell you about the controversies, the dark sides of a person that you may have never heard of.

The Country’s Misfortune of Bal Gangadhar Tilak

When the British divided Bengal, people used to boycott it. A powerful movement flared up to protest against the division of Bengal. There was a District Magistrate who was the embodiment of injustice. A revolutionary by name Khudiram Bose threw a bomb on him.

The government used inhuman methods to break the will of the people. Aurobindo was arrested and taken to the police office. Anyone suspected of trying to use explosives could be sent to prison for 14 years.

As a result of these atrocities, the people revolted against the government. Tilak’s blood boiled. He wrote an article in the ‘Kesari’ under the title ‘The Country’s Misfortune’ and stated:

‘It is unfortunate that bombs are being made in the country. But the responsibility for creating a situation, in which it has become necessary to throw bombs, rests solely on the government. This is due to the government’s unjust rule.’

The government made this article ‘The Country’s Misfortune’, a pretext to charge Tilak with treason against the government. He was arrested on June 24, 1908, in Bombay. He was sentenced to six years imprisonment outside India. These six years led his health to a very shocking stage.

The prison where Tilak was imprisoned was very malarious and bad for human health. The Bombay High Court judge who gave Tilak the punishment was earlier a lawyer in the Bombay High Court and had pleaded in favour of Tilak. In his judgement he had also observed that he has his doubts whether the prisoner is sane or of unsound mind. But the judge was wrong.

Tilak had a very strong will power. In his editorial, he had challenged the British government to do its work. He was prepared to face their wrath but they should get their brains properly examined by efficient doctors. Perhaps the judge had this threat of Tilak in his mind; when he called him ‘mad’.

Tilak was then 52 years old. He had plunged into the struggle for freedom with no thought for his health and had grown weak. Diabetes had further weakened him. How could he withstand this severe imprisonment for six years far away from India?

The country was plunged in grief. Even foreign thinkers condemned this severe punishment to Tilak, who was a scholar, highly respected and honoured throughout the world.

Tilak’s room in the prison in Mandalay, Burma was a small room made of wooden planks consisted with a cot, a table, a chair and a bookshelf inside it. There was no protection from wind and cold. He was not allowed to meet anybody.

When Tilak completed one year in that jail, he got a note through one of his friends. The note said that if he accepted certain conditions, then he would be released.

Tilak wrote back saying, 7 am now 53 years old. If I live for another ten years, that means I shall live for five years after I come out of the prison. I can at least spend those five years in the service of the people. If I accept government’s conditions, I am as good as dead’.

The Government reduced rigorous imprisonment to simple imprisonment. So he was allowed to read and write. It was here that he wrote the book ‘Gita- Rahasya’. It is a mighty work.

Tilak’s imprisonment set in motion, a wave of resentment throughout the country. Many young men specially from Bengal actively participated in the movement started by him.

Subhash Chandra Bose, a patriot, was also kept at Mandalay. He got TB and was therefore released. He showered a lavish praise on Tilak and wondered how he lived in such a dangerous place where human life was not safe.

Tilak stayed in that jail for six years. Now he was an old man with shattered health and he knew instinctively that the end of his life is very near. Love for Sanskrit was in his blood. Before leaving this world, he wanted to let Indians know what is the real advice of Gita— the supreme gospel. Therefore he started writing ‘Gita- Rahasya’.

The British government’s agents monitored carefully as to what this old and dangerous man was writing. They took away his manuscript and gave it to their experts to interpret. When they okayed it, the manuscript was returned to Tilak.

In 1914, after his term of punishment came to an end, Tilak was released. He was taken to Pune. He at once got the manuscript printed and published as a book. It had huge sale all over the country. In all Indian languages its translations appeared and even in Germany, France and England learned men showed high praise on Tilak for the monumental work of permanent value.

His ailing wife died while he was in jail at Mandalay. It was unbearable but he swallowed his grief with great courage and equanimity. At a meeting session, arranged in honour of his release, he said:

“Six years of separation from you has not lessened my affection for you. I have not forgotten the concept of several. There will be no change in the programmes I had already accepted. They will all continue as before. ”

When Tilak returned from Mandalay, he found a serious rift between the two Congress groups. His efforts to unite them were in vain. Then Tilak decided to build a separate powerful organization called the ‘Home Rule League’. Its goal was swaraj.

Tilak went from village to village, explained the aim of his league to the farmers and won their hearts.

‘Home Rule ’ means that we ourselves should manage our homes. Should our neighbour become the master of our house? An Indian should have as much freedom in India as an Englishman has in England. This is the meaning of ‘Home Rule ’ — so Tilak explained.

He travelled constantly, in order to organize people. He spoke from hundreds of platforms about ‘Home Rule’. And wherever he went, he received a hero’s welcome.

In 1916, Bal Gangadhar Tilak formed the Home Rule League in Bombay. Six months later Annie Besant founded the league in Madras. The Home Rule League became popular and it broke fresh ground even in small towns that hitherto had little or no political consciousness. Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Annie Besant, the two pivots of the movement, designed a new flag.

It comprised five red and four green horizontal stripes arranged alternately, with seven stars denoting the Saptarishi configuration.

The Biography of Famous Personalities of India will tell you about the controversies, the dark sides of a person that you may have never heard of.

Tilak in Jail and The Swadeshi Movement of Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Tilak in Jail

“ All I wish to say is that in spite of the verdict of the jury, I maintain my innocence. There are higher powers that rule the destiny of men and nations. It may be the will of Providence that the cause I represent may prosper by suffering than by remaining free” – Bal Gangadhar Tilak

The then British Government did not do anything to improve the condition of cells in the jails. The dark cell measured just 13 square feet, and the prisoner could not even turn from one side to another. The prisoners had a miserable life there.

The bugs in the bed sucked the prisoners’ blood as if to prevent the mosquitoes from flying away with the prisoner. Officers whipped the prisoners and mercilessly set them to work. In short, it was just like a hell on the earth.

Tilak made rope and mats from coir and his fingers got blisters. The fingers that wrote ‘Orion’, which won praise from great scholars like Max Mueller, were made to do dreadful tasks, which made them, bleed. Tilak lost 30 pounds of weight in just four months. In the little leisure that he had, he would read and write. His book ‘The Arctic Home in the Vedas’ written in the jail, is a priceless work.

After reading his writings, scholars and statesmen – from all over the world appealed to the government to release Tilak. The government insisted on two conditions to release him: he should not attend any reception arranged in his honour and he should not criticise the government. Tilak was ready to accept the first condition, as he did not desire anything for himself.

But he would rather live as an outlaw in the Andamans than live as a coward in Maharashtra, admitting that he had done something wrong when he had not done so. So, he rejected the second condition. Finally the government reduced his sentence from one and a half years to a year.

