Nataraja Guru | |
|---|---|
| Born | P. Natarajan (1895-02-18)18 February 1895 Bangalore, India |
| Died | 19 March 1973(1973-03-19) (aged 78) |
| Occupation | Founder of Narayana Gurukula |
Nataraja Guru (born P. Natarajan, 18 February 1895 – 19 March 1973) was a disciple ofNarayana Guru. Nataraja Guru founded Narayana Gurukula on 1923 for the integral study of various wisdom approaches.
Nataraja Gúrú was born inBangalore inBritish India on 18 February 1895. His mother was Bhagavathi Amma and his father,Palpu, was a doctor who founded theSree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (Society for the Propagation of the Religion of Sree Narayana, or SNDP) in 1903, of which Sree Narayana Guru was the first president. Natarajan was the third of five children, having both an older and younger brother and an older and younger sister. He received a high-class education in Bangalore,Thiruvananthapuram andKandy before being awarded a Master's degree byMadras Presidency College.[1][2]
Natarajan had come into contact with Narayana Guru and experienced thegurukul way of life inAluva andOoty before becoming headmaster atVarkala High School, which had been founded by Naryana.[1] It was after a "conference of all religions" at Alwaye that Natarajan founded his Narayana Gurukulam Movement (NGM) and University for the Science of the Absolute in 1924.[3]K. K. N. Kurup, a historian ofKerala, describes the NGM as "an international order of brotherhood".[4]
In the year that Sree Naryana Guru Great Samadi, 1928, Natarajan received his blessing to study abroad. These studies lasted five years, during which he obtained a doctorate of letters from theSorbonne inParis while also teaching at theQuaker International School inGeneva.[1]
On returning to India, Natarajan spent two years seeking work in various parts of the country because the followers of Narayana were not welcoming to him after the guru's death. In 1935, he returned to the gurukul at Fernhill in Ooty. He spent some time as an Advisor for theprincely state ofCochin and established an educational institute inMysore State before leaving India for Europe once again in 1949. Upon his return in 1951, having also visited America, he was recognised as a guru.[1]
Thereafter, Nataraja travelled widely around the world and, in 1963, established the Brahmavidya Mandiram atSivagiri inVarkala.[3] He translated into English and wrote commentaries on all the major works of Narayana Guru. He also wrote on a wide variety of subjects, employing throughout a protolinguistic or structural approach.[citation needed]
Nataraja Guru Samadi on 19 March 1973 at the NGM headquarters in Varkala.[1]
Citations
Bibliography
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
