Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar

Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar প্রভাতরঞ্জন সরকার
Shri Shri Anandamurti
Born	May 21, 1921(1921-05-21) Jamalpur, Bihar, British India
Died	October 21, 1990(1990-10-21) (aged 69) Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Nationality	Indian
Ethnicity	Bengali

Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar (Bengali: প্রভাতরঞ্জন সরকার) (21 May 1921 – 21 October 1990), also known by his spiritual name, Shrii Shrii Anandamurti (Bengali: শ্রীশ্রী আনন্দমূর্তি), was an Indian philosopher, author, social revolutionary, poet, composer and linguist. Sarkar was the founder of Ananda Marga (the Path of Bliss), a spiritual and social organization that offers instruction in meditation, yoga and other self-development practices on a non-commercial basis, as well as a variety of social programs such as preschools in disadvantaged areas, disaster relief teams, and other activities. Sarkar was affectionately referred to as Baba (meaning 'the dear one') by his disciples. He was a prolific author and produced an extensive body of work that includes theories aimed at increasing human welfare such as the Law of Social Cycle, the Progressive utilization theory, the Theory of Microvitum as well as the philosophy of Neohumanism. His organization, Ananda Marga, began in India in 1955 and by the mid 1970s had become a worldwide operation that continued after his death in 1990 and is still active today.

Early life

Sarkar was born during the full moon of the Indian month of Vaeshakh (Buddha Purnima), on 21 May 1921, in the small town of Jamalpur, Bihar, India. He was known as an exceptionally bright child in his youth, practicing meditation by himself at an early age and displaying great knowledge of various languages and various topics; knowledge which was reportedly not gained in school, through reading books, listening to teachers or any other outer source.

In 1939 Sarkar left Jamalpur for Kolkata to attend Vidyasagar College of the University of Kolkata. It was here that in the dark of night Sarkar initiated into spiritual practices a notorious criminal by the name of Kalicharan and helped to reform his life. He had to quit studies in order to support his family after the death of his father and took up the work as an accountant at the Railways headquarters in his hometown of Jamalpur for the next twentyfive years of his life while continuing to teach many the spiritual practices of Tantra Yoga.

Ananda Marga

Main article: Ananda Marga

In 1955, at the behest of his followers, Sarkar founded Ánanda Márga ("The Path of Bliss" in Sanskrit),^[1] a socio-spiritual movement with a two-part mission that Sarkar stated as "self-realization and service to all." Sarkar's ideas are collected in the series of books called “Subháśita Samgraha”, which form part of the philosophical scriptures of Ánanda Márga ideology. The books expound in simple, lucid and rational ways, many important aspects of the Divine Nature of human beings, or Bhágavata Dharma in Sanskrit. While interpreting the various spiritual ideas, he has discussed and quoted relevant portions from other scriptures such as the Rámáyańa, the Mahábhárata, the Bhagavad Giita, the Quran, Tantric, Yogic, and Vedantic literature, etc. to illustrate various aspects of Dharma and philosophy.^[2] Sarkar's ideas are steeped in the ancient spiritual tradition of humanity, considerably developed in India, yet revitalized by him with new meaning and universal approach.

Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti (meaning "Bliss personified") as he was called by his early disciples oversaw the formation of an order of monks and nuns who came forward to dedicate their lives to the practice of meditation and service and who were able to teach the same to others across India and abroad. Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti continued his job in Jamalpur to support his family as the main breadwinner after his father's demise until 1966, when he finally assumed the role of president of Ananda Marga's organizations full time. During the latter part of his life his main residence was in Lake Gardens in Kolkata, West Bengal. He also spent much time, especially early on, in the all-round development community he founded based on his PROUT socio-economic theory at Ananda Nagar, in rural West Bengal.

