[Music] Acharya Vinoba Bhave walked for more than 10,000 miles across the length and breadth of India during these journeys he asked for gifts of land for redistribution to the landless in the preface to his book the essence of the Quran he wrote for years I have been going on this pilgrimage seeking gifts of land for the poor in these journeys my main objective has been uniting of hearts in fact all my actions have been motivated by the same objective Acharya Vinoba Bhave is often referred to as we know bhaji the suffix Jeep in the mark of respect he was widely regarded as having in the spiritual air of Mahatma Gandhi in fact Gandhiji himself referred to him as his son dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma President of India inaugurated a combined celebration of the centenary of Anubis birth and the 125th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi speaking on the occasion he said you know Baba ba was a great Saint who synthesized revolution and peace science and morality Srimati model cenar I knew him from his early days with Mahatma Gandhi there is an interesting story about how he came to Gandhiji in 1916 Vinoba ji left home for Banaras a holy city on the river Ganges he planned to go either eastwards from there to join the revolutionary freedom fighters or North to the Himalayas on a spiritual quest at Banaras Gandhiji delivered a historic speech it was a rousing call for winning political Liberty as well as for serving the poor from that speech and a subsequent exchange of letters Vinoba ji was convinced that working with Gandhiji could lead him to freedom as well as spiritual enlightened Vinoba ji joined Gandhiji's ashram and stayed in this cottage with his dedication to study and physical hard work he became one of Gandhiji's closest associates he is seen here with Gandhiji and dr. Rajendra Prasad who was later to become India's first president these days the ashram founded by Gandhiji at Civic RAM is looked after by his daughter-in-law Nirmala Gandhi yep maybe too happy mainly P mythology it was 1922 I was not yet married to Gandhiji's son I was visiting my aunt Kashi man Gandhi one day I saw her Wayne items of food before cooking I asked her the reason for this as it had not happened even when many guests came she said today Vinoba ji is coming for dinner he takes only 10 pies or cents worth of food in 24 hours the reason for this was that in those days a woman spinning for eight hours earned only ten paisa so Vinoba ji would spin for eight hours and also eat only that which could be bought for ten Pais I wondered what can we feed him in ten Pais we were deeply impressed by his self-discipline and identification with the poor the sons of Kashi man respected him like a guru in 1941 Gandhiji chose vino bhaji as the first individual satyagraha he sent him forth with his blessings to offer civil disobedience we know why he went to jail several times as a freedom fighter after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948 a meeting was held at save a gram of persons associated with the servo day movement that is upliftment of all a lot of discussions took place about their future course of action they look to Vinoba ji for leadership the next meeting of servo day workers was held in Shriram Pali Vinoba ji was a special invitee he decided to go there walking and making contact with people on the way from there he proceeded further on foot into the region of Telangana it had recently been the scene of a lot of violent clashes between landlords and tenants many lives were lost a number of persons joined him in his mission for peaceful resolution of the conflict [Music] [Applause] [Music] they only say things about him I said I painted these red peppers were representing the infirmary it was April 18 1951 we had reached the village of Beauchamp Ali and were given a very warm welcome after a short rest the respected Vinoba ji went to the section of the village in him they told him that they were able-bodied and wanted to till the land they had no land if they could have some land that would provide them with the means of livelihood the 40 families asked for just 80 acres of land Vinoba ji asked them to meet him in the afternoon there Vinoba ji asked the gathering of landlords if anyone was willing to donate land that way the land hunger problem could be solved locally without any government intervention mr. rummage and already offered to donate 100 acres of land in memory of his father the nobody took it as a sign from God that people are willing to share their possessions with the needy he announced mr. Reddy's donation with gladness at the prayer meeting that evening Vinoba ji decided to pursue this vigorously as Bhutan or land gift movement nobody received the first donation of land on April 18 1951 the narration about Bhutan movement is continued by Gautham by Bajaj who a complete win over G for many years in Obagi walked the length and breadth of the country for 16 years he asked for land gifts for redistribution to the landless VIII nobody would open the subject by asking if you have four children and another child is added to your family would it receive share of the land also with yes as the answer he would proceed to say that they may consider him as the additional child and give him his share for distribution to the poor to this people responded in hundreds of thousands altogether about four million acres of land were donated to the idea of land gift he added the idea of donation of wealth and of labor people in some villages decided to donate the village as a whole and to live together as one family they accompanied him as he traveled from place to