Introduction

India has produced no nobler teacher, no bolder reformer, no holier saint, and above all no greater nation builder than Sree Narayana Guru of Kerala.  His life, work and teachings have a refreshing uniqueness combined with naturalness and a sublime simplicity tinged with mystery, which render them peculiarly interesting and profoundly instructive to students of Hindu Nationalism. His teachings offer ideals and methods of realizing them which no one else has so clearly and successfully demonstrated in recent centuries. The chief results and lessons of his eventful career may be summarized thus.

He was born among humble peasants, without the benefit of any kind of modern education, wealth, social influence or other advantages that bring success in life. Yet he rose by virtue of his self-culture and love of humanity to the highest position of respect a man could attain in this world. He was looked upon as the incarnation of God and revered as such by millions of people in his own lifetime.  He assumed no robes of saintliness.  He initiated no disciples to be his obedient flag bearers. He wrote no books to show his wisdom.  He followed no mystic methods to impress the credulous.  Born among simple rustics he kept his simplicity unchanged unto death.  Wherever he went, he attracted thousands of people towards him and made them work out their own salvation in a hundred different ways.  Wherever he went he gave consolation to the sick, cast out evil spirits, rescued the drunkard from his vice, and encouraged the poor to persist in efforts at self-improvements. He also raised the enslaved to a sense of freedom and equality with their fellowmen, healed differences and closed up ranks for united endeavors. He inspired the rich and the poor to sacrifice their wealth according to their means for the common good. He gathered honest people to serve the community and always kept sowing seeds of new ideals and aspirations, which went deep into the hearts of his listeners. He took root in reality and brought forth a giant-tree with fruits and flowers, giving shelter to numerous people and adding beauty to their lives.  He himself remained an embodiment of simple living and high thinking.  No attempt was made to create an impression, to advertise his greatness, or attract followers.  The reverence he gained was the unsolicited homage of all classes from the peasant to the prince that had occasion to see him, or listen to his words or benefit by his influence.  He exemplified to what divine heights even the humblest of men could rise by self-culture and love of humanity.

He had to fulfill his mission among a people numbering about 2.3million in the West Coast of India.  They had been forced for many centuries to live outside the civilized society.They had been denied education and freedom to walk along roads and to drink water from wells. They were denied true religion and culture, by all the forces of society, religion, the Government, and had been kept down to a life of subjection, ignorance and degradation.  The Guru worked among them in a way no other teacher did and made them in his own lifetime self-respecting men and women, who could, not only find their own salvation, but also proudly direct the way to the emancipation of all Hindus.  He moved among them for over forty years never stopping in any place continuously for more than a few weeks or months. In his daily conversations, he told them the injurious customs which had to be given up, the superstitions they had to abandon and the beneficial habits they had to cultivate, and how they were to work for their own, and the community’s uplift.  He addressed no meetings. His presence was sufficient, and his teaching spread from mouth to mouth and the people organized them selves in every place to carry out his casually given instructions.  Thus he reformed their domestic and social life, abolished their superstitions, bad customs and wasteful ceremonies. He encouraged their temperance and economy, created a yearning for knowledge and power, strengthened industrious habits, promoted public spirit, co-operation and union, and made their lives in all ways purer, richer and stronger.  He gave them all the institutions they wanted for their progress which Hindu society has denied them in all the past centuries – temples of pure worship, schools where they could learn ancient Sanskrit as well as modern English, local associations which taught them how to organize and govern themselves, missionaries to work for the common welfare, and priests who ministered to all their religious needs. He gave them a new social and religious philosophy which they could hold up before the world with pride and confidence, and to which even the greatest of men bowed their heads with approval and admiration.