Ánanda Márga opened regional offices in various countries, including the USA in 1969, and by 1973 had established approximately 100 local centers teaching yogic and social philosophies, with several thousand members, some living communally in the ashrams.^[3][4]

Spiritual Philosophy

Sarkar's teachings on spiritual philosophy have been universal in approach, yet particularly influencing modern ascetic movements in Hindu India due to the former's rejection of superstitions, dogmas and irrational beliefs. His system of spiritual practice has been innovative but also described as a practical synthesis of Vedic and Tantric philosophies.^[5] Sarkar's concept of "karma samnyasa" refers to the principle that a yogi becomes a person with all-round development and a balanced mind, that he called a sadvipra; and that this is accomplished by someone who remains fixed on the "supreme" consciousness through transformative personal practices and engaging in the politics of social liberation as a form of service work.^[6]

Cosmology

Shrii Sarkar describes the universe as a result of macropsychic conation - the entire universe exists within the cosmic mind, which itself is the first expression of consciousness coming under the bondage of its own nature. With the evolution of unit beings, individual life, the extroversial projection of the cosmic mind starts the return journey in an always unique and colorful fashion. No two entities of this universe are the same, and yet all have the same goal to merge once more with their source, the infinite cosmic consciousness. As such, the cosmological flow is from limitless consciousness to limited consciousness and back to limitless consciousness.

Shrii Sarkar gave the name, microvita, to the first expressions of life. However, his science of microvita, still in its infancy, conceives of various types of microvita, both positive and negative, at varying degrees of evolutionary existence.

Social and Political Philosophy

Social cycle theory

The concept of Varna describes four main socio-psychological types, whereby human psychological and physical endowment and social motivations are expressed: the Vipra (intellectual), Kshatriya (warrior), Vaishya (acquisitor) and Shudra (laborer). Varna, in Sarkar's perspective, however is more than just a psychological trait but rather an archetype, approximately to Michel Foucault's notion of epistemes, which are broader frameworks of knowledge defining what is true and real.^[7]

Sarkar's "Law of Social Cycle" applies these traits in a theory of historical evolution, where ages rise and fall in terms of ruling elites representing one of the above mentioned traits. This "law" possibly connects to the earlier cyclical historical ideas of Sri Aurobindo, with a focus on the psychology of human development, as well as Ibn Khaldun, among other macrohistorians' ideas about cycles. However, along with a cyclical dimension - the rise and fall of ages - Sarkar's theory exhibits a correspondent linear dimension, in that economic and technological "progress" are considered critical in terms of meeting the changing material conditions of life. Ultimately, for Sarkar, true progress has to prioritize development in the spiritual dimension.

Spirituality for Sarkar is defined as the individual realizing the true self. In addition to yogic meditational practices and purity of thought and deed, Sarkar attached great importance to selfless social service as a means of liberation. Sarkar considered it necessary for the social arrangements to support the inner development of human beings and rejected both capitalism and communism as appropriate social structures for humanity to move forward to the golden age of a balanced way of life sustaining all-round progress. A serious problem with capitalism was according to Sarkar the concentration of wealth in a few hands and stoppages in the rolling of money which he considered root causes of recessions, even depressions.^[8] A spiritual way of life, however, would in no way be divorced from creating structures that help meet the basic, though ever changing, needs - food, housing, clothing, health and education.

Sarkar claims to have developed Ánanda Márga and the Progressive Utilization Theory as practical means to encourage harmony and cooperation in order to help society escape this proposed cycle. Sarkar argues that once the social cycle is understood and sadvipras evolved, then the periods of exploitation can be largely reduced, if not eliminated. With leadership that is representative of all aspects of the varnas - that is, the leader engaged in service, who is courageous, who uses the intellect for the benefits of others, and who has innovative/entrepreneurial skills - the cycle can become an upward spiral.^[9]

PROUT: Progressive Utilization Theory

Main article: PROUT

In 1959, Sarkar began to propound the Progressive Utilization Theory, a socio-economic theory that seeks the all-round welfare and happiness of everyone. PROUT overcomes the defects and limitations of capitalism and communism, with its comprehensive historical analysis, its clear expression of the social contract, its vision of an ideal society, and its five fundamental principles (all of which is found in the fifth chapter of Ananda Sutram, Shrii Sarkar's authoritative philosophical treatise, first published in 1962).

In 1968, Sarkar founded the organization "Proutist Block of India" (PBI), to further the ideals of his theory through political and social action.^[10] The PBI was soon superseded by "Proutist Universal" (PU).

