Bansilal Patel Built a Cowshed Near Kavitha and Sat Cross Legged and Dedicated His Life to Humanity
Written by: Ramesh Tanna
Bansilal Patel, a committed and leading Sarvodaya activist from Gujarat, passed away on Thursday, May 4, 2023. In a changing environment and in the difficult times of materialism, it is not easy to stick to the ideology and values that one believes in. But Bansidada has done it with dedication.
Bansilal Trikamlal Patel, a Gandhian-Sarvodaya leader, had built a cowshed near Kavitha and Rasam villages near Bavla since 1985 and sat cross legged till then. Gandhiji and Vinoba were in his heart and he lived between 160 cows. He lived with the cows like a happy family and alway took care of them with love.
Bansilal had many special qualities which cannot be counted. For five long years, he lived only on cow’s milk. He dedicated his entire life for cows and has immense respect for them. In the last days of his life, along with cow’s milk, he took dates, juice, and jaggery in his meals. Bansilal did not consume grains for years, he stayed on milk and this shows his love and respect for cows.
About three years before his death, a pit kind of structure appeared on his forehead. The doctors said it is “cancer”. To this, Bansibhai replied and said, ‘No problem, I will get the treatment by the best doctors in the world, i.e. Goddess Cow.’ Soon after this, the treatment started, his companion started putting cow’s urine on the cancer pit everyday and he used to have cow’s milk for meals, no grains or rice. He had an unwavering faith that cows will cure his cancer. This faith won and within two months his cancer was cured.
How did Shri Bansilalbhai become the cow devotee? Why did he build a cowshed? Why did he love the villages and tirelessly work for their development until he was 95 years old?
This is an interesting story.
Bansilalbhai’s family is originally from Ahmedabad. They live in Vadi village (Dariapur). Bansilalbhai’s father’s name is Trikamlalbhai and his mother’s name is Somiben. After matriculating, he studied at H.L. Commerce College for two years. Hewas not very interested in studying, however, he used to wear khadi in college and was a gandhian by thoughts. Moreover, he also participated in movements that were live at that period. He opened a shop in Kalupur-Chokha Bazar in Ahmedabad, which he ran for more than 10 years. After this, he went into the business of milk. He used to bring milk from the markets between Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad, and used to sell it in Ahmedabad. He used to sell ten maunds of milk everyday. Ulike his previous business, he ran the milk business for more than 10 years.
His life took a U-turn when he came in contact with Vinoba Bhave. Both Vinoba Bhave and Bansilalbhai came in contact in 1957. After his meeting with Vinoba Bhave, he accepted the ideology of Sarvodaya. He told his writer, “I must have done something good in my last birth, that is why God made me turn towards a humanitarian journey in this life. Otherwise, my brothers would have come up with this idea.”
In 1985, Bansilal Bhai built the Sant Vinoba Gram Swaraj Gaushala on four acres of land in Kavitha-Rasam village near Bavla. In building this Gaushala, he took the help of some fellow trustees, who also believed in the thoughts of Gandhian as well as Vinoba’s Sarvodaya. The original idea of this Gaushala was not to make profit or build business, but it was to serve the cows and help in the development and upliftment of the village.
The institute was established to take care of the cows and to breed them. They used to sell the milk of the cows, and from that income, they used to maintain the institute. The name of the institute was and is Sant Vinoba Gram Swarajya Ashram (Gaushala).
Bansilal Bhai started this Guashala with 10 cows and in the year 2023, there were more than 160 cows. The Guashala was filled with calves, aged cows, heifers, and three bulls. Once a cow comes here, it stays here until its last breath. Bansilal Bhai never even thought of abandoning the cow even after it stops giving milk. This Guashala has a 600-foot tubewell which gives sweet drinkable water. Bansilal Bhai built a water trough on the road so that the animals can also drink water while on the way. This institution was running on the ideology of Vinobaji, Gandhi, and Ravi Shankar Maharaj.
The urine of cows cures about 150+ diseases which includes BP, cancer, diabetes, breathing, heart diseases, phlegm, cough, skin diseases, psoriasis, arthritis, stomach ulcers, dental diseases, mental diseases, fever, warts, hemorrhoids, etc. Moreover, it is a fact that many people have cured their mental and physical diseases by using cowsheds.
The institution has four rooms for guests where they can stay. An individual can stay here without giving any fees, for free and he is surrounded by nature and mother cows.
The life of Bansilal Bhai was very simple. In this entire journey, he did not even use a fan, even during monsoon, when water is spread everywhere and insects and mosquitoes fly. There was a fan present in his room, but it was very old. When we went to meet him in his room for the first time, we saw him sitting on a hammock-like bed with mosquito net all around the bed and some pages with articles written on it beside the bed. He said, ‘I like to live a natural life in the midst of nature. I have full faith in nature’.
His experiment of staying only on cow’s milk was truly astonishing. For six long years, he only drank cow’s milk and water, no grains, rice, fruits, or anything else. In the last few days of his life, along with cow’s milk, he added desi gula, dates, moli sing, mug water, gram, and ajwain powder. Despite eating so little, his health was excellent.
