THE PRACTICAL SAINT

New Zealand Listener, Volume 34, Issue 869, 29 March 1956, Page 13

THE PRACTICAL SAINT

SAINT ON THE MARCH, by Hallam Tennyson; Victor Gollancz, English price 13/6 N the western countries where each man jostles anxiously at the feast of money and status, and we call the jostling healthy competition, the pursuit of holiness comes to us‘as an afterthought; in India, with its vast population, ocean of poverty, and average life expectation of twenty-six years, the delusion of material security becomes more transparent, and it seems they accept their saints not as freaks but as leaders. How otherwise could Vinoba Bhave, the spiritual successor of Gandhi, accomplish a major land-reform by persuading zemindars to give their land and money to the landless classes. without any hope of profit, for ee 8 "sR of holy charity? . Tennyson (a descendant of the -: written from first-hand experience an account of Vinoba and his labours, clear, unspectacular, well on the sane side of idolatry. He compares Gandhi, with his great heart and fallible humanity, to the banyan tree which touches the ground at a hundred different points; Vinoba to an unattached consistent star shining equally on all. This is his explanation of the astounding land-transfer of three million acres (Vinoba aims at the eventual transfer of fifty million; acres, one-sixth of the. cultivable land of India): "... We all know what happens to. the average person when he is trusted by a man he respects. He does his level best to prove worthy of the trust. Imagine the effect of being

trusted by someone whom you and others reverence as a saint. Is not a~saint’s smile well worth a dozen acres?" Mg. Tennyson may be mistaken in his estimate of Vinoba. Yet Vinoba’s statements and actions are sufficiently remarkable to give his view support. Here is an account of a village meeting: ".. . Most of the songs sung by the escort were Socialist, but imbedded in the rest was a famous devotional lyric, ‘Who will come to Brindaban to see Krishna?’ Hearing this, Vinoba said: ‘I am in Brindaban and every villagerman; woman or child-is an incarnation of God’s spirit. You are all my Krishnas and I have come to worship you.,’" As the statement of a ‘hard-headed, humorous ascetic of fifty-seven conduct‘ing expertly and tirelessly the huge detail of land-transfer and the formation of village co-operatives, this remark deserves notice. One can understand the comparative unsuccess of Christian missions in India when Hindu asceticism has room for a man like Vinoba. Perhaps we need to learn holiness from the

Hindus.

James K.

Baxter