The Theosophical Society

The Theosophical Society
The Theosophical Society was founded by Madam H.P.Blavatsky [Helena Petrovna Blavtsky] and Colonel H.S.Olcott [Henry Steel Olcott] in the United States in 1875. Later they came to India and founded the headquarters of the Society at Adayar near Madras in 1886. The Theosophist movement developed soon in India as a result of the leadership given to it by Mrs. Annie Besant, who had come to India in 1893. Due to her initiatives, a ‘Theosophical Fraternity’ with ‘Education Service’ was formed. Mr.Annie Besant with an idea to revive people’s faith in Hinduism published many books on Hinduism called the Sanatana Dharma series.

The Theosophists advocated the revival and strengthening of the ancient religions of Hinduism, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism. They recognized the doctrines of the transmigration of the soul. They also preached the universal brotherhood of man. It was a movement led by westerners who glorified Indian religious and philosophical traditions. This helped Indians to recover their self-confidence, even though it tended to give them a sense of false pride in their past greatness. Mrs. Annie Besant established the Cental Hindu School at Benaras which was later developed by Madan Mohan Malavya into the Benaras Hindu University.

Social Reform in Maharastra Prarthana Samaj

The Prarthana Samaj

In 1849 the Paramahans Sabha was started in Maharashtra. Its influence was restricted and it broke up very soon. In 1867, Dr. Atmaram Padurang[1823-1898] founded the Prarthana Samaj. He got inspiration from Keshab Chandra Sen. The Prarthana Samaj was started with the aimof reforming Hindu religious thought and practice in the light of modern knowledge. It preached the worship of one God and tried to free religion of caste orthodoxy and priestly domination. In 1870, R.C.Bandarker and M.G.Ranade joined the Prarthana Samaj and strengthened it. It was powerfully influenced by the Brahmo Samaj. Its activities also spread to south India as a result of the efforts of the Telugu reformer, Viresalingam.

Religious Reform in Maharashtra Paramahans Mandali

Religious Reform in Maharashtra Paramahans Mandali

Religious reform in Western India was begun in Bombay in 1840s by the Paramahans Mandali which aimed at fighting idolatry and the caste system. The earliest reformer in western India was Gopal Hari Deshmukh, known popularly as Lokhitwadi made powerful attacks on Hindu orthodoxy, and preached religious and social equality. He also said that if religion did not sanction social reforms then religion should be changed, for after all religion was made by human beings. Gopal Ganesh Agarker, a great rationalist thinker also lived and worked in Maharashtra. He was an advocate of the power of human reason. He sharply criticized any blind dependence on tradition or false glorification of India’s past.

Swami Dayanand Saraswathi and Arya Samaj

Swami Dayanand Saraswathi [1824-1883] and the Arya Samaj

Swami Dayananda Saraswathi was born in 1824. His original name was Mool Sankar. The Arya Samaj was founded in 1875 by Swami Dayanand Saraswathi. The Arya Samaj was a true Hindu Protestant Reformation Movement. The slogan of Dayanand was , “Back to the Vedas”. He believed that selfish and ignorant priests had perverted Hindu religion with the aid of the Puranas. He regarded Vedas as infallible, being the inspired words of God.He wrote the Sathyartha Prakash.

Swami Dayananda Saraswathi opposed idolatry, rituals and priesthood, and the caste system. He attacked the popular Hinduism preached by Brahmins. He favoured the study of western sciences. Dayanand helped the cause of nationalism in an indirect manner. By removing the evil customs from the Hindus, he prepared them for the battle of freedom. He was perhaps the first Indian to preach the gospel of Swadeshi and, ‘India for Indians. He declared that good government was no substitute for self-government.
The Arya Samaj gave India great leaders as Lala Lajpat Raiand Swami Shradhanand. Some of Dayanand’s followers started a network of schoolsand colleges in the country. In 1902, Swami Shradhanand started the Gurukul near Hardwar to propagate the more traditional ideals of education.

The Aryasamajists were vigorous advocates of social reform and worked actively to improve the condition of women, and to spread education among them. They fought untouchability and the rigidities of the caste system. They also inculcated a spirit of self-respect and self-reliance among the people. This promoted nationalism.

