The Wandering Sannyasi

[Guest guest]

Namami Sankaraachaaryam, sarvalokaika Poojitham

 

With permission blessings and grace from HH Swamy Vijeyendra

Saraswathi garu of Shri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham Paramacharya and

miracles

 

The Wandering Sannyasi

Acharya Vinobha Bhave

Our forefathers had made provision to enable villagers to have access

to kinds of knowledge which no one is the village possessed. This is

the tradition of the wandering Sannyasi. The Sannyasi travels

continually among the villages for the greater part of the year,

remaining in one place only for the four months of the rainy season.

The villagers thus get the full benefit of his knowledge. He can

teach them both the knowledge of the world and knowledge of self. A

Sannyasi is a walking university, a wandering Vidyapith, who goes at

his pleasure to each village in turn. He will himself seek out his

students, and he will give his teaching freely. The villagers will

hive him clean, pure `sattvik' food, and he will need nothing else.

They will learn whenever they can. There is nothing more tragic than

that knowledge should be paid for in money. A man who possesses

knowledge hungers and thirsts to pass it on to others and see them

enjoy it. The child at the breast finds satisfaction, but the mother

too takes pleasure in giving suck, for God has filled her breasts

with milk. What would become of the world if mothers began demanding

fees for feeding the babies?

Nowadays, in a city university, nothing can be had without at least

one or two hundred rupees. But the `knowledge' which is purchased

there for money is no knowledge at all : knowledge bought for cash is

ignorance. True knowledge can only be had for love and service; it

cannot be bought for money. So when a wise man travelling from place

to place, arrives at a village, let the people lovingly invite him to

remain a few days, treat him with reverence and receive from him

whatever knowledge he has to give. This is quite a feasible plan.

Just as a river flows of itself form village to village, serving the

people; just as the cows graze in the jungle and return of themselves

will full udders to give the children milk, so will wise men travel

of themselves from place to place. We must re-establish this

institution of the wandering teacher.

In this way, every village can have its university, and all the

knowledge of the world can find its way into the villages. We must be

re-invigorate the tradition of the `vanaprasthashram' so that every

village gets a permanent teacher from whom no great expenditure will

be incurred. Every grihastha's home must be a school, and his field a

laboratory. Vanaprastha must be a teacher and every wandering

Sannyasi a university. The students are the children and young people

who give an hour or two to learning and spend the rest of the day in

working. This seems to me to provide a complete outline of education

from birth to death.

Our Jagadguru of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetha has, been for the last forty

years moving from village to village mostly on foot, occasionally in

the palanquin, the usual mode of conveyance adopted from ancient

times. Latterly he has dropped even this mode of conveyance and

always goes on foot. He holds the strong conviction that walking is

least harmful to the insects and other being on the road, especially

as ahimsa of an absolute kind is enjoyed by our Dharma for

Sannyasins. Even to the most obscure corned of a village in our State

he has gone and stayed and met and conversed with the people from the

humblest to the highest in society. His stay in every village has

been a source of inspiration, illumination and instruction to the

people. He is a walking Encyclopaedia of variegated knowledge, such

as History, Archeology, sociology, not to speak of our religious

literature and branches of learning. Conversation with him has been a

liberal education. By his stay every villager becomes a better,

person mentally, morally and spiritually. Every man, woman and child

has received his blessings and enjoyed the delight of words falling

from his lips. The person stricken by sorrow has received consolation

and courage from his sympathetic look and words. Those who come

complaining with difficulties in life were encouraged to meet the

situations with golden words of advice. The village institutions have

received help and encouragement. The yield from the lands have become

better. Timely rains have gladdened the hearts of peasants. In fact

wherever he went he has spread joy, comfort knowledge and

spirituality.

(The wise words of Acharya Vinoba Bhave truly picture our Jagadguru.

Like him, our Jagadguru is a pedestrian by conviction).