Sri Anirvan

Infobox Writer
name = Sri Anirvan


caption =
birthdate = birth date|1896|7|8|df=y
birthplace = Mymensingh, British India
deathdate = death date and age|1978|5|31|1896|7|8|df=y
deathplace = Kolkata, India
occupation = monk, philosopher, scholar, writer
nationality = Bengali
period = Bengal Renaissance

Anirvan or Sri Anirvan (born Narendra Chandra Dhar"Banglapedia" article: "Anirvan" by Nandadulal Banik. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh [http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/A_0246.htm accessed on 4 June, 2008] ] ) ( _bn. শ্রী অনির্বান "Sri Anirvan") (July 8, 1896–May 31, 1978) was an Indian/Bengali/Hindu monk, writer, Vedic scholar and philosopher."Buddhiyoga of the Gita and other Essays". by Anirvan. Samata Books, 1984 (paperback 1991). ISBN 978-0836411201. [http://www.bagchee.com/books.php?id=41833 at Bagchee.com, accessed June 1, 2008] and [http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:1RtrlqgKZiMJ:www.exoticindiaart.com/book/details/IDH620/+%22Sri+Anirvan%22+veda+Mimamsa&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=in "Buddhiyoga" jacket copy, accessed June 1, 2008] ] "The Life And Legacy of Swami Nigamananda Saraswati Paramahamsa Dev". by Swami Chetanananda Saraswati. Sri Sri Nigamananda Math and Ashram Foundations, [http://www.geocities.com/dhanadam/ashram.htm undated webpage, accessed June 1, 2008] ] He was widely known as a scholar"To Live Within: A Woman's Spiritual Pilgrimage in a Himalayan Hermitage". By Lizelle Reymond. (Translated from the French original "La Vie dans la vie" by Nancy Pearson and Stanley Spiegelberg.) Morning Light Press, 2007. ISBN 1596750162. [http://www.gurdjieff-internet.com/book_details.php?BID=101&authID=21&lang=English Gurdjieff-internet.com, accessed June 1, 2008] ] and his principal works were a Bengali translation of Sri Aurobindo's "The Life Divine" and the three volume treatise "Veda Mimamsa".

Early Life and Sannyas

Sri Anirvan was born on July 8, 1896 in the town of Mymensingh, then a part of British India and now in Bangladesh. His birth name was Narendrachandra Dhar. He was the son of Rajchandra Dhar, a doctor, and Sushila Devi."Antaryoga" ( _bn. অন্তর্যোগ). Kolkata: Sri Goutam Dharmapal, Haimavati Prakashani, 1997 (Bengali year 1404), 3rd edition.] He was a spiritually and intellectually-inclined child, who by age 11 had memorized the "Astadhyayi" of Pāṇini and the Bhagavad Gita. He was named Baroda Brahmachari after going through the sacred thread ceremony. He also won a state scholarship as a teen and completed university IA and BA degrees in Dhaka and an MA from Sanskrit College in Kolkata.

At 16, he joined the Assam Bangiya Saraswata Math ashram, located in the village of Kokilamukh near Jorhat in Assam. He was a disciple of the ashram's founder, Paramahansa Srimat Swami Nigamananda Saraswati Dev, who initiated him into sannyas. Anirvan's new monastic name was Nirvanananda Saraswati. He taught at the ashram school and edited its monthly magazine "Aryyadarpan".

cholar and Writer

Some time after 1930, Nirvanananda changed his name to Anirvan and ceased to wear the ochre swami's robes. He travelled widely in North India, eventually returning to Assam and establishing an ashram in Kamakhya near Guwahati. However, he continued to travel. In the 1940s, he lived in Lohaghat and Almora. Madame Lizelle Reymond documented some of this period in "My Life with a Brahmin Family" (1958) and "To Live Within" (1971). During this time, Sri Anirvan translated Sri Aurobindo's "The Life Divine" into Bengali (as "Divya Jeevan Prasanga"); this book, his first, was published in two volumnes between 1948-51.

In 1953, Sri Anirvan moved to Shillong in Assam. His reputation as a Vedic scholar grew; and he wrote both in Bengali (chiefly) and in English (he was also fluent in French) on various aspects of Hindu philosophy (particularly Samkhya, the Upanishads, the Gita and Vedanta) and the parallels between Rigvedic, Puranic, Tantric and Buddhist thought. His magnum opus, "Veda Mimamsa", was published in three volumes in 1961, 1965 and 1970. This work won him the Rabindra award.

Though Sri Anirvan was a saint, he studied different subjects such as Marxism, nuclear science and gardening; yet he called himself a simple baul.

Sri Anirvan made his final move, to Kolkata, in 1965. He passed away on May 31, 1978, after a six-year illness.

