Gurubodh, Tao, and Manusmriti. His abiding love and mastery however was the Gita, the Upanisads and the Vedas.
. According to Vinoba, the people who influenced him most were Sankaracharya, Jnaneshwar, Mahatma Gandhi and his own mother. He translated the Gita into Marathi. It is called Gitai or Mother in Gita. He wrote it for his mother, as she did not understand Sanskrit. Gitai is the most simple and beautiful rendering of the Gita in the same meter in Marathi. It is considered a masterpiece in content as well as style. Vinoba’s talks on the Gita are rated very high in the tradition of Sankarbhashya (Sankaracharya), Jnaneshwar (Jnaneshwar) and Gitarahasya (Lokamanya Tilak). The Gita was his life breath.
Vinoba has gifted us with one beautiful throught by way of a simile. What is swas (breathing) in individual life is viswas (trust) in social life. Without trust in each other we cannot live together or even sleep. We will be worried about safety. Do you not see prime ministers and others surrounded by body-guards? But you have to trust the body-guards. They can also kill, as they did in the case of Indira Gandhi. Social life is impossible without trust, Real beauty, of course, lies in the short pithy sentence where swas and viswas rhyme beautifully. It is not possible to translate it into English.
Vinoba’s speeches and writings are full of such pithy sentences. The more you think about them, the more meaningful you find them. That is the Upamisidic style. The rsis stated the sutra or the precise word or mantra. You have to think over it again and again. You find newer meaning everytime. That is the way you keep yourself changing continuously. Sutra or the thread of truth is permanent; each generation, each individual has to find newer and newer meanings. This was the open-ended Hindu style of thought. You will find it exciting, Pranav, once you start reading more and more about it.
With love;
Yours, L.N. Godbole
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