Anirvan


Anirvan or Sri Anirvan born Narendra Chandra Dhar was an Indian/Bengali/Hindu monk, writer, Vedic scholar and philosopher. He was widely known as a scholar and his principal works were a Bengali translation of Sri Aurobindo's The Life Divine and the three volume treatise Veda Mimamsa.

Early life and sannyas

Sri Anirvan was born on 8 July 1896 in the town of Mymensingh, then a part of British India and now in Bangladesh. His birth name was Narendrachandra Dhar. He was the son of Rajchandra Dhar, a doctor, and Sushila Devi. He was a spiritually and intellectually inclined child, who by age 11 had memorised the Astadhyayi of Pāṇini and the Bhagavad Gita. He was named Baroda Brahmachari after going through the sacred thread ceremony. He also won a state scholarship as a teen and completed university IA and BA degrees at the University of Dhaka and an MA from the Sanskrit College of the University of Calcutta.
At 16, he joined the Assam Bangiya Saraswata Math, located in the village of Kokilamukh near Jorhat in Assam. He was a disciple of the ashram's founder, Paramahansa Srimat Swami Nigamananda Saraswati Dev, who initiated him into sannyas. Anirvan's new monastic name was Nirvanananda Saraswati. He taught at the ashram school and edited its monthly magazine Aryyadarpan.

Scholar and writer

Some time after 1930, Nirvanananda changed his name to Anirvan and ceased to wear the ochre swami's robes. He travelled widely in North India, eventually returning to Assam and establishing an ashram in Kamakhya near Guwahati. However, he continued to travel. In the 1940s, he lived in Lohaghat and Almora. Madame Lizelle Reymond documented some of this period in My Life with a Brahmin Family and To Live Within. During this time, Sri Anirvan translated Sri Aurobindo's The Life Divine into Bengali ; this book, his first, was published in two volumes between 1948 and 1951.
In 1953, Sri Anirvan moved to Shillong in Assam. His reputation as a Vedic scholar grew; and he wrote both in Bengali and in English on various aspects of Hindu philosophy and the parallels between Rigvedic, Puranic, Tantric and Buddhist thought. His magnum opus, Veda Mimamsa, was published in three volumes in 1961, 1965 and 1970. This work won him the Rabindra award.
Though Sri Anirvan was a saint, he studied subjects such as Marxism and gardening; yet he called himself a simple baul.
Sri Anirvan made his final move, to Kolkata, in 1965. He died on 31 May 1978, after a six-year illness.

Works

  1. Aditi. Kolkata: Sri Gautam Dharmapal, Haimavati Prakashani Trust.
  2. Anirvan Aloya Patanjala Yoga-Prasanga; Edited & Translated by Sudipta Munsi; Calcutta: Prachi Publications.. Published 2006.
  3. Antaryoga. Kolkata: Haimavati Prakashani Trust, 1997, 3rd edition.
  4. Aranyak. Writings as Editor of Nagamananda Ashram magazine. Halishar: Assam Bangyiya Saraswat Math.
  5. Bichitra. Kolkata: Smt Ramaa Choudhury, Haimavati-Anirban Trust, 1993.
  6. Buddhi Yoga Of The Gita And Other essays. Biblia Impex Pvt. Ltd. 1991, Madras, Samata Books.
  7. Dakshinamurti. 1969. Sreerampore, Hooghly: Sri Rabindranath Bandyopadhyay,.
  8. Divya Jeevan.Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram.
  9. Divya Jeevan Prasanga. Kolkata: Sri Aurobindo Pathamandir, 2000..
  10. Gayatri Mandala Volumes 1–6.. Undated.
  11. Gitanuvachan. Vol I – 1968, Vol II – 1969, Vol III – 1970. Sreerampore, Hooghly: Sri Rabindranath Bandyopadhyay.
  12. Inner Yoga Translated by Simanta Narayan Chatterjee from "Antar Yoga." New Delhi: Voice of India.
  13. Kaveri .1976. Kolkata: Sri Aurobindo Pathamandir
  14. Lecture On the Immortality Of the Body in Sri Aurobindo's Yoga.1970. Kolkata: Sri Aurobindo Pathamandir
  15. Letters From A Baul, Life Within Life.. 1983. Kolkata: Sri Aurobindo Pathamandir.
  16. Pather Katha. Published 2008.
  17. Pather Sathi. Halishar: Srimat Swami Jnananada Saraswati, Assam Bangyiya Saraswat Math, 1980.. Kolkata: Haimavati Anirvan Trust.
  18. Patralekha. Vol I – 1968, Vol II – 1969, Sreerampore, Hooghly: Ritambhara. Vol III – 1980, Kolkata: Haimavati Anirvan Trust.
  19. Patram Pushpam. 1982. Kolkata: Haimavati Prakashani Trust.
  20. Prashnottari. 1973. Sreerampore, Hooghly: Sri Rabindranath Bandyopadhyay. Halishar: Srimat Swami Jnananada Saraswati, Assam Bangyiya Saraswat Math, 2001, 2nd edition.
  21. Pravachan. Vol I – 1962, Vol II – 1963, Vol III – 1966, Vol I – 1961, Vol IV – 1973. Sreerampore, Hooghly: Sri Rabindranath Bandyopadhyay. Later – Halishar: Srimat Swami Jnananada Saraswati, Assam Bangyiya Saraswat Math, 2002.
  22. Pururava. