Nataraja Guru (P. Natarajan) was a direct disciple of Narayana Guru, a great sage and social reformer of India. Nataraja Guru founded Narayana Gurukulam, a world-wide contemplative community based on the teachings of Narayanaguru. He translated into English and wrote commentaries on all the major works of Narayana Guru. He has also written on a wide variety of subjects, employing throughout a protolinguistic or structural approach which could be said to be his unique contribution to the perennial wisdom-heritage of mankind. Narayana Guru It has been suggested that the section Sri Narayana Guru from the article Ezhava be merged into this article or section. ...

Early days

Nataraja guru was born in 1895 in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. His father, Dr. Palpu, was a follower of Narayana Guru. After completing his initial schooling in Trivandrum and Bangalore, he went to Kandi, Sri Lanka for matriculation. He completed his Masters degrees in Geology and Zoology at Presidency College, Madras and bachelor's degree in Education at University of Madras. The Vidhana Soudha is the seat of Karnatakas Legislative assembly Bangalore (Kannada: ; (?) in Kannada and // in English) is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. ... Karnātakā (Kannada: ಕನಾ೯ಟಕ, Hindi: कर्नाटक) (IPA: //) is one of the four southern states of India. ... Indian Coffee House Thiruvananthapuram or Thiruvanathapuram (formerly known as Trivandrum) is the capital (population - 889,191 (2001)) of the state of Kerala, India. ... The Vidhana Soudha is the seat of Karnatakas Legislative assembly Bangalore (Kannada: ; (?) in Kannada and // in English) is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. ... Kandi is a town in northern Benin. ... Geology (from Greek γη- (ge-, the earth) and λογος (logos, word, reason)) is the science and study of the Earth, its composition, structure, physical properties, history and the processes that shape it. ... Zoology is the biological discipline which involves the study of animals. ... Madras refers to: the Indian city of Chennai, formerly known as Madras, the former Indian state, now known as Tamil Nadu (Plural of Madra): Ancient people of Iranian affinites, who lived in northwest Panjab in the Uttarapatha division of ancient India. ... The University of Madras is one of the three oldest universities in India (along with Bombay and Calcutta). ...

Meeting Narayana Guru

He first met Narayana Guru at home in Bangalore. After completion of his studies Nataraja Guru met Narayana Guru again in Kerala and expressed his wish to be admitted in the latter's Ashram. Narayana Guru explained to him the difficulties associated with the path of a renunciate (Sanyasin) but later admitted him in the Ashram convinced of his earnestness. Initially Nataraja Guru stayed in Advaita Ashram, Alwaye and later at Sivagiri, Varkala. Aluva (Alwaye) is city north of Kochi in Ernakulam district of Kerala state in South India. ... Varkala is a municipal town in Chirayinkil taluk of Thiruvananthapuram district. ...

While at Sivagiri, Narayana Guru appointed Nataraja Guru as the Principal of Sree Narayana English School in Varkala. Nataraja Guru's complete dedication and revolutionary ideas to transform the school (with support from Narayana Guru himself) irked some of the power hungry disciples of Naraya Guru. This was a hindrance to the proper implementation of those ideas.

Establishing Narayana Gurukulam

Then he left for Ooty, where Swami Bodhananda, one of Narayana Guru's foremost disciples, had an Ashram. In 1923 Nataraja Guru started Narayana Gurukulam at Fernhill, near Ooty, the land for which was a gift from one of Nataraja Guru's friends. Narayana Gurukulam was an institution devoted to the contemplative study and propagation of Narayana Guru's teachings. Nataraja Guru stayed there for four years teaching a few kids, most of whom were orphans. Narayana Guru vistied Fernhill once and gave many valuable advices to Nataraja Guru. Due to financial crisis and misbehavior of many inmates the Gurukulam was closed down in 1927.

Meeting Narayana Guru again

Nataraja Guru went back to Varkala and stayed with Narayana Guru for a few months. Narayana Guru's health was deteriorating and he was taken to different places for treatment. Nataraja Guru accompanied him in many of those trips, during which both exchanged many ideas and Nataraja Guru's many doubts were cleared by Narayana Guru. Narayana Guru was helpless at that time to accommodate Nataraja Guru amongst his disciples. So he gave him 1500 Indian Rupees and asked him to go to Europe for higher studies. World map showing Europe Europe is one of the seven continents of Earth which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiographic one, leading to various perspectives about Europes borders. ...

