91

CHAPTER – III

NARAYANA GURU’S CONCEPT OF RELIGION

Sree Narayana Guru’s attitude to religion is worth elaboration because

of his profound scholarship, incisive intellect and independent thinking. He had

understood the teachings of all religions and came to the conclusion that there

was no fundamental difference between their basic principles. The aim of all

religions is to attain happiness. The action leading to Self-happiness should be

the gist of all religions. This is the only religion, according to the Guru.

In the concept of religion the Guru tried to reveal the essential oneness

of all religions. According to him, humanity is rooted in one single religion. The

rivers emerging from various mountains, converge into the oneness of the

ocean, so all religions merge into the single, eternal object. Different religions

continuously strive for the attainment of this oneness. Thus, what is revealed

from these endeavours is the irrefutable evidence that there is only one religion.

When the essence of all religions is the same it can be seen that there is a single

religion only. This view was expressed by the Guru through his concept of One

Religion.

The Guru’s concept of One Religion is a call for human dignity which in

essence gives every man the responsibility of preserving the honour and

freedom of his fellow men to live in equality and well-being. The Guru analysed

all the known religions in the world and came to the conclusion that there is no
 92

difference between one religion from the other. According to the Guru, the aim

of all religions is to attain happiness.

His view on One Religion is elucidated through his works such as

Atmopadesa Satakam, Arivu, Daiva Dasakam, Darsanamala, Advaida Deepika

and Brahmavidya Panchakam. The relevant verses of these works are discussed

in this chapter.Let us try to know what religion is. The origin and definition of

religion are discussed in the previous chapter. Before dealing with his concept

of One Religion it is important to know the role of religion. So a brief outline of

the role of religion’s place in human life is discussed.

THE ROLE OF RELIGION

Each human being has, or should have, in his or her mind, consciously

or unconsciously, a notion about his or her goal in life, as well as of the means

of achieving it. Always accompanying this awareness is the freedom to choose

one’s goal as well as the means of achieving it. If this freedom is denied, life

becomes meaningless. Therefore, this freedom in human life is fundamental.

But this freedom is curtailed by one exigency; one has no control over

what happens, even to oneself as part of the flow of the total nature. Regardless

of whether one is considered to be good or bad, one can only abide by what

naturally happens. This point is made clear by Narayana Guru in the

Atmopadesa Satakam.
 93

By nature’s action caught and turned,

Men of good action too, alas keep turning round.

Mis – action to counteract, non-action avails not.

Gain motive bereft, wisdom one should attain.

(Narayana Guru A.S Verse 43)

The Guru here directs our attention to four different aspects of action,

that is nature’s action (prakriti) to create what is specific and particular from the

general matrix of virtual realities; the man of good action (sukriti), who wishes

to escape its binding or compelling obligatory pressure in the matter of rising

above necessity to freedom; perverted mis-action (vikriti), which arises out of

our natural attraction and repulsion to sensual or mundane interests; and non-

action (akriti). These are potent tendencies whose force is operative overtly or

innately (Nataraja Guru One Hundred Verses of Self Instruction 154).

Man is bound to live with a full sense of freedom in a world not at all in

his control, but as part of a boundless universe which has an order of its own,

complete in itself. Human kind has not been able to discover all the laws that

govern this nature. This universe is so vast and complex. Human kind has, of

course, found out certain laws of nature, but their meaninglessness is confined

to an extremely limited sphere of the universe. Neither is it certain that these are

the only laws that govern nature. The concern of most modern scientists and

technologists is limited to making use of the laws of nature discovered so far to

help render human life more effortless and pleasurable. Man is capable to live
 94

only by abiding by the exigencies of nature that take into account no one’s

interest in particular. That means to live as part of the whole, with no freedom

to choose, but by complying with whatever nature demands.

Life is a sort of progression from the past to the future. In this process, it

becomes inevitable for human beings to reckon with the unbridled sense of

freedom on the one side and total dependence on nature on the other, and to

harmonize these two extreme poles. Here comes the necessity in human life of

harmonizing the free will of a person with the will of nature, otherwise known

as destiny (Muni Narayana Prasad The Philosophy of Narayana Guru 110). This

harmonization, in fact, is what religion enables man to attain. Even atheists,

who avowedly denounce all religions, have their own religion, for they too

suggest an alternative way for man to harmonise himself with the total.

In this context, religions promise that people can reconcile their personal

freedom with the overall flow of nature which seems to care for nothing.

Religion prepares us to perceive these two faces as pertaining to a neutral

overall Reality and scheme of life. On its own, that Reality transcends the above

mentioned dual poles. Nothing outside this One Reality happens in either the

“free” personal life or the total nature. Religion thus shows us how to unite

ourselves with the total Reality rather that with either of the opposite poles,

thereby enabling us to fill our lives with peace and sense of fulfilment.

Unifying the will of individuals and the will of the total could be thought

of as possible in two ways. One, to bring down the will of nature in conformity
 95

with the individual’s will. This evidently is not possible for the simple reason

that the will of the total nature works in a way quite incomprehensible to human

minds. Then the possible way is the second alternative - that of raising the

individual’s will up to agree with the will of the total or the will of God. To

comply with God’s will means to leave the will of the individual so flexible as

to be in tune with the unpredictable and unthinkable will of God. That means, to

make God’s unforeseeable will as one’s own, or to remain fully satisfied to

what nature confers upon us. Dependence on nature then becomes transformed

as being one with nature. This sense of oneness with the whole renders life

filled with the feeling of blissfulness and fulfilment. Life then is felt as being

lived meaningfully. Such is the hope that all religions promise to mankind.

THE ONE RELIGION OF THE GURU

Of all the closed static groupings in society the one most fraught with

danger to man is the formation of rival religions on a relativist dualist basis.

Conflicts become possible under such conditions. When what contributed to

such a life of internal strife within men in the formation of wrongly motivated

religious groups is once discovered and eliminated from religious life, all fall

into unity, by analogous tendencies between groups becoming revealed as

between each religious formation (Nataraja Guru The Philosophy of a Guru

128).
 96

When the Guru declares “One Religion for Man”, his exhortation is to

regain one’s universal identity with Self-knowledge. Self-knowledge well-

known as atma-vidhya is understanding oneself, as an individual being in

relation to his environment. It is because of this, Nataraja Guru defines religion

as a whole-hearted relationship between man with his fellow men or with some

unseen value-factors.

A critical study of the world’s great religions will reveal that there exists

a value of great significance, as the essence of religions. This could be called

the greatest common multiple of religions. Buddhists recognize this as Dharma,

Christians calls this God, The Light of all lights. Muslims bow down in

reverence to Allah, the holy and merciful one. In the Indian philosophy this is

atman (self). It is the search for this value of values in everyday life as the

object of life which constitutes the concept of One Religion.

Narayana Guru’s concept of One Religion is more clearly stated in his

own compositions. In the envoi of the poem entitled Anukampa Dasakam, the

Guru pays homage to the truth behind life as the highest human value applying

directly to a spiritual life without any religious coloration.

Accordingly, the Guru wants us to live as one single human community,

whatever be the religion. This is very much the ideal place for mankind

according to India’s ancient rishis - Vasudhaiva Kudumbakam (the world is one

single family). Arnold Toynbee, the eminent historian, echoes the same

sentiment while surveying the story of the entire human race and regards it as
 97

the only alternative to destroying ourselves in the atomic age. The broad

outlook that all religions are one and the same in essence is the protective shield

of the mind against religious bigotry and miseries resulting from it. The concept

of One Religion is a call for human dignity which in essence gives every man

the responsibility of preserving the honour and freedom of his fellow men to

live in equality and well-being.

The concept of One Religion is discussed by the Guru in verses 44 to 49

of the Atmopadesa Satakam which shall be examined here. In order to be able to

lay bare the philosophical implications of the One Religion in the mind of the

Guru, let us read this sequence of six verses in a selective order. (Nataraja Guru

The philosophy of a Guru 129.)

(a) All Religions have the Overall Aim of Happiness

All religions when viewed horizontally as different from another in

expression reveal many features that make for contrast. When we take a

verticalized inclusive or contemplatively dialectical view of the same situation

of all religions understood together, a mutual agreement or transparency of

content reveals itself between them, because the overall aim and end of all

religions, however diverse, is none other than happiness in life, here or here

after, or both. The verse 49 enunciates this unequivocally as follows:

 98

Everyman at every time makes effort in every way,

Self-happiness to secure; thus in the world

Know there is this One Religion alone; known thus and

Avoiding evil, one should his inner self attune.

(Narayana Guru A.S Verse 49)

The greatest common factor in all conscious and unconscious

behavioural motivation is the search for happiness. Yogis seek kaivalyam,

Jnanis seek Self-realisation, Buddhists seek nirvana, the Christian goal is

salvation; these are all different names for the summum bonum of everybody’s

search. Many people do not believe in any religion, yet they too have

formulated their own philosophy and scheme for collective endeavour to

achieve the common happiness of mankind. Humanism and Marxism are

examples of religion - like movements, yet are not recognized as religions. The

Guru wants us to go beyond the semantic fixation of the connotation given to

the word ‘religion’ so that we can easily grasp the common goal of mankind,

which is nothing but man’s search of happiness. (Nitya Chaitanya Yati Neither

This Nor That But Aum 100) Recognition of this common happiness marks

allegiance to the One Religion or faith which is of all beings.

Happiness refers to a supreme human value in whose light all other

motives are only secondary considerations or particular instances. Happiness as

the aim of man gives unity to human purpose and brings all religions, faiths or

creeds under its single sway. If this verity should become properly understood

by followers of different religions, we should be able to arrive at one single

 99

value common to all faiths or religions whatsoever, past, present or possible in

the future, in any part of the world. The One Religion or faith, the very aim of

every religious man to see it established in this world can thus become easy of

realization when approached in the way of the wise. Thus, much bloodshed in

the name of religious rivalry could be avoided at least in the future.

The Guru not only presents here the happy prospect of ‘One Religion’

for all mankind in a scientific or public sense, but also more pointedly than that,

asks each man to adopt this attitude so that he could find peace of mind for

himself and attain the goal of happiness. The One Religion of mankind would

thus follow as night the day, or as a natural corollary to the common human

goal of happiness as the highest of unitive human values.

(b) The Deep Mutual Adoption Implied in Religious Affiliation

When a man accepts or adopts a certain religion as an ideology or as a

pattern of behaviour as the one he likes or calls his own, there is a deep-seated

fusion of the Self and the non-Self factors which takes place within him.

