Acknowledgment by who's who about The Most Inspiring Son of Mother India
Celebrating
250th Birth Anniversary of Rajarshi Rammohan Roy
Who was Rajarshi Rammohan Roy? Part 6 of 6
2nd Edition - January 2, 2023, by Sri Bandyo Photo: Samadhi Mandir of Rammohan
Highlights:
• Great
people who Paid the highest respect to Rajarshi Rammohan
• The
Last Day of Rajarshi Rammohan:
• List
of some of his works
Great people who Paid the highest respect to Rajarshi Rammohan
Inspired great men/women: Key movers and shakers of India who looked up to Rammohan
Who’s
who of India paid their greatest respect to Rammohan across the board.
Some said, he was the prophet who saved Hinduism or Hindu Civilization some just simply said he was the father of modern India.
Swami Dayananada: He was highly inspired By Rammohan to start Arya Samaj
Sridharalu Naidu was inspired to start Veda SAMAJ.
Atmaram Pandurang: He was inspired By Rammohan to start Prarthana Samaj
Jyotirao Govindrao Phule: He was inspired By Rammohan to start Satyashodhak Samaj
Bankim
Chandra Chattopadhyay said, “The superiority of Hinduism has been felt for the
first time due to Rammohan Roy”. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was one of the first
graduates of the Hindu College that was initiated by Rammohan. He also
considered Rammohan one of the greatest sons of Mother India.
Rammohun’s economic and political ideas were developed by novelist, poet and journalist Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in his essays, incidentally more voluminous than his novels;
Rammohan’s humanist and feminist dispensation were developed by educator and social reformer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.
Swami Vivekananda: As per Nivedita– “He
(Swami Vivelananda’s) acceptance of the
Vedanta, his preaching of patriotism” are due to Rajarshi Ram Mohan. .. In all
these things he (Swami Vivekananda) claimed himself to have taken up the task
that the breadth and foresight of Ram Mohan Roy had mapped out.
Swami Vivekananda: "The great Hindu reformer, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, was a wonderful example of this unselfish work. He devoted his whole life to helping India. It was he who stopped the burning of widows. It is usually believed that this reform was due entirely to the English; but it was Raja Ram Mohan Roy who started the agitation against the custom and succeeded in obtaining the support of the Government in suppressing it. Until he began the movement, the English had done nothing. He also founded the important religious Society called the Brahmo-Samaj, and subscribed a hundred thousand dollars to found a university. He then stepped out and told them to go ahead without him. He cared nothing for fame or for results to himself”.
Swamiji was a member of Brahmo Samaj and he was inspired by Maharshi Debendranath.
Rabindranath Tagore : "Ram Mohan Roy inaugurated the modern age in India. He was the 'Father of Indian Renaissance' & 'The Prophet of Indian Nationalism'." He also considered Rammohan as his Idol and Hero.
Rabindranath
Tagore :"He bought back the life to Hindu Dharma. All India is grateful to him for this. What a crisis period it was when he was
born! On one side of him the plateau of
Hindu society was eroding, and on the other side the mighty flood of the ocean
of Western civilization was advancing with lightning speed--Ram Mohan Roy stood
in the middle in his steadfast greatness.
The Christian revolution came to the dam which he built and was
resisted. If a great man like him had
not been born at that time, there would have been a very devastating flood that
would caused a serious irreparable damage to the of Hndu society".
Rammohan’s religious and spiritual ideas were also developed by Rabindranath Tagore.
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: “Ram Mohan urged a return to the original principles of Vedantism and for a total rejection of all the religions and social impurities that had crept into Hinduism in later times.
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: He also advocated an all-around regeneration of the social and national life and the acceptance of all that is useful and beneficial in the modern life of Europe. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, therefore, stands out against the dawn of the new awakening in India as the prophet of the new age.”
SRI AUROBINDO:“Raja Rammohan Roy was a great man in the first rank of active genius and set flowing a stream of tendencies which have transformed our national life.” He also said, "..great soul and puissant worker, who laid his hand on Bengal and shook her — to what mighty issues — out of her long, indolent sleep by her rivers and rice fields…”. He also gives credit to Rajarshi for bringing back and reviving. He also comes from a Brahmo Samaj family as his maternal grandfather, Rishi Rajnarayan Bose was the pillar of Brahmo Samaj movement.
Rastraguru Surendra Nath Banerjee : "Let it be remembered that Rammohun was not only the Founder of the Brahmo Samaj and the pioneer of all social reform in Bengal, but he was also the Father of constitutional agitation in India."
Bipin Chandra Pal: "Raja was the first to deliver the message of political freedom to India. He so keenly felt the loss of this freedom by his people that even as a boy, yet within his teens, he left his country and travelled to Tibet, because he found it difficult to tolerate the domination of his country by another nation. Bipin Chandra Pal was a Brahmo Samaji.
