Narayan Guru : The Prophet of Renaissance

by P. Parameswaran, Swami Ranganathananda (foreword)

While books on the life and teachings of Sri Narayana Guru in the Malayalam language of Kerala are sufficiently large, they are not adequate in the English language; this would not be a matter of serious regret, if the Guru had relevance only for Kerala. But the truth is that the life and work of this great teacher and awakener, in his approach and methods and results, is of utmost relevance as much to our nation as a whole as to Kerala. And we can understand him and appreciate him best when he is viewed against the background of India's millennia of history and culture and religion and the powerful forces of the spiritual humanism released by her dynamic renaissance in the modern age. Such rewarding studies have been undertaken in the case of the outstanding renaissance leaders like Swami Vivekananda. Shri P. Parameswaran's book is, to my knowledge, the first of its kind with respect to Sri Narayana Guru. This is an English translation of his Malayalam book : Navotthanatthinte Pravacakan - Shri Narayana Guru Swamikal. English knowing readers all over India, as also abroad, will heartily welcome this publication for the insight it gives into the life of a personality, at once dynamic and gentle, creative and revolutionary; he combined in himself the roles of a saint and reformer, philosopher and educationist, humanist and poet, all under a mantle of utmost simplicity and naturalness. Sri Narayana Guru was born in what was then an under-privileged community, low in the Hindu caste hierarchy, namely, the Ezhavas, in 1854; and by the time he passed away in 1928, the constructive and silent and peaked as it was by the powerful positive forces of the modern Hindu Renaissance had transformed the Kerala Social Scene; it was a transformation which continued to gather steady momentum and which, today, in 1979, makes that little state of the Indian Union foremost among our states in the achievement of human equality and dignity and social democracy. And all this has been achieved, thanks to the Guru's Adwaitic vision and passion, without generation and sustaining hostility in the under-privileged against the privileged, but by merely strengthening the under privileged classes spiritually, socially, educationally, and economically. In this, we can see the pre-eminence of the positive and peaceful spiritual approach to social change and its relevance to our nation today. over the action-reacting methods and results of the merely political and social approaches current in other states in India. Bringing out this vital difference, Sri Parameswaran In fact, Sri Narayana Guru belonged to the long heritage of Hindu reformers like Sankara, Ramanuja, Chaitanya, Kabir, and Nanak 'Even a casual reading of the life of Sri Narayana Guru will convince the reader that the Guru never condemned any one. He was full of blessings. His approach never created any bitterness or ill-will. The result was that he was more easily successful and the results were infinitely more enduring, compared to the results produced by negative and condemnatory reform movements. 'He would not encourage any move which would emblitter the feelings between the higher and lower castes. He would only try to soothen them. This explains why there was no outburst of feelings against the Nairs and Brahmins on the lines of the anti-Brahmin movements of Tamil Nadu or in-or Maharashtra. He brought out far-reaching social changes curring no opposition from any quarter. Experience has shown that the results so achieved were indefinitely more enduring than those produced by negative condemnatory movements.' All interhuman relationships and all programmes of social change in our country today stand to gain immensely from a wide diffusion of the life and teachings of Sree Narayana Guru and the spirituality of the sweet aroma of his intensely humanistic personality. This book carries that blessing, through the English language, to a large section of readers in India and abroad.

206 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 8, 2024