In 1898, at Deepawali, Tilak was released from jail. The joy of the people was beyond words. People were rejoiced and rushed to have ‘darshan’ of Tilak. He was 1 taken in a procession through the main streets of Pune. Everybody shed tears of joy.

From a regional leader, now Tilak became a national leader. Every Indian’s heart was filled with reverence for Tilak. His sufferings in the jail had made him very ^ weak. His eyes were sunken and the bones in the cheeks protruded. But after his release, in a few days his health improved.

Tilak And The Swadeshi Movement

Just after his release, the ‘Swadeshi’ movement grew intense. This was a movement for boycott of goods made in other countries. Gokhale, Ranade, Paranjape and others had shown the importance of the swadeshi principle.

Through newspapers and lectures, Tilak spread the message to each and every village in Maharashtra. A big ‘Swadeshi Market’ was opened in front of Tilak’s house. Swadeshi goods were sold in the fifty odd stalls in the market.

The British Government used the raw materials from India to run their factories in England and sold the finished products to India, a system that kept India an ever dependent country. Self-employing industries of India like spinning, weaving, glass making, sugar, dyeing, paper making were destroyed. People became helpless for no fault of theirs to help an empire become richer and stronger.

Tilak preached four mantras to awaken the sleeping Indians. The mantras were:

1. Boycott of foreign goods
2. National Education
3. Self Government
4. Swadeshi or self reliance.

He realized that mere protest against British rule was not going to help and insisted on native production and reliance.

The voice of people trying for Swadeshi was heard everywhere. All the people, including women and children had lost fear from their mind. They threw out all the foreign goods available in their home. Foreign clothes were reduced to ashes. Foreign sugar was thrown away and local jaggery was used. Swadeshi cotton mills, paper mills and factories to manufacture goods were started. People were now content with the indigenous materials.

During this period, an incident took place at the college. The students of Rajaram College, Kolhapur, were to take an examination. They tore the blank books given to them, saying they would not use foreign-made paper. These students were given six lashes each as punishment. And they pleaded that they should be beaten only with a local made cane.

It is interesting to note that, fourteen years later Mahatma Gandhi started the non-cooperation movement against the British. The methods he placed before the people, Tilak had formulated as early as in 1906.

During the Swadeshi movement, the Government of India and some British newspapers harassed Tilak in many ways. A rich man, Baba Maharaj by name, had died. He had expressed the wish in his will that Tilak should look after his property. He was, in fact, bound to look after the property, without any personal question.

So, Tilak took charge of it. Baba Maharaj’s wife was misled by some selfish persons. She complained against Tilak to the government. The government was waiting for an opportunity. The government arrested Tilak and sent him to the prison.

The Biography of Famous Personalities of India will tell you about the controversies, the dark sides of a person that you may have never heard of.

The Significant Days of Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Bhaskarbuwa Bhakle in a concert; at the extreme right is Bai Gangadhar Tilak

There was a significant phase in his life. It started from 1890, when Tilak left the Educational field, and 1897, when he was imprisoned. This phase was very significant in the life of Tilak. During this period. Tilak the Teacher became Tilak the Politician. The director of an institution became a national leader.

The exceptional energy, so far hidden in him, now raced forth in many directions. In seven brief years, he acquired the experience of seventy years. In addition to the two weeklies, he was running classes for students of Law. He was constantly advocating about bringing new changes through his writings in the weeklies.

He actually waged a war against the Government for the sake of social reforms. He issued a call for the banning of child marriage and welcomed widow marriage.

Through the celebrations of Ganapathi festival and the birthday of the Shivaji, he organized people. He was a member of the Municipal Council of Pune, a member of the Bombay Legislature, and an elected ‘Fellow’ of the Bombay University. He was also taking a leading part in the Congress sessions. Added to these, he wrote and published his maiden work ‘The Orion’.

Such were Tilak’s achievements in this brief span of seven years. Tilak managed to transform the local festivities of Ganesha and Shivaji into national festivals. It was proof of his organizing ability and shrewdness.

In 1896, famine broke out in India. Tilak pressed the government to relieve the distress of the people at once. He helped the farmers affected by the famine.

He collected information about the conditions in every district and published it in the ‘Mahratta’ and the Kesari. Plague broke out while the people were still in the grip of famine. Tilak opened some hospitals and, with the help of volunteers, looked after the patients.

Though the people were in the grip of famine and plague, the government was indifferent. The Viceroy himself said that there was no cause for anxiety. He also said that there was no need to start a ‘Famine Relief Fund’. Revenue collection went on as usual.

The government’s act of ignorance was severely criticized in the articles published in Tilak’s papers. He published fearlessly reports about the havoc caused by famine and plague and government’s utter irresponsibility and indifference.

In the editorials, Tilak made appeals to the people and gave them advice. He explained them about the ‘Famine Relief Act’. He exhorted them to demand relief from the government as their right. “Are you cowards even while you are dying? Can’t you gather courage?”, he questioned the people. He gave constructive suggestions to the government to control the plague.

The government made preparations to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria’s reign. On other side, people were busy cremating the victims of the plague.

After great demand, the government appointed a Special Plague Officer to arrest the havoc of the plague. His name was Rand and he was more terrible than the plague itself. He sent armed police to make the people vacate the houses in which plague had entered.

The police forcibly entered the houses and terrified people with their guns. They admitted to the hospital’s someone they could catch no matter whether he was suffering from plague or not. They took the remaining members of the family to distant camps; they burnt all their belongings on the assumption that they spread the infection. But, in his own hospitals, Tilak was toiling day and night to save the lives of plague-affected people.

A youth, enraged by the senselessness of the government’s anti-plague measures, shot the Special Plague Officer, Rand dead. The police reacted violently and acts of injustice and cruelty multiplied.

Tilak’s blood boiled. Under the title “Has the Government gone mad?” Tilak condemned in the Kesari the immoral acts of the government.

The government could not ignore the writings of Tilak. It came to a conclusion that if Tilak was free it could not survive. By some means or the other Tilak must be locked up behind the bars.

The government suspected that Tilak might have had a hand in Rand’s murder.

Tilak was charged with writing articles instigating people to rise against the government and to break the laws and disturb the peace. He was sentenced to a year and a half’s rigorous imprisonment.

Tilak wrote aggressively against the British through his editorial of Kesari against the British bureaucracy.

The British bureaucracy and the Anglo-Indian press realised that Tilak was an emerging leader of the people and of a new spirit in India. Those who lacked foresight began to fear him.

In tense atmosphere of famine, a young man, Damodar Chaphekar had assassinated Rand who was the British official in charge of the plague.

