sree narayana guru

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Nârâyana Guru (नारायण गुरु,നാരായണ ഗുരു) (1856 - 1928), also known as Sree Nârâyana Guru Swami, was a saint, sage and social reformer of India. He was born into an Ezhava family, in an era when the Ezhava caste, because of its precarious position between the upper and lowest strata in the

caste hierarchy, faced much social injustice. Gurudeva, as he is fondly called, revolted against casteism and worked on propagating new values of freedom in spirituality and of social equality, thereby transforming the society in Kerala. Nârâyana Guru is revered for his Vedic knowledge, poetic proficiency, openness to the views of others, non-violent philosophy and his unrelenting resolve to set aright social wrongs. Nârâyana Guru was instrumental in setting the spiritual foundations for social reform[1] in the current State of Kerala (erstwhile states of Travancore, Kochi and Malabar district of British India) and was one of the most successful social reformers who tackled caste in India. He demonstrated a path to social emancipation without invoking the dualism of the oppressed and the oppressor. In contrast to certain other reformers who criticised Brahmins and other upper caste Hindus for the conditions of the lower castes, Nârâyana Guru stressed on the uplift of a community through its own efforts by the establishment of schools and temples. In the process he brushed aside the Hindu religious conventions based upon Chaturvarna. His transformation of the social face of Kerala relied on emphasizing the Advaita philosophy of Sankara. The Guru was born at Chempazhanthi, a small village near Thiruvananthapuram, circa

1856. As the only son of his parents, who had three daughters, the young boy was named Nânu (short for Nârâyana). The small thatched house where Nânu was born is preserved to date as a historical monument. Nânu’s father Mâdan Âúân, of the Valyalvârathu joint family, was a Sanskrit teacher knowledgeable in astrology, Ayurvedic medicine and the epics of Hinduism. Nânu’s uncle Krishnan Vaidyan was a reputed Ayurvedic physician and Sanskrit scholar. Nânu is said to have been initiated into traditional formal education Ezhuthinirithal under Chempazhanthi Pillai, a local schoolmaster and village officer. Besides schooling,

young Nânu continued to be educated at home, under the guidance of his father and his uncle Krishnan Vaidyan, where he was taught basics of the Tamil and Sanskrit languages and traditional subjects such as Siddharûpam, Bâlaprobhodhanam and Amarakoúam. Biographical accounts describe Nânu as a reticent and intelligent boy who was intensely drawn to devout worship at the Manackal temple adjacent to the Valyalvârathu home. The boy Nânu is also said to have many a time criticised his own relatives for social discrimination and the apartheid-like practice of segregating children of, supposedly, lower castes in his times. He is also said to have preferred solitude for meditation and to have shown a strong aptitude for

poetics and reasoning, composing hymns and singing them in praise of God. He lost his mother around the age of 15. Nânu is thought to have spent most of his adolescent years and early youth assisting both his father, in tutoring, and his uncle in the practice of Ayurvedic medicine whilst giving the rest of the time to himself for intense devotional practices at temples nearby. At the age of 21 young Nânu was sent for further education under an eminent scholar Kummampilli Râman Pillai Âúân of Karunagapalli. Living as a guest in a prominent family house Varanapallil near Kayankulam, Nânu, along with other students, was tutored by this scholar in subjects like advanced Sanskrit Language and Poetry, Drama and Literary Criticism, and

Logical Rhetoric. Around the age of 25, Nânu returned to his village after which he was intermittently involved in running a village school for children. His role as a teacher gained him the name Nânu Âúân (Âúân meaning a master or teacher). Whilst teaching and continuing his quest for Truth, through self-study and his own experiences in life, Nânu Âúân moved around on foot to places in the vicinity, often spending time in the confines of temples, writing poems and hymns and lecturing to village folk on philosophy and moral values. Though married, through an initiative by his sisters, Nânu Âúân was not inclined towards a married life, nor is much known about his marital life, which would have ended with the increasing intensity of his spiritual inclination and drifting as a wandering ascetic in search of truth. During his meandering days, at the house of another Sanskrit

scholar and old classmate, Perunalli Krishnan Vidayar, Nânu Âúân got introduced to many learned men and peers, including Kunjan Pilla, who was destined to become his spiritual guide and soul mate Chattampi Swamikal. Kunjan Pilla, who discovered and appreciated Nânu Âúân’s philosophical genius and passion for Yoga, introduced him to a master of Yogic practices by the name of Thycaud Ayyavu. Under the Yogi, Nânu Âúân mastered various Yogic practices including Hatha Yoga. The exposure gained from this scholastic experiences had a lasting impact on the later life and philosophy of Nârâyana Guru.

with Warm Regards

ManoRaj

 

 

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