place there were archers and ceremonies of welcome on occasion they would take up a drum and beat it himself it is not as if only the Rajas and rich landlords donated less so that those who were not so well-to-do one day a poor farmer came he wanted to donate half an acre from his two acres after initial reluctance we nobody told him I am accepting your gift and I'm returning it to you as facade which is food that one received when one visits a temple people asked widow bhaji why he accepted gifts from small farmers also to this we replied this is not so much a question of land redistribution the basic idea is the spirit of shearing pulsons and prominent positions such as prime minister near who came to walk alongside of him and to hold the discussions with him president redundant prasad attended the conference of Salwa their workers at birth they are add this concerns JP narayan announced that he would devote his life to the land gift the movement of biloba G's Lenovo G is constant King in discussions first to give priority to the needs of the poorest sections of society this was also the advice he gave to members of the Planning Commission who met him in Delhi the members listened to him and added provisions to the first five-year plan as he suggested his journeys were not always on dry land he and his party crossed rivers on boards in Assam they waded through fields flooded by monsoon rain on one occasion where there was no regular road they walked along the railway line sister Kishan - finally accompanied him on his journeys and with this many striking events as we approached the temple at jagannatha puri we had among our companions a Christian lady from France the temple priests were unwilling to allow entrance to a person from another faith so Vinoba G turned away saying that he will also not enter the temple when entering Kashmir we had to travel over a mountain pass at a height of 13,000 feet we were apprehensive of risks to him at that height when we nobody was journeying on foot in Kashmir generally I do not sing was also with him he came originally from the region of guevara outlaws and dacoits had been a problem in a nearby area you do not think discussed the possibility of the dacoit gang surrendering themselves and their arms before Vinoba G subsequently when we nobody went to that area on foot he talked to them and in number of them surrendered themselves and their arms before him in his travels you know budget started the day with a prayer meeting while journeying through the countryside he stopped from time to time and talked with the village folk in the evening he held discussions with his companions people from all faiths were drawn towards him hon Abdul Ghaffar Khan another close associate of Gandhiji visited him from Pakistan in romaji was a living example of an edict of Gandhiji inscribed in a memorial to him Gandhiji had said that by having equal reverence towards all faiths begin a better understanding of our own faith all feelings of differences disappeared while in prison during the freedom movement we nobody was asked by fellow political prisoners to explain to them the Hindu scripture the Gita disputed in 18 talks these talks were published later and ultimately translated into 20 Indian and foreign languages subsequently we nobody wrote the essence of Christian teachings as well as commentaries on other scriptures such as jpg of the six he also wrote a commentary on the Rig Veda and rearranged the Buddhist scripture Dhammapada besides emphasizing uniting of hearts as he did in the preface to his book the essence of the Quran Lenovo ji also stood for a synthesis of science and spirituality the center of science for villages was established with his inspiration and support its chairman professor de winter Kumar cote de Lobo ji mother to be a god spirituality is needed for improving the inner self and science is needed for improving the outer environment and both have to work together to improve the human condition we know buddy established six ashrams in different parts of India the earliest among these is on the bank of the river Tom in 1938 his health had suffered because of overwork which included scavenging in villages he declined bandages suggestion to go to a hill resort to the Cupidon ultimately he agreed to go to this Riverside bungalow of Jamuna God the earth is helped improved later a number of young people joined in there seen from those early days was reenacted in 1980 at his 85th birthday they used to pull water from the well by yoking themselves to eight poles of a portion we this was done as a measure of total self-reliance even in his old age he continued to do manual work at the ashram out of his six ashrams you know bhaji dedicated the one at Bhavan our to the spiritual advancement of women in particular the members of the ashram observed the principles of physical work combined with collective worship celibacy devotion and study of the inner self icons from different faiths have an honored place in the ashram the 1992 award for national integration was given to this ashram the principles expounded by candg and you know body rise above any differences of caste creed or faith this is perhaps why this award was given to the ashram here sisters from all parts of India and abroad work together in harmony sister Monica is from Germany and my my development was from the definition of being a political woman want more to get a theater woman oh sorry we mixed our provincial array and after a thorough surah Havana sister Yuriko is from japan i have been at the ashram for the last 18 years i am translating vanagas talks on the gita into japanese here i have not felt