Those who feared Rand, were quick to blame Tilak for the death, and hinted at his complicity in a conspiracy for political assassination. Tilak was, of course, innocent of any knowledge of or collaboration in this crime.

Tilak had publicly disagreed with Rand for his unsympathetic behaviour towards the plague stricken people. He had condemned the inhuman aspects of the British anti-plague campaign, but he had never contemplated or encouraged the assassination of the British official in charge. It happened beyond his knowledge.

Tilak, nevertheless, was brought to trial in 1897, not as an accessory to assassination, not as being involved in the plot to commit murder, but rather on the charge of ‘sedition’.

The court allowed the prosecution to argue that he had written seditious matter and his criminal sedition constituted, in effect, ‘dissatisfaction’ with the British Raj. It was brought to the notice of the court that Tilak was not positively “affectionate for” British officialdom.

This was one of the most unusual interpretations of sedition and disaffection in the annals of British justice. Nevertheless, Tilak was convicted and sentenced. The British had miscalculated both the effect of this sentence on Tilak and on public opinion.

His arrest and prosecution in 1897 was a sensation that nearly pulled the mind of the country by its roots, as political prosecutions were then extremely rare, and Tilak was, in himself a man big enough to mark an epoch by his personal misfortune. The sedition case in 1897 roused sympathy not only in Maharashtra but also in Bengal. In Bengal, Shishir Kumar Motilal Ghosh and Surendranath Bannerjee started raising funds for defence of Tilak.

The court found Tilak guilty but his prestige rose very high in the minds of the people. Max Mueller and Indian leaders submitted a memorial to the government for the early release of Tilak. The government also soon realised the mistake and released Tilak.

After his release, he became a national hero. He got following outside Maharashtra. He became the first all- India national leader. He had been persecuted for his political opinions. He was now the acknowledged political leader of the nation and the nation was prepared to heed his opinions.

He had begun as an awakener of the people and as a critic of bureaucratic abuses. He emerged from prison with the responsibility of leading the nationalist cause to political self-determination. He was acclaimed as the Lokamanya, the honoured and respected of the people.

Tilak had a great knowledge and love for the classical Indian values. This had prepared him with a personal philosophy and a frame of reference for his battles with social reformism and with the spirit of orthodoxy.

It also provided him with the foundation of his emerging political philosophy. He had fought against injustice, he had also argued against the placating policies of the moderates.

Now, he began to put forward a positive political programme centred around the concept of Swaraj, self-rule for India. He realised that the self-rule must precede the meaningful social reform.

National self-rule, he believed, was the only enduring basis for national unity and national self-respect. He reminded people that Shivaji had recreated Swaraj as a necessary foundation of social and political freedom, progress and morality. He, therefore, declared, which in course of time became a famous slogan, that “Swaraj is my birth right and I shall have it”.

The Biography of Famous Personalities of India will tell you about the controversies, the dark sides of a person that you may have never heard of.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s Life of Dedication

Tilak, being a double graduate, could easily have got a well-paid job like others, under the British. But, as decided when he was young, he dedicated himself to the service of his country.

The concept of Swaraj had yet to blossom in the minds of the people. They had to be made to feel that thirst for Independence. Patriotism had to be nurtured. To lay a strong foundation for a new way of life, an educational institution reflecting Indian culture had to be established.

Every Indian had to be taught about Indian culture and national ideals. Good citizens could be moulded only through good education. Such were the views of Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

His classmate Agarkar gave him full support. As Tilak and Agarkar were working out the plans for a system of education, which would make students truly useful to the country, another great person, Vishnu Sashtry Chiplunkar, joined them.

Tilak founded the Marathi daily Kesari which soon became a popular reading for the common people of India. He strongly criticized the government for its brutalism in suppression of free expression, especially in the face of protests against the division of Bengal in 1905, and for denigrating India’s culture, its people and heritage. He demanded the right to self-government from the Birtish immediately.

In 1890, Tilak joined the Indian National Congress. But, soon fell into opposition of its liberal-moderate attitude towards the fight for self-government. He opposed the moderate views of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, and was supported by fellow Indian nationalists Bipin Chandra Pal in Bengal and Lala Lajpat Rai in Punjab. In 1907, the Congress Party split into the Garam Dal led by Tilak, Pal and Lajpat Rai, and the Naram Dal led by Gokhale during its convention at Surat in Gujarat.

Tilak was arrested in 1906 on charges of sedition. Tilak asked a young Muhammad Ali Jinnah to represent him. But the British judge convicted him and he was imprisoned from 1908 to 1914 in Mandalay, Burma.

Tilak was released in 1914. Then, he re-united with his fellow nationalists and re-joined the Indian National Congress in 1916. He also helped found the All India Home Rule League in 1916-18 with Annie Besant and Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Tilak, Agarkar and Chiplunkar were three persons impelled by the idea that the people’s blind faith that British rule was God’s gift to India had to be wiped out. They joined hands to create an educational institution to develop moral strength in pupils.

The educational institution, the New English School planned and founded by Tilak was like a banyan tree. The little seedling planted by him, had grown into a gigantic tree with many branches, and every branch had meant renewed life and a new educational institution.

The New English School had progressed into the ‘Deccan Education Society’. This society now runs the Fergusson College and the Greater Maharashtra Commerce and Economics College in Pune, the Willingdon College in Sangli and the Bombay College in Mumbai as well as a number of high schools.

The New English School started in 1880, progressed, and attracted a number of students. This was a school, which reflected our culture and the ideals of our life and was thus our very own.

It was also securing the best results in the examinations. Teachers were so preparing their pupils for the examinations as to secure all the scholarships for their school. Tilak and his colleagues toiled not a little for the school.

During the consecutive year of establishing the school, Tilak started two weeklies. ‘Kesari’, the Marathi Weekly and ‘Mahratta ’ the English Weekly.

The newspapers were able to attract the attention of people. In just two years ‘Kesari’ had more readers than any Indian language paper. The editorials gave a vivid picture of the people’s sufferings and of actual happenings. They called upon every Indian to fight for his right.

The language used in the papers was so sharp as to create in the most cowardly reader the thirst for freedom. Tilak used to say to his colleagues, “You are not writing for the university students. Imagine you are talking to a villager. Be sure of your facts. Let your words be clear as daylight. ”

After the death of Rajaram, Maharaja of Kolhapur State, his adopted son Shivaji Rao became the Maharaja. ‘Kesari ’ published articles condemning the cruel way in which the British treated him. When people came to know of the tyranny of the British, unrest gripped Pune and Kolhapur.

The Government could not tolerate their behaviour of Tilak so they filed a case against ‘Kesari’. The young editors Agarkar and Tilak were sentenced to 4 months’ rigorous imprisonment. Tilak went to prison with his friend Agarkar.

