Page 49 - Acharya Vinoba Bhave in 21st Century ISBN

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

Vinoba declared that ‘Lord Buddha was primarily a humanist, while Lord Mahavira was inspired by
extreme compassion for all living creatures. The religion of the Buddha is based on compassion but

detachment is its dominating feature. Its field is that of humanity. Jainism too is based on compassion,
but it is not concerned with man only. It is concerned with all living creatures. There is neither any

uneasiness in it nor excitement; there is an aloofness.’ 7
So far as Indian culture is concerned, Vinoba stressed upon assimilation and absorption as its

characteristic feature and he believed that the burden to preserve this nature of Indian culture lies especially
in the followers of Hinduism. It is only when they display the respectful behavior towards the people from

other religions that it is possible to get respect from them. Following Gandhi, he thus tried to draw the best
from different religions. This is the reason why he suggested that Hinduism has stressed upon the need for

inner purity. Indian civilization and culture has shown a tremendous capacity for assimilation and absorption.
The precious heritage of India would be destroyed if Hinduism becomes narrow in its approach.

Thus, Vinoba prescribed assimilation of teachings of different religions. He believed that the individuals
should try to put all views drawn from different religions into practice. Such an attempt, according to him, will

lead to the spiritual upliftment of humankind. Love and service are two characteristic features of the religious
way of life. He thus declared that, ‘I do yearn to live up to these ideals in everyday life.’ He was willing to sit

at the feet of the prophets and holy men of any religion and learn from them if they are able to lead him to the
path of spirituality. He said that he would love to regard himself, or call himself, part Christian and part

Muslim or part belonging to any religion, and look upon it as his good luck to be so, and that he would
endeavor to be worthy of all that this means. And by doing this will not at all affect his own religion. Rather,

he believed that this type of assimilation will lead to spiritual enrichment of humanity. As he declared, ‘This I
can do, I claim, without the least harm to my Hinduism. I rather feel my Hinduism will bloom and blossom

forth and add to its lustre and gain in stature for my doing so.’ 9

Novel approach to Religion
Vinoba believed that the ultimate goal of all religions is spiritual in nature, and so far as this goal

is achievable, it does not really matter which particular religion is followed. Ultimately, all religions aim
at purifying the hearts of people as it is only with the pure heart that the spiritual goal can be achieved.

This implies that Vinoba did not accept the sectarian view of religion. Rather he saw religion as a means
through which human beings can be guided toward the path of spirituality and morality.

Through his works on different religions, Vinoba very clearly suggested that the spiritual and
moral unity among all religions should be highlighted rather than stressing upon the ritualistic aspects

that divide people. He thus gave new dictum “Jai Jagat”(victory to the world) way back in year
1959,.through which he aimed at uniting the hearts of the people of the whole world. As he declared

49