Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from Public.Resource.Org https://archive.org/details/hanumanprasadpodOOvarm HANUMAN PRASAD PODDAR r ^ gt Y j U> ;v i-1\ \ \ BUILDERS OF MODERN INDIA HANUMAN PRASAD PODDAR Dr. BRAJLAL VERMA PUBLICATIONS DIVISION MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING GOVERNMENT OF INDIA August 1987 (Sravana 1909) © Publications Division Price: Rs. 17.00 PUBLISHED by THE DIRECTOR, PUBLICATIONS DIVISION, MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING GOVERNMENT OF INDIA PATIALA HOUSE NEW DELHI-110001 Sales Emporia $ Publications Division SUPER BAZAR (il FLOOR) CONNAUGHT PLACE NEW DELHI-110001 COMMERCE HOUSE CURRIMBHOY ROAD BALLARD PIER BOMBAY-40038 8 ESPLANAD EAST CALCUTTA-700069 LLA AUDITORIUM 736 ANNA SALAI MADRAS-600002 BIHAR STATE COOPERATIVE BANK BUILDING ASHOK RAJPATR PATNA-800004 NEAR GOVERNMENT PRESS, PRESS ROAD, TRIVANDRUM-695001 10 B STATION ROAD LUCKNOW-226001 STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM BUILDING PUBLIC GARDEN HYDERABAD-500004 Printed at Sanjay Printers, Shahadra Delhi-110032 Preface Man today is beset by problems and worries. He is restless and is hankering for peace all the time. He is dazzled by the glitter of the material world and has lost his moorings and his sense of purpose. He is dogged by multiple sorrows, griefs and pains. Perhaps life stories of those great men who have struggled against such problems and overcome them can still inspire men and infuse in them the courage to break the shackles which chain them. It was with this object in view that the Publications Division of the Government of India gave me the responsibility to write a brief biography of the Late Hanuman Prasad Poddar (Bhaiji), the mainstay of the Gita Press, Gorakhpur and editor of Kalyan, under the ‘Builders of Modern India* series, for which I am sincerely grateful. The material used in this book is entirely authentic. It consists of the various writings of Bhaiji and the large collection of the reminiscences of him gathered in Pawan Smaran, which has been edited by the Late Pandit Gopinath Kaviraj, a great scholar and devotee. The problem before me was that of select¬ ing and including in the small sized biography material that was so vast and voluminous. I can say that 1 have not left any essential detail about Bhaiji in this book nor have I transgressed the limits laid down. livery bit of my existence has been full of the limitless love and respect and kindness of Brahmarishi Radha Baba (Swami Chakradharji Maharaj) who is a great spiritual soul, and it is due to his blessings that this book could be taken up and completed. I shall pray to him to accept my Pranams but shall not express my gratitude to him. Saintly souls are kind to all living beings and he was kind to me too. He could not help it and it was this gesture that enabled me to succeed in my effort although I feel I was not equal to the task. I am grateful to Shri Parmeshwar Prasad Phogla and his family as also to Shri Vishnu Hari Dalmia for their co-opera¬ tion and assistance. The collaboration of my friend and a Sanskrit scholar, Dr. Mithilesh Kumar Misra, was very useful in preparing this book. I express my sincere thanks to him. In the middle of Gita Press, Gorakhpur, on one side is situated that room in which Bhaiji used to sit day in and day out and sent out words of spirituality to the world from his constantly active pen, and at a short distance from this room is holy Samadhi of Bhaiji in which lie the remnants of his physical body. This gleam of creation and cremation, lying side by side, this living story of birth, sustenance and merger in the divinity of a saintly soul is most inspiring and revelatory. The book is in your hands. Your expectations and my faith have met and merged with each other. My numerous Pranams to Radha Baba* My repeated prostrations to the divine memories of the saintly soul of Bhaiji. Brajlal Verma 90A, Tagore Town, Allahabad Contents I Life-Story 1 II Pious Conduct and Satsang 25 (a) A Model Family Man and a Recluse Saint 36 III His Faith and Conviction 40 (a) The Cow, the Ganga, the Gita and Govinda 42 (b) The Spiritual Way of Life 58 IV Literary Works 70 (a) Cultural Activities eg V Worldwide Acclaim 102 (a) Bhaiji’s Thought and Aphorisms 124 Appendix 130 Bhaiji’s Will Index 155 I Life-Story WHILE ASSESSING the achievements of a great personality,, it is essential to recall the circumstances affecting the course of his actions. Some of these may be favourable; others not so favour¬ able. The gamut of Shri Hanuman Prasad Poddar’s (Bhaiji’s, as he was popularly known) accomplishments is vast indeed. His spiritual endeavours took several directions and through them he aspired to enhance the cultural quality of the Indian society. As was natural, Bhaiji’s varied strivings were no less influenced by the contemporary