As the New English School was progressing well, Fergusson College and Deccan Education Society were established. Tilak made a rule that no one should expect more than seventy-five rupees a month as his salary. He made this decision only for the welfare of the school in the long run.

Unfortunately, his thinking was not accepted by others. The other members of the management opposed the proposal. When differences of opinion on this issue became endless, Tilak handed over to others the institution, he himself had founded.

He was filled with immense grief when he had to resign from the institution, which he had started and for which he had toiled day and night for ten years. But he wished them to prosper well.

Meanwhile, weeklies ‘KesarV and ‘Mahratta’ also brought no profit. He had to find part-time work to maintain his family. Never would he work under the British. He started classes to coach students for the law examination. Thus, he had to face a life of misery. But he never lost heart.

The Biography of Famous Personalities of India will tell you about the controversies, the dark sides of a person that you may have never heard of.

Childhood And Education of Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Bal Gangadhar Tilak was born on July 23, 1856, in a village near Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, into a middle-class Chitpavan Brahmin family. He was an intelligent student with a special aptitude for mathematics. He was among India’s first generation of youth to receive a modern, college education.

After his graduation, Tilak began teaching mathematics in a private school in Pune and later became a journalist. He became a strong critic of the Western education system, feeling it demeaning to Indian students and disrespectful to India’s heritage. He started the Deccan Education Society to improve the quality of education for India’s youth.

He had exceptional memory and reasoning power. One day the teacher came to class and asked a question if 5 sheep eat up all the grass in a meadow in 28 days, how many sheep will eat up the grass in 20 days?”

“Seven sheep, sir,” swiftly flashed the answer even before the teacher finished his question.

“Who is it that answered without working out the sum?” shouted the teacher.

Many voices at once shouted, “Tilak, sir.”

The teacher went near Tilak. He took his notebook and glanced through it. Should he not at least take down the problem, let alone work it out?

“Where have you worked the sum?”

Tilak, with a mischievous smile, pointed to his head with his index finger.

“You should work the problem in your book,” the teacher said.

“Why? I will do it orally,” replied Tilak.

Tilak’s classmates found it difficult to understand certain problems even when the teacher did them thrice. But, to Tilak, mathematics was as easy as drinking water. Sanskrit, of course, was like peeled banana to him!

Tilak’s father Gangadhar Ramachandra Tilak was a Sanskrit scholar and a famous teacher. Because of his scholarship, he had become Gangadharpant to every one.

As a student, Tilak learnt all the lessons at home and there was nothing left to learn at school.

Though Tilak was very intelligent, he was not his teachers’ favourite because of his mischievousness. From his childhood, he used to form independent views. He always took an independent stand. He was very much different from boys of his age.

During his schooling days in the primary school at Ratnagiri an incident took place. One afternoon, the teacher entered the class after the interval and found groundnut shells scattered in the classroom. Naturally, he grew angry. He took his cane and asked, “Who scattered the groundnut shells like this?”

There was silence. The teacher’s anger rose.

“Speak, who ate the groundnuts?” No one confessed. The teacher lost his temper. He decided to punish the entire class. He began to give each boy two cuts with his cane. When Tilak’s turn came, he did not hold out his hand. “I did not eat the groundnuts. So I will not receive the cuts.”

“Then who ate the groundnuts?”, asked the teacher. “It is said that carrying tales is bad. So I won’t tell,” replied Tilak.

Tilak’s straightforwardness and truthfulness made teacher himself uncomfortable. He became angry and sent Tilak out of the school. And Tilak’s father Gangadharpant received a complaint against his son.

Next day, the father brought Tilak to the school. He said that what his son had said was true. Tilak was not in the habit of eating anything outside his home and he, the father, never gave his son money to buy anything.

Even at that young age, it was Tilak’s nature to protest against injustice.

He liked stories very much. Soon after his studies, he would run to his grandfather to hear stories from him. His grandfather had lived in Kashi during the days of the 1857 revolution, the first war of Independence. On hearing the stories about the revolutionaries like Nana Saheb, Tatia Tope and Jhansi Rani, Tilak would be thrilled.

“Oh! What great men were they who sacrificed their lives for the country!” When he grew up, he too, should serve his country like them and free Mother India from slavery- became his heart’s desire.

Tilak was ten years old, when Gangadharpant was transferred to Pune. Coming from Ratnagiri to Pune was a milestone in the life of Tilak.

By joining the Anglo-Vernacular School in Pune, young Tilak was able to get good education from well-known teachers.

Tilak’s mother passed away only a few months after coming to Pune. Fasts and strict religious observances had made her weak and thin. She wished for a son, and undertook a strenuous form of worship of the God Sun for eighteen months. The boy who was born by the grace of the God Sun, was instrumental in making the sunset in the British Empire!

Tilak also lost his father six years after his mother’s death. Then he was only 16 years old. At that time, he was studying in the matriculation class. He had b«en married to a ten-year old girl called Sathyabhama.

Like his mother, Tilak did not have sound health. How could he sacrifice his life for the country, if his body was weak? So, Tilak decided to improve his physique even at the cost of his studies during the first year at college. He used to do physical exercises every day. He also regulated his food.

Within a short span of one year, he became a leading player in all the fields of sports. He became an expert swimmer and wrestler. He developed his body so well that all wondered at such radiant health.

After passing the matriculation examination he joined the Deccan College. In 1877, Tilak got his BA degree. It was no wonder that he got first class marks in mathematics. He continued his studies and got the LLB degree.

The Biography of Famous Personalities of India will tell you about the controversies, the dark sides of a person that you may have never heard of.

Acharya Vinoba Bhave Life of Devotion

If a man achieves victory over this body, who in the world can exercise power over him? He who rules himself rules over the whole world.

Vinoba Bhave’s whole life was an utter surrender to God whom he saw in the smallest particle as also in the poorest and most downtrodden in the land.

Like the steady and incessant current of gushing stream Vinoba was always vigorous, fresh and new. Right thought was his constant companion. The development of the two— the thought and man with it—went together and one helped the other in ascending to higher and still higher altitudes.

A born Satyagrahi as he was, Vinoba’s Paunar experiment of Kanchan-mukti was a robust, though silent, physical manifestation of the disciplined expression of his evergrowing personality eager to empty itself of all desires and non-desires, to impart Satyagrahi aroma to the new freedom- air of the country and to make Swarajya a living reality with the teeming millions. He proceeded to materialise his dream with the twin weapons of love and bodily labour. It was, as it were, during his self-sought quest of a medium for its complete fulfilment that the concept of Bhoodan Yagna flashed across his mind.