Egoism tends often to fan and exaggerate the disparity of religions, but when

the relation is contemplatively bipolar and verticalised, where in the true Self in

man and not the ego participates, adoption does not result in conflict. (Nataraja

Guru The Philosophy of a Guru 130)

The possibility of adopting a religion as one’s own is itself, as the Guru

points out, only a recognition of the homogenous parity in the participation of

 100

the Self and the non-Self factors involved. By itself this possibility belongs to

the pure Self, and when understood in such a pure perspective, is fully dignified

and conducive to Self-realization. The danger, however, is that this pure nature

of bipolar adoption becomes misapplied. The adhyasa or superimposition

mutually of non-self factors on the self and vice versa takes place. Here in alone

the danger lurks.

The dweller within the body from its existential body-view,

In respect of all things, treats “that” or “this” or “mine”

Transcending physical limitations; when we consider this

We should concede that any man immediate realization has.

(Narayana Guru A.S Verse 48)

Unmindful or ignorant of the many ways available to approach the one

final goal of identifying oneself with the whole, they think the one way they are

familiar with alone is at one’s disposal, and that all the others simply misguide

people. In the place of the total Reality with which they are intended to be

identified, they wrongly find identity with a particular way of approach to it,

with a particular religion. An individual, in the state of identity with the whole,

becomes nothing, as a drop becomes nothing when fallen into the ocean. The

same happens to those who happen to find themselves one with a particular

religion also, they feel lost in the being of religion. In the ideal identity with the

whole that all religions aim at, the individual feels the blissfulness of realizing

the Absolute. On the other hand, the identity with a particular religion creates

the impression that the individual sacrificing himself physically is blissful or is

 101

doing service to God. The noblest of all gains that all religions promise, thus

ends up in becoming the most ignoble of all losses. In either case, there is the

common factor of one forgetting one’s identity with being an individual entity

and finding a new identity with something very abstract, ideal and of high

value.

Transmuting one’s identity with closed religions into an open one with

God or the Absolute is the best solution to the prevailing problems of religious

rivalry. Only the wise realize this. Most of the believers remain ignorant of this.

Instead of making life blissful through religiousness, they find blissfulness in

sacrificing the very life meant to be made blissful. Only a little of discrimination

and wisdom, and going one step further, are required to make one shift the

identity, from a particular religion to the one goal of all religions. It also results

in the living experience of non-dual blissfulness.

(c) Rival Religions Really Plead for the Same Value

The protagonists of any religion dream of uniting all humanity under

one faith. Just as a member of a certain nation might want all nations to come

under its sway. Hindus might want the entire world to become Hindu and so on.

In respect of the desire to see fellowship on unity of faiths, both the parties

involved in this delicately balanced dialectical situation may be said to be

sailing in the same boat. The tragedy of the situation is that he is highly

conscious of the importance of his own mission, his tendency to find fault with

the honest faith of another acts itself, at the same time, as a subtle veil. The full
 102

recognition of the fact that the other man is just like himself in his own zeal for

the particular religion that he prefers to call his own is absent. There is easy

vertical adoption and difficult horizontal recognition of the values involved in

rival faiths which could be reconciled only when looked at unitevely. In verse

47 it reads as:

To become of one faith is what everyone speaks of;

This the proselytizers do not, recognize;

Wise men, freed of objects to another’s faith,

Know this secret in full.

(Narayana Guru A.S Verse 47)

To visualize all dangers in clear terms requires a subtle dialectical

insight which is the prerogative only of rare human beings to possess. This is

the reason why the Guru in the second half of the above verse refers to the wise

man, so rare on earth, who can see through the intricate tangle that such a socio-

religious problem can present. In fact this one point of non-recognition of the

difference between the mechanistic view in this matter, and the dialectical view

of the same by a wise man, explains the reason for all the disasters and failures

in the attempts that well intentioned persons have made to avoid religious

conflicts in the course of what constitutes the history of humanity till now.

(Nataraja Guru One Hundred Verses of Self Instruction 164)

 103

(d) The Nature of the Irony Implicit in Religious Rivalry

There are many religious groups in the world which have risen to correct

wrong opinions or practices which might have prevailed in disjunct religions

and at distinct times. All religions in essence answer to one central human need

for spiritual consolation. Those who argue for or against any particular religion

are compared to the well-known story of a few blind men seeing an elephant -

the one who feels the elephant’s leg claims, the elephant looks like a pillar; the

other who feels its tail says it is broom like, the third feeling its ears asserts an

elephant is like a winnowing fan in shape. None of them is wrong, but none of

them is right either. What each acquires is simply a partial knowledge and this

always allows room for disputation. So it is with the defenders of religions as

well. One religion becomes respectable and another despicable only because of

the partial understanding about the religion each one has (S.Omana Philosophy

of Sree Narayana Guru 133).

Not seeing that the various religions in the world

Are essentially the same, advancing various arguments

Like the blind men and the elephant, roam not like fools

But stop wandering and calmly settle down.

(Narayana Guru A.S Verse 44)

The verse 44 underlines the need for taking a global view of religious

systems. Comparative religion must tend to establish the points of affinity in

corresponding structural aspects of religions, rather than stress differences based

 104

on aspects torn out of the proper context or perspective. The familiar analogy of

the blind men of the fable with the elephant is used advantageously by the Guru

here.

The total truth that is independent of particular circumstances and which

should be limited even to correct particular items only tends thus to remain

outside the scope of any particular formulation on codification of religious life.

The total or the global truth tends to be even more than the sum total of the

individual points of view. Moreover, the original founder of a religion might

have had clarity of vision of the global truth, which those who follow him

without the same degree of original insight cannot have in the natural course of

happenings in life.

Direct global insight into the nature of the Absolute or Total Truth, that

is the basic subject matter of all religious faiths or patterns of behaviour, tends

thus to be overlaid or examined piecemeal and partially, giving rise to endless

theological, doctrinal or other differences, around which much disturbances of

life take place.

To the eyes of a person able to see the essential, as distinct from the

merely superficial aspect of religions, there is a common basic substratum of

which the divergent expressions are only secondary and unimportant marginal

aspects. Thus in essence, all religions are trying to reveal the need for spiritual

consolation. They all seek happiness and there is no religion in the world which

aims at suffering rather than happiness.

 105

In the verse 45 the Guru stresses the need to see the underlying unity of

religions.

One faith in another’s view is low, and the doctrine

Cardinal as taught in one, in another’s measure lacks;

Know, confusion in the world shall prevail so long

As the unitive secret herein remains unknown.

(Narayana Guru A.S Verse 45)

One man’s faith will appear as unworthy to another. A basic dictum of

another’s religion is often looked upon with disdain and is rated unsatisfactory.

Such confusion born of irrational prejudices continues in the minds of the

people as long as the unitive secret of universal sameness remains unknown

(Swami Muni Narayana Prasad The Philosophy of Narayana Guru 133).

Rivalries and feuds between followers of different faiths, religions or

creeds, big or small in number, can never come to an end when approached in

the usual way of relativistic or mechanistic reasoning. It is not possible to defeat

any religion through fighting, for every religion has for its strength at its core

the high value factor that makes it a religion. One religion attacking another, for

this very reason, results not in the destruction of the targeted religion, but only

of the persons who fight. The discriminating persons, therefore, always keep

themselves away from such fights (S. Omana The Epistemological Perspective

in the Philosophy of Narayana Guru 51).

 106

The Guru here deplores the lack of unitive wisdom. It is through the

Advaita approach which is unitive and non-dual in character could expect a

universally tolerant attitude to develop in the mind even of the common man,

which will tend to minimize or at least mitigate the rivalries and rub their edges

off. This kind of unitive wisdom in the Guru’s vision of the future of the lot of

humanity, the solution for conflicts between religions and allied ideologies that

are closed and static can come only when the open, dynamic and unitive

contemplative or universal way becomes evident to the minds of the generality

of men.

To vanquish (a religion) by fighting is not possible; no religion

Can be abolished by mutual attack; the opponent of another faith

Not remembering this and persisting in his fight,

His own doom shall he in vain fight for, beware!

(Narayana Guru A.S Verse 46)

It is not possible to vanquish, any religion by fighting it. By becoming

competitive and fighting against each other’s religion, the adherence of the

members of the persecuted religion only become increased in its fanatic zeal.

By promoting religious feuds one is only destroying his own integrity and

succumbs to the evil of hatred. This should never be forgotten. (S.Omana

Philosophy of Sree Narayana Guru 133).

The verse 46 underlines the fact that persecution only makes unilateral

faith firmer. The martyrs to any deep belief prove the irony of the situation in
 107

the history of any religion and this is contrary to what might be expected by

mechanistic reasoning. (Nataraja Guru The Philosophy of a Guru 132) The

apocalyptic touch of the last line of the verse 46 gives a prophetic touch to the

Guru’s philosophy of religion.

The roots of any religious growth are not in its outer expressions. There

are deep seated value factors that make any religion flourish in any country.

Religion has its subtle raison d’etre which is not overtly evident to the view or

even subject to the attack of worldly polemics. If this were so, many old

religions should have been exterminated by this time.

A religion cannot be brushed away as just somebody’s mere opinion.

Major religions are giving the inspiration to live meaningful lives. Religion

consoles many aching hearts. All religions satisfy the needs or console the

spiritual hankerings of those who seek refuge under them. When the benefit is

spent out, and a religion has no succour or consolation to offer to its adherents,

it might shrink or even die a natural death. Overt fighting only strengthens all

the more the root aspects of a religious growth by a strange law of opposites.

(Nataraja Guru One Hundred Verses of Self Instruction 164)

The man who actively engages himself in attacking other people’s

religions finds that to the extent that he stressed extraneous matters in such an

attack, he is hurting the cause of his own religion. The subtle dialectical

interdependence and independence of religious growth is a matter that should he

respected, if the vain self-destruction of humans to be avoided. A complex

 108

phenomenon of double loss and double gain is involved here, and since no one

religious formation can claim the sole prerogative of being totally right for all

the time, the attack must recoil on the attacker himself. The difference of

collective opinion and individual opposition is also a factor that goes against the

attacker of another’s religion. Religions have an inner two-sided personality

which makes many of the living ones invulnerable. Unilateral attack only makes

them stronger to the dismay of the attacker who often only spells his own utter

failure.

In India religion is called dharma because it sustains all the traditionally

preserved essential values of life. (Nitya Chaitanya Yati Neither This Nor That

But Aum 95.) By accepting the validity of another person’s faith, we can avoid

the exaggeration of its emotional impact and defensive reactions. By

appreciating and imbibing the essential of another religion we will only

discover the greater and hidden truth of our own religion; hence it is foolish to

promote exclusiveness in religious attitudes. Unitive understanding enables one

to appreciate the essence of all religions as it is the same.

THE PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS

To highlight the realization of the essential oneness of all religions,

Narayana Guru organized a Parliament of Religions at Advaithashramam,

Aluva, in 1924. This was the first ‘All Religions Meet’ organized in Asia. At

the entrance of the venue the following message was written as specifically

directed by the Guru: “Meant not for arguing and winning, but for knowing and
 109

letting know” (Swami Muni Narayana Prasad Philosophy of Narayana Guru

116).