Neohumanism

In 1982, Shrii Sarkar extended his already extensive writings on the subject of human society (mainly Human Society Part 1 and Human Society Part 2) with the introduction of his own conception of humanity and humanism. He called it neohumanism (see The Liberation of Intellect: Neohumanism). According to Shrii Sarkar, these days there is a great disharmony between the inner and outer worlds. This has manifest itself in a tremendous increase in the incidence of mental illness. Existing philosophies, including ordinary humanism, do not bridge the gap between the two worlds, leaving humanity's most precious inner treasure (devotion or love for the Supreme) in jeopardy. According to Shrii Sarkar, explaining humanity and humanism in the light of neohumanism will safeguard devotion and both widen the path of human progress and make that path easier to tread.

Among other things, neohumanism seeks the liberation of human intellect from the constraints of imposed dogma and psychic complexes. Toward this end, neohumanism redefines and systematizes the process of rationality and encourages protopsychospirituality (a process of continually recognizing each object with which we come in contact, externally or internally, as a manifestation of consciousness).

True to its spiritual roots, neohumanism extends the ambit of love found in humanism far beyond the realm of human beings. Neohumanism gives preference to existential value over utility value, and it recognizes that all living beings tend to assign a similar existential value to themselves. In the same spirit, neohumanism promotes the principle of social equality rather than the commonly preferred principle of selfish pleasure.

Neohumanism is both a reactive and a proactive philosophy. It promotes social activism in the form of identifying and exposing harmful influences. And it promotes personal development through appropriate physical, mental, and spiritual discipline.

Principled stand

From Ananda Marga’s inception, the movement stood for universalism and opposition to irrational practices such as castism. Ananda Marga had to face opposition from conservative Hindu circles and as well the Communist movement in West Bengal.

Sarkar's PROUT theory, although first propounded in 1959, began to popularize in the mid-1960s.

In 1971, some of Ananda Marga's members were attacked and killed, and Sarkar was charged with responsibility for their deaths. He was arrested and put in jail on charges of abetting a murder. Kept in jail for several years under poor conditions, Sarkar maintained his innocence all the while. His followers, meanwhile, claimed that he was only imprisoned for his spiritual and social teachings.

From the beginning of his imprisonment, Sarkar complained of the alleged torture of several of his monks, but on February 12, 1973, Sarkar himself became the target of an assassination attempt, surviving a massive poisoning by the prison doctor.

Sarkar demanded a proper judicial inquiry into the incident but was refused. Seeing no alternative, Sarkar started a long protest fast. Subsisting on a glass of buttermilk a day, Sarkar fasted from April 1, 1973 for the next five and a half years until his ultimate release from prison in 1978 after he was granted a re-trial by the new Government. He was found innocent on all counts. It was only when he was released on August 3, 1978, that Sarkar broke his fast.

Later part of Sarkar's life

During the imprisonment of Sarkar, shown later to be unjust by the courts overturning his conviction, his organisation spread all over the world carrying Sarkar's message of "self-realization and service."

Subsequent to his release from prison, Sarkar was in poor health after his fast for 5½ years, but remained active in promoting his mission, giving discourses on a wide range of topics including spiritual and social philosophy, philology, agriculture, Neohumanism, Microvita, etc. He composed 5018 songs he described as a new school of music called Prabhata Samgiita.

In late 1978 and 1979, he travelled on a world tour to meet disciples in various countries around the world, including Switzerland, Germany, France, Scandinavia, the Middle East, Thailand, Taiwan, Jamaica and Venezuela. He was banned from entering the USA by the State Department, as a result of his problems with the government of India, and instead met his American disciples in Jamaica in 1979.^[11]

Just before he died on October 21, 1990, he founded Ananda Marga Gurukula[1] (September 7, 1990) - an educational network to preserve and develop his legacy through research, teaching and service. Shri P.R.Sarkar laid the foundations of a university at Anandanagar in West Bengal, India and as its founding President he also provided many guidelines for the remoulding of educational systems in the world.

Works

Although Sarkar spent only seventeen years of his life working full-time for his organizations (1966–1971 & 1978–1990), he left behind a vast legacy, including over 250 books written on a wide variety of topics.

He is primarily known as the spiritual teacher behind Ananda Marga, but Sarkar wrote over 1500 pages on his economic PROUT theory, with several thousand more pages dedicated to linguistics and the study of languages; Sarkar's writings on linguistics included among other works, Shabda Cayanika ("A Collection of Words"), an unfinished, twenty-six volume dictated encyclopedia on the Bengali language. Beyond this he wrote books on sociology, agriculture, history, literature, education, medicine, cosmology, and philosophy, also notably inventing the philosophy of Neohumanism in 1982 and the Theory of Microvita in 1986.

