ABOUT THE BOOK:
Sri Anirvan wrote almost exclusively in Bengali and only occasionally in English. This is a collection of all his English writings except his letters which he wrote to his Western and non-Bengali friends and disciples.
The present volume contains nine essays, the first on Buddhiyoga being the most considerable. In these essays, Sri Anirvan covers a wide area and touches upon most of the salient points of Hindu spirituality, directly and indirectly. He roams through the vast territory of Hindu philosophical and theosophical thought with ease and familiarity. He combines scholarship with sadhana supported by an intellect which is analytic as well as synthetic.
Beginning with the Rgveda, Sri Anirvan shows how for every Vedic concept or image there is a Puraƒic or Tåntric equivalent, how the same truths are found in Buddhism, and how they are celebrated by medieval saints. He shows inner links in the truths of different spiritual traditions and sådhanås and relates them to the deeper life of the soul.
India would rise through the rise of the great Hindu culture and the soul of Hinduism is the life of the spirit. Sri Anirvan has shown the unity and profundity of this culture and, to that extent, has become a leader of the Hindu renaissance. He has shown the catholicity and universality of this culture and how this culture alone can be the true religion of a future, awakened humanity. According to him, 'science, logic, democracy are all tending towards the spiritual, democratic movement', and when 'men has learned to be spiritually free from all dogmas ... then the Vedic spirit will draw upon him making the heaven and the earth one.'
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Shri Anirvan was born on July 8, 1896 in the town of Mymensingh (now in Bangladesh). At the age of eleven he knew the Astadhyayi of Panini by heart and daily recited a chapter from the Gita. He joined Assam Bangiya Saraswata Math, Kokilamukh near Jorhat in Assam, at the age of sixteen. Meanwhile, he had appeared for the matriculation examination which earned for him a state scholarship. He went for his college studies to Dhaka and later on to Calcutta. His educational career was brilliant and he always secured record marks. After completing his studies, Sri Anirvan took sanyasa and became Nirvanananda Saraswati. But a few years later he dropped the ochre robes and changed his name to Anirvan, by which name he became known to the world at large.
His first book was a Bengali translation of Sri Aurobindo's The Life Divine which was published in 2 vols. during 1948-51. But the centre of his studies was the Vedas on which subject he acquired a rare mastery over the years. His great work, Veda Mimamsa, was published in 3 vols. in 1961, 1965 and 1970. Meanwhile, several other works on the Upanisads, the Gita, Vedanta and Yoga had also been published and translated into Hindi and English. |
