Brilliant Yet Shadowed Seminar Series – 4
Join the SERA Theory and Philosophy network for the final seminar in this series that introduces influential, yet overlooked, contributors to educational theory, philosophy, and practice across the world. This time we are joined by Dr Shone Surendran (King’s College London) who will talk about the non-dualist philosophy of Narayana Guru; and Dr Tinni Gowami (St Xavier’s College, Kolkata) who will talk about Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur and the intersection of science, religion, and education. Full details, including joining link, below:
Education, Mind and Society: An Introduction to Narayana Guru’s Philosophy of Non-dualism
Shone Surendran, King’s College, London
In the South Indian state of Kerala, Sri Narayana Guru (1854 – 1928) is a well-renowned social reformer. However, his extensive philosophical work remains neglected within India and World Philosophy. He was committed to the Indian non-dualist school of thought – Advaita Vedanta. His philosophy brought traditional Indian epistemology to bear on modern issues in Western science, with significant implications for philosophy. For example, emerging Vygotsky scholarship increasingly focuses on philosophical influences from Spinoza to Hegel and the German Idealist tradition. While such scholarship offer an alternative to mainstream Anglo-American interpretations, the impact of Eastern and Indian philosophical thought is seldom acknowledged. This article addresses this deficit, by bringing the philosophical works of Narayana Guru into the fold. The term ‘Guru’ here, roughly refers to a teacher. Having myself studied Advaita Vedanta in India, through an indigenous education system known as a ‘gurukula’, I was exposed to the oral tradition. This school of philosophy encouraged cross-cultural discussions drawing links between Western, Eastern and World philosophers. Inspired by these historical and philosophical relations, I illustrate how emerging ideas in contemporary Western philosophy have long been part of the Indian philosophical discourse. While the Advaita school engages with Western thought, this trend remains to be reciprocated within Western academia. In discussing Narayana Guru’s non-dualism, I highlight how it offers a critical response to growing calls for the diversification of academic philosophy. Forging more inclusive philosophical dialogues with global thinkers, may serve to illuminate our collective understanding of both philosophy and of ourselves.
The Intersection between Science, Religion, and Education in Colonial Bengal, exemplified by Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur
Tinni Goswami, St Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Kolkata
This presentation aims to reexamine the history of national education in modern Bengal, where Hindu astronomy and astrology played a significant role under the auspices of a Gaudiya Vaishnava reformer. Here we need to highlight the life and works of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur (1874-1937), the founder of the Gaudiya Math and Mission (1920). who established ‘Calcutta Saraswat Chatuspathi’ in 1897 to facilitate the learning of Hindu Astronomy and Astrology. He published Jyotirbid, Brihaspati and Bhaktibhavan or Nabadwip Panjika with an aim to promote Astronomy and Astrology in vernacular as the forms of Indian or national science where Astronomical data validated the chronology and periodization of the tradition of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Perhaps these above-mentioned initiatives helped the Gaudiya Vaishnava Community to prove its worth not only in the light of spiritual doctrines but also from the perspectives of scientific humanism.