By Malavika Nagarkar
(Talk given at Brahmopasana meeting on Sunday, 8 May 2022)
A Professor was teaching Philosophy to a class in Oxford. The teacher said that Dr. Martino, a philosopher, had contradicted and shown the defects in some of Bradley’s arguments. A young student immediately responded by telling the Professor that there was no question of Martino saying anything about Bradley as Martino had died before Bradley came onto the scene. The Professor had to accept this.
This young student was Dr. G.Y. Chitnis – Gajanan Yeshwant Chitnis – a brilliant scholar, with unbelievable insight into subjects, an ever-questioning mind in search of truth, one who was fully dedicated to whatever he took up and one who stood by his beliefs with no compromise whatsoever And above all who had the courage of his convictions.
Born in a typical orthodox Maharashtrian family, we see him evolving into an individual with a mind of his own. His father was in government service and would sometimes be travelling. As a child, when his mother would conduct the kirtan, young Gajanan stood behind her to sing. Unfortunately, his mother died of paralysis when he was just 10 years old.
For a while Gajanan became a follower of Hanuman and would sing bhajans all night in the temple on Hanuman Jayanti. As he noticed his excellent progress in studies, he became a devotee of Saraswati. He was then in a boarding school in Ratnagiri, and there he lost his faith in Saraswati. In Ratnagiri he would switch off the lights at night, shut his eyes and just sit peacefully.
Here it was that he got his first shocking exposure to caste differences and its hierarchy. A Muslim Inspector friend got him some omlette and ‘pav’, which he ate readily along with a school friend. There was a lot of hue and cry over this among the people around him – eating food given by a person of another religion! As if to spite them Gajanan and his friend decided to order food only from Muslim shops. Gajanan always dressed in style. (This you notice in him even in his later years.) As a result his teacher called him a “Dandy”. This was another reason for his peers to look on him with suspicion.
Gajanan, by now, was all against the narrow-minded thinking of caste differences and was also now against idolatory. In fact, for a while he became an atheist.
In those times, a person not going by the beaten path, vociferously opposing accepted customs and practices was not just frowned upon but also looked upon as one who lacked character. Initially this disturbed Gajanan, but then he told himself that if a person wants to live by his beliefs he must have the strength to make his rules and live by them.
Whatever Gajanan studied he did with dedication. When he had difficulty with Algebra, he got a book on the subject and worked on it on his own to get proficiency in it. And he did, in fact, do very well in the subject. Sanskrit also he enjoyed and had hoped to get the highest award given at Matriculation then: The Jaggannath Shankarsheth Scholarship. But he missed that. Drama and music also keenly interested him and he was not only associated with drama companies but even acted in some plays.
One day as the young Gajanan Chitnis was walking past the Bombay Prarthana Samaj in Mumbai he noticed that one Sudhirchandra Banerjee was to give a talk that day in the Samaj. He decided to attend the talk. As a part of his talk Babuji mentioned the basic tenets of the Brahmo Samaj. That did it. Chitnis decided to become a Brahmo Samajist. They met repeatedly and then Sudhirbabu, noticing Chitnis’s keen thinking and sharpness of mind, asked him to leave Mumbai and come to Kolkata.
After a lot of mental debate Chitnis decided to go to Kolkata. On the way in the train he removed his sacred thread and threw it out of the window. With that one act, all this about higher, lower castes etc went out of the window, too. For a while he lived in the Sadhanashram and worked with the others there. Here Prof Heramba Chandra Maitra asked Chitnis to conduct the ‘upasana’. The theme of his nivedan was Socrates’ well-known statement: Know thyself. When told that his nivedan would be published in the Indian Messenger, he wrote that out and also gave another article on Tolstoy.
From Kolkata he went to Shillong and Kurseong. He worked there with the Brahmos for the children and others as part of their work for society. Chitnis also worked for a while with the Brahmos for the Khasis.
After a period Chitnis decided to return to Bombay but as he neared Bombay he changed his mind and proceeded instead to Ahmednagar. There he carried on his missionary work, conducting upasanas and joining in their social activities. There were some Christians also attending the upasanas there. Some of Chitnis’ views disturbed them, while his other views disturbed the Brahmos. They though he was going to convert to Christianity bit Chitnis had no such plans. Then it was time to return to Mumbai.
Back in Mumbai, he restarted his work for the Prarthana Samaj. He was conducting upasanas regularly, contributing articles to the Subodh Patrika, working as Editor of the Patrika and reaching out to people with the message of the Samaj. Being a singer, Chtnis sang some bhajans as well. He had learnt some Bengali Brahmo Sangeet and on occasion included these in his upasanas. One of Chitnis’s nivedans so impressed D.G. Vaidya, a senior member of the Samaj, that he published it in place of the Editorial in the Subodh Patrika. As a missionary of the Samaj, Chitnis lived in the Ram Mohan Ashram which was in the same compound as the Samaj.