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| Gopinath Kaviraj |
(from "A great Savant - Mahamahopadhyaya Gopinath Kaviraj"):
At Varanasi, Gopinath came to be known as the moving Visvanatha, a living encyclopaedia. He was equally at home in all the branches of Indian philosophy, epigraphy, ancient Indian history, literature, Buddhism and Jainism. Research scholars from all parts of India sought him out for guidance. He was awarded the title of Mahamahopadhyay by the British Government in 1934 and free India also honoured him with 'Padma Vibhushan' in 1964. Indian universities vied with each other in conferring honorary degrees on him.
But all these honours hardly touched him nor are they any measure of the greatness of the man, whose centenary is being celebrated by Sahitya Akademi, the Indian Council of Philosophical Researches, Bangiya Sahitya Parishad and a host of other Universities. Gopinath was not just a scholar to be admired. As he himself told his great admirer, the mystic musician Dilip Kumar Roy, he was an explorer of the realms of consciousness. He never had the pretension of teaching others but forever tried to learn from others.
As he learnt from books, which he used to read avidly, so also he benefited from conversations with saints. He knew for certain that the true illumination can dawn only if one can light his lamp from a living flame. He, therefore, renounced academic glory to sit at the feet of his guru, Swami Vishuddhananda Paramahanmsadeva, who physically demonstrated to him the truth of all that he had learnt from the scriptures. This Swami, commonly known as Gandha Baba because he could produce perfume from nowhere, taught him Suryavijnana or the science of the Sun. The Sun is at once the creator and destroyer of everything in the universe and, if anyone can get hold of this supreme principle, he or she can produce at will anything from anything. The world being all one, everything is contained in everything and Gopinath Kaviraj was initiated in this supreme science of unity by his great guru.
The uniqueness of Gopinath Kaviraj lies only in his life-long pursuit of this unity of all existence. Nobody ever heard him speak ill of anybody or any subject. He would readily accept the best out of the worst, believe what is almost unbelievable and thereby allow himself to be misunderstood as credulous. Yet he would never stop believing that reality can reveal itself at any time and anywhere. As all existence was one to him, he fondly hoped that some day the entire humanity will taste the joy of freedom. Not individual salvation, but cosmic or global liberation from the sorrows and sufferings which haunt us now was his supreme goal. To many he may remain an enigma for the contradictory nature of his personality, combining in himself the profundity of a scholar and the simplicity of a child. But his name will be graven deep and fair on the rolls of immortality for his love of humanity and for the catholicity of his mind.
But all these honours hardly touched him nor are they any measure of the greatness of the man, whose centenary is being celebrated by Sahitya Akademi, the Indian Council of Philosophical Researches, Bangiya Sahitya Parishad and a host of other Universities. Gopinath was not just a scholar to be admired. As he himself told his great admirer, the mystic musician Dilip Kumar Roy, he was an explorer of the realms of consciousness. He never had the pretension of teaching others but forever tried to learn from others.
As he learnt from books, which he used to read avidly, so also he benefited from conversations with saints. He knew for certain that the true illumination can dawn only if one can light his lamp from a living flame. He, therefore, renounced academic glory to sit at the feet of his guru, Swami Vishuddhananda Paramahanmsadeva, who physically demonstrated to him the truth of all that he had learnt from the scriptures. This Swami, commonly known as Gandha Baba because he could produce perfume from nowhere, taught him Suryavijnana or the science of the Sun. The Sun is at once the creator and destroyer of everything in the universe and, if anyone can get hold of this supreme principle, he or she can produce at will anything from anything. The world being all one, everything is contained in everything and Gopinath Kaviraj was initiated in this supreme science of unity by his great guru.
The uniqueness of Gopinath Kaviraj lies only in his life-long pursuit of this unity of all existence. Nobody ever heard him speak ill of anybody or any subject. He would readily accept the best out of the worst, believe what is almost unbelievable and thereby allow himself to be misunderstood as credulous. Yet he would never stop believing that reality can reveal itself at any time and anywhere. As all existence was one to him, he fondly hoped that some day the entire humanity will taste the joy of freedom. Not individual salvation, but cosmic or global liberation from the sorrows and sufferings which haunt us now was his supreme goal. To many he may remain an enigma for the contradictory nature of his personality, combining in himself the profundity of a scholar and the simplicity of a child. But his name will be graven deep and fair on the rolls of immortality for his love of humanity and for the catholicity of his mind.
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