Acharya Narendra Dev

 

Acharya Narendra Dev (1889-1956) was an original thinker and a unique leader in the modern history of Indian political thought. He played an important part in the making of modern India. He was born on 30th October, 1889 at Sitapur, Uttar Pradash, where his father Baldev Prasad was practising as a lawyer. From his father he absorbed great moral strength, wide human sympathies, regards for truth and, most importantly, a deep interest in Indian culture. When Narendra Dev was only two years old, his father migrated to Faizabad and within a short span of time established himself as a leading lawyer. He also was a text book writer and a poet of considerable merit in English, Hindi and Persian which was very popular with the children. At nearly Sitapur he came in close contact with some Sannyasis and they visited his house quite frequently. Narendra Dev came in close contact with one of his father’s friends –Pandit Madhav Prasad Mishra, who was a very well known Hindi writer and a nationalist. It was he who gave the name Avanashilal (the real name of Narendra Dev) when Narendra Dev was about ten years old. In later years he was called Acharya by Shri Prakasa when he was the Chairman of the Beneras Vidyapith.

Narendra Dev was a dynamic leader and his personality and political ideas can be studied from various angles. Acharya Narendra Dev was not only a politician but also a political philosopher with his own political thinking. He suggested a number of schemes not only for the economic progress of the developing countries, but also a social reformer striving to end the racial discrimination and the miserably weak economic condition of the women and backward classes of India. He was a historian, who advocated a new interpretation of history, and also an internationalist, having his eyes on contemporary world Governments. Narendra Dev was one of the few political leaders, who could also be respected as a political thinker and whose thinking undoubtedly deserved the respectful assessment or criticism. He remained one of the few personalities in trodden India’s history, who had effortlessly made a substantial original contribution to socialist thinking and reconstruction of this country. National unity, he felt, required not only civic spirit and national consciousness but also cultural fellowship among different sections of the society as well as economic equality and social justice which would be necessary to build up a socialist society. Though he was thoroughly opposed to casteism which, in his own words, ‘militates against democracy and nationalism’, he used to respect the legitimate desire of backward communities for overall equality in his country. Therefore, in the concluding observation we can refer that, Narendra Dev was to a large extent convinced that while its fulfillment was necessary for national integration, it was possible only in a socialist order and once again exhibits his loyalty towards the philosophy of humanism, flavored with lofty socialist values. There were several factors responsible for Narendra Deva’s pre-eminence as a speaker and writer. One obviously was his deep and extensive learning. While at the Kashi Vidyapeeth, he had made an exhaustive study of Marxism and Buddhist philosophy and his deep interest in these two subjects continued till his last breath.

Narendra Dev was influenced by Buddhism and Indian philosophy of Dharma and in later years also by the religious-political philosophy of Gandhi. Each political ideas of Narendra Dev had a blend of Buddhism. He was first and foremost a humanist who discovered compassion in Buddhism. The unique personality of Buddha, with his fearless rationalism, its repudiation of all dogma and ritual and his boundless love for all living beings, must have cast a spell on Dev throughout his political career. In fact, it was easy for him to see that Buddhism is a great revolutionary movement against the prevailing stagnation and decadence and both held out a promise of liberation to the suffering humanity. Both were positivists in their attempt to shift the centre from the worship of God to the service of man. Both these philosophies emphasized the importance of conduct against that of mere belief. His magnum opus completed in the far end of his life and published after his death. This monumental work on Buddhist religion and philosophy in Hindi entitled Buddha Dharma Darshana is considered by any as quite innovative and authoritative. This book was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1957. The author Acharya Narendra Dev has written an authoritative work on Buddhist Philosophy, which helps you understand Buddhism in its entirety.

 In fact, his thorough study of Buddhism influenced him quite deeply, because in every verse of Buddhist teachings, he found a tacit flavor of the idea of Socialism. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan once said, ‘Buddhism approximates remarkably to the advanced scientific thoughts of the nineteenth century. According to him, Religion was a dope for the people but there had been many a progressive trend in the various religions of the world that had helped socialism in laying its foundation. In India the Buddhist schools of philosophers were of that type; one would have to understand and propagate their philosophy to establish socialism in the country. He knew that people could make their individual lives happy by their free development of thinking and only by recognizing the law of necessity which he himself had inherited from Buddhist compassion.