Our Duty (An Old and Rare Book)

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H. H. JAGADGURU CHANDRASEKHARA BHARATI (1892 ΤΟ 1954 A. D.) His Holiness Jagadguru Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati was the Sankaracharya who adorned the Sri Sarada Pitha of Sringeri in the Mysore State. It was the first seat of Advaita Philosophy established by Sri Sankara His Holiness was a saintly personality of great spiritual eminence and profound scholarship in the Sastras. A Brahmajnani of rare excellence, he was frequently lost in Advaitic experience in periods of Samadhi when the luminous glow in his countenance proclaimed his Brahmanubhava.

His Holiness's discourses on Hindu Religion and Dharma, which were simple in language and lucid in exposition, were punctuated with homely illustrations, and had the power to convince the doubting and convert the sceptic, coming as he did, in the succession of authentic tradition, his is the classical view of Hindu Dharma in its pristine purity. Some of His Holiness's teachings, faithfully gathered in this book by one of his devoted disciples, have a special value in the context of ignorance, misunderstanding and bewilderment that assail us at the present time, both as individuals and as a society.

His Holiness, reverently adored as a jivanmukta, occupied the Sringeri Pitha for 43 years from 1912 like a true yogi that he was, he abandoned his body at the end of his life in 1954 in the sacred waters of the Tungabhadra.

The Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan-that Institute of Indian Culture in Bombay-needed a Book University, a series of books which, if read, would serve the purpose of providing higher education. Particular emphasis, however, was to be put on such literature as revealed the deeper impulsions of India. As a first step, it was decided to bring out in English 100 books, 50 of which were to be taken in hand almost at once.

It is our intention to publish the books we select, not only in English, but also in the following Indian languages: Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.

This scheme, involving the publication of 900 volumes, requires ample funds and an all-Indian organisation. The Bhavan is exerting its utmost to supply them.

The objectives for which the Bhavan stands are the reintegration of Indian culture in the light of modern knowledge and to suit our present-day needs and the resuscitation of its fundamental values in their pristine vigour.

Let me make our goal more explicit :

We seek the dignity of man, which necessarily implies the creation of social conditions which would allow him freedom to evolve along the lines of his own temperament and capacities; we seek the harmony of individual efforts and social relations, not in any make-shift way, but within the frame-work of the Moral Order; we seek the creative art of life, by the alchemy of which human limitations are progressively transmuted, so that man may become the instrument of God, and is able to see Him in all and all in Him.

The world, we feel, is too much with us. Nothing would uplift or inspire us so much as the beauty and aspiration which such books can teach.