Bhoodan

‘Moved by Love’ – Vinoba Bhave's biography. 
 
"Vinoba went from village to village appealing to the landlords to hand over at least one sixth of their land to the landless cultivators of their village. ‘Air and water belong to all’, Vinoba said, ‘ Land should be shared in common as well’. The tone of voice in which this was said was all important. It was never condemnatory, never harsh. Gantleness – true Ahimsa – was Vinoba’s trademark. A gentleness backed by a life of such dedication and simplicity that few could listen to this pleading unmoved."
 
So does Vinoba Bhave's bhoodan mean so much ... because hearts have to change for anything ever to change. 


Vinoba, about his bhoodan, " ...I try to make it clear that the good results I hope for will not come about , if the donors make their gifts in a patronizing spirit, imagining that they are granting a favour to the poor. Every human being has as much right to land as he has to air water and sunlight; so long as there are people with no land at all, it is wrong for people to keep more than they need. When he gives it away it should be because he wants to right the wrong.. This is the spirit of the bhoodan movement as I have said many times. If there was the slightest suspicion that the land was being offerred in a spirit of vainglory, I refused to accept it. I had no intention whatever of amassing land at any price by hook or by crook".

"And so Vinoba knocked at every door, persuading landlords, capitalists and communists to establish a new relationship with the earth and its people. If you are rich, give. If you are poor, give. No one is a 'have not'. Some possess land, others property and yet others intellect and physical strength. Furthermore love and affection permeate the hearts of all humn beings. We all have something to give, so give and give ...

This was economics of the imagination. Hardly anyone refused this divine begger"