Immediately after independence, in a morbid state of affairs, there seemed to be in our country but one man who, unmoved by the dazzling expanse of money or machine, untouched by the excitement and passion for pleasure or speed, undisturbed by the dark rage and fear of power or pomp, was devoted to his duty with a spirit content in itself, with an intelligence stable and settled, and with an ardour deep and sublime. For more than three decades past, he had been humbly consuming himself at the altar of the nation’s real liberty.

When the British departed from the Indian political stage he was, as ever before, carrying on at Paunar in Wardha district his silent constructive activities which included clearing latrines and lanes of a village. Soon after departed Gandhiji under whose spiritual shadow he had grown all these years. A voice from within exhorted him to enlarge the physical domain of the field of his work and render it vast and sweeping in consonance with its far-spreading social, mental and moral empire. Accordingly, Vinoba, as he was known, came out of his voluntary seclusion. Within six years he had developed into India’s most popular character, almost a legend. Vinoba Bhave set up six Ashrams in different parts of India.

Three of them are in the north, east and south India. The other three are in central India.

1. Samanvaya Ashram, Bodhgaya, Bihar :
It was established in 1954. The Ashram stands right opposite the Buddha Mandir, on land given to Vinoba by the Shankar Math of Bodhgaya. The aim of Samanvaya Ashram is to bring about synthesis, through a study various schools of thought, experiments in practical living based on love towards all living creatures.

2. Brahmavidya Mandir, Paunar:
It was set up in 1959. It is a small community for women that was created in order for them to become self-sufficient and non¬violence in a community. This group farms to get their own food, but uses Gandhi’s beliefs about food production, which include sustainability and social justice, as a guide. This community, like Gandhi and Bhave, has been influenced greatly by the Bhagavad- Gita and that is also used to determine their practices.

3. Prasthan Ashram, Pathankot, Punjab :
It was established in 1959. This is the starting point for journeys to Pakistan, Punjab and Kashmir, hence the name. Vinoba desired the Ashram to be a centre for Shanti Sena.

4. Visarjan Ashram, Indore, Madhya Pradesh :
It was established in 1960. It is the home of Kasturba Trust. There is a small river nearby, where Bapu’s ashes were immersed. The Ashram is to discard out-dated values and bring about a resurgence of new values. Bapu’s eleven vows are observed and experiments in non-violent living undertaken. Ashram is maintained by its own labour and public support.

5. Maitri Ashram, North Lakhmipur, Assam :
It was established in 1962. It gives message of friendship and unity.

6. Vallabh Niketan, Bangalore :
It was founded in 1965 in memory of Vallabha Swami, who was very dear to Vinoba Bhave. This Ashram is a place for study and should offer to people a retreat for meditation and reflection. Four aims: quiet environment, service of a non controversial nature, a spiritual outlook and an atmosphere of peace, devotion and affection.

Vinoba spent the later part of his life at his ashram in Paunar, Maharashtra. He controversially backed the Indian Emergency imposed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, calling it Anushasana Parva (Time for Discipline).

In 1958 Vinoba Bhave was the first recipient of the international Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership.

In 1970, Acharya Vinoba Bhave announced his decision to stay at one place only. He observed a year of silence from December 25, 1974 to December 25, 1975. He breathed his last on November 15, 1982, after refusing food and medicine during his last few days. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, posthumously in 1983.

Timeline

• 1895 : Vinoba’s birth in, Maharashtra, 11th September 4
• 1913 : Passed Matriculation Exam 4
• 1916 : Leaves Home – Goes to Varanasi, 25th March 4
• 1918 : Death of Mother Rukmini Bai, 24th October 4
• 1918-19 : Scriptural Studies in Wai 4
• 1921 : Sets up Satyagraha Ashram in Wardha, 8th April
• 1924 :
  • Vaikom Satyagraha in Kerala
  • Visits Delhi when Gandhiji Fasts for 21 days
• 1932 : Established Nalwadi Ashram, 25th December 4
• 1934 : Formed Grama Seva Mandal 4
• 1936 : Leprosy Hospital, Dattapura, Wardha 4
• 1938 : Goes to Paunar, to improve health 4
• 1940 : Becomes first Satyagrahi, Individual Satyagraha
• 1942 :
  • Quit India Resolution, 8th August
  • Arrested in Paunar Ashram
• 1948 : Conducted mourning meeting in Sevagram after Gandhiji’s Martyrdom, 30th January.
• 1950: Kanchana Mukti Prayoga-Freedom From Money, Paunar
• 1951 :
  • Sarvodaya Conference, Shivaramapalli, 8-11th April
  • Pochampalli, Birth of Bhoodan, 18th April
• 1958 : Awarded Ramon Magsaysay Award
• 1960 : Visited Chambal Valley and made 19 Dacoits Surrender 19th May
• 1962 : Visited East Pakistan (now Bangla Desh), 5-2 5th September
• 1964 : Back to Paunar, Brahma Vidya Mandir
• 1966 : Gives up Correspondence and Daily Speeches
• 1974: One Year’s Mauna (Silence) 25th December; upto 25th December 1975
• 1982 : Dies peacefully, 15th November 4 1983 : Awarded Bharat Ratna Posthumously

The Biography of Famous Personalities of India will tell you about the controversies, the dark sides of a person that you may have never heard of.

Gandhi’s True Disciple and Vinoba After Gandhi

Gandhi’s True Disciple

A country should be defended not by arms, but by ethical behaviour

On 7th June 1916 Vinoba Bhave had first time met Mahatma Gandhi and this opened a new chapter in his life. Vinoba became a member of the Ashram. Mahatma Gandhi even at the first meeting was very much impressed by his inner impulse and character. Vinoba leading part in the Ashram and became a true disciple of Bapu.

Later years of Vinoba were passed at Sabarmati Ashram where he came in close touch with Congress workers like Seth Jamnalal Bajaj and others. He took a leading part in the various activities of the Ashram. His hobbies were handspinning, organising village industries, new education and hygiene.

In 1924; Mahatma Gandhi had sent him to Vikom in Travancore State to guide and supervise the Harijan temple- entry Satyagraha. From that time onwards Vinoba had taken a keen interest in the upliftment of Harijans and he is now easily regarded as one of their best friends. Vinoba was imprisoned twice.

Vinoba was a linguist of eminence. He knew several languages. Marathi was his mother language, so also were Gujarati and Hindi. He knew Urdu, Bengali, Oriya, Punjabi and all the four South Indian languages. He had been a born Satyagrahi and was a living example of Mahatma Gandhi, after his death. He propagated Mahatma’s mission with the greatest zeal and there was no other person living in India, who had more imbibed his qualities, habits and aspirations to change the face of Mother India.

In fact, he had enlarged the scope of the mission of Mahatma Gandhi by starting the Bhoodan movement which was unparalleled in the history of the world.