Religious hostility and competitiveness was the one serious social

problem that Guru was most concerned with in those days. This gave him the

inspiration to organize a Parliament of Religions at the Advaita Ashram itself,

hoping that it would help create mutual understanding among different religions

and to bring out the good in all religions. In the first such religious conference

in the history of the world held in Chicago, Swami Vivekananda took part to

represent Hinduism (Swami Vivekananda 3). After that spectacular event in

which the spiritual power of the eternal religion was brought to the fore in all its

glory, the conference master-minded and brought to reality by Sree Narayana

Guru was the second in the world and the first in Asia. At the entrance to the

venue itself it was written in bold letters: “Not to argue and win but to know and

let know”.

The Guru desired that the conference should be held at the Aluva

Advaita Ashram and that representatives from all over India should take part in

it. When the principles of different religions were discussed on a common

platform, the underlying unity would become easy to grasp. The differences and

contradictions were rather superficial and it was meaningless to fight on these

issues. The need was to see the essence that linked all of them. The Guru

wanted the conference to be planned in a way that would accomplish this vision.
 110

Sir T. Sadasiva Iyer was the president of the conference. A special

feature of this Parliament of Religions was that prominent rationalists Manjeri

Ramakrishna Iyer and Mithavadi C. Krishnan also took part in the deliberations,

defending atheism and rationalism. Rishi Ram representing Arya Samaj, a

Buddhist monk from Sri Lanka, Swami Sivaprasad of Brahma Samaj,

Mohammed Moulavi representing Islam and K.K. Kuruvila representing

Christianity. The president opened the proceedings after first receiving the

Guru’s benediction. Each of the speakers explained the core of his respective

religion in great detail.

The welcome address was read by Swami Satyavratan and the vote of

thanks was proposed by C.V. Kunjuraman.

The Guru desired that the world should know the philosophy and

outlook that characterized the proclamation read out at the end of the

conference. That was the reason for entrusting Swami Satyavratan with the task

of prepating the welcome speech. The Guru himself briefed Satyavratan about

the theme and made suitable correction in the text. He considered that the

address contained like fragrance in a flower, the essence of his philosophy of

life. Therefore, we can proceed with our narrative only after seeing the relevant

parts of this speech (M.K. Sanoo 166).

The speech said that the Gurudeva was born a Hindu and lived as a

Hindu in the eyes of the world. Yet he had understood, to the extent possible,

the principles of other religions. The ultimate aim of all religions is one and the
 111

same and each was efficient to make a man a useful citizen of the world or

yearn for release from the bondage of worldly life. The dispute only centred

round the external aspects of observances. The Guru preached this truth to his

disciples and followers. It was on this basis that the Guru formulated his

doctrine “One Caste, One Creed, One God for Man.” Due to congenital defects

or temptation to transgress nature’s laws, man is heir to many afflictions of the

mind and the body and they are transmitted to the later generations. Those who

know the basis of physical affliction and their cure are called physicians. Those

who deal with the afflictions of the mind are called priests. There are many

systems of medicines and the practioners of each claim for their system supreme

virtues compared to the others. Patients do not enquire into the origin of the

system but take any medicine that would afford them relief. The same argument

is applicable to the afflictions of the mind. Hindus were not shy to study

thinkers like Socrates, Spencer, Kant and Swedenborg because they were

Europeans. Similarly Europeans show no reluctance to study Hindu authors like

Badarayana or Sankara. When the philosophic text of one religion could be read

and understood by anyone irrespective of his religion, nothing prevents him

from introducing into practice the principles he grasped from them. Texts on

philosophy, science and arts are made use of by everyone and are considered the

common inheritance of all men. Books on spiritual matters could also be treated

the same way and utilized for the good of humanity (M.K. Sanoo 168).

Man could not keep his mind inactive. Just like a child the mind went on

questioning and verifying the answers it could formulate. The most wonderful
 112

of them were those relating to God, soul, rebirth, fruits of action, heaven and

hell, the world of action, salvation, etc. Many of the answers the man found

before he discovered the art of writing have been lost for ever. Still the

inheritance was considerable. This belongs to all humanity and no one had any

exclusive right on it. Such exclusivism would be against the spirit of the

ancestors who acquired it for posterity. Answers to spiritual problems evolved

by thinkers and intellectuals of an age when philosophy, science and logic had

not developed so much, are found in the treasure house of each religion.

Instances are also there of accepted theories being proved wrong.

Religious books abounding in stories which were basically stories of a

search for meaning by the ancients in the spiritual and other fields, were

magnified a thousand-fold through the lend of poetic imagination so much so

that they appeared absurd to the modern minds. Seeds of the same myth crossed

frontiers and appeared in different forms in different religious books. The

astronomical conception that time is caused by change in the relative position of

the sun became the seed of a story of the God of death (change bought about by

time) being the child of sun and he became the lord of the dead. Since death was

never a pleasing prospect, the God of death was made black, was given a

terrible buffalo as his mount and a rope and pestle as his weapons. To complete

the story he was given the powers to judge the dead according to their past

actions and was made a king - Dharma Raja. An accountant was provided for

him called Chitragupta (meaning ‘concealed in pictures’) by allegorising the

idea that the mind kept a record of all actions in the form of pictures. The same
 113

myth of the Hindus assumed a different form in the books of the ancient

Assyrians for whom Saturn was the God of death. The Assyrian Saturn

performed all the functions of the Hindu ‘Kala’ and the only difference was that

while Kala was the son of the sun; Saturn was the son of his wife Chayya

(shadow). It was natural that Saturday became an inauspicious day for them.

This example shows how the same myth assumed different forms and gave rise

to different customs amongst the followers of different religions. Many were the

inter-religious fights that stemmed from the lack of generosity to acknowledge

that these stories and legends that might appear absurd to modern science and

logic were actually the common characteristics of all religions. It is a pity that

instead of wondering at the underlying similarity of the myths of different

religions, the people held aloft the apparent absurdities to ridicule one another.

No religion was free from the blemishes brought on by the wars fought

in the name of religions by the priest kings of old, backed by the forces of

imperialism. Later when temporal and spiritual domains were separated the

mode of fight changed substituting words for swords and resulted in the weak

points of each religion receiving undue attention and the merits receding into

oblivion. This led to a fall in standard of the religious faith among the

commoners. This style of fight had also been replaced by the method of

conversion which appeared harmless but was actually productive of evil.

Everyone was agreed that religion was a spiritual affair. Every religious

leader had commended religion to his followers as the means for salvation.

Buddha stressed that salvation is only for those who have renounced every
 114

desire. Christ advised his disciples to leave everything and follow him. It is an

undisputed principle with every sect of Hinduism that salvation is only for those

who have renounced everything.

It was the capitalist who amassed wealth by exploiting the inventions of

the scientists. In the same way a group of clever converted the religious

principles and means of salvation revealed by great souls into goods of

commerce for making huge profits. They became famous throughout the world

as priests. Nor all of them are such, but quite a number of them. When these

shrewd men found that the spiritual theories propounded by great thinkers were

becoming popular they lost no time in assigning unto themselves the office of

spiritual advisers and turned it into a highly profitable profession. This was the

origin of most of the rites and rituals connected with religion. Had these priests

stopped with being teachers, society would not have had to undergo so much

misery. But when this was commercialized the beneficiaries naturally sought to

extend their empire and religion began to find strength in numbers. When the

strongest religion became the chief means of salvation, the mind was barred

entry into its logic. The spiritual knowledge devised by great religious founders

for attaining salvation came to be used by priests for the accretion of more

worldly strength. This process of religions being treated as a social affair,

instead of as a spiritual one, has started from the beginning of history. Just as

those who wielded temporal power wanted to extend their frontiers to include

the whole world, spiritual leaders also seemed to desire sway over the entire

world. The empire of religion unlike the physical one had no mutually exclusive
 115

lines of demarcation in space and conflicts were, therefore, permanent and

continuous. Mankind can have freedom from this state only if religion is

regarded as a purely spiritual affair. This would be possible only by adopting

the position that religion was an act of faith and not an accident of birth. Men of

religion, instead of striving to foster knowledge, employed their minds and

means to expand their social empire and the harm that resulted was there for

everyone to see.

There was only one remedy for this evil – to grant Rama and Krishna the

freedom to study and choose, instead of the prevalent method of the one

deciding for the other which religion was the best. But opportunities should be

provided to make Rama and Krishna fit to make a wise choice. Institutions

should be established, where every religion could be studied by anyone and

where expert advice should be provided through men proficient in each religion

(M.K.Sanoo 167-169).

The concluding message at the conference was as follows:

“As the speeches in this conclave of religions have shown that the

ultimate goal of all religions is the same, there is no need of

conflict among those who take different paths. We have decided to

provide facilities to study the messages of all religions at the

proposed academy at Sivagiri” (Moorkoth Kumaran 154).

 116

The address could be concluded by expressing the hope that it would

become clear to everyone why they had proclaimed that the Conference was

held not to argue and win but to know and make known.

Just after this event he took a formal decision to start a “School of All

Religions”, which he called Mata Mahapatasala, at Sivagiri to teach the

essentials of all religions. A school of Brahmavidya (Brahmavidyalaya) was

later started there. The Guru’s wish was fulfilled to some extent by Nataraja

Guru, his disciple at Aluva who under his tutelage took up studies in Sorbonne.

Later, Natarja Guru, who founded the Narayana Gurukula Movement, by

establishing the East West University of Brahmavidyalaya, was responsible for

interpreting the Guru’s teachings to the modern scientific world. The syllabi

include the study of the Guru’s compositions and the scriptures of all world

religions. It has become a worldwide community of contemplatives and the

most articulating organ of the Guru’s philosophy and humanist teachings.

GOD REALIZATION

God realization is the one goal all religions conceive in experiencing the

non-duality is portrayed by the Guru thus:

The ever appearing and even disappearing experiences emerge

first, and then they sway back and forth assuming the forms of

both of mind and matter. And thus the real becomes darkened (as

apparent forms) in a thousand ways, and then all of them roll back
 117

to their restful abode, finally to merge in its own splendour. Even

philosophically perceiving thus is not wisdom. One should,

instead, become a bee that gently falls into the honey filled core of

the lotus (God) and with its gentle murmur be there for ever in the

ecstasy of blissfulness (Narayana Guru Janani Nararathna Majari

Verse 3).

God realization means the awareness of the non-dual Reality. That

means to become one with the Ultimate Reality Brahman. Into this non-dual

experience become merged all philosophical understanding concerning the

cause and nature of the world, all devotional and ritual observances and all

moral codes of human conduct. In it terminates all religiousness.

