Vinoba said, “Bapu (Gandhiji) never conceived himself in the role of a Guru nor did he consider anyone his disciple, although I attach great importance to the institution of Guru”
Once a friend asked Vinoba, whether he should address Bapu as Gandhi or Gandhiji. Vinoba said: “If you consider him as a human being, a human being worthy of respect, you should call him Gandhiji. If you think of him as a thought, it would be sufficient to address him as a Gandhi. For me, Gandhiji is no longer a person, he is an idea. He is an idea personified...
“We must take from great men only their ideas. We must not become too attached to what is incidental in their lives. We should also derive from their words the noblest meaning they can bear. That is to say we should look for their subtle import. In this age of science the Manu of the Puranas, or even Marx, won't do. I submit in all humility that even Gandhi taken at face value, won't do.”
Such were the two great sons of India whose existence stretched as a continuum from 1916 to 1982, almost 60 years of this century.
With love,
Yours, L.N. Godbole
Letter BF
28th October, 1990 My dear Pranav,
In my previous letter, | gave you some perspective about the relationship between Gandhi and Vinoba. You must have also noticed that I have all along been referring to Vinoba as Vinoba, simply because, to my mind, Vinoba is a thought. He was a person, whom I have seen only once in 1976 but he impressed me deeply since 1951. I considered him a thinker, and
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