When Vinoba was in Kashmir during his Bhoodan yatra his prayer meeting talks were full of quotations from the Quran. He had learnt Arabic to study the Quran in the original. His explanation of passages from the Quran fascinated the Muslims of Kashmir. They were attracted to this holy man whose appearance was also like that of a Muslim fakir.

They asked him, “Are you a Hindu or a Muslim?”

He said “I am a Hindu and a Muslim, I am also a Christian and a Sikh.”

Narrow-minded followers of fundamental religions are only Hindus or only Muslims. Broad-minded spiritual aspirants and teachers are Hindus, Muslims and also followers of all true religions.

The success of the Bhoodan movement arose precisely because it had been given through Vinoba Bhave, the colour of Yagna to the masses.

Once, Vinoba was walking in Kashmir. The group went near the Line of Control between the Indian side of Kashmir and the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The guide explained to Vinoba the situation on the border and showed him the position of the Indian Army on the one side and the ‘enemy pickets’ on the other side of the border.

Vinoba told him, “Do not call them enemies. Nobody is our enemy. They are our neighbours. Call them neighbours.”

There Vinoba spoke to a group of children. He made them shout the slogan, Jai Jagat. He insisted on saying “Not Jai Hind – victory to India, but Jai Jagat – victory to the world. Let every one win. Let our neighbours also prosper.”

The children shouted Jai Jagat with gusto. Vinoba said, “Let the children in Pakistan hear your shout, let them feel happy that we wish the whole world well.”

Vinoba Bhave was a living saint and no single personality could attract the Indian masses more than him. In habits he was a true representative of the teeming millions of India.

Vinoba After Gandhi

In this world of chance and change and mutability, the Fulfillment of any resolve depends on the will of the Lord.

The death of Mahatma Gandhi upset Vinoba Bhave. He became silent. Soon he overcame his grief and agreed to address public meetings to dissuade people from killing each other. “His (Gandhiji’s) death was a glorious one. He died when his whole mind was concentrated on God. And, therefore, there is no cause for grief or dismay.” He asked people not to do anything “which may cause pain to Gandhiji…”

Even as the situation got under control, the problem of refugees and their rehabilitation increased. Many of the refugees had lost their kith and kin, or were deprived of their property. They could not be rehabilitated by the Government machinery alone. It needed persons as sensitive as Vinoba Bhave. So, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru invited Vinoba Bhave to help the Government in the relief and rehabilitation work of the refugees.

On receiving the message Vinoba reached Delhi on March 30, 1948. He held a meeting there and said, “It is, of course, necessary to investigate the sufferings of the refugees. But this is not my main task. My basic mission is to replace the existing atmosphere of hatred and bitterness with climate of peace, harmony and goodwill. Violence cannot be met with violence. Love alone can generate a helpful atmosphere. This cannot be done by the Government…”

Vinoba Bhave spent about ten months among the refugees in and around Delhi. Vinoba openly spoke against politicising religion, “Religion is a personal affair…A musical instrument produces sweet music only because different notes are harmonized. If an instrument has just one note, it will lose its rich melody.”

People came in large numbers to listen to him. Patiently listening to their sorrowful tales, wiping their tears, Vinoba Bhave established a personal relationship with the refugees. He never stayed at one place or in one camp for a long time. He was always on the move, trying to do as much good for the people as he could.

In fact, Vinoba would be seen walking from one refugee camp to another, making appeals to forget the past. He asked people not to be guided by what ‘Pakistan is doing or what is happening to your relatives in Pakistan’. He requested the people to consider themselves as citizens of secular India and not of a Hindu rashtra.

Thanks to Vinoba Bhave, the Government was able to solve the problem of the Meos Muslims. These people had earlier gone to Pakistan leaving their property in India. In their absence, the Hindus acquired that property. As the Meos returned to India, they reclaimed their property. The Government did not know how to solve the sensitive issue. Vinoba then came forward. He appealed to the Hindus to return their property and, as compensation, got them land from the Government elsewhere.

After completing his mission in Delhi, Vinoba Bhave went to Punjab, Bikaner, Ajmer, Hyderabad and Baroda. Wherever he went, people came in thousands with their problems.

Vinoba Bhave tried to help them in whatever way he could. “India belongs to all communities. We are born of the dust of this land and would return to it. We should, therefore, love one another, have room without any caste distinction, to restore self-respect among the poor. He wanted a council to own the village land. In fact, Vinoba said, “Bhoodan is not a gift but sharing. No one can be ‘owner’ of land or property. Everything belongs to society, to God, and if God is the Father and the Mother, all the children have a share in everything that belongs to them.”

In 1958, Vinoba Bhave received the honour of the Magsaysay Award.

The Biography of Famous Personalities of India will tell you about the controversies, the dark sides of a person that you may have never heard of.

Bhoodan Movement of Acharya Vinoba Bhave

After the freedom of India, Vinobaji’s most important and most popular movement was ‘Bhoodan’, which became popular not only in India but abroad also.

In 1950, a Sarvodaya meeting was organized at a place called Angul. Being busy in the Kanchan Mukti Aandolan, Vinobaji could not participate in the Sarvodaya meeting. The next meeting of Sarvodaya was to take place in Shivrampalli village near Hyderabad. Vinobaji went to the place of meeting on foot. He reached there after walking for about 500 km. The journey began on March 8, 1951, and concluded on April 7, 1951. On the last day of his march, Vinobaji, suddenly, decided to march to Telangana, because the people of Telangana were suffering at the hands of the police during the day and being tortured by the communists at night.

The Government had sent police to keep peace in Telangana. Vinoba said, “The police however do not deal in ideas. They can hunt down tigers and keep us safe from them, but in Telangana the problem was not of tigers but of human beings. The communists’ methods may be wrong, but their actons are based on a principle, and where principles are involved, the police cannot provide an answer.”

Telangana is an area in Andhra Pradesh which is dry and ‘ backward and neglected by government. After the Shivarampalli Sarvodaya conference from 7th to 14th of April, ’ 1951, Vinoba decided to walk through Telangana, which was plagued by a terrorist movement organised by a group of communists.

Vinoba liked to walk since this would bring him in close touch with the people whom he liked to serve. He spoke to the three groups of people in the villages; the communists, the prosperous landlords and the farmers.

To the communists, he said your ideals are good, but the means employed are wrong. The ideal communist state has not been established by any nation in the world. Violence is – wrong. It is particularly bad in India at present, since the country is now free and the communists can take control of the state government, democratically. Force will not achieve anything.

The prosperous landlords had fled from the villages and had settled down in towns and cities. To them, Vinoba said, go back to your land and serve the people. Police cannot protect you all the time. If you live in the villages boldly in a spirit of service, God will protect you. Those who love and serve the poor can be fearless.

