Learning from Vimala

The pendulum in America is swinging swiftly back towards progress. But there are so many cracks in our democracy and our world that need repair. It is a tenuous season. And, as such, it’s a time to reflect on what makes change durable. 

One powerful thinker on the fragility of lasting change is Vimala Thakar. While I never had the honor to meet her directly, she left a rich legacy of words, including one particular book that has guided me over the years -  “Towards Total Transformation.”

No matter how many movements are launched or campaigns are won, Vimala observed that fundamental social change remains elusive throughout history. And she engaged the logical questions: Why is it that exploitation persists in our world? What prevents widespread human empowerment from taking root? 

According to Vimala, a core reason is that we’ve failed to uphold a dual focus on internal and external transformation. For millennia, monks have meditated in isolation, disconnecting from human struggles. And, at the same time, revolutionaries have taken to the streets, pouring their whole selves into the external world.

But what if these two poles represent a false choice in the work of social change?

Born in India in 1921, Vimala spent the majority of her life as a social activist, starting in the Land-Gift movement where she helped promote the redistribution of land from the rich to poor would-be farmers. In her late 30’s, Vimala’s movement work took an enlightening turn. After connecting with the teachings of the philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti, she began her life’s work of integrating the long isolated traditions of spirituality and social action. 

She was compelled by the idea that humans could create a more holistic, compassionate, and fulfilling reality for themselves. Yet in order to do so, a new era in the history of human development was necessary.

While world-changing organizations and movements have been built, they have not thoroughly challenged the mental conditioning imposed by the dominant worldviews of their time. Consequently, although the reigns of state power have transferred many times, even the most successful change leaders have been bound to ego energies that tainted their motivations for power and transformation. 

To create a new era would require a multi-dimensional revolution, one that both transforms the workings of our inner life and the structures of our external world. Just as the relationship between communities and systems must be forever changed, so too must we transform the anger within our own minds and the violence within our own hearts. Vimala urged that working on just one of these fronts will yield nothing new in the world, calling instead for yogis to leave their caves and social activists to leave the comforts of their own familiar ideas and personas.

A key to Vimala’s platform was the recognition that all “collective social action begins with action in individual life” and her assertion that “we cannot separate the individual and the society.”  In many ways, her words run parallel to the core insight of second-wave feminism, which helped the world to see that the “personal is political,” that what happens in the home is intrinsically bound to larger system dynamics. 

Yet Vimala’s commentary also cuts deeper. She was concerned with the nature of our attention, the shape of our external reality, and the lasting influence the two have on one another. Because of our fractured attention, she asserts, “we are living side-by-side but not together.” In a time where both media and politics are increasingly fragmented, her observations still ring painfully true.

What was Vimala’s solution to this fragmentation? Her response was based on a notion of nonduality, where the work of inner freedom and collective freedom are inherently connected, where everyone shares responsibility for both their own patterns of thought and society’s larger patterns of behavior.

In practice, Vimala insisted that social activists cannot bypass the work of the inner life. Quite the contrary, the creation of transformative organizations hinges upon many victories that are only possible through inner disciplines like meditation. As change leaders, our devotion to these disciplines can determine the ways that we relate to partners, manage relationships with coworkers, face daily difficulties, listen to other voices, and ultimately share power. 

Among the many challenges contained within her ideas, Vimala suggested that we delve deep enough into our own human psyche to examine the nature of our ambitions. Such a venture is an essential part of any freedom campaign, she argued, for it is the desire to impose ourselves on others that constitutes the basis of our personal and social bondage. 

Rather than domination of the work, Vimala called on people to recognize their inner divisions and to begin purifying their efforts through the release of narrow attachments. Such work is necessary, she felt, to avoid self-deception and to make fulfilling relationships with others possible.

Vimala’s ideas have incredible relevance for our current moment. She fiercely rejects the idea that self-investment and personal practices are overly indulgent behaviors, seeing them instead as foundational endeavors. For every time we perceive an enemy within our own alliances, Vimala would remind us to examine our motivations and strive to heal our inner fractures. 

Through such efforts, successful networks and coalitions could become the norm rather than the exception. Social justice burnout could forever be reduced. And we could prevent the kinds of movement exploitation that often stunt the growth of young leaders, before they even realize how truly powerful they might become.