Living Biographies of Great Philosophers

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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. Each book was to contain from 200 to 250 pages and was to be priced at Rs. 2.50.

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-India organisation. The Bhavan is exerting its utmost to supply them.

The objectives for which the Bhavan stands are the reintegration of the 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 makeshift way, but within the framework 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.

In this series, therefore, the literature of India, ancient and modern, will be published in a form easily accessible to all. Books in other literatures of the world, if they illustrate the principles we stand for, will also be included.

This common pool of literature, it is hoped, will enable the reader, eastern or western, to understand and appreciate currents of world thought, as also the movements of the mind in India, which though they flow through different linguistic channels, have a common urge and aspiration.

Fittingly, the Book University's first venture is the Mahabharata, summarised by one of the greatest living Indians, C. Rajagopalachari; the second work is on a section of it, the Gita by H.V. Divatia, an eminent jurist and -student of philosophy. Centuries ago, it was proclaimed of the Mahabharata: "What is not in it, is nowhere." After twenty-five centuries, we can use the same words about it. He who knows it not, knows not the heights and depths of the soul; he misses the trials and tragedy and the beauty and grandeur of life.

The Mahabharata is not a mere epic: it is a romance, telling the tale of heroic men and women and of some who were divine; it is a whole literature in itself, containing a code of life, a philosophy of social and ethical relations and speculative thought on human problems that is hard to rival; but above all, it has for its core the Gita which is, as the world is beginning to find out, the noblest of scriptures and the grandest of sagas in which the climax is reached in the wondrous Apocalypse in the Eleventh Canto.

Through such books alone the harmonies underlying true culture, I am convinced, will one day reconcile the disorders of modern life.

I thank all those who have helped to make this new branch of the Bhavan's activity successful.

Every biography is a story of adventure. The energetic personalities of the world represent an adventure in living. The philosophical personalities, on the other hand, represent an adventure in thinking. And when we examine the lives of the philosophers we find that the procession of a man's thoughts can be as exciting a spectacle as the pageantry of a man's deeds. It is just as enchanting to plunge into new ideas as it is to penetrate into new lands. Our world becomes wider, our imagination richer and our life more coloured and more zestful as the result of our companionship with the travellers of the spirit and the pioneers of thought.

In conformity with our general purpose in the writing of the present biographical series, we have tried to place the accent upon the thinkers rather than upon their thoughts. We have endeavoured to avoid technical expositions, critical analyses or metaphysical excursions into any of the philosophical systems. But on the other hand we have attempted to introduce the reader not only into the homes of philosophers but into their minds as well. For in order to understand the dreamers of the absolute we must allow them to invite us into the garden of their dreams. It is possible, we believe, to get a revealing picture of the beauty of a garden and to enjoy a healthy whiff of its fragrance without a technical study of the botanical structure of the flowers or an expert knowledge of their scientific names. We have therefore tried in such of these biographies to reproduce the gist of the philosopher's thought simply, informally and - we hope - vividly.

And as we gain an insight into the minds of the various philosophers we make an interesting and important discovery. All these philosophers, in spite of their extrinsic quarrels, exhibit an intrinsic unanimity of thought. This is especially true. in the field of ethics. Here we find the different schools of philosophy in practical agreement with the different systems of religion. The philosophers and the prophets alike are united in their belief as to the fundamental purpose of life. And this purpose is - to insure the happiness of man through the co-operation of mankind.

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