Philosophy and Teachings of Thakur Anukulchandra

Sree Sree Thakur Anukulchandra

Thakur Anukulchandra (1888–1969) was an Indian Guru, religious leader, physician and the founder of Satsang, a non-sectarian, philanthropic organization. He has millions of followers from all faiths and every walks of life who accepted him as their realized guide, guru and living ideal. The personality, life and teachings of Thakur Anukulchandra seems to put him in the class of prophets or avatars of the Indian religious tradition. His devotees address him as Yuga Purusottam or the Prophet of the modern age.

Thakur Anukulchandra's teachings and philosophy is considered to be based on the enhancement of the 'Being and Becoming' of every living creature. He opined that, everything that humans do both individually and collectively must be beneficial to the human existence in their entirety, and thus preached the process and philosophy of 'existentialism' through his life.

He has put forward his views and solutions on almost all fields of knowledge and all aspects of human life, viz. individual, conjugal, family, social and universal. Most of his messages were dictations revealed primarily in Bengali and English in the form of verses, passages, simple rhymes and poetry and extensive discourses with his disciples and visitors. His messages cover the topics of dharma, religion, spiritualism, ideal, love, service and activity, society, education, philosophy, science, psychology, health and hygiene, economics, industry, commerce, politics, law and administration, varnashram, culture and tradition, eugenics, genetics, heredity, marriage, woman, conjugal life, universal laws and others.

Several volumes of his messages and discourses have been published by the in-house publication house of Satsang. About his messages and answers to the questions asked to him, Thakur Anukulchandra clarified as below:

"I have answered to thy quest
what I see, what I think and what I know
to be beneficial to our life and growth
with every blazing outspoken reply
as far as I conceive."

Dharma and Religion

Thakur Anukulchandra opined that dharma and religion are not the same but complement each other. He defined Dharma as that which upholds existence and Religion as the act of binding oneself with the Ideal.

Dharma

According to Thakur Anukulchandra, the word 'Dharma' is derived from the root word 'Dhri' (धृ) i.e. [ धर्म= धृ (धारण, पोषण) + मन् (कर्तरी) ], which means 'to uphold', 'to maintain'. Hence, ‘Dharma’ can be termed as, that which upholds ‘existence’. He explains, ‘Dharma’ means the laws and principles which govern our life and growth. Life means ‘being’ and growth means ‘becoming’. Hence according to him, Dharma is the universal principle which upholds one's ‘being’ and enhances the ‘becoming’. He also opined that the existence of any individual is intrinsically dependent on its environment and the components therein. In his own words-

"Upholding urge of our existence is Dharma."

"The stay of all existence is Dharma..."

"What makes anything stand on with life and growth is Dharma."

"To uphold one's own life and growth with that of others is Dharma..."

"Dharma-
     means the laws
            that sustain
                   life and growth
with every effulgence
     of personality
            both individually
                   and collectively."

So, Dharma is universal and Thakur Anukulchandra expresses its singularity and eternal nature as the following-

"Dharma never becomes many. It is always one. There is no variety of it. Views may be many - even as many as there are people. Still, Dharma cannot be many. In my opinion, to speak of Hindu Dharma, Christian Dharma, Mohammedan Dharma, Buddhist Dharma, etc. is wrong; rather, they are so many views.

Religion

In the views of Thakur Anukulchandra, Religion means a living attachment between the individual and his/her superior Beloved. This superior Beloved is an Individual Incarnate of love and knowledge who is the Divine Man of the present. He connotes this Divine Man as the ‘Ideal’, who is the Lord of the individual and ‘Religion’ is the union of the individual with the Ideal.

"The act of binding oneself
                 with the Ideal,
         in love, worship and admiration
                 and to live on accordingly
         in an acceleration
                 of one’s being and becoming
                         is Religion to me."

However he warns that,

"Religion never means an imaginary attachment or obligation between an individual person and an imaginary deity; nor does it imply an emotional outburst for the Abstract Divine beyond man’s personal existence."

Relationship between ‘Dharma’ and ‘Religion’

According to Thakur Anukulchandra, Dharma and religion are complementary to each other and Dharma nurtures religion and stands up on it. Only being attached to the living Ideal (religion) and ignoring the principles of life and growth (Dharma), cannot sustain individual existence. Similarly, only following the principles of life and growth, ignoring the living Ideal also cannot safeguard individual existence. He says, “Dharma materializes in the Ideal”

As per the philosophy of Thakur Anukulchandra, Dharma can be attributed to two aspects, 1) the Divine Aspect, and 2) the Discrete Aspect. The Divine Aspect of Dharma comprises the prime laws of life. According to him, "The laws and principles such as worship of God, attachment to Guide or Ideal, devotion, purity of diet, right deeds, right speech, etc. are the prime laws of life." The prime laws of life never vary with respect to time, place, circumstances or individual preferences. Whereas, the religious rites, rituals, costumes and customs, ceremonies, etc. belong to the Discrete Aspect of Dharma can vary according to the needs of individual distinctiveness, time, place and climate. However, the Discrete Aspect of Dharma should always be in consonance with the Divine Aspect. Hence he suggests that, in order to keep the coordination of the two aspects and to make ‘Dharma’ propitiously beneficial in life, coherence among the Ideal, individual and the environment is essential. Thakur Anukulchandra says-