Life in Europe

With London in mind, Nataraja Guru boarded his ship from Colombo. However, he changed his plan while aboard and landed in Geneva. After some initial struggles he got a job in Fellowship school in Gland, near Geneva. While teaching Physics there, he mastered French and started his preparation for his doctoral thesis in Educational Psychology. He registered at the renowned Sorbonne University in Paris. One of his mentors was the famous French Philosopher Henri Bergson. Natraja Guru was also influenced by the teachings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He traveled between Geneva and Paris quite often and submitted his thesis after 5 years titled "Le Facteur Personnel dans le Processus Educatif (Personal factor in Education)". It was based on the concept Guru-Shishya system of teaching. The thesis committee approved his research and awarded him D.Litt with triple honors. While in Geneva, Natataraja Guru wrote a series of articles titled The Way of the Guru in the The Sufi Quarterly, which depicted the life and teachings of Narayana Guru. This attracted the intelligentsia of Europe including Romain Rolland. These articles later became part of his famous work "The Word of the Guru".[1]. During Natataraja Guru's European stay he had met Gandhi and Tagore. Location Map of Colombo with its administrative districts Coordinates , Government District Colombo Division, Colombo District Mayor Uvaiz Mohammad Imitiyaz (Independant Group) Geographical characteristics Area     City 248 mi²/ 642 km²     Land   / km²     Water   / km² Population     City (2001) 647,100 ( 2001 census )     Density   3,305/km²   Metro 2,234,289 (Colombo metropolitan... Geneva (pronunciation //; French: Genève //, German: //, Italian: Ginevra) is the second most populous city in Switzerland, situated where Lake Geneva (French Lac Léman) flows into the Rhône River. ... A gland is an organ in an animals body that synthesizes a substance for release such as hormones, often into the bloodstream (endocrine gland) or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface (exocrine gland). ... The Sorbonne, Paris, in a 17th century engraving The historic University of Paris (French: Université de Paris) first appeared in the second half of the 12th century, but was in 1970 reorganized as 13 autonomous universities (University of Paris I–XIII). ... Image:Bergson. ... Jean-Jacques Rousseau (June 28, 1712 – July 2, 1778) was a Genevan philosopher of the Enlightenment whose political ideas influenced the French Revolution, the development of socialist theory, and the growth of nationalism. ... Geneva (pronunciation //; French: Genève //, German: //, Italian: Ginevra) is the second most populous city in Switzerland, situated where Lake Geneva (French Lac Léman) flows into the Rhône River. ... The Eiffel Tower, the international symbol of the city For other uses, see Paris (disambiguation). ... A Doctor of Letters (Latin: Litterarum doctor; D.Litt) is a university academic degree. ... Romain Rolland (January 29, 1866 - December 30, 1944) was a French writer. ...

In Ooty again

Natataraja Guru returned to India in 1933 and tried to find a teaching job, in search of which he traveled through out India for two years. Failing to find a proper teaching job, he returned to Ooty and started the Narayana Gurukulam again. He stayed in a tin-shed for 15 years and spent that time to study the Upanishads, Bhagavat Gita and Works of Narayana Guru. During that time a Scottish man named John Spiers became the first deciple of Nataraja Guru. The Upanishads (उपनिषद्, Upanişad) are part of the Hindu Shruti scriptures which primarily discuss meditation and philosophy and are seen as religious instructions by most schools of Hinduism. ... Narayana Guru It has been suggested that the section Sri Narayana Guru from the article Ezhava be merged into this article or section. ...

Philosophical contributions of Nataraja Guru

Nataraja Guru believed that science had unwittingly followed Marxism into a materialist desert and that stung by the horrors of the Inquisition, western science had turned its back on metaphysics for hundreds of years. According to him, ideas, memories, emotion and time, among other major categories, are metaphysical entities that have transcended every effort a being reduced to material existence. Matter itself is seen to be brimming with energy as soon as you look beneath the surface. Representation of an Auto de fe, (1475). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

A counterbalancing backlash has occurred recently in which religious and other metaphysical ideas, no matter how divorced form reality, are being embraced as a welcome escape from uncompromising materialism. For a sensible philosophy free of prejudice, which can open the road to further process in human thought, a balance must be struck between physics and metaphysics. Each must support and verify the other.

Followers of Nataraja Guru assert that the latter had established a basis for such an advance, presenting an overarching scheme to integrate all aspects of reality under one roof. Any meaningful philosophy, according to Nataraja Guru, must have some version of an absolute idea or value implicit in it. After presenting his own absolute system Nataraja Guru investigated several prominent strains of philosophy, including the rationalist and the materialist, to identify the absolute element hidden within each of them. Totalitarianism and absolutism are shown to be totally antithetical, the former being highly exclusionary while the latter embraces every possibility¹.

An Integrated Science of the Absolute : The magnum Opus of Natataraja Guru

An Integrated Science of the Absolute is a two volume book of Natataraja Guru written after 50 years of study of Science and philosophies of East and West. In that Nataraja Guru had formulated a unitive science, wherein all disciplines of human questing could find a common ground. He called it as the Integrated Science of the Absolute (Brahmavidya), where modern science and ancient spiritual wisdom could meet and merge like two opposite poles of a magnet.It has, at its base, Darsana Mala, a book of hundred Sanskrit verses composed by Narayana Guru. Written under the influence of Upanisadic thought, Darsana Mala is believed to be the very “epitome of all visions of truth”. Nataraja Guru believed that his mentor’s “Visions of the Absolute” are fully validated by modern science. He believed that Brahma-vidya is not just an eclectic synthesis of varied scientific disciplines into a systematic whole but a Master Science that embraces every branch of science, every human interest.

Books by Nataraja Guru

1. The Word of the Guru: Life and Teachings of Narayana Guru
2. Vedanta Revalued and Restated[2]
3. Autobiography of an Absolutist
4. The Bhagavad Gita, Translation and Commentary [3]
5. An Integrated Science of the Absolute (Volumes I, II)[4]
6. Wisdom: The Absolute is Adorable[5]
7. Saundarya Lahari of Sankara[6]
8. The Search for a Norm in Western Thought[7]
9. The Philosophy of a Guru
10. Memorandum on World Government[8]
11. World Education Manifesto
12. Experiencing One World
13. Dialectical Methodology[9]
14. Anthology of the Poems of Narayana Guru

Notes

1. The full exposition of Nataraja Gurus philosophy can be found at his recently published book "Unitive Philosophy" [10]

References

• Works of Natataraja Guru

External links

• Narayanagurukulam
• Important works of Natataraja Guru
• Biography