Abhinavagupta

Life - "Abhinavagupta" was not his real name, rather a title he earned from his master, carrying a meaning of
"competence and authoritativeness". In his analysis, Jayaratha (11501200 AD) who was Abhinavagupta's
most important commentator also reveals three more meanings: "being ever vigilant", "being present
everywhere" and "protected by praises". Raniero Gnoli, the only Sanskrit scholar who completed a translation
of Tantrloka in a European language, mentions that "Abhinava" also means "new", as a reference to the ever-
new creative force of his mystical experience.

From Jayaratha, we learn that Abhinavagupta was in possession of all the six qualities required for the
recipients of the tremendous level of aktipta, as described in the sacred texts (rprvastra): an unflinching
faith in God, realisation ofmantras, control over objective principles (referring to the 36 tattvas), successful
conclusion of all the activities undertaken, poetic creativity and spontaneous knowledge of all disciplines.

Abhinavagupta's creation is well equilibrated between the branches of the triad (Trika): will (icch),
knowledge (jna), action (kriy); his works also include devotional songs, academical/philosophical
works and works describing ritual/yogic practices.

As an author he is considered a systematiser of the philosophical thought. He reconstructed, rationalised and

orchestrated the philosophical knowledge into a more coherent form, assessing all the available sources of his
time, not unlike a modern scientific researcher of Indology.

Various contemporary scholars have characterised Abhinavagupta as a "brilliant scholar and saint", "the
pinnacle of the development of Kasmir aivism" and "in possession of yogic realization".

Philosophical works - One of the most important works of Anhinavagupta is varapratyabhij-

vimarini ("Commentary to the Verses on the Recognition of the Lord") and varapratyabhij-vivti-
vimarini ("Commentary on the explanation of varapratyabhij"). This treatise is fundamental in the
transmission of the Pratyabhija school (the branch of Kashmir Shaivism based on direct recognition of the
Lord) to our days. Another commentary on a Pratyabhija work ivadty-locana ("Light on ivadi")
is now lost. Another lost commentary is Padrthapravea-niraya-k and Prakrkavivaraa ("Comment on
the Notebook") referring to the third chapter of Vkyapadya of Bhartrihari. Two more philosophical texts of
Abhinavagupta areKathmukha-tilaka("Ornament of the Face of Discourses") and Bhedavda-
vidraa ("Confrontation of the Dualist Thesis").
Vallabha acharya
Life -
Childhood

The ancestors of Vallabhacharya lived in Andhra Pradesh and belonged to a long line of Telugu Vaidiki
Brahmins known as Vellanadu or Vellanatiya following the Vishnu Swami school of thought. According to
devotional accounts, Krishna commanded his ancestor Yagnanarayana Bhatta that He would take birth in their
family after completion of 100 Somayagnas (fire sacrifices). By the time of Yagnanarayana's descendant
Lakshmana Bhatta who migrated to the holy town of Varanasi, the family had completed 100 Somayagnas.
Vallabhacharya was born to Lakshmana Bhatta in 1479 A.D. (V.S. 1535) on the 11th day of the dark half of
lunar month of chaitra at Champaranya. The name of his mother was Illamma.

The period surrounding Vallabhacharya's birth was a tumultuous one and most of northern and central India
was being influenced by Muslim invaders. It was common for populations to migrate in order to flee from
religious persecution and conversion. On one such occasion, Lakshmana Bhatta had to urgently move out of
Varanasi with his pregnant wife. Due to terror and physical strain of the flight suffered by the mother, there
was a premature birth of the child, two months in advance. As the child did not show signs of life, the parents
placed it under a tree wrapped in a piece of cloth. It is believed that Krishna appeared in a dream before the
parents of Vallabhacharya and signified that He Himself had taken birth as the child. According to popular
accounts, the parents rushed to the spot and were amazed to find their baby alive and protected by a circle of
divine fire. The blessed mother extended her arms into the fire unscathed; she received from the fire the divine
baby, gleefully to her bosom. The child was named Vallabha (meaning "dear one" in Sanskrit).

Works - Vallabhacharya composed many philosophical and devotional books during his lifetime such as:

1. Anubhashya or Brahmsutranubhashya - 4 cantos of commentaries on the Brahm Sutra of Ved Vyas

2. Tattvaarth Dip Nibandh - Essays on the fundamental principles of spirituality (3 chapters)

1. Chapter 1: Shaastrarth Prakaran

2. Chapter 2: Bhagavatarth Prakaran

 3. Chapter 3: Sarvanirnay Prakaran

3. Subodhini - Commentary on Shrimad Bhagavat Mahapuran (Available only on cantos 1,2,3 and 10)

4. Shodash Granth - Sixteen short verse-type compositions to teach his followers about devotional life

Other than the above main literature, he also composed additional works such as Patravalamban,
Madhurashtakam, Gayatribhashya, Purushottam Sahastranaam, Yamunastakam etc.

