'^ Nearly 656 Workers Took Pledge to Dedicate Them Selves to the Cause of Sarvodaya
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‘ 16G CHAPTER V COMPONENTS OF SJiRVODAYA MOVEMENT 1• Components of Sarvedaya Movement. Along vith the Bhoodan movement, Jayaprakash Narayan and his associates had launched other pro grammes like Jeevandan (life dedication) ,Sampattidan (gift of v/ealth), Sadhandan (gift of means or implements), Sarvasvadan (gift of everything) ,Shramdan (gift of physical labour), Buddhidan (gift of knowledge) and Samayadan (gift of time), for facilitating the work of Bhoodan. These were the facets of the comprehensive movement for the radical transformation of society and the values of human life. Together, they constituted the means of a non-violent moral and social transforma- i tion. All these programmes were introduced in order to secure the cooperation of the people with varying 2 resources and dispositions in the Sarvodaya movement. (i) Jeevandan ; (a) Introduction : Exactly after three years of the launching of the Bhoodan movement a new movement, Jeevandan, emerged at the sixth Bodh Gaya Sarvodaya Conference held on l6th April, 195^.^ It was held under the presidentship of Smt. Ashadevi and attended by Acharya Bhave, Dada Dharmadhikari, M.P. Desai,Jayaprakash 167 Narayan, Acharya Kriplani, Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr.Eajendra Prasad and 25,000 Sarvodaya v/orkers When Jayaprakash Narayan rose to address a huge gathering, he confided that he had finally made up his mind to devote all his energies for the success of c; Sarvodaya movement.^ He announced the total dedication of his life to the movement. Many participants includ ing Sarvodaya workers and others got up and in all solemnity repeated the pledge to devote their lives wholly for realising the aims and objectives of Sarvo daya. By the very magic of his words and personality, J.P. succeeded in filling the whole atmosphere with a vibrant optimism about the success of the mission of Sarvodaya.^ After having heard the clarion call of J.P., the participants of the conference realised clearly the magnitude and urgency of the stupendous work that lay ahead and wished to declare their determination to follow the lead of Vinobaji and J.P. in accelerating the pace of progress towards the goal of all round re volution in the lives of the people. They had also realised that the work demanded the dedication of their lives to the Sarvodaya mission, to the exclusion of all other activities including politics.'^ Nearly 656 workers took pledge to dedicate them selves to the cause of Sarvodaya. Some took an oath of 16S dedicating their lives wholly while others pledged to dedicate partly. There were in all three categories of such life dedicators. One category consisted of San yas is who dedicated their whole to the movement. Another group consisted of those who dedicated themselves upto 1 9 5 7 . And, the third comprised of the household Jee- vandanis. This class of Jeevandanis looked after their o families as well as worked for the movement . Vinobaji, who was observing the remarkable event with his usual equanimity, was also moved visibly by the sincerity of declarations and dedication of the Sarvodaya workers.^ Deeply touched by J.P's selfless dedication, he had said, "If all of them could work resolutely like J.P. with as large a heart, as broad a vision and as sagaci ous a mind, they would not only ennoble their own lives but would also find new workers to help the movement.**"*® Early next morning, Vinobaji wrote a short letter to J.P. which reads thus ; *^In response to your call of yesterday, here is the offering of my own life for the establishment of a non-violent social order based on Bhoodan Yajna and with village industries as its main- stay.’* 1 1 When J.P. read the letter, he was overwhelmed with a feeling of gratitude and reverence for the saint. He was conscious that it was Vinobaji himself who was the originator of that unique movement. He realised that it was Vinobaji's saintly humanity that had prompted him to write such a letter to one who was too junior to ■ 169 him in every respect. J.P., on his part, therefore, wrote a very humble letter to the Chair-person of the Conference Smt. Ashadevl Aryanayakam, in which he re- dedicated his life to the Sarvodaya movement and offered it to Vinobaji himself under whose inspired guidance alone he wished to work. Smt. Ashadevi read out a touching letter of J.P. and Vinoba about their complete dedication of life. She had also resolved to dedicate her entire life. Greatly impressed, Acharya J.B. Kripalani was also tempted to offer his life dedication. But he pointed out at the prayer meeting that he needed much heart searching and purification 12 before such a bold step could be taken. Prabhavati Devi was present when Vinobaji received J . P ’s letter. She reverently touched Vinoba*s feet and saluted him. There were tears of joy and fulfilment in her eyes. Vinobaji asked her what the matter was. She said haltingly : have no words to thank God for bringing this day in my life.... But... baba... baba.. how grand it would have been .... had this transforma tion taken place when Bapuji himself was living.