GOD

The Guru does not postulate God as a separate Reality; he identifies the

Ultimate Reality with God; as Spinoza identifies Truth with God. In

Daivadasakam the Guru defines God as satyam jnanam, ananda – truth,

knowledge and happiness. God alone exists; all that appears as forming the

world are simply the manifestations of one God (S.Omana The Epistemological

Perepective in the Philosophy of Narayana Guru 54).

God, the one Reality that underlies everything that appears to be in all

the worlds, here or hereafter, is more than a matter of belief for the Guru.

Admitting the existence of the world means admitting the realness of God, for
 118

the world cannot appear to be without a causal Reality underlying. Likewise,

admitting God means admitting the existence of the world as the apparent form

in which God becomes manifest. God, atman, Brahman, arivu, cit were

interchangeable terms to the Guru.

God exists in the minds of both the believers and the non-believers.

Something that exists in consciousness has necessarily to be consciousness in

essence. The God asserted by the believers also is consciousness in essence.

Both thus come to an agreement in this respect.

Suppose a non-believer denies God with no clear idea in his mind as to

what he denies; this makes no sense because denying some thing with

definiteness means, the person who denies, knows what he denies. Similarly,

asserting something also pre-supposes the knowledge of what is being asserted.

An interesting fact in this respect about God is that both the believers and

nonbelievers have no clear idea as to what God is. The believers openly hold

that God is an unknowable Reality, whereas the non-believers acknowledge that

they are not quite sure what they are denying. It thus becomes all the more clear

that more important than arguing for or against the existence of God is knowing

clearly what is meant by God. Once clearly known, the arguments for as well as

against, become irrelevant, for something clearly known needs no asserting and

can never be denied.

If in one’s mind God is segregated from the totality of the visible world

and imagined as an independent entity, then various qualities and motivations

 119

can be wrongly attributed to that entity. When God is understood as the ever

unfolding totality, all qualities, clear and mysterious, are necessarily included.

Such an understanding of the God-head opens us to experiencing ourselves as

fully integrated with our fellow beings in the cosmic functioning of an on-going

creation, steering past duality that gives rise to intra and inter-personal mal-

adjustments and friction.

Religions like Buddhism and Jainism do not believe in the existence of a

God. Such religions do admit dharma as a fundamental factor that underlies the

life of each individual with that of the total. The basic factor concerning religion

could be seen even in modern ideologies like Marxism that do not claim to be

religions, or rather are anti-religious. The only difference with such ideologies

is that ‘the total nature’ is replaced by the ‘total human society’. There the seat

of God is occupied by the state supposedly is bound to ensure the happiness of

individuals as well as of society. Instead of individual subjugating themselves to

the will of God, people are asked to obey the commandments of the state

(Swami Muni Narayana Prasad Shorter Philosophical Poems of Narayana Guru

216). In both cases bringing the individual will and the will of nature under the

control of a third factor is one and the same.

Narayana Guru admits the existence of one Reality only. The Guru

installed various deities in temples and composed hymns to praise them. His

praising many gods does not mean that he admits of more than one God. The

oneness of God and multiplicity of deities are not to be confused. A particular

deity the Guru praises is neither seen by him, nor did he mean to be seen by
 120

others, as one among many gods, but only as symbolizing the one Ultimate

Reality in a particular way. The images installed in the temples are known as

vigrahas, meaning something to be pondered upon in a specific way. The Guru

sees the many deities as representing the one Brahman. He sees the one

Brahman in which all the different deities are merged.

When Narayana Guru says one God for man we have to understand God

as both Reality (sat) and illusion (asat) as the Guru himself declares in the

central verse of the Darsanamala “That alone Exists” (tat eva sat) in the Bhana

Darsana (vision of awareness).

That which is made manifested by the knowing function of

consciousness is super imposed. That which is not super imposed

never becomes an object of the knowing function of consciousness.

That which is super imposed is the sat that alone is “That”.

(Narayana Guru D.M. Bhana Darsanan Verse 10)

In Arivu (Epistemology of Gnosis) the Guru equated knowledge with

God. According to the Guru, knowledge or jnanam is God. Brahmavidya is the

means to this God-realisation, in other words, the attainment of Advaitic

knowledge. Arivu is a work having a personal march of the Guru’s own

realization of the Absolute Reality. Its each word is filled with the clarity of a

comprehensive vision of the Ultimate Reality he realized.

The non-dual vision, ancient India’s gift to the world of thought, is

acknowledged as the greatest among the philosophical concepts of mankind.

 121

Indian culture is a conglomeration of Vedic, Upanishadic and Puranic

ideologies. Grasping their significance in full, man has in the light of the

teachings in the Vedas and Upanishads, assigned sanctity to humanity in the

modern age, by abjuring all religious animosities. So to suit the taste of all those

prone to faith in one God it becomes necessary to compose a prayer of

cosmopolitan character.

The Guru has composed such a prayer entitled Daiva Dasakam. Prayer

is the incessant effort made by the people to keep their will always attuned to

the will of God. It is a fact that man finds his well-being only through prayer.

Daiva Dasakam, is purely a prayer all through, though replete with his

philosophical vision of non-duality.

PRAYER

Praying is a religious observance and it has found its place in one way or

other in all religions. It prevails even in religions that avowedly do not admit the

existence of a God or souls. Even down right nihilists and atheists seem to have

some sort of prayer like observance. Instead of a prayer addressed to God, a

prayer may don the garb of a hopeful wish. Even those who do not pray, at least

greet each other wishing the best. Such best wishes also imply a sort of prayer.

In short, prayer is a psychological phenomenon that manifests in all humans, the

religious as well as the non-religious.

 122

Prayer is the incessant effort made by the people to keep their will always

attuned to the will of God. All these prayers undoubtedly centre around one

God, variously named by many poetically-minded seers. Ekam sad viprah

bahudha vadanti (the Ultimate Reality is one alone, but scholars speak of it in

various ways) is one of the Vedic dicta.

The ultimate goal of a seeker or supplicant can attain is finding oneself

with one God, Brahman, Atman or arivu. An advaitin (non-dualist) really needs

no prayer, for in his perception there is no duality between the supplicant and

God. But a non-dualist may feel that those who follow him, aspiring for the

perfection of wisdom, need a prayer. Such a prayer should be a means for them

to attain the heights of non-dualistic perception (Swami Muni Narayana Prasad

Shorter Philosophical Poems of Narayana Guru 222).

Though almost all the available prayers and hymns composed by great

masters are philosophically profound, such a one addressed to the one God and

not to any particular deity like Siva, Vishnu, Brahma, Subrahmanya, Ganapathy

or Devi, can hardly be found. Viewed from this perspective, in the vast

panorama of the spiritual literature of India, from the most ancient times to the

most modern age, it was the pen of Narayana Guru that blessed with a

philosophically profound prayer addressed to the one God, acceptable not only

to Indian spiritual tradition in general, but also to all the religions of the world

as well. Narayana Guru’s Daiva Dasakam is a prayer which can be assessed

from all the three angles of the philosopher, the religious person and the
 123

scientist. God is here recognized as one God, not as the God of any place or

religion. That Absolute is related with everything that depends on the Supreme.

The word ‘Daiva Dasakam’ means ‘ten verses on God’. This prayer was

composed by the Guru keeping his close devotees and disciples in mind. The

Guru, in the meanwhile, had also disciples who were atheists. Some one

denying the existence of God implies that the concept of God is already in his

mind. Denying something categorically requires a clear knowledge of what is

being denied. That means, the concept of God is already in the mind of an

atheist also. The believers too only assert the existence of a God according to

their own understanding. Therefore, let us try to understand what is to be

understood by God, quoting Narayana Guru’s Daiva Dasakam.

O God, keep watch on us here

From over there, never

Letting loose your fast hold;

You are the captain of the steamer

For crossing the ocean of becoming,

And the mighty ship is

None other than your feet.

(Narayana Guru D.D Verse 1)

 124

God is here recognized as that Superior Reality to which one can

surrender one’s ego. In this verse this world is equated to an ocean of misery,

and a devotee is considered as a helpless being caught in that miserable ocean.

God is considered as a great navigator who can take this helpless person across

the ocean. Thus, the word of God or the name of God is equated with a

steamship (Nitya Chaitanya Yati Universal Prayer 6).

The sentence in the opening verse, “O God protect us, never leave us

here, is a replete with duality. To say, there and here, above and below you and

us, protector and the protected all is duality. There is the problem in which the

non-dual philosophy gives such a prayer in which there are several shades of

duality (Nitya Chaitanya Yati Universal Prayer 5).

This is not to be considered as a defect. Only a person who is caught in

the web of duality has the need for prayer. When a person sees ‘here’ and

‘there’ ‘I’ and ‘others’ then he seeks to get out of that trap. Only when he is

assailed with that kind of a sense of misery does he turn to God or to some other

source for redemption. Such a person naturally feels that he or she is helpless

and inferior to that great Reality of which he or she is only a part. When such a

person makes a prayer, it is likely to be dualistically conceived.

Counting all the countables

One after another, when

Everything is reckoned and finished with,

They disappear and continue

 125

To exist in the seeing mind

In like manner, let this mind

Attain rest pulsationless in you.

(Narayana Guru D.D Verse 2)

The Ultimate Reality called Brahmans is what is thought of as God in

this prayer. This Brahman is pure consciousness in essence. The Vedantic

explanation of the appearance of the world is that it is Brahman manifesting

itself, while also undergoing no intrinsic change. That means, the essential

content of all that appears to be is nothing other than Brahman or pure

consciousness. This consciousness, felt by the person who perceives as the

knowing mind is called ‘drk’ in Vedanta, literally means ‘the eye’, and

signifying the knowing subject. Then the object known is called drsya.

The countables referred to in the present verse are equivalent to what

Sankara means by drsya in his work Drk-Drsya-Viveka (discriminating the

knower and the known). Sankara says if an object seen is drsya, then the eye

that sees it is the drk. Such objects could be countless, but the eye drk remains

one alone. Thus all that is observable, whether gross or subtle, physical or

mental, seem to converge to one point - like consiousness - the consciousness of

the individual observer here rendered as “the perceiving mind” (drk). This is

how the observed world and the observing mind are related in Vedantic

perception.
 126

Food and clothes and such other daily needs

Providing us ever with no lapse,

You make our lives generously blessed

You alone are our sole Master.

(Narayana Guru D.D Verse 3)

The definition of God in this verse is a departure from the usual

Vedantic concept. Instead of an abstract generalization, God is shown here as

intimately related with every sentient being, especially man, at a very existential

level such as in the meeting of daily requirements of life, like food, clothing and

shelter.

Like ocean, waves, wind and depth,

Are ourselves, maya, your glory and you

Let me inwardly have

Such an awareness of life’s scheme.