Sri Anirvan

Life

Sri Anirvan was born on 8 July 1896 in the town of Mymensingh, then a part of British India and now
in Bangladesh. His birth name was Narendrachandra Dhar. He was the son of Rajchandra Dhar, a doctor, and
Sushila Devi. He was a spiritually and intellectually inclined child, who by age 11 had memorised
the Astadhyayi of Pn ini and the Bhagavad Gita.[1]He was named Baroda Brahmachari after going through
the sacred thread ceremony. He also won a state scholarship as a teen and completed university IA and BA
degrees at the University of Dhaka and an MA from the Sanskrit College of theUniversity of Calcutta.

At 16, he joined the Assam Bangiya Saraswata Math (the ashram), located in the village of Kokilamukh
near Jorhat in Assam.[1] He was a disciple of the ashram's founder, Paramahansa Srimat Swami Nigamananda
Saraswati Dev, who initiated him into sannyas. Anirvan's new monastic name was Nirvanananda Saraswati. He
taught at the ashram school and edited its monthly magazine Aryyadarpan. In fact, the Aryadarpan still retains
the following Sanskrit epigram, in the Rathoddhata metre, that Sri Anirvan (then Srimat Varada Brahmacari)
wrote: arya-sastra-gahanartha-dipakascetas-timiravaravarakah/ dyotayan vijayatam vipascitam arcisa hrdayam
aryadarpanah

Books and Philosophy

1. Akasabrahma by Ayacaka in Bengali. Undated.

2. My Life In A Brahmin Family by Lizelle Reymond. Translated from the French by Lucy Norton.
Rider and Co. London. 1958.
 3. To Live Within by Sri Anirvan and Lizelle Reymond, introduction by Jacob Needleman. Morninglight
Press. 2007.

Pandurang Shastri Atavale

Life

Pandurang Vaijnath Athavale was born on 19 October 1920 in the village of Roha in Maharashra (konkan)
India. He was one of five children born to the Sanskrit teacher Vaijanath Athavale and his wife Parvati
Athavale

When Athavale was twelve years old, his grandfather set up an independent course of study for the young boy.
Thus, Athavale was taught in a system very similar to that of the Tapovan system of ancient India. In 1942, he
started to give discourses at the Srimad Bhagavad Gita Pathshala, a center set up by his father in 1926

Athavale read diligently in the Royal Asiatic Library for a period of 14 years; at a young age, he was well-
known to have read every piece of non-fiction literature (ranging from Marx's philosophy to Whitehead's
writings to ancient Indian philosophy). In 1954, he attended the Second World Philosophers' Conference, held
in Japan. There, Athavale presented the concepts of Vedic ideals and the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita. Many
participants were impressed by his ideas but wanted evidence of such ideals being put into practice in India.
Nobel Prizewinning physicist Dr. Arthur Holly Compton was particularly enchanted with Athavale's ideas and
offered him a lucrative opportunity in the United States, where he could spread his ideas. Athavale politely
declined, saying that he had much to accomplish in his native India, where he planned to demonstrate to the
world a model community peacefully practicing and spreading Vedic thoughts and the message of the
Bhagavad Gita. Years later, Rev. Athavale was declared by the Indian government (2006) to be among the ten
most important people ever of Indian descent.

Works and philosophy

The Systems: The Way and the Work (Swadhyaya: The Unique Philosophy of Life), by Rev. Shri
Pandurang Vaijnath Athavale Shastri (Rev. Dada). Vallabhdas J. Jhaveri, Bombay, 1992.

Sri Aurobindo
Early life
Aurobindo with his father K. D. Ghose, his mother Swarnalotta Devi and four siblings: From left to right:Barin Ghose, Sarojini,
Aurobindo and Manmohan Ghose. In England, ca. 1879.

Aurobindo Acroyd Ghose was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata), Bengal Presidency, India on 15 August 1872.
His father, Krishna Dhun Ghose, was then Assistant Surgeon of Rangapur in Bengal, and a former member of
the Brahmo Samajreligious reform movement who had become enamoured with the then-new idea
ofevolution while pursuing medical studies in Britain. His mother was Swarnalotta Devi, whose father
was Rajnarain Bose, a leading figure in the Samaj. She had been sent to the more salubrious surroundings of
Calcutta for Aurobindo's birth. Aurobindo had two elder siblings, Benoybhusan and Manmohan, and both a
younger sister, Sarojini, and a younger brother, Barindrakumar (also referred to as Barin, born Emmanuel
Matthew).

Young Aurobindo was brought up speaking English but used Hindustani to communicate with servants.
Although his family were Bengali, his father believed British culture to be superior to that of his countrymen.
He and his two elder siblings were sent to the English-speakingLoreto House boarding school in Darjeeling, in
part to improve their language skills and in part to distance them from their mother, who had developed a
mental illness soon after the birth of her first child. Darjeeling was a centre of British life in India and the
school was run by Irish nuns, through which the boys would have been exposed to Christian religious
teachings and symbolism.

Philosophy
The one aim of [my] yoga is an inner self-development by which each one who follows it can in time discover
the One Self in all and evolve a higher consciousness than the mental, a spiritual and supramental
consciousness which will transform and divinize human nature.

Aurobindo, Sri Aurobindos Teaching. Written at the third person

HINDUISM
(PHILOSOPHER
 AND THEIR
PHILOSOPHY)