as if i am separated by a big distance from japan after all Vanilla's emphasis was on J Java a victory to the whole world and not just any one country or group many visitors come to the ashram daily here sister Nirmal narrates to them the ideals that he exemplified in his life the emphasis led by Vinoba ji on considering humanity as one family is recalled by near melodious Pandey she accompanied him in different parts of the country the international border sometimes people tell me nobody well on this side of the mountain we have our tickets and on that side those of the enemy you know Rajee would just them and say don't say any same neighbor and we belong to one human family and then we him dust all the children who and gather shall gain each other victory to the world and would say that let our friends across the mountains heal that children of India are saying much I live victory to India only when victory to the world well I would like to introduce a young friend mr shipp not from the our happy quite young a few years back when there was a communal tension in this area I came to attack the members of the other community this young friend had within a short time mobilized the women of both villages and told them we have to protect the lives of our neighbors and then the women they just had it live into their neighbors brought them to their own huts and then stood in the door not a single person was touched and it is this young man she not who had mobilized those ladies because he has been working in that area and telling them about knowledge even over G and they knew something about this mission besides working for communal harmony the younger generation is carrying forward we know bajjis Social Work in the villages also vimla enter mr. Saxena are examples we formed a Social Work organization named after vino bocce and dedicated it to the service of village folk so as to improve their economic standards and the quality of their life we started with health and education for women and children later on we expanded our activities to include projects for generation of income for women in 1995 the sexiness and their associates walked for nearly 1,000 miles from shah jahan por to Pawan our they came to participate in the celebration of Anu bodies birth centenary similar groups started from seven other places associated with villages life right from the planning stage women played an important role [Music] among the slogans that they chanted underway for jagat he nobody is favorite one it means victory to the whole world [Music] the local communities gave them a warm welcome [Music] [Music] [Applause] on the eve of the last leg of their journey to Pune they were given a civic reception at the district headquarters speaking on the occasion sister Kalinda explained when planning for the centenary celebrations we considered the mission of the Bhavna ashram which is dedicated to spiritual advancement and strength of women so we emphasized women's participation in the journeys on foot from different parts of the country representatives of different groups narrated the experiences that they had on the way they described the problems faced by people living in the countryside in the meantime preparations were afoot at the Powner ashram for a three-day conference to mark the centenary sister Usha explained we know Hajis recipe for a rejuvenation of an individual or organization through continued acceptance of newer challenges volunteers geared up to lodge and feed 5000 participants under canopies on November 14th 1995 the marchers crossed the river Dom and entered the ashram more of their representatives related the experiences of the respect that they had received as messengers in the pre-dawn hours of November 15th the celebration started with people going around the memorial to Vinoba G which was lit up with 100 lamps the inaugural session began with prayers from different faiths different groups who had journeyed on foot received presents from sister akka the oldest member of the ashram in that session and in others that followed speakers explained the message of aruba ji and described the work that they themselves were doing justice Dharma dakari elaborated on the team love thy neighbor you nobody considered himself a citizen of the world for these three examples were cited by Ramsey Singh firstly his slogan was Jay jagat victory to the whole world the second one was you know bhajis suggestion regarding a journey of friendship to China and the third one was his concept of close ties of friendship with all the countries lying in the triangle ABC formed by Afghanistan and the countries that were then called Burma and Solana and si said in order to uphold these ideals will have to be like seeds that join the dust to give rise to new plants in the closing session so far in his party gave the theme song JJ get Acharya that is sing aloud victory to the whole world work for peace and a common good giving lower priority to self-interest [Applause] [Music] you know buddy had summed up his message in the following words he said we are not having chauvinistic pride in any country nor are we insisting on any particular religion our studies encompass the words of truth originating anywhere in the world our duty is to bring these truths into our lives our effort is to bring about a synthesis of different disciplines and to promote cautiousness of our being members of a world community you know Rajee ask people to remember the Supreme Lord at all times he also added the exhortation work hard for a good cause [Music] [Music] [Music] come on of a jogger today no good [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]