With his proper guidance the downtrodden saved themselves, and took the lead in saving the whole of Hindu Society in that part of India.  Harijan (the  out-casts) uplift, temple entry for the denied, eradication of untouchability among casts, prohibition of liquor, inter-religious fraternity, social reform of temples and reform of Mutts  (Hindu monasteries) and Swamies, and many similar movements were started and accomplished under the Guru’s inspiration long before the Indian National Congress turned its attention to social problems.  In half a century, the Guru’s followers became chiefly instrumental in achieving the most momentous reform of Hindu religion and society since the days of Buddhism. He was instrumental in the opening of all the temples in Travancore to all Hindus without distinction, the annihilation of untouchability, and the practical destruction of caste restrictions in general.Guru hardly ever condemned anything or attacked anyone.  He said what was the right thing to do, and he showed how to do it.  He demonstrated how intelligent men could transform the worst of institutions to good purpose.  Whether it was the caste, a ceremony, a temple, or the Hindu ascetics- he was always transformed the old into something fresh and useful. No one even among the orthodox was provoked against him, and no one had a word to say against him.  He created a revolution before anybody could feel its exact nature, or anticipate its consequences, and he did it without antagonizing any sect or creed.  No other great teacher could ever accomplish such a mission so peacefully.

Another remarkable character of the movement was that, though in its wider external manifestations it was confined to one of the Hindu communities, it was hailed by all classes of people, Hindus, Christians, Muslims, all of whom recognized in the Guru one of those great beings who shape the destinies of men.  His concept – One Caste, One Religion, One God - by its own intrinsic purity and universality, rose above all distinctions of caste, race and creed, and appealed to the soul in man.  Its influence pervaded to all societies, and created a new era of social and intellectual freedom.  The now famous motto of his teachings “One Race, One Religion, one God for man,” has come to occupy the same place in Hindu nationalism as that of liberty, equality, and fraternity in European Nationalism.

One more feature of his movement deserves a special mention.  Though a saint and religious man all his life, he was no dreamer.  Being a great scholar and philosopher, he was always at his plough doing good things to the world, and making others do likewise.  Holding his head above ordinary humanity, his hands were ever engaged in ministering to the humble and the abandoned.  He wielded extraordinary spiritual powers, and always taught his followers to attend to the little things of daily life.  A mystic of mystics, and a mystery even to those closest to him, his external life was as prudent, disciplined and vigorous as that of a great general leading his forces to victory. His distinctive contribution to Hindu Nationalism may be observed in his handling of the three great problems that troubled Hindu social life - the caste, the temple and the Mutt (monastery).

Abolition of Caste

We often think that caste is a divinely ordained institution, and one of such hoary antiquity that it is almost impossible to change it.  The Guru used to say it was all a silly phantom.  Where is the so-called caste to be found, in men’s body or mind or speech or action?  There is no earthly means of ascertaining a man’s caste unless he confessed it, for caste has no reality in the facts of life.  It does not correspond to any ascertainable difference in men’s condition - whether mental or physical.  It is a mere convention, and its sole support, as of all conventions, is the willing recognition we give to it.  If we take away that recognition caste will disappear in no time.  The life of a joint stock company depends on its name and the legal “soul” given by the State to the Corporation.  So is caste but a Corporation name. It asserted its hold on the people when kings gave it legal value and validity. It survives because the State continues to recognize it, and not because it has any positive merit of its own. It will disappear when the state abolishes its active recognition.  This teaching, he put in his own pithy words thus: “There is in truth nothing like caste.  Ask not, say not, and think not caste.”  This seems quite impracticable at first sight, and yet it is the most practicable and probably the only means of solving the caste problem.  The Christians, the Muhammadans and the Buddhists have no caste distinctions.  Many millions of Hindus have become casteless by joining these creeds.  It is happening every day around us.  The untouchable and the Brahmin lose their caste, and become brethren when the Christian Pastor sprinkles on them the water of baptism.  If a few drops of water can so effectively drive out caste forever, why should we suppose that it is unyielding or inevitable? 

Some Christian converts in Travancore claimed the concessions allowed by the state to the “Depressed Classes”.  The questions went up even to some members of the House of Commons in London.  All agreed in holding that there were no depressed classes among Christians.  In a legal case which went up to the Madras High Court, caste-Hindu converts claimed to exclude non-caste converts from being seated along with them in the church.  In such cases either the Government or the Court had given their approval to the observance of these distinctions.   In a few years the Christian society would have become as caste-mad as the Hindus were.  In a few places where Roman Catholic churches tolerated caste pretensions among their converts the evil has taken root, but because the state does not recognize these aberrations they gradually disappear.  It is so with the entire system of the Hindus.  There is no necessity to advocate inter-marriage and inter-dining.  What is wanted is that nobody should have a right to prevent or condemn inter-marriage and inter-dining.  Restore to the Hindus their individual freedom to decide whom they should marry, or dine with, without being persecuted by anyone.  Take away the legal values you have given to an imaginary classification, and in a few years the community will solve the problem without any reformer telling them what to do.  All public recognition of caste by the Government as well as by the society should be stopped.  A Hindu should be no more than a Hindu, just as a Christian is a Christian, and Muhammadan a Muslim without caste qualifications tacked on.  The State alone can abolish the present evil practice. “The survival of the Hindu peoples is dependent on their organization into a community through national legislation which will re-emphasize the secular character of Hindu organizations, and sweep away the dead customs which through misunderstanding have come to be identified with their religion.”