(Narayana Guru D.D Verse 4)

In this verse, Narayana Guru is giving an analogical equation. The

aspirant who is offering the prayer is expected to meditate on the relevancy of

the equation.

God in this verse is likened to the depth in an ocean. The way to secure

the grace of God is to perceive it as the depth principle in our own being. The

fundamental aspects to be correlated in a systematic way in arriving at an

 127

intuitive perception of the Utimate Reality is compared here to the ocean and its

different aspects.

In this verse, the four elements are associated with the ocean. These are

ocean, waves, wind and depth exist together, one inseparable from the other. So

too, we, maya, God’s glory and God are inseparably one. The essence of the

prayer made in these verses, have an intuitive awareness of the coherent unity of

the four fundamental factors mentioned here, comparable to four factors in the

ocean.

You are the creation, the creator too,

As also the myriad of created things.

You again, O God are the substance

Of which all creation is made.

(Narayana Guru D.D Verse 5)

The act of creation, the creator, the things created and the substance for

creation are all different functional modes of one and the same consciousness

Reality, which really is inconceivable and ineffable.

The God that the Guru addresses in this prayer is not a reality outside the

world. At the very outset he accepts the process of one thing transforming into

another. The Guru addresses the ceaseless transmutation of things as God.

Narayana Guru identifies God with his unified Substance. He does not postulate

God as a separate entity.

 128

You indeed are maya

The maker of maya too,

As also the enjoyer thereof

You are even the noble one who

Remove the very same maya

To grant us the state of Supreme Union.

(Narayana Guru D.D Verse 6)

It is the primeval desire in God to unfold everything that results in the

creation of the world. Such a desire becomes materialized as the gross world is

a mystery indeed. The necessity of explaining this mystery is why the seers

postulated the idea of maya. Thus it is a man-made theory. But the very theory

involves the notion that maya is God-made. The Reality that underlies the being

of God, of the seers, of everything, is one and the same. So to say that God is

the maker of maya and that humans are the makers of maya are equally true

(Muni Narayana Prasad Shorter Philosophical Poems of Narayana Guru 269).

The unreal cannot remain as a fact for ever. When the real emerges that

automatically erases all vestiges of ignorance. Here the Guru suggests that God

is the only Real one who withdraws the illusions of maya and grants the

supreme union with God.

Your are Existence, Consciousness and Value Experience,

You are the present and the past,

And the future is no other than you.

 129

Even these spoken words, well considered,

Are nothing but you.

(Narayana Guru D.D Verse 7)

Brahman is defined as Saccidananda. It is a compound word in which

sat, cit and ananda are combined together. The Guru in his Darsanamala, uses

this compound word itself. In the present verse the Guru replaces sat with

satyam for material convenience. Satyam is defined by Sankara thus:

Yad rupena Yan niscitam tad rupam

Na vyabhicarati tat satyam.

(Taittiriya Upanishad 2.1.1)

That, which never changes its intrinsic nature that is truly ascertained to

be its own, is the Real. That Real is conceived as God in this prayer. The

Reality (sat) that is beyond all duality is pure and unconditional consciousness

(cit) in essence, referred to as jnanam in this verse.

Completely filling both within and without

Is the state of your grandeur,

That state we hail

O God, success be yours!

(Narayana Guru D.D Verse 8)

 130

After realizing that the very word with which one praises God is the

Absolute, the supplicant becomes overwhelmed with the glory of God. Then

even the thinnest line between the adorer and the adored vanishes. That state is

described here as the brimful glory of God.

In the next verse also the attitude of glorification is prevailing

Success be yours, O Great Lord Divine,

Ever intent on saving those in misery,

Success be yours, O the one

Consciousness and value-experience in essence

Of the ocean of mercy,

Success be yours!

(Narayana Guru D.D Verse 9)

In all religions it is stressed that there is one and only one God. Even

though God’s power manifests in many ways which can be called by different

names and understood in different forms, one has to make the ultimate stand of

reducing these god-heads to a God of all gods and a Truth of all truths. Here the

Great Lord Divine means God, the greatest of all that is divine, is pure

effulgence in essence, the effulgence of unconditioned consciousness. The

Great Lord here is understood as the Ultimate God-head one arrives at, both

through phenomenological and transcendental deduction.

However, that god cannot touch the human heart if He, She or That is

only an abstraction. Narayana Guru sees God in the crying voice of millions all
 131

over the world who turn to God as their only refuge and succor. There is a

numinous silence that is experienced by every supplicant in his or her own heart

where the one praying receives Grace and feels consoled. This common

experience is referred to here as ‘ever intent on saving those in needs’.

In the deep ocean of your glory

Let us all become immersed,

There to dwell, dwell forever

In Felicity Supreme.

(Narayana Guru D.D Verse 10)

The goal of this prayer is not for “going to heaven”. Heaven may be

pleasure-giving but that happiness is transient; only Truth is eternal. Becoming

truthful is identical with realization or deliverance. After having attained that

state, one does not react to good and evil with love and hatred.

Although individual life is pluralistic, there is no plurality in the Self.

Realization is not merely the experience of seeing one’s individuality merge

into the Absolute. It is the realization that all selves are already one with the

absolute. That is why in the present verse it is said: “Immersed let us all

become, there to dwell”. The state of the final merger prayed for here is

portrayed by the Guru in the concluding verse of Atmopadesa Satakam as

follows:
 132

Neither this, nor that, nor the content of existence am I.

But existence, subsistence, joy-immortal; thus attaining clarity

Emboldened, discarding attachment to being and non-being,

One should gently, gently merge in SAT-AUM!

(Narayana Guru A.S Verse 100)

RITES AND RITUALS

Rites and rituals have an important role in all religions. Ritualism, with

its implications of excess and symbolism, marks one characteristic development

of early Vedic religion (M.Hiriyanna 37). A ritual is a set of actions, performed

mainly for their symbolic value. So performing rituals are a sort of action, and

therefore rituals in general, are known as karmas (actions). Deliberately

performed actions alone are usually treated as karmas, and all such karmas are

aimed at attaining certain goals.

Human actions can be categorized into two: actions performed for

direct worldy benefits, called laukika karmas, and symbolic actions that

represent certain ideas or ideals, called vaidika karmas. Ritualistic actions or

vaidika karmas are very different from worldly actions or laukika karmas. The

word vaidika means both ‘related to knowledge’, and ‘related to the Veda’, for

the word Veda, though refers to the most ancient scriptures of India, literally

means knowledge. Rituals are performed deliberately with specific ends in

view; the actual part has only a symbolic significance, because the goal aimed at
 133

is not a natural outcome of those actions. As symbols, these rituals signify

something and it is this significance that makes one expect the future attainment

of certain results. That means, the attainment of a ritual’s goal depends on the

completeness of the knowledge the performer has of the symbolic meaning and

their probable benefits.

Every ritualistic action has something sublime to convey. Rediscovering

this wisdom significance of the rituals later became a necessity, especially by

the time of the advent of the Upanishads. The entire text of Chandogya

Upanishad is an attempt in an elaborate way to recover the forgotten wisdom

significance of the simple rite of Udgitha chanting that forms part of the

elaborate ritual known as Somayaga. The Upanishad, by accomplishing this,

unfolds the entire spectrum of the highest wisdom known as Brahma Vidya or

Atma-Vidya. Narayana Guru also had the same attitude towards rituals.

Indian spirituality recommends two directions for the attainment of that

wisdom that is karma-marga (the path of action) jnana marga, (the path of

wisdom). The path of action means the way of following rituals.In order to

attain the goal, the Gita recommends the way of integration of jnana and karma.

This same view is also seen in Narayana Guru. The Guru shows how karma

could be made use of as a means for imparting wisdom, by the harmony of

karma and jnana a way that well be called jnana karma samanvaya. Here in

this respect Narayana Guru’s view is different from Sankara’s view.

 134

Sankara’s view is jnana karma samuchaya. According to Sankara, mixing

up of ritualism (the way of action or karma) with wisdom (jnana) was an error.

Sankara considers mixing up of jnana and karma is a fallacy called jnana

karma samucchaya dosa. According to him, the goal attained by means of

karma is transient; whereas that of jnana is eternal. Therefore, in search of

eternal happiness, ignore the path of karma or rituals and one should resort to

the path of wisdom. But according to Narayana Guru, karma, instead of being

something opposed to jnana, turns out to be a dependable means of attaining

jnana. Resuscitating that wisdom teaching is what Narayana Guru does through

his renewal of the sacred fire sacrifice.

Homa is a ritual of pure wisdom impact. Homa also known as ‘homam’

or ‘haven’ is a Sanskrit word used which refers to any ritual in which making

offerings into a consecrated fire is the primary action. The offerings are the

aggregate of objects for the senses, the mind and the intellect.

The revisualization and revaluation of the very ancient ritual of fire

sacrifice, which forms part of the Vedic culture, is accomplished by Narayana

Guru in the work entitled Homa Mantram. Instead of ruling out ritualism

altogether in the present mantra, which is to be chanted while performing the

sacrifice, Narayana Guru admits it and shows that each element of the ritual

helps lead to the highest realm of non-dual wisdom. This perception also reveals

a philosophical understanding of life and day-to-day life values become

inseparably one.
 135

Aum O Fire, this brightness of yours pertains to Brahman.

Therefore you are the perceptible Brahman.

You have the (five) sense organs, mind

And intellect for your seven tongues (sapta jivah)

Into you (being such) I offer the objects

(Of sense organs, mind and intellect)

As sacrificial firewood.

And into you I offer myself

In the form of clarified butter.

You be pleased with us, be pleased with us!

Please confer on us the higher values

As well as the worldly values. Svaha

Aum peace ! peace ! peace !

(Narayana Guru Homa Mantram)

The mantra sounds like a Vedic one and shows that an ordinary fire

sacrifice could be made sublime as a demonstrative lesson of higher wisdom.

The burning fire, effulgence in essence, stands for Brahman. In essential

content, Brahman is unconditioned consciousness (cit), an experience of pure

brightness. The main defining characteristic of fire is also brightness.

Consciousness, being brightness in essence, illumines itself as well as

everything else. So does the fire. Fire and Brahman thus have the common

feature in this respect.

 136

Fire always flames upwards. Knowledge also leads man upward in life.

Another characteristic of fire is that it is all pervasive. Brahman also is all

pervasive in nature. With regard to all pervasiveness also, thus, fire and

Brahman are similar. The dissimilar in them is that fire is visible to the eyes,

whereas Brahman is visible only to the intuitive eyes of a contemplative. The

visible fire, therefore, is made use of as a tool to help one to know or rather to

realize the invisible Brahman.

Fire sacrifice in external appearance acknowledges all the ritualistic

customs, is much different in nature from the fire-sacrifices the Vedas ordain.