circumstances. Political domination and exploitation under the British rule, the growing chasm between the rich and the poor, social evils, ignorance and superstitions and the sad plight of the peasant and the worker were agitating the views of patriots. Society, polity, culture, spirituality—all were breaking up. On the one hand was the glory that was India with its vast natural and other resources sufficient to provide joy and plenty to double the number inhabiting our land; on the other were the peasants and workers who laboured day-in and day-out to give us all the food we needed and all the amenities we desired, but were themselves ill-fed and ill- clothed all the year round. Little wonder that there was a. strong undercurrent of deep dissatisfaction running throughout the length and breadth of the nation. Painting a picture of the plight of our land, poet Rabindranath Tagore wrote in 1936, “I have seen, with my own eyes, that even after a hundred years of the British rule, there is dire dearth of food and drinking water in our villages.. 2 HANUMAN PRASAD PODDAR Insanitary conditions, lack of medical and educational facilities, negligence of the means of communications and a sense of frustration prevail everywhere. As such, I do not feel that the British rule will prove beneficial to anyone whatsoever. It is ^considered a crime in this country to talk of the Soviet Union. But I cannot help comparing my country with the Soviet Union. I categorically confess that I am envious of the vigorous and extraordinary measures adopted by the Soviet Union to boost the production of grains, to eradicate diseases and to educate their people. There is no line of demarcation indicating lack of confidence and no humiliating discrimination between the Soviet Europe and the Soviet Asia. I am merely comparing the •conditions obtaining there and in this country that I have myself observed. And I have come to the conclusion that the root cause of our present plight under the British domination is the ever widening gap between the rulers and the ruled.”1 Meanwhile, the more clever and discerning among the ^Britishers too had become aware of this undercurrent of disaffec¬ tion. A British administrator, A.O. Hume founded the Indian 'National Congress in the year 1885, although its objective at that point of time was to consolidate the British rule by appeas¬ ing the increasing discontent in India and create an impression that the British rule was beneficial to Indians. But the reality was something different. The rural economy of India was shattered owing to the deceitful policies of the British. Both the -destructive and the constructive tendencies were displayed by the rulers. The British viceroys and governor-generals tried to perpetuate British rule through mixed bag policies of punish¬ ments and rewards, misrule and reform. There were peasants who produced grain but themselves faced starvation; workers who produced cloth but were themselves deprived of their product. No educational facilities for the general public existed. Such education was there which meant to train some Indians as clerks. The British rulers did issue proclamations from time 1India Today by Rajani Palme Dutt. 'LIFE-STORY 3 to time to quell dissatisfaction. For instance, in 1833, a pro¬ clamation was made that “No Indian will be disqualified to hold any government job or office on the basis of his caste, creed or colour.” Again, in 1858, Queen Victoria issued another proclamation which can be called as a new general policy of the British regime, although it was just a rehash of 1833 pro¬ clamation. It was stated therein that, “It is our desire that so far as possible our subjects ought to be taken in our services without any distinction of caste, creed or colour. They should be allowed to continue on such posts for which they were selected on the basis of their qualifications, education and loyalty.” After the above proclamation, the British rulers continued to placate people with false promises through some reform or commission or conference. The Britishers kept deceiv¬ ing Mahatma Gandhi from the first world war (1914-18) to the second (1939-45) in spite of several agitations and movements against it. Such an attitude of callous courtesy did not permit Indian people for long either to incite or to get rid of the rule. Gandhiji launched several Civil Disobedience Movements from 1921 to 1941-42. At last, India became free from the clutches of the Britishers in 1947. They were forced to quit India as a cumulative consequence of several factors, such as the formation of Indian National Army by Subhas Chandra Bose, movements launched by Mahatma Gandhi, revolutionary activities of Chandra Shekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh, cultural and social reforms of Dayanand Saraswati and Raja Rammohan Roy, peasants’ unrest and workers’ struggles etc.