Vinoba's austerities in the Ashram had a bad effect on his health. He went to Bapu and took his permission to be away from Ashram for a year. He wanted some rest urgently. Next day, after the morning prayer, Vinoba walked out of Sabarmati, barefoot. He only took a couple of clothes—dhoti and upper cloth, and a blanket with him. He wore no stitched clothes. That was all the luggage he had with him.
He spent the next six months in Wai where his grandfather Shambhu Rao Bhave stayed. He attended the discourses on the Brahma Sutra commentary of Sri Shankaracharya. The teacher was Narayana Sastri Marathe. He made a deep study of the Upanishads, the Gita, Manu Dharma Shastra and Patanjali's Yoga aphorisms.
He toured in villages the next six months, to study their economic conditions. Here, he spoke daily on the Gita. A sanyasi who heard him talk said, "This is indeed Sri Shankaracharya speaking to us!"
He did not take any medicine, tried some experiments in diet. Walked 10, 12 miles every day.
He went back to Sabarmati exactly a year after he left the Ashram, at the same time, correct to the hour.
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