Wisdom of Sri Anirvan

Quoted from a letter by his devotee Sri Vamadeva Gautam Bhattacharya

"Kavirajji himself was a most unassuming person, who wrote a great deal on subjects he understood very well [Vedanta, grammar] as well on those where his comprehension was uncertain [see his volumes Tantrika Siddhanta] . Rishida was never tired of emphasizing the difference between prajnanam [apprehension] and samjnanam [comprehension] . He taught the Rksamhita as an Agama and wanted and suggested/required those around him to reflect and meditate on the Siva Sutras, and on the works of some of the Kashmir Non-Dual writers. Anyway, going back to his appearing when crises were acute, one is reminded of Rabindranath's song:

Jey raatey more duvar khani bhanglo jhodeyJaani naa to tumi eley aamaro ghoreyThe night my door was smashed in by the stormI did not realize You had entered my home

It was exactly on such terrible nights, of the outer and inner worlds, that this invisible yogi chose to make his silent appearance besides many.The Bodhisattva Anirvan said and I quote him almost verbatim, although all his books have now passed fom my possession, "Koti jonmo japon kortey aami ulloshito."(To choose to take rebirth for ten million lifetimes for the benefit of human beings, I am filled with absolute joy. –Note: Ullasa in Kashmir Shaivism = absolute joy )

My dying appeal to Rishida is this, you who constantly emphasized the primacy of shunning droha, mithya, & anartha, who gave detailed exposition on the meaning of the word "anartha", where are you hiding in these troubled times, Lokesvara? We do know about the image of the Holy Mother VajraTara on your table in Kasardevi, we perfectly understand through your teaching the implications of this sign, but where are you?Like you, amrao jey sharati jibon anirvan dahane jwalecchi (All our lives we too have burned in that same unbearable fire which can never be extinguished). Somayaji, We have kept the faith, is it not your turn now to take charge once more?

"Mahe ca na tvaam Adrivaparaa shulkaaya deyaamna sahasraaya deyaamna shataaya shataamaghe. (O Caster of the Stone, I would not sell thee for a mighty price,Not for a thousand, Thunderer! nor ten thousand nor a hundred, Lord of countless wealth! –Rigveda, 8.05, translated by Griffiths)

Works

* "Divya Jeevan Prasanga" ( _bn. দিব্য জীবন প্রসঙ্গ). Kolkata: Sri Aurobindo Pathamandir, 2000 (fourth edition). (Originally published 1948-51).
* "Vedamimangsa" ( _bn. বেদ মীমাংসা). 1961, 1965, 1970. Winner of Rabindra Puraskar award.
* "Vedanta Jijnasa" ( _bn. বেদান্ত জিজ্ঞাসা). Sreerampore, Hooghly: Sri Rabindranath Bandyopadhyay, 1965 (Bengali year 1372).
* "Pather Sathi" ( _bn. পথের সাথী). Halishar: Srimat Swami Jnananada Saraswati, Assam Bangyiya Saraswat Math, 1980. (Three volumes).
* "Bichitra" ( _bn. বিচিত্রা). Kolkata: Smt Ramaa Choudhury, Haimavati-Anirban Trust, 1993.
* "Uttarayan" ( _bn. উত্তরায়ন). Kolkata: Smt Ramaa Choudhury, Haimavati-Anirban Trust, 1995.
* "Antaryoga" ( _bn. অন্তর্যোগ). Kolkata: Sri Goutam Dharmapal, Haimavati Prakashani, 1997 (Bengali year 1404), 3rd edition.
* "Prashnottari" ( _bn. প্রশ্নোত্তরী). Halishar: Srimat Swami Jnananada Saraswati, Assam Bangyiya Saraswat Math, 2001 (Bengali year 1408), 2nd edition.
* "Pravachan" ( _bn. প্রবচন). Halishar: Srimat Swami Jnananada Saraswati, Assam Bangyiya Saraswat Math, 2002 (Bengali year 1409). (Four volumes).
* "Letters from a Baul" (English). Undated.
* "Dakshinamurti" ( _bn. দক্ষিণামূর্তি). Undated.
* "Gitanuvachan" ( _bn. গীতানুবচন). Undated.
* "Kaveri (Poem)" ( _bn. কাবেরী). Undated.
* "Patralekha" ( _bn. পত্রলেখা). Undated.
* "Shiksha" ( _bn. শিক্ষা). Undated.
* "Snehashish" ( _bn. স্নেহাশীষ). Undated.
* "Upanishad Prasanga - Ishopanishad" ( _bn. উপনিষৎ প্রসঙ্গ : ঈশোপনিষদ্). Undated.
* "Upanishad Prasanga - Oitareya Upanishad" ( _bn. উপনিষৎ প্রসঙ্গ : ঐতরেয় উপনিষদ্). Undated.
* "Upanishad Prasanga – Kenopanishad" — ( _bn. উপনিষৎ প্রসঙ্গ : কেনোপনিষদ্). Undated.
* "Yogasamanwaya Prasanga" ( _bn. যোগসমন্বয় প্রসঙ্গ). Undated.

See also

* Hindu idealism
* Hindu philosophy

References

External links

* [http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/A_0246.htm] Banglapedia
* [http://absmath.org Assam Bangiya Saraswat Matha]
* "J.L. Mehta on Heidegger, Hermeneutics, and Indian Tradition". By Jarava Lal Mehta, William J. Jackson (editor). Brill Academic Publishers, 1992. ISBN 978-9004094888. [http://books.google.co.in/books?id=967eWDvaKRIC&pg=PA166&lpg=PA166&dq=%22Translated+The+Life+Divine+into+Bengali%22&source=web&ots=sy0VUH1fRb&sig=bH0e8LW-E7mgIkTyZDmwmsLu4CQ&hl=en Google books version, accessed June 1, 2008]
* [http://anirvan.ning.com/ and http://anirvanfrancais.ning.com/Causerie and forum inspired by a devotee to spread the beauty of the loving wisdom and Varuni Shunyata of the extraordinary saint Sri Anirvan]
* [http://anirvan-memories.blogspot.com/ To know more about Sri Anirvan and contribute to one's experience with this great saint and yogi]