But perhaps more than all this, his most dramatic achievement was his Prabhat Samgiita (Songs of the New Dawn). Having started composing songs in 1982, Sarkar completed the composition of 5018 songs in multiple languages by the time of his passing only eight years later.

Linguistic Work

He also advocated against any language discrimination, whether declaring languages as dialects for serving political or nationalistic ends or denying their rights, such as opressing its field of expression in media, education, courts and so. He advocated the rights of Maithili, Bhojpuri and some others. ^{[12] [13]}

He wrote many books and volumes of etymological encyclopedias focusing on phonetics, morphology, dialectology, acoustics, syntax, etymology, grammar and semantics. He mainly deals with the Sanskrit and Bengali languages and also discusses English, French, Persian, Hindi, Urdu, German, Portuguese, Latin and others. ^{[14] [15] [16]} Additionally, he had a strong command of Sanskrit and coined thousands of Sanskrit-derived words in various Indian languages, mainly Bengali.^[17]

His linguistic works include:

• Varna Vijinana - Science of Letters^[18]
• Sarkar's English Grammar
• Varna Vicitra - Various Uses of Letters (8 volumes)
• Shabda Cayanika - A Collection of Words (26 volumes)

Sarkar's definition of language

According to Sarkar, there are two forms of language: the language of the inner world or voice, which is only one and indivisible; and the outer manifestation of the former, which is diverse. The former being rather a psychological concept, Sarkar focuses mainly on the latter one.^[19]

He says:^[19]

...In that fluidal flow of cognition, bubbles of ideas are created...when these bubbles touch the `unit I feeling', then unit ideas are created...When these ideas concern the unit, the unit `I' tries to express them through its own psycho-physical structure. It endeavours to express its unit desires and longings according to the capacity of the vocal chords and its hormone secretions. These reflections or refractions of ideas are expressed either within or without....These expressions within and without are collectively called language.

His definition of language can be to some degree compared to Jerry Fodor's extreme innatist theory or to to Naom Chomsky's Universal grammar.

Sarkar's criteria for distinguishing languages and dialects

There are no universally accepted criteria for distinguishing languages from dialects: cf. Mutual intelligibility, Ausbausprache, Abstandsprache and Dachsprache, Variety (linguistics), A language is a dialect with an army and navy.

Sarkar, approaching the question of "language or dialect", enunciated eight main criteria for a language to be called a "language", and the rest "dialects". He considered these criteria to be strictly linguistic rather than political or cultural.

"Every language has its own special characteristics. It is these characteristics that set one language apart from another."^[18]

According to Sarkar, no language or dialect should be subject to political or cultural exploitation, rather all languages, language varieties and dialects should be given full scope of expression in every arena of life. Their nomenclature (language, dialect, variant etc.) should be a hundred percent scientific, taking into consideration only linguistics, sociology and literature.^[20]

In Varna Vijinana, he lays out eight criteria for a language:^[18][21]

1. Own verb endings (or own conjugation)
2. Own case endings (or own declination)
3. Own pronouns
4. Own vocabulary
5. Own oral or written literature (does not matter whether classical or folk)
6. Own style of intonation
7. Own acoustic notes ("psycho-acoustic and inferential acoustic")
8. Own syntax

Disciples

The yogi Kalikananda was Sarkar's first disciple. As a young man he had taken to criminality. After confronting Sarkar in a remote area with the aim to rob him he was instead attracted to the path of bliss by Sarkar.^[22] One of Sarkar's best known disciples is Ravi Batra, an internationally recognised economist and best selling author living and teaching in Dallas, Texas. In his works, Batra has relied heavily on Sarkar's Social Cycle Theory and PROUT, a theory of sustainable and equitable economics. Another noted disciple is futurist Sohail Inayatullah, who has become a major interpreter of Sarkar's work. Other disciples include the many nuns and monks of Ananda Marga who propagate his teaching throughout the world.