Though, this is a ritual in external appearance, it is purely of wisdom-

significance. This pertains to the context of karma or jnana would be somewhat

difficult. Karma becoming transformed as a means of jnana, or jnana becoming

actualized through karma is witnessed here. It could, therefore, be said that the

integration (samanvaya) of jnana and karma is effectively accomplished by this

fire sacrifice conceived by Narayana Guru.

TEMPLE

The place of worship is given importance in almost all religions. It is

different in each religion. In Hinduism the place of worship is called temple, in

Christianity it is known as church, in Islam it is mosque etc.

Temples are the heart of Hindu religious life. Temples bring devotees

close to the divine. They are imitations of the cosmic order on the earth, a
 137

sociological “middle cosmos” established by priest–craft between the

macrocosm of the universe and the microcosm of the individual and that the

icons in the temple synthesize both doctrine and sacred presence both didactic

and suggestive of the feeling of divine power. The temples act as mediums

through which devotees approach the God-head, which cannot be otherwise

comprehended or grasped directly as we do the world around us. When we

worship at a temple, we temporarily step out of the limitations of worldly life

and try to have a glimpse of transcendental reality. The deity which is the object

of devotion and worship, guide the devotees in their pious endeavour.

Temples are built with a view that people could get their well-being

through the temple. That was the main concept of the temple when it was built

by the great acharyas. Later on the temples became the exclusive domain of the

priest-hood and the avarnas or the lower caste people were not allowed to enter

the temple. So the avarnas, who were forced to live in humiliating conditions,

attributed their pitiable state to their being denied entry into temples and

worship of the Gods in the temples. This attribution of their misery to the

supernatural powers destroyed their will to fight back for the rightful place in

society. The Guru with his deep insight into human nature understood the

situation perfectly. The Guru thought if temples were the main culprit in

subjecting these people to such oppression and misery, he must use the very

same temples to resurrect the people from these miseries.

In philosophy Narayana Guru followed the way of Sankara. Sankara as

an Advaitin installed deities of Siva, Devi and Subrahmanya. Likewise

 138

Narayana Guru also consecrated temples and installed deities of Siva,

Subrahmanya, Devi and Ganapathy. His praising many gods does not mean that

he admits of more than one God. The Guru sees many gods as representing the

one Brahman or Arivu.

The deity installed in a temple is not just meant for worshipping and

asking for favours. Every deity, in his perception, is a visual means that help

the supplicant to attain the non-dual experience.

Illumination in the hearts of the devotees - that was the Guru’s concept

about the purpose of temples. A notable change is reflected in Narayana Guru’s

attitude towards idol worship. He wanted to elevate man to God, to sublimate

idolatry to the pure level of abstract values, to lead the stem of devotion to the

boundless ocean of Brahman, the changeless and imperishable ‘Tat Tvam Asi’

and ‘Aham Brahmasmi’.

The Guru considered temples as centres of purity and development.

Temples could be a good stepping stone for a more serious search into the

higher values of life. So he wanted temples to be clean and beautiful places

where the people should come with clean bodies and minds.

Temples, in the perception of the Guru, are not merely places of

worship. They have as well to serve as the focal point for the cultural

advancement of the localities concerned. The Guru showed how the culture

could be instrumental in leading them to higher wisdom through his installation

of new temples. Each temple was to have an open area for the people to get
 139

together formally and informally to discuss matters of higher values. This was

to be supported by the addition of a library attached to the temple (Swamy Muni

Narayana Prasad Philosophy of Narayana Guru 120).

Moorkoth Kumaran, one of the biographers of the Guru, says: “The

temples as envisaged by the Guru should enrich the people culturally and

financially through their attached groves, libraries, lecture halls, educational

institutions and individual centres. Let the temple remain a centre of such

activities. Let it be a means of social uplift both to those who have faith in idol

worship and to those who do not have, each according to his own conviction”

(Moorkath Kumaran 150).

The temples built by Sree Narayana Guru are different from other

temples. Any rituals that will make the premises dirty are prohibited. The rituals

prescribed by the Guru are simple enough for the common man to follow.

Animal sacrifices are strictly forbidden. The priests in these temples are those

who are trained at the Brahma- Vidyalayam of Sivagiri. Birth as Brahmin is not

a necessary qualification. These temples are open to all irrespective of their

caste and religion.

Through the installation of different deities he established the oneness of

Reality that is the non-dual Reality. A symbol is a known idol representing the

unknown idol. Different deities represent the symbols to reach the higher

spirituality. The art of God symbolism helps both the literate and the illiterate.

The illiterate derive at least some idea of the Supreme Truth through the
 140

symbols which help them to maintain their ancient culture and heritage. As for

the literate the understanding of the inner significance of the symbols

established a greater conviction of the truth that they represent. The Guru knows

the importance of symbolic representation of the Gods. So he chooses to install

different deities in different temples.

SIVA TEMPLES

By the installation of the idol Siva, the Guru brings out the view that

there is only one Reality, the Brahman. The idol Siva represents the Arivu, the

knowledge. It is because of the superimposition that the people see the one

Brahman as different deities in different names and forms. Actually there is

only one Reality, the Absolute non-dual Brahman. All deities in his perception

are the manifestations of the one Brahman, the Arivu or the knowledge. This is

the view established by the Guru in installing the Siva idol. This is the same

view when he installed the idols of Subramanya, Ganapathy, Devi, Lamp and

AUM in different temples.

1. Aruvippuram Siva Installation - Trivandrum - 1888 March 12 (M.E

1063 Kumbam 29)

The installation of the Siva idol in Aruvippuram by Sree Narayana

Guru was an epoch-making event. In those days all people were not allowed to

enter the orthodox temples. Sree Narayana Guru realizing the seriousness of the
 141

problem, pondered over it, and decided to have a new temple opens to all kinds

of people without any caste-discrimination. The Guru installed the Siva idol in

Aruvippuram on March 12, 1888 on a Sivarathri night.

The new temple marked the beginning of revolutionary changes in

respect of the South Indian temple culture and marked the beginning of the end

of casteism, in the south India. In those days it was the accepted practice that

Brahmin priests alone had the right and authority to install idols in temples. But

here a non-Brahmin that too from a backward community showed that he could

do the job, on the strength of his spiritual wisdom. The Guru through this action

has illustrated that not only Vedic knowledge, but also knowledge of the

Absolute (Brahma-Jnanam) is not the monopoly of one caste, and it can be

achieved by anyone of any caste. (Murkoth Kunhappa 25) This installation gave

impetus to the consecration of other temples in different parts.

2. Vakkom Deveswaram Temple – Trivandrum -1889 (M.E 1064)

The second Siva temple is the Vakkom Deveswaram Temple. In this

temple the Guru installed the Siva idol. This temple is also known as Puthen

temple and Puthen Nada.

3. Ayiramthengu Pattathil Temple – Kollam – 1892 (M.E 1067)

In this temple the Guru installed the Siva idol.

 142

4. Kayikkara Sree Kapaleswara Temple – Trivandrum – 1893

(M.E 1068)

In the year 1893 the Guru installed a Sivalingam in this temple and

named the temple as Kapaleswara.

5. Kulathoor Kolathukara Siva Temple – 1893 March 27 (M.E 1068

Meenam 13)

In this temple the Guru installed the Sivalingam by replacing an old idol

of Bhadrakali.

6. Velikkattu Sree Narayana Mangalam Karthika Temple – 1893

April 5 (M.E 1068 Meenam 22)

In this temple the Guru installed the Sivalingam. The Sivalingam was

brought by the Guru from Aruvippuram.

7. Moothakunnam Sree Narayana Mangalam Temple –Trivandrum –

1903 February 2 (M.E 1078 Makaram 20)

The Guru installed the idol of Siva, Subrahmanya and Ganapathy in this

temple.
 143

8. Vezhapra Sree Sakthiparambu Temple – Alappuzha – 1905 March

(M.E 1080 Meenam)

The Guru installed the photo of Siva having moustache in the year 1905.

The photo is still there without any damage.

9. Thalassery Sree Jagannatha Temple – Kannoor - 1908 February 13

(M.E 1083 Kumbam 1)

The Guru had apparently the Jagannath Temple at Puri in mind while

naming the new temple as Jagannath Temple. The important ceremony here is

‘Ilaneerattam’ by which the tender coconut is sprinkled on the idol. In this

temple the Guru installed the Siva idol in the middle, Ganapathy in the south

west and Subramanya in the north west respectively.

10. Kumbalangi Ardhanariswara Temple – Ernakulam - 1908 February

(M.E 1083 Kumbam)

The Guru re-installed the old Durga Temple and named it as

Ardhanariswara Temple. The Guru installed the idol of Ardhanariswara. He

stopped the practice of animal sacrifice and such ceremonies which were

prevalent there.
 144

11. Kozhikode Sreekanteswara Temple – Kozhikode - 1910 May 11

(M.E 1085 Medam 28)

In this temple by the order of the Guru, Chaitanya Swamikal, the

disciple of the Guru, had done the Shaddadhara Pratishta. The Sivalingam was

installed by the Guru himself, and later on the temple was named by the Guru as

Sreekanteswara.

12. Kudroli Gokarnanatha Temple - Karnataka - 1913 February

21(M.E 1088 Kumbam 10)

In the last phase of the 19th century and the first phase of the 20th century

the low caste people were prohibited to enter the so called upper caste Hindu

temples in this district in Karnataka. The position of Karnataka in this matter

was not different from that of Kerala. Billavas of South Karnataka had wanted a

temple and they informed this matter to the Guru about it. By the order of the

Guru, Chaitanya Swamikal took the direction for the construction of a temple in

Kudroli. In February 1913 the Guru installed the Sivalingam. This had made a

tremendous impact on the lives of the downtrodden people of Karnataka. This

place became a model abode without any caste discrimination. The poojas here

are done by the Malayalees in the Kerala style.

 145

13. Yakkara Sree Visweswara Temple – Palakkad - 1913 June 6 (M.E

1088 Edavam 24)

In the year 1913 the Guru installed the idols of Siva, Subrahmanya and

Ganapathy in this temple.

14. Anchuthengu Sree Jnaneswara Temple-Trivandrum - 1915 March

28 (M.E 1090 Meenam 15)

On March 28, 1915 at midnight the Guru installed the Sivalingam in this

temple. He also installed the idols of Ganapath and Subrahmanya in the south

side and the north side of the temple respectively. The temple was named by the

Guru as Jnaneswaram Temple.

15. Palluruthi Sree Bhavaneeswaree Temple – Ernakulam - 1916 March

7 (M.E 1091 Kumbam 24)

On March 7, 1916, Sree Narayana Guru installed the Sivalingam. The

Guru also installed the idols of Parvathi, Murukan, and Ganapathy in this

temple as sub-deities.