To the common people Vinoba said the whole village should have such a spirit of unity that the wealthy ones are also held in affection. The village should protect all its people, rich and poor.

After the conclusion of the meeting, Vinobaji marched on foot from Shivrampalli to Hyderabad. From there, after a long journey, he reached a village called Pochampalli, on April 18. The Harijan community of the village said to Vinoba Bhave, “If we get 80 acres of land, we can make out our existence on farming.” Vinoba requested the landlords present there to donate 80 acres of land. C.R. Reddy, a landlord, promised to donate 100 acres of land instead of 80. In the evening prayer meeting, he even signed off the donation on paper. This incident inspired Vinobaji. His creative urge offered an opportunity to take up Bhoodan as a nationwide movement. The seeds of the Bhoodan Movement sown by this incident, took the shape of huge tree in due course.

After this incident, Vinobaji began requesting people to donate land every day during his evening prayers. The results were encouraging. By the end of the month, he had received more than twelve thousand acres of land under Bhoodan Movement. He constituted a committee to distribute the land amongst the landless.

Vinoba’s Bhoodan Movementwas welcomed throughout the nation. The people of different provinces decided to donate lands within their limits. The first stage of Bhoodan was Telangana and the second stage was his foot march from Wardha to Delhi. In the third stage, Vinoba toured Uttar Pradesh, where this movement had taken the shape of a public programme. The fourth stage of the Bhoodan Movement was Bihar. Here, Vinobaji got an encouraging response. Here, he got 22 lakh acres of land.

During the Bhoodan Movement, Vinobaji got not only land in donation but villages also. The village Mangroot was the first village in UP, which he received in donation. The Sarvodaya activists used to accept only those villages in donaton, where at least 80 per cent families in the village were ready to accept the programmes. Vinobaji received 719 villages in Orissa under the Gramdan Movement and 20 in Andhra Pradesh. In Tamil Nadu, he received 175 villages under the Gramdan Movement. Throughout the nation, he received many more villages.

In India the Bhoodan movement by abolishing the instinct of private property paved the way for collective farming in the voluntarily donated lands. On 13 November, 1951, Vinoba r reached Delhi to meet the members of the Planning Commission and the Prime Minister who was its Chairman.

The meeting went on for three successive days. There were 5 two vital points of difference between Vinoba Bhave and the Planning Commission, the one relating to self-sufficiency in food and the other to full employment. He objected to the imports of food.

He could not convince the members of Planning Commission on these two issues and they parted company. He said, “There is a difference between their approach and mine, though they have also the interest of the country at heart”.

Thoughout his arduous march, Vinoba Bhave had been the unwearying, enviable Satyagrahi. His penetration into the interior and explaining to the people the real Dharma and urging them to do their duty, his insistence on truth and resistance to evil, all this is Satyagraha. Unlike the Satyagraha campaigns launched by Gandhiji there was. not much excitement in the present case. One might call the latter as ‘acute’ form of Satyagraha, while the former as ‘gentle’. Obviously the suffering involved in ‘gentle satyagraha’ is no less severe than in the ‘acute’ one, rather it might be more. But Vinoba Bhave did not anticipate either and carried on his work with no cares on his head, having placed them on the broad shoulders of God.

The total Bhoodan donations exceeded 32 lakhs. It was not a big-amount to look at but viewed in the perspective in which it had been obtained, it was a proof positive of the influence this gentle form of Satyagraha has produced in the atmosphere of our country. When the entire world was torn with strife and dissensions and our own country was marked with rivalries of caste, creed, untouchability, provincialism, languages, political parties, the high and the low, the rich and the poor, a successful execution of a pledge to collect 25 lakh acres within two years was no mean achievement. Presently when ‘All India’ outlook was at a discount, this was perhaps the only large scale and solid programme which has an ‘All India’ out-look and contributes to the integrated solidarity of the nation. Its message had already reached millions of people. It showed readiness, partly if not wholly, of the people to view its implications with sympathy and concern.

Bhoodan Yagna was not mere a transference of land from one man to another, but a symbol of the shedding of ownership of land and property and a provision of the supply of means of production to the producer, it got a profound import and vital relevance. It presupposed a new human outlook and approach to all problems.

This was the voice of our India, real India and Bhoodan was the way to build her truly. What was wanting was the number of workers to carry the Sarvodaya message, the robust youths who could act as missionaries in this work. It was a programme to create a new economic order, a new political order and a new social order and bring in Sarvodaya. Our fathers and grandfathers, born in the beginning of this century or earlier did the stupendous task of freeing India from the British yoke. Let us be grateful to them for it and now see to what we could do.

The famished masses at home and the war-fear-ravaged millions abroad looked to us with hope and faith. It was ours to be the crusaders of a new order, a new India and a new world. The Bhoodan movement has established that it could show us the way in the deepest gloom we were involved in. Land-distribution was only a minor part of it. Virtually it aimed at re-discovering the dormant quality of man and make the same a social force with wide wings. Bhoodan was a march in the further evolution of the human kind. It was just paving the way for the quicker and greater development and prosperity of the society.

It was an endeavour to direct man’s course from the rails of distrust, aggression and bloodshed to those of trust, self suffering and love. Bhoodan was to set up a new world, to create a new man. It had a message for every country, for every citizen of the world. Upon India’s youth it enjoined a duty we could not forego. Should we realise it before it was too late!

Vinoba Bhave gave the call:
“I appeal to you all to help me. This is revolutionary work I am doing. I want to revolutionise thought, revolutionise the means. The youth has in him the urge for new creation, so say the sages. There is a new world to create, a new mission to do, that I have opened up for you.”

In January 1959, when Vinoba Bhave was in Rajasthan, the famous black leader of America, Martin Luther King along with his wife, Coretta, came to meet him.

In 1962, Vinoba went to Pakistan, where he stayed for 16 days. Vinoba had trekked more than one lakh km in his life.

The Biography of Famous Personalities of India will tell you about the controversies, the dark sides of a person that you may have never heard of.

Acharya Vinoba Bhave Role in Freedom Struggle, Religious and Social Service

Role in Freedom Struggle

All revolutions are spiritual at the source. All my activities have the sole purpose of achieving a union of hearts.

Vinoba Bhave was associated with Mahatma Gandhi in the Independence movement of India. In 1932 he was sent to jail by the British colonial government because of his fight against British rule. There he gave a series of talks on Gita, ;n his native language Marathi, to his fellow prisoners.

These highly inspiring talks were later published as the book: “Talks on the Gita”, and it was translated to many v languages both in India and elsewhere. Vinoba felt that the source of these talks was something above and he believed that its influence would endure even if his other works were forgotten.

