Vinoba Bhave
Vinoba Bhave
Vinayak Narahari "Vinoba" Bhave; 11 September 1895 – 15 November 1982) was an Indian advocate of nonviolence and human rights. Often called Acharya, he is best known for the Bhoodan Movement. He is considered as a National Teacher of India and the spiritual successor of Mohandas Gandhi. He was the 1st person to be selected as a Satyagrahi followed by J.L Nehru in Individual Satyagraha by Mahatma Gandhi...
NationalityIndian
ProfessionEducator
Date of Birth11 September 1895
CountryIndia
I cannot bear to see karma, jnana and bhakti separated. To some seekers established in karma, this is the only thing that appears worth-while.
What we should aim at is the creation of people power, which is opposed to the power of violence and is different from the coercive power of state.
We have seen from experience that, if we are in the habit of walking regularly on the same road, we are able to think about other things while walking, without paying attention to our steps.
If we could only snap the fetters of the body that bind the feet of the soul, we shall experience a great joy. Then we shall not be miserable because of the body's sufferings. We shall become free.
We cannot even recollect the actions of our infancy, our childhood is like something written on a slate and rubbed off.
Life does not mean mere karma or mere bhakti or mere jnana.
We cannot fight new wars with old weapons.
Innumerable actions are going on through us all the time. If we started counting them, we should never come to an end.
I am convinced that those who get themselves involved in the machinery of power politics, even for the purpose of destroying it, are bound to fail in their purpose. To destroy it we have to stay out of it. If we want to cut down a tree, it is of no use to climb into its branches. The desire to keep contact with something, even to destroy it, is a subtle and insidious illusion.
If you want to cut down a tree, it is no use to climb into its branches.
Do not allow yourself to imagine that revolutionary thinking can be propagated by governmental power.
In this world of chance and change and mutability, the fulfillment of any resolve depends on the will of the Lord.
Though the names karma yoga and sannyasa are different, the truth at the heart of both is the same.
Gross and subtle, pure and mixed, simple and complex - in the end that there is no place where God is not. In every atom, He alone is present. From the ant to the universe, He spreads. The Lord who cares equally for all, the compassionate one who is all knowledge, tenderness, skill, holiness and beauty - He stands on all sides everywhere.