References

1. ^ Chryssides, George D. (1999). Exploring New Religions. Continuum International Publishing Group. pp. 370. ISBN 0826459595. 
2. ^ Our Spiritual Treatise, Ánanda Márga Philosophy in a Nutshell, 1970, Ranchi
3. ^ Ng, Franklin (1995). The Asian American Encyclopedia. Marshall Cavendish. pp. 669. ISBN 1854356771. 
4. ^ Miller, Timothy (1999). The 60's Communes: Hippies and Beyond. Syracuse University Press. pp. 108. ISBN 081560601X. 
5. ^ Ishwaran, Karigoudar (1999). Ascetic Culture: Renunciation and Worldly Engagement. BRILL. pp. 9. ISBN 9004114122. 
6. ^ "Karma Samnyasa: Sarkar's Reconceptualization of Indian Asceticism". Journal of Asian and African Studies (SAGE) 34 (1, 139–151 (1999)). 
7. ^ Johan Galtung and Sohail Inayatullah, eds., Macrohistory and Macrohistorians. Wesport, Ct, Praeger, 1997
8. ^ A Second Great Depression. A story on Sarkars' ideas in the works of his disciple, Dr. Ravi Batra
9. ^ Sohail Inayatullah, Sarkar's spiritual-dialectics: an unconventional view of the future. Futures, February 1988, 54-65
10. ^ Fukui, Haruhiro (1985). Political Parties of Asia and the Pacific. Greenwood Press. pp. 357. ISBN 031321350X. 
11. ^ MacDougall, Curtis Daniel (1983). Superstition and the Press. Prometheus Books. pp. 446. ISBN 0879752114. 
12. ^ Znet - Sohail Inayatullah's article
13. ^ The History of the Bhojpuri Language, A Few Problems Solved - Part 4, P. R. Sarkar, 1979, Tiljala, Calcutta
14. ^ Ecofarm Poland - Teachings of Shrii Shrii Anandamurti
15. ^ Shabda Cayanika-A Collection of Words, Part 1, Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, 1996, Tiljala, Calcutta, ISBN 81-7252-030-1
16. ^ The Linguistic Journal, September 2009
17. ^ PROUT INSTITUTE, P. R. Sarkar
18. ^ ^{a b c} Varna Vijinana-The Science of Letters, Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, 2000, Ananda Nagar, India, ISBN 81-7252-179-0
19. ^ ^{a b} A Scriptological And Linguistic Survey Of The World, Prout In a Nutshell, Part 17, P. R. Sarkar, 1989, Tiljala, Calcutta
20. ^ The Language Issue, A Few Problems Solved - Part 9, P. R. Sarkar, 1981, Tiljala, Calcutta
21. ^ The Fundamentals of Language, A Few Problems Solved - Part 4, P. R. Sarkar, 1979, Tiljala, Calcutta
22. ^ "The story of Kalicharan". http://anandamarga.or.id/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24&Itemid=26. Retrieved 2008-03-24. ^{[dead link]}

Further reading

• P.R. Sarkar (1984), Human Society . Vols. I and II. (Ananda Marga Publications, Calcutta, India).
• Sri Aurobindo (1970), The Human Cycle, The Ideal of Human Unity, War and Self-Determination, (Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust), ISBN 81-7058-281-4 (hardcover), ISBN 81-7058-014-5 (paperback)
• Sohail Inayatullah (2002), Understanding Sarkar: The Indian Episteme, Macrohistory and Transformative Knowledge. Leiden, Brill.
• Sohail Inayatullah (1999), Situating Sarkar, Tantra, Macrohistory and Alternative Futures. Maleny, Australia, Gurukul Publications.
• Sohail Inayatullah and Jennifer Fitzgerald, eds., (1999) Transcending Boundaries: Prabhat Rainjan Sarkar's Theories of Individual and Social Transformation. Maleny, Australia, Gurukul Publications.
• Johan Galtung and Sohail Inayatullah, eds., (1997), Macrohistory and Macrohistorians: Perspectives on Individual, Social and Civilizational Change. Wesport, Ct. Praeger.
• Sohail Inayatullah, Marcus Bussey and Ivana Milojevic, eds., (2006), Neohumanist educational futures: liberating the pedagogical intellect. Tamsui, Tamkang University, 2006.

External links

• Ananda Marga
• Social philosophy of P. R. Sarkar

Persondata
Name	Sarkar, Prabhat Ranjan
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	May 21, 1921
Place of birth	Jamalpur, Bihar, India
Date of death	October 21, 1990
Place of death	Tiljala Residence in Kolkata, India.