16. Kadaikkavoor (Oottuparamb) Sree Ardhanareeswara Temple –

Trivandrum - 1916 February 28 (M.E 1091 Kumbam 15)

On February 28, 1916, the Guru visited the temple and removed the old

Devi (Bhadrakali) idol and installed the idol of Ardhanareeswara. He prohibited

the practice of animal sacrifice in this temple.

 146

17. Kannur Sree Sundareswara Temple - Kannur - 1916 April 11 (M.E

1091 Meenam 29)

The Guru installed the Siva idol in this temple and named it as Sree

Sundareswara Temple.

18. Trichur Sree Maheswara Temple – Trichur - 1916 September 12

(M.E 1092 Chingam 28)

In this temple the Guru installed the Sivalingam. and named it as Sree

Maheswara Temple.

19. Peringottukara Sree Somasekhara Temple – Trichur - 1919

February 11 (M.E 1094 Kumbam 9)

This temple was built as a tomb on the 41st day of the death of Sivalinga

Swamikal on February 11, 1919. In this temple the Guru installed the idol of

Siva.

20. Panavalli Srikanteswara MahadevaTemple – Alapuzha – 1922 May

30 (M.E 1097 Edavam 18)

In this temple the Guru installed the Sivalingam on May 30, 1922.

21. Chernnamangalam Siva Temple – Trivandrum - 1927 June 13 (M.E

1102 Edavam 30)

The Guru installed the idol of Siva in this temple.

 147

SUBRAHMANYA TEMPLES

1. Vakkom Subrahmanya Temple – Trivandrum – 1888 (M.E 1063)

There was a 200 year old Devi idol in the temple and the Guru replaced

it and installed the idol of Subrahmanya. The temple is also known as Vakkom

Velayudhan Nada. It is believed that this is the first Subrahmanya installation of

the Guru.

2. Vakkom Puthiyakavu Ananda Valliswaram Subrahmanian Temple-

Trivandrum - 1888 (M.E 1063)

The Guru re-installed the old temple and installed the idol of

Subrahmanya in this temple.

3. Kayikkara Erathu Sree Subrahmanya Temple - Trivandrum – 1894

January 14 (M.E 1069 Makaram 1)

A photo of Sastha (Ayyappa) inscribed on the wall was already there in

the temple. When the photo of Sastha was damaged the re-installation of an idol

became imperative. The Guru installed the idol of Subrahmanya in this temple.

But the people mainly worship Sastha. So this temple is also known as Dharma

Sastha Temple.
 148

4. Kunnumpara Sree Subrahmanya Temple – Trivandrum - 1896

December 2 (M.E 1071 Vrichikam 17)

The Guru installed the idol of Subrahmanya here in 1896. Here there are

steps on the left side leading to Kunnumpara Sree Subrahmanya Temple, which

the Guru had once described as the ‘Dakshina Palani’. The steps remind one of

the steps to Palani Temple.

5. Prakulam Sree Kumaramangalam Temple – Trivandrum – 1902

(M.E Meenam 1078)

This temple is widely known as the Manalil Temple. In this temple the

Guru installed a lance, a photo and a silver idol of Subrahmanya. The Guru also

installed the idol of Ganapathy as a sub-deity here.

6. Kumarakam Sree Kumaramangalam Temple – Kotayam – 1905

March (M.E 1080 Meenam)

In this temple the Guru installed a lance and a photo of Subrahmanya.

The place where the temple is situated is named by the guru as Sree

Kumaramangalam.

7. Cherayi Sree Gowreeswara Temple – Ernakulam – 1912 January

22 (M.E 1087 Makaram 9)

On January 22, 1912 the Guru installed the idol of Subramanya in this

temple. In the south side of the temple a Ganapathy idol, in the north a Devi idol
 149

and in the west an idol of Siva were also installed. Thus the concept of the Siva

family was made a reality in this temple.

8. Chemmanathukara Sree Narayaneswaram Subrahmanya Temple–

Kottayam – 1921 January (M.E 1096 Makaram)

There was a prayer hall and it was surrounded by the idols of snake. By

the order of the Guru these idols were thrown in to the Aluva river and the

prayer hall became a temple in 1921. The Guru installed a lance and a portrait

of Subrahmanya in the temple.

GANAPATHY TEMPLE

1. Kottar Sree Pillayar Kovil –Tamil Nadu -1908 April 13 (M.E 1083

Medam 1)

The news of the Aruvippuram installation spread far and wide. When it

is echoed in Kanyakumari, some devotees of the Gurudeva requested him to

consecrate a temple for them. The Guru reached Kottar and installed the idols of

Ganapathy and Subrahmanya on April 13, 1908. The Guru named the temple

Pillayar Kovil.

DEVI TEMPLES

1. Mannanthala Devi Temple (Anandavalliswaram Temple) –

Trivandrum – 1889 March 5 (M.E 1064 Kumbam 22)

The Guru installed the Devi idol in this temple. Before the installation

there was an old Bhadrakali idol and animal sacrifice was an important
 150

ceremony. The Guru removed the old idol and installed the Devi idol and

stopped the practice of animal sacrifice.

2. Kunninazhikathu Bhagavathi Temple (Sree Narayana

Bhuvaneswari Temple) – Kollam – 1894 (M.E 1064)

The Guru installed the idol of Devi made of stone in 1894 in this temple.

The place where the temple is situated is given by the Kunninazhikathu family.

So this temple is also known as Kunninazhikathu Bhagavathi Temple.

3. Sivagiri Sree Sarada Temple – Trivandrum - 1912 April 30 (M.E

1087 Medam 18)

The Guru dedicated a temple at Sivagiri exclusively to the Goddess of

learning, Saraswathi. One of the other names for Goddess Saraswathi is Sarada

and the Guru preferred this name. Hence this temple is known as Sarada Matt.

This Mattt is situated in Varkala, which was famous as Dakshina Kashi from

time immemorial (Moorkoth Kumaran 139).

While the temples in other places were erected by the Guru at the

request of the people, the Sarada Mutt and a school Vaidika Vidyalaya near

Sarada Mutt were the Guru’s own creations. The Sarada Temple is octagonal in

shape with eight windows that let in a flood of light and fresh air – a departure

from traditional temple architecture. The image of Sarada Devi is a lovely statue

imbedded inside the lotus of marble. There are no offerings of food, no

 151

festivals, no processions, and no worships there. The devotees can have darsana

of Sarada Devi, pay respects to the goddess, sing hymns, or be lost in

meditation. The Sarada Temple is the symbol of the Guru’s message “educate

and be enlightened”.

By the consecration of Sarada and prescribing only meditation and

recitation of hymns as rituals of worship, the Guru was practically elevating the

common man towards the higher level.

Instead of installing deities like Siva, Subrahmanya, Ganapathy and

Devi there are other kinds of installations done by the Guru. They are.

1. The Karamukku Temple – Trichur -1921 May 13 (M.E 1096

Edavam 2)

The Karamukku Temple at Trichur marks a turning point in the Guru’s

idol installations. The Guru installed a burning lamp, reciting the famous mantra

‘Tamaso ma jyothir gamaya’, thus giving practical expression to the ancient

Upanishadic prayer at this temple.

When a lamp is lit, we feel the presence of the spirit more strongly. No

auspicious function is conducted without a lighted lamp. This is followed by

almost all religions.

When the people wanted something more in the temple, then the Guru

suggested it would be better to keep the portraits of great men all around the

light.
 152

3. Murukkumpuzha Temple – Trivandrum - 1923 February 5 (M.E

1097 Danu 8)

In Murukkumpuzha there was as old Kali Temple and animal sacrifice

was prevalent. The Guru stopped this practice and re-installed the temple. In the

Murukkumpuzha Temple the Guru placed a bronze plate with “Aum” written in

the middle and the words Satyam (truth), Dharmam (duty), Daya (Compassion),

Sneham (love), etched on it. Anything would do, if it helps you to concentrate,

was the idea behind this action. The greater the noble thought which a symbol

evokes, the greater is the effect (Koyikkal K. Jacob 153).

4. Kalavangodam Temple – Alapuzha -1927 June 14 (M.E 1100

Edavam 31)

In Kalavangodam there was an old Devi temple. When the re-

installation of this temple became imperative the Guru came there by the

request of some devotees. In the Kalavangodam Temple the Guru asked the

devotees to get him a mirror. When the mirror was brought, an artist was

instructed to erase the mercury coating at the back of the mirror, so as to project

the letter “Aum” in the front. Thus ‘Aum’ became the idol in this temple

(Murkoth Kunhappa 37).

The word ‘Aum’ has got supreme significance in the Hindu religion.

The Kathopanishad says: “That word which all the vedas declare, which all

austerities proclaim and on which men concentrate when they lead the life of a
 153

religious student – that word I tell you briefly is “Aum”. According to the

Mandukya Upanishad “The past, the present and the future all this is only the

syllable Aum. And whatever else there is that transcends the three – fold time –

that too is only the syllable Aum”.

5. Ullala Omkareswara Temple – Kotyam - 1927 June 25 (M.E 1102

Midunam 11)

In the Ullala Omkareswara Temple the Guru installed a mirror with the

inscription of Aum. The mirror by its truthful reflection, always reminds us that

as we are, so are our Gods too. God lives not in temples but in the hearts of the

good people.

The mirror installation reflects the Guru’s deep insight and extra

ordinary foresight. He was actually evolving an evolutionary process in idol

installations. Through this process, he demonstrated that worship is a

psychological principle and that the effect of worship depends not on what a

person worships but how he worships.

The activity of the Guru’s temple installation can be summed as: “A

seeker begins his religious pursuit with the worship of God in idols; he

gradually ascends to the sphere of great effulgent light; he reflects truth,

kindness, peace etc in his life; finally he experiences Supreme Truth, which is

“Aum”, shining like the sun in the soul, like the reflection in a mirror”.
 154

STOTRA WORKS OF NARAYANA GURU

While installing the deities in the temples the Guru wrote hymns (stotra)

to praise these Gods. These stotras are not indicating any particular deity, but it

helps the aspirant to reach the highest realm of spirituality. The stotra works of

Narayana Guru given by Swami Muni Narayana Prasad in his work Philosophy

of Narayana Guru are given below.

Vināyaka Astakam : Eight verses on Vinayaka or Ganapathy.

In this song of praise, the Guru visualises Vinayaka, symbolically

representing the Absolute as the one adored by both God and man.

Sri Vāsudeva Astakam : Eight verses on Vasudeva or Vishnu.

Vishnu is seen as a yogi with a well balanced state of existence, while at

the same time, he is attributed with all the mythologically accepted qualities.

Vishnu Astakam : Eight verses oin Vishnu.

Here, Vishnu is adored in his traditionally worshipped form. The

supplicant thinks of himself as a humble servant to Vishnu, a concept very dear

to the Vaisnavites.