Chitaranjan Das: "There is no doubt that he was the first who held before us the ideal of freedom. He was the first to sound the note of freedom in every department of life and in every different culture that has met to-day in India. It may be that we have to modify that, it may we have to analyse that more carefully and more in details for the purpose of scientific study but it is enough for our purpose to say that he inaugurated many reforms – you might call that reforming activity. He inaugurated the reforms which again, in turn, gave rise to reaction which, again, gave rise to further reforms which made the nation turn on itself, till at last, it began to be self-conscious. Chitaranjan Das was a Brahmo Samaji.
Justice Mahadev Govind Renade: He considered Rammohan as the father of Modern India
Gopal Krishna Gokhale: He considered Rammohan as the father of Modern India
Gandhi
called him the father of Higher Studies in Hinduism.
Pandit Nehru Called him as the father of Indian Nationalism.
Lala Lajpat Rai called Rammohan as the father of modern India.
Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose said that he received inspiration to do his work from Rammohan. Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose was a Brahmo Samaji.
Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray said,"Rammohan was the greatest Indian ever born in modern times. He was the maker of New India". Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray was a Brahmo Samaji.
Other great Indians who paid the highest respect to Rammohan were Devendranath Tagore, Pandit Sivanath Sastri, Sir Gooroodas Banerjee, Keshub Chunder Sen, Kissory Chand Mitter, Sarojini Naidu, Dr S Radhakrishnan, Sukumar Sen, Nishit Ranjan Ray, Dr. Kalidas Nag, Satyendranath Bose, Veer Savarkar, CV Raman, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Ramananda Chatterjee, DJ Irani, Sir Cowasjee Jehangir, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee etc..
Foreigners who paid the highest respect to Rammohan are Friedrich Maxmuller, Rev. W H E A Arkie, Dr F C Southworth, Dr C Riaudo, etc.
The Last Day of Rajarshi Rammohan:
Throughout his life Rammohan sought out the company of learned
progressive sastris.
Publicly he observed orthodox Brahman dietary regulations. J. C. C. Sutherland, a Journalist friend who sailed with him to England, reported that a Brahman cook accompanied him to England.
"The Rajah seemed to pass much of his waking time in
prayer. What special burdens weighted on his mind and pressed out his
entreaties, we have no means of knowing.
His utterence of the Sacred "AUM"- one of the last
words he was heard to utter - suggested
that at the solitary gate of death as well as in the crowded
through fare of life the contemplation of Diety was the chief pre-on of his
occupation soul.
"So passed the soul of the great Hindu. His was a life of
transition, from the time when he broke with his boyish faith and his father's
house, all through the stormy years of his manhood; and now the greatest
transition of all had come.
The restless and valiant seeker after truth had at least arrived
and attained. The pathos and poetry of that death-scene will linger long in the
wistful imagination of India.
Mr. Estlin's diary records of the deceased. that "his Brahmanical thread was over the left shoulder and under the right, like a skein of common brown thread". The same evering the body was placed in the shell and laden and leaden coffin under the superintendency of Mr. Estlin, who took care that the "Brahmanical thread was never removed".
It shows clearly that at the moment of his death Rammohun meditated upon the pranava mantra in the traditional manner of an Indian Vedantin. And if we may judge from the utterance of the pranava at the moment of death, the Vedanta was nearest to his heart at this time.
List
of some of his works in Bengali;
1.
Vedanta – Grantha, 1815; It was a commentary on the Vedanta – sutra.
2.
Vedanta - Sar, 1815; It was an abridge and simpler version of Vedanta Grantha.
3.
Talabakaropanisat or Kenopanisat, 1816; It was a Bengali translation based on
Samkara - Bhasya.
4.
Isopanisat, 1816; It was also a Bengali translation based on Samkara – Bhasya.
5.
Bhattacaryyayer sahit Vicar, 1817; Sastric disputation with Bhattacaryya on
idol – worship.
6.
Kathopanisat, 1817; Bengali translation based on Samkara Bhasya.
7.
Mandukyopanisat, 1817; Bengali translation based on Samkara Bhasya.
8.
Gosvamir Sahit Vicar, 1818; It was a disputation with Gosvami on monotheism.
9.
Sahamaran Visaye Pravartak O Nivartak Samvad, 1818: “A Conference between an
Advocate for and opponent of the Practice of Burning Widows Alive.”
10.
Gayatri Artha, 1818: It was an explanation of the Gayatri mantra.
11.
Mundakopanisat, 1819: It was a Bengali translation based on Samkara Bhasya.
12.
Atmanatmaviveka, !819: Samkaracarya?s text along with Bengali translation.
13.
Sahamaraner Visay Pravartak O Nivartaker Dvitiya Samvad, 1819: „A Second
Conference between an Advocate for and an Opponent of the Practice of Burning
Widows Alive.? In this polemical tract Ram Mohan gives his rejoinder to
Kasinath Tarkavagi?s Vidhayak Nisedher Samvad, an apology for Sati.
14.
Kavitakarer Sahit Vicar, 1820; A Sastric disputation with Kavitakar.
15.
Subrahmanya Sastri Sahit Vicar, 1820: Sastric disputation with Subrahmanya
Sastri.
16.