Gandhiji has told the leaders running the institutions that ‘do not collect permanent funds’. Most of the Gandhian institutions have never accepted this statement of Gandhi. In one of his autobiographies, Gandhiji said that, ‘No institution should live on or for permanent funds. If not followed this, there are chances of the institution’s degradation’. However, Bansilal Bhai has accepted this statement of Gandhi ji and he never collected funds for his institution. He never believed in money. He used to run the institute with minimum money. He ran the institute for 38 to 39 years and had never faced any problem in running the institution because of lack of money.
The total cost of running the institution was somewhere around 50 to 60 lakh rupees per year. However, there was no issue of money as the amount was provided by the society. Moreover, some of Bansilal Bhai’s industrialist friends said, ‘if you face any problem related to money, let us know immediately.’
Bansilal Bhai never saved a single penny for his personal use. There are people who think of keeping an FD of a few lakh rupees in their banks so that they can use the money in case of illness or other emergencies, but Bansilal Bhai never thought the same. Pointing the finger towards the sky, he said, ‘He never thought about all these things and he will never do this’.
Bansilal Bhai lived a healthy life with good health and never fell ill.
He used to say, ‘Materialism has caused major damage. People have fallen behind money and because of this, they have forgotten love and people are becoming selfish. And because of this, addiction has also increased a lot.’
Bansilala Bhai had worked tirelessly for many years to educate and aware people about drugs and harmful addictions. In an interview given to the writer two years ago, Bansilal said, ‘Addiction to narcotics, drugs, alcohol, gutkha, bidis, tobacco, etc has increased tremendously in India and Gujarat. Young children are also becoming addicted along with working women. Almost 80 percent of the society is currently addicted.’ Along with this, he said, ‘Lakhs of people die every year in Gujarat due to addictions. Many families are ruined due to addictions.’ As per Bansilal Bhai, ‘donkeys and pigs don’t even smell tobacco, but tobacco consumption is so high in Gujarat that it ranks first in the state for oral cancer.’
He says, ‘The people of Gujarat, saints, mahajans, leaders, and government need to bring Gujarat out of addictions. This is important as addiction will cause major harm to society and it will be the fault of all of us.’
He also said, ‘People who want to work for the development of villages should not live in cities. They should live among the people of the village.’
Bansilal Bhai also wrote regular letters to various office bearers and government departments related to the same issue. He has performed this activity for years as he thought that there is no point in sitting around and feeling complaining and conflicted. He used to write letters to various departments like the Prime Minister, Chief Minister, Education Minister, etc. These letters were related to the current situation of the society and what should be done to improve it. He used to write letters related to the conditions of stray cattles as well, where he wrote that garbage and plastic go into the stomach of the cows, which is a consulting thing and some steps should be taken for this.
He also wrote letters to Gandhian institutions. Not just complaints or concerns but Bansilal Bhai also praised and listened to the institution and people whenever it was needed. He also wrote many papers to Gujarat Vidyapith and said that one should not do anything different from Gandhian thought. One thing that Bansilal Bhai was clear about and he used to say frequently was one should stick to Gandhian thought. When the Governor of Gujarat, Acharya Devvrat Ji was appointed as the Chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith, Bansilal Bhai wrote a letter to him and told him how the Vidyapith should be run with the Gandhian ideology.
Bansilal Bhai was an outspoken speaker because he had no personal interest of his own in anything.
Bansilal Bhai was a simple and easy going personality. He lived among the cowherd for 38 to 39 years. He lived in a village, among the villagers and nature. Bansilal Bhai lived a very simple life and his needs were very few. He lived in a very simple room with a very simple toilet.
For Bansilal Bhai, sorrow and happiness was nothing. In his life, he must have faced many challenges. When this question was asked to him, he replied, ‘There is no such thing as challenges, there are situations. One must stay happy in every situation as this is what life is.’ According to him, ‘happiness is pain and pain is happiness.’
Bansilal believed that youth and people now are becoming sad due to the addiction of mobile phones, drugs, and looks. Society needs to be brought out of all this. It seems that people’s lives are being wasted.
The right hand of Bansilal Bhai was Vajubhai Bahwad. His family lived in the organization for almost 33 years and his entire family was very sincere. He served cows his entire life. The son of Vajubhai, known as Lalabhai used to work in a private company for 25 thousand. After leaving the job, he joined dada here in Gaushala. Not only this, but just like Dada, he also implemented the ideas of Vinoba and Gandhiji.
People associated with Bansilal Bhai used to say, ‘He is a very holy person. His life is very simple and he lives what he believes. He has immense compassion in his heart for the poor. Bansilal Bhai thinks and works day and night to make the marginalized happy.’
Bansilal Bhai’s life is unbelievable and his personality is a source of pride and joy.
Address of the organization: Sant Vinoba Gram Swarajya Ashram (Gaushala),
Kavitha, Ta. Bavla, Dist. Ahmedabad-382260.