*'"^^ (b) Meaning and nature of Jeevandan: By merely announcing 'Jeevandan' or life dedication it does not mean that one became a Jeevandani. Jeevandan,according to the Sarvodayaites, meant sacrifice of everything for the Cause of mankind. Vinobaji wanted that instead of 170 calling them Jeevandanis they should be called ’Gramo- daya Sevaks' meaning workers for the uplift of the ]_1|_ villages. They were expected to work amongst the poor masses in the interior rural areas for their up- liftment, socially, economically and morally. They had to work non-violently for eradicating exploitation and other social evils from the society.^^ In their personal lives also they were supposed to observe Gandhian principles. They were expected to lead a very simple life, eat a very simple food, wear khadi spun clothes and live in simple and small houses.”*^ Of course, they had also to^eep themselves away from tea, smoking, wine and non-vegetarian food. Regularly they were supposed to spin charkha and to do some physical work. (c) Functions; The Jeevandanis were expected to work for the social, economic and moral development of the poor rural masses in their respective fields. They had come from different professions like politics, engineering, medicine, law, teaching, business, etc. They were expected toXitilise their knowledge and skill for the success of the movement. For example, a jeevandani belonging to politics could keep his partisan affiliation with any political party but he could not campaign for any party during the elections. A household Jeevandani was expected to remain away from his day to day family affairs and to 171 u tilis e his whole time for the Sarvodaya work. But in certain circumstances when his family demanded his help and cooperation he was supposed to assist them. Like wise, a manual worker jeevandani belonging to a farmer community or labourer class was expected to look after his family and to work for the movement.A jeevandani belonging to a farmer community was also required to 1 ft donate some portion of his land to the Bhoodan Yajna. According to the Sarva Seva Sangh rules, a Jeevan dani was expected to perform the following functions : 1. To help in raising Sampattidan, collection and distribution of land and to work for khadi and small scale industries. 2. To help the labourer farmers in every possible way. 3 . To settle disputes in the villages. h. To call intellectuals from the cities for the spread of Sarvodaya ideology. 5 . A doctor Jeevandani was expected to help providing free medical services to the needy, 6. A Jeevandani engineer was expected to help by constructing bunds, tanks, roads and houses in the villages. 7 . A businessman jeevandani was expected to make 19 marginal profit out of their professions. 8 . The intellectuals were expected to help by educa ting the masses in the rural and urban areas. 9 . A ll Jeevandanis were expected to give something of their earnings. ^0 172 J.P. wanted that in every village there should be two or more jeevandanls for the Sarvodaya work. In that way he felt that there would be lakhs of jeevandanis throughout India who would work amongst the poor rural masses in the interior v illa g e s . They would thus con duct their Sarvodaya' a c tiv itie s at the grass-root le v e l, The Sarvodaya Ashrams, which were established at the villa ge le v e l, would work as centres for the Sarvodaya programmes. Those Ashrams, J.P. f e lt , would also work as resting places for the Sarvodaya workers after day's hard work. Some of the Sarvodayaites were of the opinion that the Jeevandanis should donate a ll their property towards the Sarvodaya movement. In case a Jeevandani donated a ll his property the problem arose about the wellbeing and development of his family. In such cases, who would look after their families was the crucial problem. The Sarvodayaites had opened some Gandhian educa tional centres like Nai Talim Vidyalaya at Muzaffarpur in Bihar, Kasturba Vidyalaya and Balwadi (for children) at Sekhodeora Ashram in Gaya d istrict of Bihar. In these centres the children and family members of Jeevandanis were given free education, scholarships and even employ ment to their fam ilies. Some such centres were opened 22 for adult education also. ■ 173 (d) Jeevandan Collection : After the Bodh Gaya Sar- vodaya Conference held in April 195^, there was a spate o f Jeevandanis from every part of India.