Brahman Sevadhi: Brahman O Misinari Samvad (numbers 1, 2 and 3 ), 1821: In this
work Ram Mohan refutes the attacks of the Christian Missionaries upon Hinduism.
17.
Cari Prasner Uttar, 1822: Answers to four questions put by an advocate or
orthodox Hinduism.
18.
Prathanapatra, 1823: The English version was entitled Humble Suggestions to his
countrymen who believe in One True God.
19.
Padri O Sisya Samvad, 1821: Written in the form of an imaginary conversation
between a Trinitarian Missionary and three Chinese converts, this polemical
tract exposes the fallacies of Trinitarianism.
20.
Gurupaduka, 1823: The text a rejoinder to a pseudonymous polemic has not yet
been traced.
21.
Pathyapradan 1823: Medicine for the sick, offered by one who laments his
inability to perform all righteousness.
22.
Brahmanistha Grhasther Laksman, 1826: This short tract analyses the
characteristics of a householder faithful to Brahman.
23.
Kayasther sahit Madyapan Visayak Vicar, 1826: Sastric disputation with a
kayastha on drinking Wine.
24.
Vajrasuci , 1827: Sanskrit text along with the Bengali translation of prathma –
nirnaya of Vajrasuci Upanisad (a Mahayana Buddhist work ) which shows that in
the final analysis, Brahmana means a believer in Brahman.
25.
Gayatrya paramopasanavidhanam, 1827: An exposition both in Bengali and in
Sanskrit of the mode of divine worship through the chanting of the Gayatri.
26.
Brahapasana, 1828: Another tract on the mode of divine worship.
27.
Brahmasangit, 1828: A book of Bengali devotional hymns.
28.
Anusthan, 1829: A catechism that expounds Ram Mohan’s doctrine of divine
worship.
29.
Sahamaran Visay, 1829: Ram Mohan’s last polemic on Sati.
30.
Kshudra Patri (exact date of publication is not known)
31.
Gaudiya Vyakaran, 1833: It was a work on Bengali grammar.
List
of some of his important works in English:
1
Translation of an Abridgement of the Vedant, 1816: the most celebrated and
revered work of Brahminical Theology: establishing the Unity of the Supreme
Being; and that he alone is the object of Propitiation and Worship.
2
Translation of Cena ( kena ) Upanished, 1816; one of the chapters of the Samad
Veda: according to the gloss of the celebrated Shankarcharya; establishing the
Unity and the Sole Omnipotence of the supreme being: and that his Worship alone
can lead to Eternal Beatitude.
3
Translation of the Ishopanishad, 1816; one of the chapters of the Yajoor Ved;
according to the commentary of the celebrated Shankaracharya; establishing the
Unity and incomprehensibility of the Supreme Being and that his Worship alone
can lead to eternal Beatitude.
4 A Defense
of Hindoo theism, 1817; in reply to the Attack of an advocate for Idolatry in
Madras.
5 A
Second Defense, 1817; of the Monotheistic System of the Vedas in reply to an
apology for the present state of Hindu worship.
6
Translation of A Conference, 1818: between an advocate for, and an opponent of,
The practice of Burning Widows alive from the original Bangla.
7
Translation of the Moonduk Opunishud, 1819; of the Atharva – Ved, according to
the gloss of the celebrated Shankarcharya.
8
Translation of the Katha –Upanishad, 1819; of the Ujoor – Ved , according to
the gloss of the celebrated Shankarcharya.
9 An
apology for the Pursuit of final Beatitude, (1820): independently of
Brahminical Observances.
10 A
Second Conferences between an advocate for, and an opponent of the Practice of
Burning Widows Alive.1820.
11
The Brahmunical Magazine, or the Missionary and the Brahmum, 1821 beings a
Vindication of the Hindu religion against the attacks of Christian Missionaries,
I, II, and III.
12
Brief Remarks regarding Modern Encroachments on the Ancient Rights O Female,
1822; according to the Hindu Law Inheritance.
13
The Brahminical Magazine, 1833: or the Missionary and the Brahma, No, 4.
14
Humble suggestions, 1833; to his countrymen who believe in the One True God.
15 A
Dialogue 1823; between a Missionary and three Chinese Converts.
16
Translation of Sanskrit Tract on different Modes of Worship, 1825.
17
Bengali Grammar, 1826; in the English language Printed at the Unitarian Press,
Dhurmtollah Calcutta
18 A
translation of a Sanskrit Tract 1827; including the Divine worship esteemed by
those who believe in the relegation of the Vedas as most appropriate to the
nature of the Supreme Being.
19
Abstract of the arguments regarding The Burning o Widows, 1830; considered as a
religious right.
20
Essays on the Rights of indoo over Ancestral Property, 1830; according to the
Law of Bengal.
21
Letters on the Hindoo Law of Inheritance, 1830.
22
Address to Lord William Bentinck, 1830 Governor-General of India, upon the
passing of the Act for the Abolition of the Suttee.
23
Counter-Petition to the House of Commons to the Memorial of the Advocates of
the Suttee, 1831.
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