DR. SARVEPALLI RADHAKRISHNAN
Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, an Indian academic, philosopher
and statesman was born at Tiruttani(Madras Presidency, now Tamil Nadu) on 5 September
1888 and he passed away on 17 April 1975, in Chennai.
His birthday is celebrated as Teachers
Day in India.
He served as the Vice President of
India from 1952 to 1962, and President of India from 1962 to 1967.
His main interest was in religions.
However, his learning was very vast and covered many philosophical, literary,
and scientific domains.
He was a prolific writer with deep thoughts
and personal interpretations.
Some of his books are known as:
Indian Philosophy. The Philosophy of
Upanishads, An Idealist View of Life, Eastern Religions and Western Thought,
East and West : Some Reflections, The Hindu View of Life, The Bhagavadgita, Philosophy
of Rabindranath Tagore, Living With A
Purpose, The World Treasury of Modern Religious Thought, Religion in a Changing
World, etc.
Given below are some extracts from his
writings:
*The
dogmatic religions and the totalitarian schemes foster the mind and develop the
closed mechanistic society.
*Philosophy
is a wide term including logic, ethics, aesthetics, social philosophy and
metaphysics. The last is concerned with the ultimate nature of things.
*Confucius
writes:
The
great mountain must crumble.
The
strong beam must break.
And
the wise man wither away like a plant.
*Lead
me from the unreal to the real
Lead me from darkness to light
Lead me from death to eternal life.---(Words from the Upanishad).
*Recent developments have given rise to the erroneous
impression that while the West is scientific in outlook, the East is
spiritually minded. The one is rational while the other is religious. The one
is dynamic and perpetually changing while the other is static and unchanging.
If we take a
long view we will find that China and India made fundamental contributions to
science and technology till three and four hundred years ago that there have
been illustrious examples of religious idealism and sanctity in the west. The
more we understand each other the more we feel we are like one another. East
and West do not represent two different types of consciousness or modes of
thought.
*******
G.R.Kanwal
5th September 2026
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