Reform of Temples

Temples are what we make of them.  They are themselves material things, and can do neither good nor evil.  If we are foolish, the priests will use them to encourage idolatry, to increase superstition, and to exploit the ignorant.  If we are wise, we ourselves may use them to instruct the people, to ennoble their lives, to abolish caste differences and unite them. We may use temples to give people recreations as well as education, and increase their devotion to God as well as enthusiasm for work in this world.  As the temples fell in to the hands of the priests who managed them, not for the public good but for oppressing and exploiting the public for private gain, they became bad and detestable.  The Guru built scores of temples, big and small, and demonstrated how they could be used for the uplift of the community in all directions.  His temples became centers of all-round public activity.  They were surrounded by monasteries, schools, lecture halls, banks, dispensaries, libraries, rest houses, gardens, and similar institutions, which ennobled and enriched the collective life.  The influence and resources of the temples were used for the good of the worshippers.  The Guru used the temples, not to perpetuate, but to demolish old superstitions, and to introduce reforms.  Even idolatry could be abolished by having temples without idols and without priests.  The temples can be made a source of blessing in this world much more than in the next.  That is the great teaching of his temple movement.

The Guru did not encourage the old ideal of ascetics, who tried or pretended to live away from the ordinary world. He said that a Sannyasin should be a man of renunciation whose life is dedicated to the service of humanity. A few exceptional individuals may be allowed to experiment with their own lives in solitude, but the public monasteries or Mutts should be homes of service no less than of spiritual exercise. The Sannyasins should be missionaries of a new life and a new light. They should work among the people with all the ardor and purity of renunciation. His own wonderful life set an example to his followers of what could be achieved by a true Sannyasin. He lived always in the midst of work, and yet he was as free, composed and happy as he was in a forest hermitage. Though a man of God, he appeared to be immersed in the things of the world in order to help the poor and the ignorant. His prayer, his meditation, his spiritual aspirations were all expressed in the life of helpfulness wherever he was. No saint has set a nobler example of service to humanity. No teacher sanctified selfless work more than he did. He taught hardly anything in words, but every act of his was a lesson to those around him.Religion is life, and life is religion, seemed to be the one truth he silently proclaimed. He refused to make any difference between the good of this world and of the next. What is truly good here must be good there too. What is not really good now cannot be good hereafter in another existence. Bad practices and superstitious beliefs should not be justified by alleging a cause in the previous life, and promising a benefit in the future. Man’s duty is to take care of his life here and now, and the life hereafter will take care of itself. It was in this spirit that he wanted his followers to work for the making of their present lives healthier and richer. This attitude of his was expressed in the saying: It matters little which religion a man follows provided it makes him a better human.

The philosophy of his mission is contained in the motto “One race, One religion, One God for man.”  This teaching of the Guru has become the inspiring faith of millions of humble people, who though unable to realize its vast significance or visualize the consequences of its application, are yet staunch in their adherence to it.  One race pleads for the recognition, in every sphere of life of the solidarity and unity of humanity, not only as spiritual truth but also as a fact in nature, as a feature of our origin and evolution.  It calls upon us to forget the silly barriers of caste, creed, race and nationality, which separate man from man, and to strive for the growing realization of universal brotherhood.  The fact of natural unity having been asserted, one religion demands of us the embodiment of that truth in the laws and institutions that regulate life.  The fundamental laws of mind and body are common to all mankind.  The spiritual truths are the same.  The economic, political and ethical laws also must be essentially identical. To that consummation we must direct our aspirations and endeavors.  The soul of civilization and progress which should be ever present before our mental vision as the eternal unifying bond in the midst of superficial differences and temporary antagonisms should be a living faith in one Supreme Being, the Highest Truth, the One God. These teachings were not meant to be merely a doctrine to be piously believed and cherished in the heart.  They were to be used to test and justify every step of our progress, every measure of reform, every effort of reconstruction, and he himself did not teach anything of which he did not set an example.