Sri Krishna Darsanam : A vision of Sri Krishna.

This work is an extemporaneous exposition of the ecstatic vision.

 155

Siva Prasada Panchakam : Five verses on the grace of Siva.

In this prayer the Guru praises Siva’s graceful willingness to safeguard

those who suffer from the infatuations of lust and other aspects of the material

world.

Sadasiva Darsanam : A vision of the Eternal Siva.

This work praises Siva as the cause of the phenomenal world, as well as

our saviour from all its miseries.

Siva Satakam : One hundred verses on Siva.

These hundred verses are a revelatory head-to-foot description of the

symbolic figure of Siva. A high degree of intimacy is constantly maintained

between the Guru and the deity. In this prayer, he prays to Siva, the destroyer of

kāma, to save him from the temptation of lust.

Ardhanariswara Stavam : A hymn to the Androgynous Siva.

This hymn was written when Southern India was severely gripped by the

effects of an unprecedented drought. In this prayer the Guru humorously rebuke

Siva for letting the people suffer for want of water whilst he carries all the water

in his matted hair.

Mananatitam : Beyond comprehension.

A hymn of ten verses praises Siva mainly as the destroyer of kama.

 156

Cijjada Chintanam : Reflections on mind and matter.

In this work the Guru makes it clear that the difference between mind

and matter are but two apparent manifestations of the one Absolute Reality,

represented here by Siva.

Kundalini Pattu : Song of kundalini snake.

A song praising Siva and addressed to one’s own mind conceived as a

dancing snake

Indriya Vairagyam : Detachment from the pleasure of the senses.

This composition of ten verses describes how one can finally visualize

Siva both outside and inside, by internalising one’s own perception.

Prapancha Sristi : The creation of the world.

The praising of Siva in ten verses depicts how the illusory appearance of

this objective world and the subjective aspect that perceives it all have their

source in the one body of Siva.

Kolatiresa Stavam : Hymn to kolatiresa.

Praising the deity of Siva installed by the Guru at the Kolathukara Siva

temple in Kulathur near Trivandrum. In this prayer the Guru prays to Siva to

bless him with an ideally happy life, within the vicinity of His abode, free from

all sufferings.
 157

Svānubhava Giti : The lyric revelation of the realized Self.

This is the song of one hundred verses. It is a free flowing song in which

the figure of Siva surfaces frequently.

Pinda Nandi : Foetal Gratitude.

The Guru praises Siva as the one who protects the embryo while it

remains helpless in the darkness of the mother’s womb. This is a unique but

realistic concept of the protective role of God.

Chitambara Astakam : Eight verses on mental space.

This is a prayer in praise of the Sivalingam. The Reality represented by

the lingam is praised equally by all Gods and men, thus transcends the limits of

all the world. At the same time, it is perceived in the boundless space of one’s

own mind.

Tevara Patikankal : Five songs of praising Siva.

Five songs praising Siva, resembling those of the great Saiva saints such

as Nalvar.

Devi Stavam : A hymn to Devi.

The Mother Goddess is visualized as the embodiment of the final silence

- the culmination of all wisdom teaching. The supplicant prays to Devi to

breathe into him the secret of silence of which she is the essence. It is explained

in this work that all beings, including the Guru, are mirage-like and deceptive.

The only way to achieve any satisfaction in life is to become aware of the need

to be one with Devi.

 158

Mannantala Devi Stavan : A hymn to praise Devi.

The Guru wrote this when he installed the deity of Devi at Mannanthala

Devi Temple. There is nothing that is impossible to Devi, and when one realizes

that such a Devi exists within oneself nothing is felt impossible.

Kali Natakam : The dance dream of Kali.

This song is in praise of Kali, the Mother Goddess. Her cosmic dance of

momentarily changing moods, presents itself in the form of an ever-changing

world and its life.

Janani Navaratna Manjari : A nine gemmed bouquet on the Mother.

This prayer song was written when the foundation stone for the Sarada

Temple at Sivagiri was laid by the Guru. It addresses the Mother as the

personification of wisdom. This is a hymn; its contents elucidate Vedanta in a

highly melodious diction.

Bhadrakali Astakam : Eight verses on Bhadrakali.

Describing Bhadrakali, the most auspicious Goddess with a dark

external appearance in her different moods.

Devi Pranama Devyastakam : Eight verses paying obeisance to Devi. The Guru

describes Devi’s changing moods in different context, all symbolizing various

aspects of the one all supporting the creative principle.

Shanmukha Stotram : A hymn to Shanmukha, the six-headed God.

This is a prayer song in praise of Subrahmanya.

 159

Shanmukha Dasakam : Ten verses on Shanmukha.

This is a highly poetical and symbolic head-to-foot description of

Subrahmanya's figure.

Shanmatura Stavam : Hymn on Shanmatura, the six Mother-Gods.

This consists of nine alternative verses praising Subrahmanya in his

different moods.

Subramanya Kirtanam : A hymn to praise Subrahmanya.

A touch of revision given to some notion prevailing in the Vedanta and

yoga systems is apparent in this work.

Navamanjari : A bouquet of nine verses.

It describes the different moods of Subrhamanya, each in one way or

other, providing a source of relief to the humble.

Guha Astakam : Eight verses on Guha, Subrahmanya.

This is a description of the different moods of Subrahmanya as seen by

the Guru.

Bahuleya Astakam : Eight verses on Bahuleaya or Subrahmanya.

How subrahmanya could be conceived in the Vedantic context with all

the mythological anecdotes given their due places and depicted in a seemingly

Tantric style, is exemplified by the Guru through this work (Swami Muni

Narayana Prasad The Philosophy of Narayana Guru 128-34).

 160

Though the Guru had built some temples, it doesn’t mean that he is the

lover of the Hindu religion. He had no bias towards any religion. In 1916 the

Guru made an open declaration that he had no specific relation with any religion

and that he had not established any particular religion. It does not mean that the

Guru’s attitude was irreligious. On the contrary, he always remains a lover of

the truly Universal Religion, the human religion, with its external obligation of

morality. He once said, “Religion is a matter of mind. All religions embody the

truth. I have no relation with any current religions. I established some temples

in accordance with the desire of some Hindu devotees, who approached me for

such consecration. I am ready to do with the same for Christian and Muslim

devotees, if they express a similar desire (Address of Narayana Guru at

Pattathanam inaugurating the opening of a building).

Having established a number of temples and thereby deified orthodoxy

and brought a degree of self-respect to the lower castes, he changed the

emphasis and said that the building of temples should not be encouraged. The

belief of the people in temples is decreasing. It is possible that they might regret

the expenditure on temple building as waste of money. Times have changed that

much. However, the people may not agree with this view and they are told now

that temples are not necessary. If they are particular let them have public

contribution. A temple helps to inculcate cleanliness. Time was, when it was

hoped that the people, irrespective of caste, could be brought together in a

common place of worship. But experience has proved otherwise. Temples

underline the difference between castes. Hereafter, efforts should be towards

 161

educating people. Let them have knowledge According to the Guru, knowledge

is power and it is through knowledge that gave the power to claim intellectual

superiority.

The Guru was aware of the fact that lack of education was the main

cause of man’s inability to face problems in life, of many of the social and

personal evils, of social segregation and also of low standards of living

conditions. He therefore, gave much importance to people getting educated. If

Kerala is today the most educationally advanced state in India it is partly

because of this passionate advocacy of education for the masses by Narayana

Guru.
 162

REFERENCE

1. Balakrishnan, K.P. Aruvippuram Muthal Omkareswaram Vare, 2nd ed.

Kannur: Nitya Books, 2008.

2. Guru, Narayana. Advaita Deepika.Varkala: Narayana Gurukula, 1950.

3. Guru, Narayana. Anukampa Dasakam. Varkala: Narayana Gurukula,

1967.

4. Guru, Narayana. Arivu. Varkala: Narayana Gurukula, 1950.

5. Guru, Narayana. Atmopadesa Satakam. Varkala: Narayana Gurukula,

1960.

6. Guru, Narayana. Brahmavidya Panchakam. Varkala: Narayana

Gurukula, 1970.

7. Guru, Narayana. Daiva Dasakam. Varkala: Narayana Gurukula, 1973.

8. Guru, Narayana. Daiva Dasakam. Varkala: Narayana Gurukula, 1973.

9. Guru, Narayana. Darsanamala. Varkala: Narayana Gurukula, 1959.

10. Guru, Narayana. Homa Mantram. Varkala: Narayana Gurukula, 1967.

11. Guru, Narayana. Janani Navarathna Majari. Varkala: Narayana

Gurukula, 1960.

12. Guru, Narayana. Jati Mimamsa. Varkala: Narayana Gurukula, 1954.

13. Guru, Narayana. Jivakarunya Panchakam. Varkala: Narayana Gurukula,

1952.

14. Guru, Narayana. Sampoorna Krithikal. Varkala: Narayana Gurukula,

2002.
 163

15. Guru, Narayana. Sree Narayana Smrithi. Trns.,Sathya Bai Sivadas and

P. Prabhakara Rao. Varkala: Sivagiri Madam Publications, 2009.

16. Guru, Narayana. Vedanta Sutras. Varkala: Narayana Gurukula, 1953.

17. Guru, Nataraja. One Hundred Verses of Self Instruction. 3rd ed. Varkala:

Narayana Gurukula, 2006.

18. Guru, Nataraja. The Philosophy of a Guru. Varkala: Narayana Gurukula,

1986.

19. Hiriyanna, M. Outlines of Indian Philosophy. 1993; rpt. Delhi: Motilal

Banadsidas Publishers, 2009.

20. Jacob, Koyikkal K. Sree Narayana Guru. Eranakulam: Nava Sobha

Publications, 2001.

21. Kunhappa, Murkoth. Sree Narayana Guru, New Delhi: National Bank

Trust, 1981.

22. Narayana Prasad, Swami Muni. Shorter Philosophical Poems of

Narayana Guru. New Delhi: D.K. Printworld, 2010. D.M. Bhana

Darsanan V.10.

23. Narayana Prasad, Swami Muni. The Philosophy of Narayana Guru. New

Delhi: D.K. Printworld, 2003.

24. Narayana Prasad, Swami Muni. The Taitiriya Upanishad. New Delhi;

D.K Printworld, 1993.

25. Omana, S. Philosophy of Sree Narayana Guru. Varkala: Narayana

Gurukula, 1984.
 164

26 Omana, S. The Epistemological Perspective In the Philosophy of

Narayana Guru. (Unpublished).

27 Vivekananda, Swami. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda.

Culcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1970.

28 Yati, Nitya Chaitanya. Neither This Nor That But Aum. New Delhi: D.K.

Printworld. 1982.

29 Yati, Nitya Chaitanya. Universal Prayer. Varkala: Narayana Gurukula,

2005.