One of Indias most influential scholars of comparative religion and
philosophy, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan is considerd through his efforts to have built
a bridge between the East and the West by showing that the philosophical
systems of each tradition are comprehensible within the terms of the other.To
him, philosophy was a way of understanding life and his study of Indian
philosophy served as a cultural therapy. By interpreting Indian thought in
Western terms and showing that it was
imbued with reason and logic he was able to give Indians a new sense of esteem,
who were overcome by inferiority complex by imprerial forces. But he also made
clear to them that their long and rich tradition had been arrested and required
further evolution and he exhorted Indians to cast off much that was corrupt and
abhorrent.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who was one of his
closest friends throughout, said about Dr. Radhakrishnan: he has served his country in many
capacities. But above all, he is a great teacher from whom all of us have
learnt much and will continue to learn. It is Indias peculiarity in itself showing the kind of
mmen we honour and
Respect
Dr. Radhakrishnan as born into a middle
class Telugu Brahmin family at Tirutani in Tamil Nadu state. A town in Madras
Presidency, British India, 64 km to the northwest of Madras (now Chennai). His
early years were spent in Tirutani and Tirupati. His father was a subordinate
revenue official in the service of a local Zamindar ( landlord).He didnt want his son to learn English, instead
wanted him to ecome a priest. His primaryeducation was at Primary Board High
School at Tirutani. In 1896 he moved to the Hermansburg Evangelical Lutheran
Mission School at Tirupati.
Dr. Radhakrishnan was awarded scholarships
throughout his academic life. He joined the Voorhees College in Vellore but switched over to
the Madras Christian College at the age of 17. He graduated with a Masters Degree in Philosophy from the Madras
Christian College in 1906, being one of its most distinguished alumni.
Radhakrishnan wrote his thesis for the M.A
degree on Ethics of the Vedanta and its
Metaphisical Presuppositions,He was affraid
that his M.A thesis, would offend his Philosophy Professor , Dr. A.G Hogg.
Instead , Dr. Hogg commendedRadhakrishnan on doing an excellent job.
Radhakrishnans M.A thesis
was published when he was only 20.
Radhakrishnan studied philosophy by chance rather than by choice. Being
financially constrained student at that time, when a cousin, after graduating
from the same college, passed on his textbooks in philosophy to Radhakrishnan,
it automatically decided his academic course. Later on he developed deep
interest in his subject and wrote many acclaimed works on
philosophy, both Eastern and Western. Dr.
Radhakrishnan stated that western
philosophers, despite all claims to
objectivity, were influenced by theological influences of their own culture. He
wrote books of Indian philosophy according
to Western academic standards, and made all
efforts for the west to give serious
consideration to Indian philosophy. In his
book Idealist View of Life , he made a
powerful case for importance of intuitive
thinking as opposed to purely intellectual forms of thought . He is well known
for his commentaries on the Prasthana Trayi namely, the Bhagavadgita, the
Upanishads and the Brahma Sutra. Radhakrishnan was married to Sivakamu, a
distant cousin, in 1904 at the age of 16. As per tradition the marriage was
arranged by the family. The couple had five daughters and a son, Sarvepalli
Gopal .He went on to a notable career as a historian. Sivakamu died in 1956.
They were married for over 51 years. In 1918 Radhakrishnan was selected as
Professor of Philosophy by the University of Mysore. By that time he had written
many articles for journals of repute like The Quest, Journal of Philosophy and
the International Journal of Ethics. He also completed his first book,
"the Philosophy of
Rabindranath Tagore." He believed
Tagores philosophy to be the genuine manifestation of the Indian spirit. Dr. Radhakrishnans second book, "the Reign of Religion
in Contemporary Philosophy" was published in 1920. In 1921 he was appointed
as a Professor in Philosophy to occupy the King George V Chair of Mental and Moral
Science at the University of Calcutta. Radhakrishnan represented the University
of Calcutta at the Congress of the Universities of the British Empire in une 1926 and theInternational Congress of Philosophy
at Havard University in september 1926. In 1929 Dr. Radhakrishnan was invited
to take the post vacated by Principal J.Estlin Carpenter in Manchester College,
Oxford . This gave him the opportunity to lecture to the students of the University
of Oxford on Comparative Religion. For his services to education he was knighted
by the British Goverment in 1931, but he never used the SR title in his
personal life, prefering instead his academic title of
Doctor. He was Vice - Chancellor of Andhra University from 1931
to 1936. In 1936 Radhakrishnan was named Splading Professor of Eastern
Religions and Ethics at
the University of Oxford, and was selected
a fellow of All Souls College. In 1939 Pt.