“Whatever ‘ism’ you adopt
                                 be aware-
       the meaningful co-ordination
              of Ideal, individual and environment
                     with the uphill go of existence
       should not be perverted
              at any cost,-
being should run on
              with steps to becoming
                     all through
              in words, deeds
                     behavior and nurture,
       and the integrating uphill go
              that drives you into becoming
                     should be always maintained
                                 and this—
                                        the essence of uphold
                                               -the Dharma.”

Concept of God, Prophets and Ideal

God

Thakur Anukulchndra described God as the cause of all causes, the conscious conscience, the upholder and nurturer of existence, and the soul of every natural system from whom life emanates into varieties. God is, where all the opposites meet with a meaningful go. According to him-

"Effulging radiance of universe
        that upholds, nurtures
                         and mutates
                 is the existence
        that sprouts into many things
                                 and varieties;
that radiance
        is the radiation of life-
                 the existence,
        which upholds
                 with every nurture
                         the individual go;
thus the soul of every system
        that exists in nature
                 is gracious good-
                         the God-
                 the conscious conscience."

According to Thakur Anukulchandra, the basic attributes of God is Sat-Chit-Ananda, and he defines these attributes with their root meanings. He says,

“He is the existence of all that exists,
                 thereby He, the Sat;
He is the responsiveness
                 of all that responds
                         so Chit- that He is;
He is the becoming
                 of each that becomes
He made Him Himself,-
                 materialized with the matter
         of Sat- Chit- Ananda
                 -that of Him and His
                          which is and was.”

God and Human

Though Thakur Anukulchandra accepts the omnipotence and omnipresence of God, he did give ample importance to the free will of humans being endowed to them. He says that,

“God never determines peace or pain for man. As man desires and does, so he receives. If a man moves in a way that results in painful sufferings, his mere desire to enjoy happiness carries no value. If a man does the wrong, but desires the right, he deceives himself as well as others.”

So, for humans to attain peacefulness and happiness, it is important to follow God with all His attributes. He says, "We all are His children; to love and follow Him is our Dharma. That is our existence."

Thakur Anukulchandra doesn't accept the dogmatic views of believing God through any particular form or name or any fantastic imaginations about Him. According to him, following God means to follow the laws and principles of life and growth (Dharma) under the guidance of the Ideal. In his own words-

“God does not care whether a man admits or worships Him as a ‘Being above’ or not. Man’s verbal acceptance or denial of the Supernatural God, his belief or doubt in the existence of a Transcendent Ultimate do not affect the role of God’s mercy in life.”

“In whatever name you may call God, whether you verbally accept Him or not, if you follow and serve the laws and principles that uphold and sustain your existence through a concentric zeal of love- that is your service to Him.”

Prophets and Ideal

According to Thakur Anukulchandra, for humans, following a living ideal is of utmost importance in the process of practicing Dharma, as Dharma materializes in the Ideal. By Ideal, he clarified that, He must be the God of men, who is usually attributed as Avatar, Purusottam, prophet or Sadguru in different religious traditions. He defines-

“He within whom all the resources of the world- knowledge, love and activity- are spontaneous, and by the inclination towards whom the scattered lives of men and all the diversities of the world, find a final solution, is the God of men."

He expresses the meaning of prophet and their importance in human life in the following verse. He says-

“Prophets come down
       in the role of reformers
              with the message of
       existential propitiousness
                     with its uphold
                             suiting the age
       by the observance of which
              they can advance the welfare
                             of the people,...”

In the world of religions, there has always been tussle among communities and sects in the name of Avatars and Prophets. Thakur Anukulchandra strongly condemns this attitude. According to him, all the Prophets are one, server of the one God and fulfiller the best for all. They are the reformers of human life. He opined that, the prophets profess the law of life and growth through practice in their life. He explains this as following-

“God is for all
                     Prophets are for all
                           no compartment-
              but they are the fulfillers
                     of all compartments
              in their equity;
        to create ‘ism'
              is the Satanic dissuasion
        of people
              from unity-
                     the God !”

Though all the prophets represent the same Oneness, their advent in different times and geographies has time and again confused humans for whom to follow. To clarify this, Thakur Anukulchandra advices to follow the Divine Man of the present as he's the Prophet of the age and is the awakened emblem of all the past prophets. He says-

“All the Prophets of the past, converge and awaken in that of the present. Love to Him is love to all- in the worship of God.”

“Prophet of the time is the enlivening emblem of the past and fulfillment thereof.”

External links

• Official website
• Satsang America | Being and Becoming with Ever Conscious Mind!
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satsang_(Deoghar)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satsang_Ashram
• সৎসঙ্গ

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