Sree Narayana Guru 1854–1928

When Narayana Guru was born (in southern Kerala, then the kingdom of Travancore) the socioeconomic structure of India was very oppressive to the masses, as the country was ruled by several petty chiefs who were under the influence of an exploiting kind of theocracy. The caste system, a scourge of the Hindu society, was at its worst and the working class masses were treated as untouchables or outcastes.

Even from early childhood Narayana Guru sensed the outrage of injustice shown to the people of less privileged classes, to whom schools, places of worship, and even the public highways were forbidden. He challenged these social atrocities even as a boy. He learned Malayalam, Tamil, and Sanskrit, and became well-grounded in the scriptural classics of both Sanskrit and Tamil. But scholarship did not bring him any peace of mind.

He knew that he could never be happy unless his fellow beings could also share his happiness. With this intention in his mind, he left home and became a wayfarer in search of truth. After traveling extensively and learning the secrets of Yoga, he entered a cave in Marutvamalai and did intense penance for six years. During those years of solitary meditation he had no one to support him other than the Divine Providence. At the end of his tapasya he became an enlightened soul. He saw the oneness of all living beings and he decided to return to the world with the message of unity.

He was soon recognized by people as their guru, and in less than a quarter of a century he became instrumental in a radical revolution of the socioeconomic structure in Southern India. Millions of people became his dedicated followers, and an organized force was created to eradicate the blight of untouchability and to reclaim justice, equality, and human dignity. His watchword was “only he lives who loves.” To the masses he gave two cryptic messages: “man is of one kind, one faith, and one God,” and “whatever a man’s religion, he should be good.”

He knew that the emancipation of humanity lies in knowledge. He built several temples and threw them open to all, so that people could live a clean and devoted life. He opened several new schools where the masses, who had formerly been forbidden the right to an education, could study. He opened industrial centers to make poor people economically self-sufficient. He was always a friend of the lowliest and lost, but he never attacked any section of people, however aggressive they were, nor broke any established law. He taught people to reconsider and revise traditional practices and age-old conventions that were opposed to social and natural justice. He brought pressure on the rulers to repeal laws of repression and social discrimination and to enact in their place laws that enhance justice and human dignity.

Although these historical changes that he brought about can never be forgotten, his major contribution to world culture comes from the example of his personal life and his philosophical and mystical writings in Malayalam, Tamil, and Sanskrit. Both the cream of the ancient Dravidian culture preserved by the Tamil language and the Upanishadic wisdom enshrined by the Sanskrit language found their confluence in the writings of Narayana Guru. His mystical hymns are both inspiring and elevating. Without watering down the emotional fervor of devotion, he used these poems as a means to restate his philosophy of unitive understanding.

Today, scholars all over the world are finding in his writings new avenues to approach the eternal riddles of life. The universal and thoroughgoing ethical norms enunciated by him are well suited to be used as the normative basis for the world order of a unified human family. His insight into psychology opens up the mysterious depths of the human mind and spirit, and if it is properly pursued, we can discover in its light the meaning and purpose of our life in the here and now and the secret of establishing harmonious relationships with the rest of the world.