Madan Mohan Malavya invited him to succeed
him as the Vice Chanceellor of Banaras Hindu University (BHU). He continued as
its Vice Chancellor till January, 1948.
When India became independent in 1947 , Dr.
Radhakrishnan represented India at UNESCO and was later Ambassador of India to
the Soviet Union, from 1949 to
1952. He was also elected to the
Constituent Assembly of India. Along with Ghanashyam Das Birla and some other
Social workers in the pre-independence era, Dr. Radhakrishnan formed the
Krishnarpan Charity Trust. Dr. Radhakrishnan moved beyond being a more academic
and sought to engage his philosophical and religious
studies in the political and social
developments of the contemporary context. He
believed that in India, thephilosophers duty was to keep in touch with the past
while stretching out to the future. This commitment to society, the crusading
urgent tone in his scholarly writings, the modern note in his interpretations
of even classical texts and his intellectual resistance to the deforming
pressures of colonialism gave Dr. Radhakrishnan a distinct public
differently from the usual run of politicians
and academicians. Far from being a stern
and severe intellectual remote from the
world, Dr. Radhakrishnan was a very humane person. Exceedingly popular among
his students right from his early days as a Professor at Presidency College,
Madras he was an evocative teacher. He was
offered the professorship in Calcutta
University when he was less than 30 years old. His mastery on his subject and
his clarity of thought and expression made him a much sought after teacher. But
what made him even more popular was his warm
heartedness and his ability to draw out
people. This aspect of his personality continued to win him countless admirers
throughtout his long and illustrious public life. In the last decade of British rule, his was
the most sophisticated and exalted
analysis of Gandhis work and thought and in free India he
provided the ideological
armour for Nehrus foreign policy. His commitment to high
principles and unfilling dignity and moral authority to all the offices which
he held. If in India Dr. Radhakrishnan was highly respected figure, abroad he
became one of the best- liked
public figures of his time. He earned very early
international recognition as a philosopher. In 1952, the Library of Living
Philosophers, an institute of world- wide repute, brought out a massive volume
on the philosophy of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, devoted wholly to a critical
appreciation of his philosophical doctrines. After independence, this
philosophical luminary, who personified the essence of India yet had a
universal vision, became an ideal ambassador to
the Soviet Union, for the nascent nation
poised to establish itself in the international arena.In 1952, Dr.
Radhakrishnan was chosen to be the Vice President of the
Republic of India and in 1962, he was made
the Head of the State for five years. It was the glory of Indian democracy that
educationist aloof from politics but having an International acclaim as a
profound scholar was placed in the position of the President. And it was an advantage
for a young country like India to have him to interpret its domestic and foreign
policies abroad to expound its outlook and
aspirations emphatically and in the right
way which was much needed in a world of
uncertainity and disbelief among nations.
His appointment as President was hailed by Bertrand Russel who said, " It
is an honour to philosophy that Dr. Radhakrishnan should be President of India
and I, as a philosopher, take special pleasure in this. Plato aspired for
philosophers to become kings and it is a tribute to India that she should make
a Philosopher President." History reserved for Radhakrishnans term of office as President much suspense
and surprise. Within months of his ascendancy in 1962 there was the Chinese
invasion. The nations morale was dealt a blow but Radhakrishnans voice, firm and resolute came on the air
to reassure a shaken
nation: "Owing to the difficult terrain
and numerical superiority of the Chinese, we
suffered military reverses. These have
opened our eyes to the realities of the situation. We are now aware of our
inadequacies and are alive to the needs of the
present and the demands of the future. The
country has developed a new purpose, a
new will."
Dr. Radhakrishnan was selected as the fast
Vice- President of India in 1952. He
was elected as the second President of
India (1962- 1967). When he became President, some of his students and friends
requested him to allow them to celebrate his birthday, 5th September. He
replied, "Instead of celebrating my birthday, it would be my proud
privilege if 5th September is observed as Teachers Day." His
birthday has since been celebrated as the Teachers Day in India.It was a tribute
to Dr. Radhakrishnan’s close association with the cause of teachers. Whatever
position he held, as President or even as
Ambassador, Dr. Radhakrishnan essentially remained a teacher all his life. The
teaching profession was his
first love and those who studied under him
still remember with gratitude his great qualities as a teacher.
References
1. Sarvepalli Gopal : Radhakrishnan: a
Biography (1989)
2. Murty, K. Satchidananda; Ashok Vohra
(1990). Radhakrishnan : His Life and Ideas.
3. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Charles Moore
(eds), A Source Book in Indian Philosophy,
Princeton: Princeton University press 1989
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