Editing Vinoba Bhave (section)

==Early life and background==
Vinayak Narahar Bhave was born on 11 September 1895 in a small village called Gagoji (present-day Gagode Budruk) in [[Raigad district|Kolaba]] in the [[Konkan]] region of what is now [[Maharashtra]]. Vinayaka was the eldest son of Narahar Shambhu Rao and Rukmani Devi. The couple had five children; four sons named Vinayaka (affectionately called Vinya), Balakrishna, Shivaji and Dattatreya, and one daughter Shanti.  His father was a trained weaver with a modern rationalist outlook and worked in [[Baroda]]. Vinayaka was brought up by his grandfather, Shamburao Bhave and was greatly influenced by his mother Rukmini Devi, a religious woman from [[Karnataka]]. Vinayaka was highly inspired after reading the [[Bhagavad Gita]], at a very young age.<ref name=biography>{{cite book|author=Narayanaswamy, K.S.|title=Acharya Vinoba Bhave – A biography (Immortal Lights series)|date=2000|publisher=Sapna Book House|location=Bangalore|isbn=9788128017506}}</ref>

A report in the newspapers about Gandhi's speech at the newly founded [[Banaras Hindu University]] attracted Bhave's attention. In 1916, after reading a newspaper piece by [[Mahatma Gandhi]], Bhave threw his school and college certificates into a fire on his way to [[Mumbai|Bombay]] to appear for the [[intermediate examination]]. 
He wrote a letter to Gandhi and after an exchange of letters, Gandhi advised Bhave to come for a personal meeting at [[Kochrab Ashram]] in [[Ahmedabad]]. Bhave met Gandhi on 7 June 1916 and subsequently abandoned his studies. Bhave participated with a keen interest in the activities at Gandhi<nowiki>''</nowiki>s Sabarmati [[ashram]], like teaching, studying, spinning and improving the lives of the community. His involvement with Gandhi's constructive programmes related to [[Khadi]], village industries, new education ([[Nai Talim]]), sanitation and hygiene also kept on increasing.

Bhave went to [[Wardha]] on 8 April 1921 to take charge of the Ashram as desired by Gandhi. In 1923, he brought out ''Maharashtra Dharma'', a Marathi monthly which had his essays on the Upanishads. Later on, this monthly became a weekly and continued for three years. In 1925, Gandhi sent him to [[Vaikom]], Kerala to supervise the entry of the [[Harijans]] to the temple.

Bhave was arrested several times during the 1920s and 1930s and served a five-year jail sentence in the 1940s for leading non-violent resistance to [[British rule]]. The jails for Bhave had become the places of reading and writing. He wrote Ishavasyavritti and Sthitaprajna Darshan in jail. He also learnt four South Indian languages and created the script of Lok Nagari at [[Vellore]] jail. In the jails, he gave a series of talks on the Bhagavad Gita in Marathi, to his fellow prisoners. Bhave participated in the nationwide civil disobedience periodically conducted against the British and was imprisoned with other nationalists. Despite these many activities, he was not well known to the public. He gained national prominence when Gandhi chose him as the first participant in a new nonviolent campaign in 1940. All were calling him by his short name, Vinoba.
Bhave's younger brother Balkrishna was also a Gandhian. Gandhi entrusted him and [[Manibhai Desai]] to set up a nature therapy ashram at [[Urali Kanchan]] where Balkrishna spent all his life.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Kumarappa B. |year=1954 |url=http://gandhiashramsevagram.org/pdf-books/nature-cure.pdf |title=Gandhi M. Nature cure |publisher=Navajivan Publishing House}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Nisargopachar Ashram – Naturopathic Centre Urulikanchan, Pune|url=http://www.aarogya.com/complementary-medicine/naturopathy/the-nisargopachar-ashram-naturopathic-centre-urulikanchan-pune.html|website=aarogya.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Desai, Manibhai Bhimbhai |url=http://www.rmaf.org.ph/newrmaf/main/awardees/awardee/biography/252 |website=rmaf.org.ph}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor=Mehta, Jayshree |editor2=Usha, Thakkar |title=Understanding Gandhi : Gandhians in conversation with Fred J. Blum |date=2011 |publisher=Sage Publications |location=Los Angeles |isbn=978-8132105572 |page=6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4VnuMXLK8z8C&pg=PA6}}</ref>