In 1940 he was chosen by Mahatma Gandhi to be the first Individual Satyagrahi (an Individual standing up for Truth i instead of a collective action) against the British rule. It was said that Gandhi envied and respected Vinoba Bhave’s celibacy, a vow he made in his adolescence, in fitting with his belief in the Brahmacharya principle. Vinoba Bhave also participated in the Quit India Movement.

On 8th August, 1942 Gandhiji proposed a “Quit India” resolution in All India Congress Committee in Bombay. The resolution called upon the British to quit India immediately. And it gave a call to India to “do or die.” It was to be a last battle, the biggest of all the satyagraha mass movements.

He was thinking that he would start fasting from the moment he was put in jail. He felt that all satyagrahis should join him in fasting when they were imprisoned. Many doubted if this strategy was sound. They tried to dissuade Gandhiji.

Mahatma Gandhi then consulted Vinoba Bhave. He called Vinoba to Sevagram and put the idea before him; if Gandhiji could do satyagraha after considering all aspects of his action, could his followers, who may not have the wisdom, follow him from faith in the leader?

Vinoba’s reaction was, “What Rama can do in fullness of his knowledge, Hanuman can do in the fullness of his faith.” Gandhiji was satisfied with this.

But, Gandhiji was arrested on the 8th August night itself, the day the resolution was passed in All India Congress Committee, along with all Congress leaders. Gandhiji felt that he should not undertake a fast before he had a correspondence with Government on the issue.

Vinoba did not know about this development. When he was arrested, he told the jailer, who knew Vinoba well as a model prisoner who abided by all the jail rules meticulously, that he would go on a fast and required no food. He ended his fast only when he received a message from Gandhi to do so.

After the World War-II in March 1946, the British Government sent a Cabinet Mission to negotiate the transfer of power to India. This led to the formation of an Interim Government headed by Jawaharlal Nehru. All the political prisoners were released from jails across India. Finally India attained Independnce but along came the partition of India- Pakistan. Vinoba called the Partition a ‘Himalayan Blunder’.

He then decided to remain aloof from any political activities and continue his religious and social service. He chose Surgaon, Maharashtra to continue his services. But in the aftermath of Partition there were Hindu-Muslim riots and bloodshed in Delhi and many parts of India, Vinoba was requested by Nehru to come to Delhi and pacify the people.

Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on 30th January, 1948. Vinoba was deeply upset. He reached Delhi on 30th March, 1948. He spent about ten months among the refugees in and around Delhi. He pacified them and tried his best to solve their problems and bring communal harmony. After Delhi he also visited Punjab, Bikaner, Ajmer, Hyderabad and Baroda, and helped people in every possible manner.

Religious and Social Service

Human life is Full of Che play of samskaras—tendencies developed by repeated actions.

Vinoba Bhave religious outlook was quite broad and it synthesised the truths of many religions. This can be seen in one of his hymns “Om Tat” which contains symbols of many religions.

Vinoba Bhave translated Gita from the original in Sanskrit into Marathi in 1930-31 and gave it the name of Gitai (Gita mother), which has been sold in several lakhs. His l vinobaBhmeat05abha devotion to Gita was matchless and utterly beyond description. As he says, he always remains immersed in the ocean of Gita and while in contact with the world outside he floats on its warm bosom. Gitai is verily his mother. Says he in his Gitai:

“Gita is my mother and I am her innocent child:
While I stumble or weep she lifts me up in her arms”.

Thus, Vinoba’s life was a living commentary on the great classic. His Marathi discourses on Gita, Gita Pravachan, given to fellow prisoners in the Dhulia Jail in 1932, formed a wonderfully original and popular exposition of the Gita doctrine vis-a-vis our daily life. It has been translated and published in Hindi, Gujarati, Oriya, Sindhi, Kannada, Telegu, Tamil, Malayaiam, Urdu and Bengali.

Vinoba Bhave observed the life of the average Indian living in a village and tried to find solutions for the problems he faced with a firm spiritual foundation. This formed the core of his Sarvodaya (Awakening of all potentials) movement. Another example of this is the Bhoodan (land gift) movement started at Pochampally. He walked all across India asking people with land to consider him as one of their sons and so give him a one-seventh of their land which he then distributed to landless poor. Non-violence and compassion being a hallmark of his philosophy, he also campaigned against the slaughtering of cows.

During his tour of the country from south to north and from west to east, Vinoba Bhave changed the hearts of many people. Not only landlords and rich people but dreaded dacoits also responded to his mesage.

On May 7, I960, Vinoba Bhave, accompained by Major- General Yadunath Singh, toured the dreaded Chambal ravines. He believed ‘no one was born a dacoit’. The notorious dacoit, Lachhi, who had a reward of ₹ 5,000 on his head, came to Vinoba and surrendered at his feet. He said, “I read in the papers that you are touring the Chambal area, asking us to surrender and repent. I want to abandon the wrong path. I place myself and my family in your hands”. “It is all His will. I feel I am facing the Lord,” said Vinoba Bhave in a choked voice.

This was the beginning. Within a few days eleven dangerous dacoits led by Lukka surrendered. All of them declared, “Till now we have committed many misdeeds and we are sorry for them”. The people and the police were simply wonder-struck at the power of this humble, saintly disciple of Mahatma Gandhi—Vinoba Bhave.

Vinoba Bhave continued his mission till June 7, 1960. He covered eight to ten miles a day, visiting 26 villages. All these villages wee associated with the names of notorious dacoits. In all, about 20 dacoits surrendered to him including the dreaded gang of Man Singh-Rupa. The gang carried a reward of ₹ 20,000 on its head. Vinoba Bhave brought a change of heart in these dacoits. He asked them to accept the punishment awarded by the law of the country. The dacoits pleaded guilty in court. The cases closed before they could begin.

Thousands of letters and telegrams came, congratulating Vinoba on the miracle at Chambal.

The President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad wired: “The whole nation looks with hope and admiration upon the manner in which you have been able to rouse the better instincts and moral sense and thereby inspire the faith of dacoits leading to their voluntary surrender”

“Your efforts came to most of us as a refreshing proof of the efficacy of the moral approach for reforming the misguided and drawing the best out of man. I can only pray for complete success of your mission and offer you my regards and best wishes.”

From Chambal, Vinoba Bhave went to Rajasthan and from there to another State, another city, explaining ‘Sarvodaya’, a movement for the upliftment of people, irrespective of caste, creed or sex. Despite his health being weak and his living on frugal meals, curd and honey, Vinoba never stopped his padyatras.

Spreading non-violence, brotherhood, love, justice, removing untouchability and poverty, Vinoba Bhave continued his journey. He never stopped. He was a karmayogi (one who works regardless of results). “In all my actions the Gita has been my guide,” Vinoba used to say.