At the same time, one of the Arya Samaj’s objectives was to prevent the conversion of Hindus to other religions.This led it to start a crusade against other religions. Swami Dayananda started the Suddhi Movement for re-conversion.Some historians argued that this crusade became a contributory factor in the growth of communalism in India in the 20th century.

Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna Mission

Swami Vivekananda [1863-1902]
Swami Vivekananda was born in 1863. He was a great disciple of Sree Ramakrishna. His original name was Narendranath Datta. He popularized Sree Ramakrishna’s religious message.
Vivekananda stressed social action. Like his guru, Vivekanda proclaimed the essential oneness of all religions and condemned any narrowness in religious matters. He was convinced of the superior approach of the Indian philosophical tradition. He declared Vedanta as a fully rational system.
Vivekananda criticised Indians for having lost touch with rest of the world and become stagnant and mummified. According to him, “motion is the sign of life”. He condemned the caste system and the current Hindu emphasis on rituals and superstitions. He urged the people to imbibe the spirit of liberty, equality and free-thinking. He popularized the Upanishad words, “ Awake! Arise! Stop not till the goal is reached". He condemned weakness. He said, “Weakness is the cause of all sin. Avoid all weakness; weakness is sin, weakness is death”. He argued that the aim of religion was the spiritual integration of mankind. He said, “Our religion is in the kitchen. Our god is in in the cooking pot”.
Vivekananda was a great humanist. He was shocked by the poverty, misery, and suffering of the common people of the country. According to Romain Rolland, “Vivekanand was energy personified, and action was his message to men”. In 1893, he attended the Parliament of Religions held in Chicago. He created a sensation in the great assembly by his brilliance and nobility. He came back to India in 1897 and was given a hero’s welcome. He published the monthly ‘Prabuddha Bharata’ in English and the fortnightly ‘ Udbodhana’ in Bengali.

On May 1,1897 the Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Mission to carry on humanitarian relief and social work. The Mission had many branches in different parts of the country and carried on social service by opening schools, hospitals, orphanages, libraries, etc. It laid emphasis on social service.Swami Vivekananda also founded the Belur Math.

Sree Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

Sree Ramakrishna Paramahamsa[1836-1886]
Sree Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was born in Kamarpukur in the Hoogly district of West Bengal in 1836. His original name was Gadhadar Chattopadhyaya. Ramakrishna started his career of spiritual disciplines and attainments as a devotee of the Goddess Kali. He was a saintly person who sought religious salvation in the traditional ways of renunciation, meditation, and devotion. In his search for religious truth or the realization of God, he lived with mystics of other faiths, Muslims and Christians. He emphasised that there were many roads to God and salvation. He argued that service of man was service of God, for man was the embodiment of God. He created a spiritual revolution. His disciple Swami Vivekananda popularised the great teachings of Sree Ramakrishna.

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was a great scholar, humanist and reformer. He dedicated his entire life to the cause of social reform. He was born in 1820 and become the principal of the Sanskrit College in 1851. He represented a happy blend of Indian and Western culture. Possessed of immense courage and a fearless mind he practiced what he believed. He was simple in dress and habits and direct in his manner. He was a great humanist who possessed immense sympathy for the poor and the oppressed. He resigned from government service for he would not tolerate undue official interference.

He evolved a new methodology for teaching Sanskrit. He wrote a Bengali grammar. He opened the gates of the Sanskrit College to non-brahmin students for he was opposed to the monopoly of Sanskrit studies that the priestly caste was enjoying at the time.

He started a great campaign in favour of widow remarriage. His humanism was aroused to the full by the sufferings of the Hindu widows. To improve their lot he gave his all and virtually ruined himself. The first lawful Hindu widow remarriage among the upper castes in our country was celebrated in Calcutta in 1856 under the inspiration and supervision of Vidyasagar. He also protested against child-marriage. All his life he campaigned against polygamy. He was also interested in the education of women. As a Government Inspector of schools, he organized thirty-five girls’ schools, many of which he ran at his own expense. He was one of the pioneers of higher education for women. The Bethune School, founded in Calcutta in 1849, was the first fruit of the powerful movement for women;s education that arose in the 1840s and 1850s.