When it was time to give an intellectual basis to the moral convictions, and elevate the people's passive faith in virtue to dynamic will to know the Truth and to realize the Truth.  Sree Sankaracharya, by his philosophical teachings, gave to the Hindus a common intellectual outlook and instilled in their minds a spirit of broad toleration, mutual appreciation and compromise in additions to the self-reliance which has become the bedrock of the highest Hinduism ever since. The influences of Buddha and Sankaracharya lie deep down in the inner springs of the nation’s soul, and has not yet found any adequate expression in the organized life of Hindu society.  Organized Hinduism and organized Hindu society have never been in consonance with Dharma (Righteousness) or Satya (Truth).  The Hindus both as individuals and as a nation have two distinct existences. The spiritual life prompted by the best sentiments, by the boldest aspirations, lay decaying beneath the impenetrable debris of soul-crushing customs and enforced bondage. The social life rising like the Himalayas in silent mockery of human ambitions in defiance of Dharma and Satya, over the heads of its prostrate devotees making the Hindu contemptible pigmies in a world of freedom and joint enterprises.  To this day the Hindus have not succeeded in evolving a social order substantially consistent with the teachings of their mahatmas, and if ever the Hindus become a really great nation once more, it will be only when they have succeeded in re-constructing their collective life in accordance with the fundamental ideas of Righteousness and Truth that offers justice and equality and freedom to all, man and woman, strong and weak, that seek the highest Truth in the manifestations, activities and institutions of life no less than in its inner impulses and intellectual pursuits.  Sree Narayana Guru has started the work of this reconstruction.

India cannot live in the spirit alone:

She must have a body strong and healthy enough to embody the spirit.  She must make her organized existence social, religious and political, an expression of her spiritual aspirations, and not their negation as it is today.  The social order, the religious system, and the political state must become embodiments of our national Dharma and wisdom and cease to be engines of exploitation and injustice, citadels of selfishness, oppression and superstition as they are today.  We require no more illumination; we need no new truth.  We have only to live in the light that has been shed around us, and build on the truths, which have been disclosed, to us by our Saviors.  Till now we have preferred to live in the darkness of caste-prisons and build on the falsehoods of priest-craft and so long as we do not abandon our allegiance to these we deserve to remain in chains.  A life based on human brotherhood and the recognition of the fatherhood of God, Brahma, or Allah and seeking its highest fulfillment here in this world, in our individual and national life is the true religion, the only religion which can save mankind.  This is the essence of the Hindu Nationalism of Sree Narayana Guru, the path to unity, freedom and peace.  The Buddha made us one in Righteousness; Sree Sankara made us one in spirit and Truth; Sree Narayana Guru seeks to make us one of the living brotherhoods of a free nation.

The institutions and forces which the Guru have left behind are so numerous, scattered and various in character that they hardly possess any common shape and seem to move towards no definite goal in their present condition.  It is too early to say whether they will or will not assume an organic form and institutional individuality of their own.  In their present apparently chaotic condition they have been saved from degenerating into a well-marked sect or creed.  The Guru and his teachings have not come to be claimed as the sole monopoly of an organized group.  No single body has yet been developed to hold the heart; no temple has yet been built to enshrine the soul.  The spirit of the Guru is working in diverse ways and forms, in places far and near, through persons and organizations, seemingly unconnected, but all aspiring to the same glorious end, the breaking down of the barriers to human fellowship and the realization of a greater freedom and truth in life and knowledge.  To Hindu society this may prove a great blessing.  Unlike other movements which have become separate sects more or less outside the pale of Hinduism and thus lost their capacity to influence Hindu life.  Guru’s mission continues to be a dynamic power within it.  It stands out as an expression and exposition of Hindu Nationalism, bolder than many hitherto attempted but in full harmony with its previous manifestations from the days of the Upanishads through the Buddha and Sree Sankara down to Dayananda Saraswati.