Vimala Thakar (born 15 April 1921 Ramnavmi day at Bilaspur and died on 11 March 2009 at Falgun Poornima at Mt. Abu) was an Indian

social activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

and

spiritual teacher This is an index of religious honorifics from various religions. Buddhism Christianity Eastern Orthodox The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Protestantism Catholicism Hinduism Islam Judaism ...

. Born into a

middle-class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Comm ...

family living at

Akola Akola () is a municipal corporation and the third largest city in Vidarbha after Nagpur and Amravati and tenth largest city in Maharashtra. is located about east of the state capital, Mumbai, and west of the second capital, Nagpur. Akola ...

city in Maharashtra state in India, she was interested in spiritual matters from an early age. She pursued this interest with meditation and spiritual practices throughout her youth. She post graduated in Eastern and Western philosophy, Dr.

Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (; 5 September 1888 – 17 April 1975), natively Radhakrishnayya, was an Indian philosopher and statesman. He served as the 2nd President of India from 1962 to 1967. He also 1st Vice President of India from 1952 ...

was one of her professors. Later she became active in the

Bhoodan The Bhoodan movement (Land Gift movement), also known as the Bloodless Revolution, was a voluntary land reform movement in India. It was initiated by Gandhian Vinoba Bhave in 1951 at Pochampally village, Pochampally The Bhoodan movement attempted ...

(Land Gift) Program. This program, led by

Vinoba Bhave Vinayak Narahari, also known as Vinoba Bhave (; 11 September 1895 – 15 November 1982), was an Indian advocate of nonviolence and human rights. Often called ''Acharya'' (Sanskrit teacher), he is best known for the Bhoodan Movement. He is cons ...

, persuaded landlords to give land to poor farmers. Through the 1950s, several million acres of farmland were so redistributed. She travelled India to its length and breadth. In 1958, Thakar attended talks given by, and met with, the philosopher

Jiddu Krishnamurti Jiddu Krishnamurti (; 11 May 1895 – 17 February 1986) was a philosopher, speaker and writer. In his early life, he was groomed to be the new World Teacher, an advanced spiritual position in the theosophical tradition, but later rejected thi ...

. This meeting was to change her life. She left the Land-Gift movement to dedicate herself to what she called "the internal problem"—the spiritual liberation of the individual. She dedicated herself to teaching meditation and philosophy, traveling between India, the U.S. and Europe. In 1979, she rekindled her passion for social activism, traveling through India and founding centers to educate villagers in agro-centered industries, sanitation, local self-government, and active democratic citizenship. Her teachings came to emphasize balancing 'inner' spiritual development with 'outer' social development, an evolution reflected in her 1984 book "Spirituality and Social Action: A Holistic Approach." After 1991, she curtailed her travel outside India. She died on 11 March 2009, on the day of Holi, the festival of colour in India. She was living at

Mount Abu Mount Abu () is a hill station in the Aravalli Range in Sirohi district of the state of Rajasthan in western India.The mountain forms a rocky plateau 22 km long by 9 km wide. The highest peak on the mountain is Guru Shikhar at above s ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

, India during her last years.

Philosophical views

Vimala Thakar’s philosophy was influenced by the spiritual teachings of

and the nonviolent social change philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi and Vinobe Bhave. She sought to reconcile the often separated worlds of spirituality and social action, arguing that in fact each is indispensable to the other: “In this era, to become a spiritual inquirer without social consciousness is a luxury that we can ill afford, and to be a social activist without a scientific understanding of the inner workings of the mind is the worst folly. Neither approach in isolation has had any significant success. There is no question now that an inquirer will have to make an effort to be socially conscious or that an activist will have to be persuaded of the moral crisis in the human psyche, the significance of being attentive to the inner life. The challenge awaiting us is to go much deeper as human beings, to abandon superficial prejudices and preferences, to expand understanding to a global scale, integrating the totality of living, and to become aware of the wholeness of which we are a manifestation.”Thakar, Vimala, "Awakening to Total Revolution" in What Is Enlightenment? magazine Issue 19, Spring/Summer 2001. She has also pointed out that intense self-education and transformation are naturally, in themselves, valid and very significant forms of social action. She recognized that some of us have a more inward, meditative orientation. She addressed these issues in depth at times, including with the book ''Vimalaji on Intensive Self-Education.''

Publications

# ''Glimpses of Raja Yoga: An Introduction to Patanjali's Yoga Sutras (Yoga Wisdom Classics)'', (

Rodmell Press Shambhala Publications is an independent publishing company based in Boulder, Colorado. According to the company, it specializes in "books that present creative and conscious ways of transforming the individual, the society, and the planet". Man ...

, 2005) # ''Insights into the Bhagavad Gita'' (New Delhi:

Motilal Banarsidass Motilal Banarsidass Publishing House (MLBD) is an Indian academic publishing house, founded in Delhi, India in 1903. It publishes and distributes serials, monographs, and scholarly publications on Asian religions, Buddhology, Indology, Easte ...

, 2005) # ''Why Meditation? Five Talks Delivered at the Blaisdell Institute Claremont University, California, 1974'' (New Delhi:

, 2005) # ''Blossoms of Friendship'' (

, 2003; New Delhi:

Publishers, 2004) # ''Totality in Essence'' Talks in Ceylon, 1971 (2002), with

Sogyal Rinpoche Sogyal Rinpoche (; 1947 – 28 August 2019) was a Tibetan Dzogchen lama. He was recognized as the incarnation of a Tibetan master and visionary saint of the 19th century, Tertön Sogyal Lerab Lingpa. Sogyal Rinpoche was the founder and forme ...

, ''Mind Our Greatest Gift'' (Mananam Series) (1995) # ''Vimalaji and Her Perspective of Life'' (Vimal Prakashahan Trust, 1998) # ''From Intellect to Intelligence'' (Holland: Vimala Thakar Foundation, 1976) # ''On an Eternal Voyage,'' (Bombay: R. Raman, at Inland Printers, 2nd ed., 1972) # ''Voyage Into Oneself'' (Holland: Vimala Thakar Foundation, 1970) #The books by Vimala Thakar in Gujarati, Hindi, English and Marathi languages are available at, Vimal Prakashan Trust-"Vimal Saurabh", vaniawadi St no-9, Rajkot-360002, Gujarat India. Contact No: +91 99255 29096, +91 9825416769 #"The Eloquence of Living" (Berkeley, CA 94701: Vimala Programs. 1981)233 pgs.

External links

* The Challenge of Emptiness: An Interview with Vimala Thakar by Shanti Adams: https://shreemahesh.wordpress.com/2018/04/13/the-challenge-of-emptiness/ * Set Them On Fire: Portrait of a Modern Sage by Chris Parish: https://shreemahesh.wordpress.com/2018/04/13/set-them-on-fire/
In the Fire of Dancing Stillness - Reflections with Vimala Thakar (2020). Documentary film by Renata Keller:
Www.inthefireofdancingstillness.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thakar, Vimala 1921 births 2009 deaths