The Indian Messenger Online

By Ramananda Chatterjee Of the three maxims in politics, in ethics, and in religion, which Rammohun Roy often repeated, the one on religion was from the Persian Poet Saadi, and runs thus in English translation :— “The true way of serving God is to do good to man”. This puts us on the track of the mainspring of his multifarious activities for the welfare of his countrymen and of mankind in general. It was his religious faith. As I have Read More …

Continued from last issue… Rammohun was not a believer in mere Sastra unless that was verified by experience. When experience proves that truth of Sastra, it became acceptable. It was his firm faith that “By forsaking prejudices and reflecting on Sastra what is really conformable to its precepts, may be perceived and the evils and disgrace brought on this country by the crime of female murder will cease”. Rammohun carried on his propaganda against the sati in his second tract Read More …

The social system of the Hindus contained a number of iniquitous and inhuman practises. The most barbarous of which was the burning of widows on the funeral pyre of their dead husband. It was believed by the people that if a woman could die along with her husband, she not only went to heaven but also saved her husband from perdition. The custom of concremation was an old custom in India and it had a wide appeal. There were no Read More …

By Arup Kumar Das Rabindranath Tagore was born in the ancestral house of the Tagores at Jorasanko Thakur Bari, a centre of the 19th century Bengali renaissance. His father, Maharshi Debendranath Tagore, was an ardent follower of Raja Rammohun Roy, the maker of modern India, who founded the Brahmo Samaj in 1828. Debendranath abjured idolatry, accepted initiation into Brahma Dharma, gave it a shape and became the leader of a re-oriented faith founded on the pure monotheism of the ancient Read More …

By Maulavi Wahed Husain Continued from last issue… Taking his stand on the doctrines of the Vedanta philosophy, Rammohun Roy sounded the clarion note of the Divine Unity and invited his countrymen to the pure worship of the Supreme Being discarding the rites of idol worship. In its rejection of idolatry, his movement was revolt in the Hindu society, and he led it boldly with all the resources at his command. This religious revolt was akin to the similar revolts Read More …

By S. Bagchi Man’s search after the unknown starts even from his creation, whether he has been created out of void or evolved from something already existed, is for the people of science to decipher. We, the common men, are hardly concerned with that. We see him struggling for his existence and he is astounded with certain happenings which appear before him. He is deeply in thought as to the cause of these phenomena, and he fails to locate, and Read More …

[In His own words] One day Haladhari, the cousin of Sri Ramakrishna, remarked to him, “Can one get spiritual elevation by worshipping a Tamasika form ? Why do you bestow so much attention on the worship of Kali?” Sri Ramakrishna did not answer him then: but he was pained at the disrespect shown to his favourite Deity. He at once went to the Kali temple and asked the Divine Mother with tearful eyes, “Mother, Haladhari is a scholar, versed in Read More …

By Maulavi Wahed Husain In what sense did Raja Rammohun Roy use the words? ‘Unity’ and ‘Monotheism’? Did he use them in the sense in which Sankara used them, or in the sense in which Ramanuja explained them, or in the sense they are used in the Quran? Let us try to ascertain his views on the subject. According to Sankara the Supreme Being is the Absolute. His metaphysical arguments reduce the Divine entity into a mere abstraction. As pointed Read More …

By SILUVERU SUDARSHAN Emergence of mankind in the evolutionary process of life is a spectacular phenomenon. It is neither accidental, nor incidental, but an intentional directive act of God (Iswara) as indicated in the following scriptural Statements, though the mechanism apparently seem to be structured in the framework of evolutionary cycle. He (God), Desired: “May I Become many”, (Taittiriyopanishad Brahmanavallt VI) All activities are carried out by Brahmana  “Oh! Peaceful one, before creation, all this universe was, in the form Read More …

By Sivanath Sastri We believe that this universe has sprung from, is sustained and governed by the will of Supreme and Self-existent Being, infinite in power, wisdom, love, justice and holiness. His providence is ever active, special as well as universal. By reason of His infinitude and uniqueness, He is beyond our knowledge and faith. We cannot conceive or comprehend Him except partially through His manifestations in nature and in man; but by means of our reason and instincts, our Read More …