Page 27 - Acharya Vinoba Bhave in 21st Century ISBN

21oha “krkCnh esa vkpk;Z fouksck Hkkos dh izklafxdrk

be real, both are away from Truth. The difference between the two is — “One is afraid of the rope-
snake and the other beats it considering it to be real. In essence both the actions amount to the same

thing. 22
It is not that while refuting Shankara,Vinoba has misinterpreted him; on the contrary, he expresses

his gratitude. ¯ ‘I have been nourished on the teachings of Shankara ... I owe — a deep debt of
gratitude to him. He has set an example of desirelessness and non-attachment. He looked upon the

temporal world as an illusion and yet he had such compassion in his heart that he trekked throughout
the length and breadth of the country three times during the short span of a life of thirty two years. He

fought social evils of his times.’ 23
Vinoba maintains that the difference between Sankara‘s so called illusionism and his theory of

vibrant manifestation is only the difference in the presentation of one and the same truth. The
superstructure of every illusion is founded on something real and positive. One has to dispel the mist of

ignorance and penetrate through the appearance to reach the Reality of that appearance. ¯According
to Shankara, the expression that Reality is the rope and the world is a false super-imposition on it,

appearing as serpent; satisfies a callous seeker after the ultimate reality. While the expression that the
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world is a bangle made entirely of gold which is Reality, satisfies the ripe and self-realised souls. As
soon as the rope is discovered, the serpent becomes illusory and even nonexistent. But in a golden
bangle both gold and the form of the bangle exist as one single reality. And when the supreme experience

of self-realization is attained, the threefold division in the knowledge by senses, viz., of the knower, the
object of knowledge and the knowledge disappears, only ‘sight” (drugrupa) remains. Where are then

bondage, liberation and otherness, and even the individual self? 25
For him, the world is a vibrant manifestation of Brahman which inspires in him a worshipful

attitude or rouses in him the intense desire to serve. So Brahman is vibrating as jagat is real. The
vibrant Brahman allows room for social reality. Thus, there is a place for men and animals, there is a

place for service to humanity. The vibrations are changing, hence Buddha‘s doctrine of change
(Ksanikavada) and continuity(sanatanam) makes its appearance in his metaphysics.The world is

vibrant manifestation. Therefore, like vibrations, everything is changing. This theory provides inspiration
to man to change the world into something better: replace misery by happiness. Psychologists say that

men learn every moment; Vinoba seems to advocate the doctrine that by learning men continues to
change every moment. If it is so, then leaving aside our prejudices, we should see a person as a new

entity everyday leading to better relations and thus we can help each other for the progress of humanity.
The philosophical idealism of Vedanta would be useless if it only builds castles in the air. Vinoba’s

idealism has its roots in the earth. It is practical.

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