CHAPTER- II LIFE, MISSION AND WORKS OF ABHEDANANDA The most important as well as everlasting epoch of Indian history is the one which is related to the life of Abh. This influence has been to a certain extent spread to the Western world too. He spent, seventy three years on the lap of mother earth bringing about many changes in the religious and thinking realms. One cannot guess the span of seventy three years of a man who had sacrificed his life for the well-being of the society, Abh. was such a bold and strong personality who very proudly toiled hard, that is spent each and every split of a second, changing the Indian and Western religion and also to some extent to channelize their thoughts. Before stepping into or penning down the life of Abh. the silken thread of his personal life along with the thread of history should be woven together. The establishment of the Hindu college in 1817 was the second birth place of some of the excellent and dignified personalities of Bengal. There were persons who excelled in the intellectual and social reformation leaders like Rajaram Mohan Roy, Raja Ratha Kanto Deb, Dewan Ramkamal Sen etc. These personalities were practical to the core, substantial, self-made humans without knowing their own powers which they had gathered from the limited facilities which they had in their native land but their religious impressions is beyond expression. 39 The state of Bengal soon imbibed the novel ideas and thoughts which marked a new era in the fields of spirituality, politics and religion. The reins of reforming Bengal taken up by Devendranath Tagore, aimed at reforming Bengal by his intuitive, rational and spiritual mind whereas Rajaram Mohan Roy footed on the humanitarian values. Devendranath Tagore was a man who equalled the ancient seers in his calm and self-approach with the quality of intuitions. The difference of creation between man and other things is in the fields of reason, emotions, willpower, the capacity of grasping knowledge and also the emotions of love and also the capacity of self- sacrifice and all these are possible and evolved in and also through the society. It can be deciphered that an individual can seek the supreme extent of his expression and realisation through the society. It is said that the bond of individual and society is like warp and walt. The individual can be thoroughly understood by going deep in to the social setting and also to understand the social values one has to go in and through the society as well as through the aspirations, the struggles, achievements and life of individual as a human unit. Whatever be the history of an individual, noble or ignoble, great or small is just a manifestation a description and also an interpretation 40 of the currents of the history of the society which is revealed. This evolutes and is moulded and is led to the end of the universe. So this can be regarded that the value and the history of any human being and this is not his or her credit but it depends on the elucidation of the life in the society and all that surrounds it. Social Background “The whole world is upheld by the veracity of good and great men; they make the earth wholesome. So they, who come in contact with great souls, find life happy and fruitful. Life is sweet and tolerable only in our belief in such society. Thus we see myriads of souls are carried aloft as if on the wings of a bird to undreamt of heights by the influence of the life and character of a great man.”1 When one deals or studies about the individuality and personality of Abh, one must go through the influence of compatriots, contemporaries, family, teachers, religious teachers etc. All these are the components which forms an individual’s personality. The popular belief is that when characters are born, the environment, parents, friends who grows along with him, moulds his/her character and individuality. These factors help to build a true and strong individual who is to the brim with moral, spiritual and refined values and a 41 personality of sublime character. Such personality will also be God fearing. Long before the auspicious birth of K¡liprasad there was great chaos and confusion in the society. The causes which led to these disturbances led to the renaissance procedures the change that came about in the society, that is, the removal of evils and orthodoxy in the society was looked up on with shock by the parents. They could not adapt themselves to the change which their sons underwent, that is, living a life they liked and leaving, behind or freeing themselves from the social evils. Each and every beating heart in the society stood abreast to fight against the social evils like casteism etc. The major influence of Western life style penetrated in to the society. The educated class fell prey to the vices of Western life style. The moral and ethical values of the youth was a by-gone story and the religious Hindu teachers were all dumped to a corner. Life of Abhedananda and Transition to Spirituality The life of Abh. is awe- inspiring and soul stirring. He was the spiritual son of SRK. and spiritual brother of SV. His life is the one which inspires generations after generations, that is the past as well as the present and future. The manifold activities, the multi splendored personality of Abh. cannot be regarded merely as the past. Each and 42 every incident in his life is like the burning furnace of the flaming up of spiritual fire. A glance into the life of Abh. proves his glory. Rasiklal Chandra, who was the English teacher of Oriental Seminary in Kolkata and Smt. Nayantara Devi, who was a staunch devotee of K¡li and who was interested in Vedas and B.G., was blessed with a baby boy the second of October 1866. The baby was named Kaliprasad Chandra, later he was known as Abh., as it was the gift of Goddess K¡li. Thus one more member was added to the family of Ahoritola. Education Abh. in his autobiography has stated that he had his elementary education in the neighbourhood school called Jadu Pandits School. Later on he joined the Oriental Seminary. This institute had cradled a lot of great personalities. Kaliprasad or rather Abh.’s father, Rasiklal was a veteran teacher of English in this institute. He was accepted by all for his scholastic abilities, characters and his attractive personality. Rasiklal had delved deep into the Holy books, the Bible, the Quran and the B.G. and came to the conclusion that God is only one and that too non-dual, even though, He has different names and forms. Abh. came out with flying colours in curricular as well as extra- curricular fields. One notable thing was that he was very much 43 interested and attracted to the study of scriptures like the B.G., Yogadar¿ana of Patanjali, áivasaÆhita, Bha¶¶ik¡vya, RaghuvaÆ¿a, Kum¡rasambhavaÆ etc. He had memorised almost all these works. Besides Abh.’s father, his mother was also a great devotee. She used to read a chapter of the Mah¡bh¡rata and R¡m¡ya¸a daily. Abh. used to listen to it attentively. Along with his academic studies, he attended the drawing classes too. He was very good at it and also came out in flying colours in the competitions he participated. The impressed drawing master began to train Abh. in the higher levels of paintings. A question arose in Abh.’s mind as to whether to become a world famous painter or a philosopher. He did not spend much time pondering on this as he was ordained to be a philosopher. He told his drawing master that he cannot pursue his drawing lessons as his mind is inclined to become a philosopher. The master advises Abh. to discard his foolish idea and to be a painter of renown. Abh. explains to his master that a philosopher is better than a painter because the painter can go only up to the surface of a painting where as a philosopher can dive into the depths of the inner realm to know and realise the cause of happenings. On hearing this the drawing master asked Abh. to be a painter as well 44 as a philosopher, the reply Abh. gave was that one can never serve two masters at a time. Inclination to Philosophy At the age of eighteen he got through the entrance from the Calcutta Oriental Seminary. His longing desire to solve the problems of life led him to the path of philosophy. He happened to read the ‘History of India’ by Wilson which boosted up his desire to be a philosopher. In that book he came across the detailed explanation of Sankaracharya and his Advaita philosophy, which urged him to know more about other philosophies. This was a turning point in Abh.’s life as he ventured to read a lot on the philosophies of East and West. In his very youth he had read the ‘Logic’ and ‘Three essays on Religion’ of John Stuart Mill, ‘The Astronomy’ of Herschel, ‘The Physics’ of Ganot, ‘History of Philosophy’ of Lewis and ‘The Philosophy’ of Hamilton. He had also gone deep in to the works of Kalidasa, Bhavabuti, Banabhatta etc. which is the mark of his amazing intellect and the genius which can be named as extra ordinary. Abh. never focussed his intellect and genius on any one philosophy.