water boiled? What happens when you boil water? How is the steam created? What happens if you touch a hot pot? How is dabi (curd) prepared? All this is called chemistry. Start looking at it that way, then it is not learning, it is no more trouble. It becomes fun. Vinoba’s idea was that learning means living.
How about finding the meaning of the word sweet by eating some jilebi? That’s it. Please keep some sweets for me to understand the meaning of the word “sweet”.
With love,
Yours, L.N. Godbole
25th February, 1990 My dear Pranav,
Vinoba was basically a teacher. In Sanskrit, the word for teacher is Acharya. He was therefore called Acharya Vinoba Bhave. Do you know what acharya means? A similar word for it is one-who-acts. If he teaches goodness, he acts like a good person. You must act as you preach. The Hindu concept of learning is to sit with someone (up/ni/sad) who has acted on his knowledge. Vinoba was truly an acharya. Whatever he preached he practised.
There are two stories about this Way (1). Vinoba was considered a great follower of Mahatma Gandhi, who used to stay in Mani Bhavan on Laburnum Road in Bombay. Vinoba’s disciples too had their office at Mani Bhavan. They had all their books and furniture in that house. Once, the trustees of Mani Bhavan asked Vinoba’s disciples to vacate the office. They went to Vinoba, requesting him to talk to the trustees so that they may not have to vacate the office. They said, “We have used Mani Bhavan as our office and now they have given us notice to
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