Page 95 - Acharya Vinoba Bhave in 21st Century ISBN

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

· sitting in one place and enjoying the whole world via the bazar is crass [bâzârû—a typical
Vinoba play on words] and a violation of swadeshi and thereby a violation of non-violence.

One knows Gandhi would have nodded in hearty agreement. Ever since he visited a Trappist

monastery in South Africa and read Ruskin and Tolstoy, Gandhi had tried to set-up self-reliant, self-
sufficient agrarian communities. The Sabarmati ashram also started in this direction, but Gandhian

ashrams were also the sites of political work and were often in turmoil or closed by the British authorities,
with many members in jail. The ideal of self-reliant agricultural production got lost because of this and

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other constructive work initiatives. Those who know Paunar in its reincarnation after the bhoodan
years might even be surprised to learn it did not have a significant vegetable garden in 1949. But this

was the situation in all Gandhian ashrams at the time. Going back to the original vison was not radical.
Being as self-reliant in vegetables and as many other things as possible was a well-understood Gandhian

goal.

December 25: Going beyond Gandhi
Simply resolving to grow their own vegetables did not compel the ashram member to try to do

all the work themselves. Gandhi’s ashrams typically hired outside laborers for many operations and
Gandhi had only modest expectations for bread labor from ashram members. Even without money,

the Paunar Ashram might have struck a share-crop arrangement with local agricultural laborers and
created a model for the payment of fair wages in kind (one of the oft-stated public policy demands of

Gandhians). If there were any thoughts along these lines, they did not go far. The real goal of the
experiment went well beyond growing vegetables.

Vinoba’s new argument comes after a passage where he claims that workers have proven the
“small tools” of constructive work (the charka and the hand mill) can succeed even in the machine age.

He then goes on:
Our main shortcoming is that we have not yet been able to fully identify ourselves with the poor

around us. As far as I can see, this is not possible so long as we do not give up our dependence on
money [iSlsdkvk/kkj] and do not rely completely on body labour. We do perform a certain amount of

body labour, but it is not enough. We should pledge ourselves to earn our bread through body labour
alone, and free ourselves from dependence on money [iSlslseqDr]. Without this, ahimsa can never

manifest itself as a great Power. I believe to the very letter what Jesus Christ said (and would paraphrase
it thus): “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for the rich (one attached to

money) to enter Heaven (i.e., realize ahimsa), however much he profess it by mouth.” My mind is
working on these lines these days. I am trying to think how we may put this principle into immediate

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