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 am the Vedas living and awake.

The truth is that the essence of the Vedas is in our hands. We have to build our lives on the foundation of service, love and knowledge. This is what is meant by saying that the Vedas are in our hands. (1)

This is how Vinoba combines love, knowledge and action as a trinity. He draws this meaning out of Gita. Gita itself is considered the essence of all Vedanta (or Upanisads). Vinoba’s commentary on the Gita is considered one of his more memorable works. He gave these lectures on the Gita every Sunday in Dhule Jail, where he was imprisoned by the British during 1932. They were recorded by Sane Guruji, another major Marathi author, who was imprisoned in the same jail. They were delivered to the inmates of the jail, who included dacoits, murderers, thieves and other jail birds, alongwith political prisoners such as Vinoba and Sane Guruji. He gave these lectures even to the women prisoners, where Vinoba, a bramachari, was given a special permission by the jailor. The jail rules were ignored and Vinoba delivered his Pravachans to all the prisoners in Dhule Jail. (2).

With love,

Yours, L.N. Godbole

13th May, 1990 My dear Pranav,

An interesting facet of Vinoba’s life is his continuous growth. He: was always evolving, changing and becoming a better person.

He was an intelligent student. He was a voracious reader. He was a leader in his student group. He developed his life with very simple living. The most important thing about him was that he remained a continuous experimenter.

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