Page 29 - Acharya Vinoba Bhave in 21st Century ISBN

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

God to him is one particular expression of Brahman, looked at from the human point of view.
God is immanent but not limited by mere coextension with the Cosmos. We can ‘see’ God anywhere

and everywhere in nature, as much in the inanimate things as in the animate. God is the universal soul
and resides in the hearts of all creatures, but more particularly in the hearts of the highly evolved self-

conscious beings who constitute the human race. Every human being is endowed with a soul, though as
a result of spiritual ignorance, not many are able to realize it. And therefore he says: “If anyone believes

in the goodness of man, I shall be satisfied. Belief in human goodness is the beginning of belief in God.
Therefore, if one believes in the essential goodness of man, he will be on the right path. This will

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naturally deepen his experiences and he may reach the stage of realizing God.” God has in him the
totality of attributes. He has only the excellence of such attributes as truth, love and compassion. Each

man is a manifestation of one little part of God, one form of God. We must, therefore, be able to see
good in each man. Thus seeing God bit by bit, thus imbibing good little by little, our heart will become

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the repository of good and we shall be able to realize God in His plenitude. While explaining the
meaning of the word ‘God’, Vinoba writes : “Where there is the end of cause-effect cycle, beyond

which nothing can be imagined, which is beyond animate and inanimate, yet everything is included in
that, that alone is the ultimate cause or ‘Only Sat’ God. 34

The values cherished by human beings are embodied in God. ¯God is embodiment of all that
is good in the world. God is revealed through good qualities but good qualities are eclipsed by evil…

We shall realize God only when we measure up capacity to discover good qualities. 35
The value-oriented God pervades this universe and as there are infinite qualities, it also pervades

the spheres outside the universe. We cannot get knowledge of all qualities of God and therefore He is
also mysterious. The concept of God cannot be put in words. It can be experienced in Samadhi but

Godliness is even beyond this experience. 36
As Ishwar Harris points out: Vinoba’s conception of the Divine can be characterize as

polymorphic monism. It suggests that the ultimate reality manifests itself in many ways. Therefore, no
conception of the absolute, whether it be polytheistic, monistic, dualistic or theistic, can be separated

from each other. Vinoba followed the Upanisadic dictum which states that ‘Reality is one but the sages
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speak of it in many ways’. Belief in God as an absolute power and the conviction that the Absolute
resides in each individual forms the fundamental basis of Sarvodaya Philosophy of Gandhi and Vinoba.
Vinoba states, “Universal brotherhood will not be established in the world unless the paternal authority

of God is accepted. 38

Brahman, God and Soul
The relation between Brahman, God and Soul is of two kinds according to Vinoba :

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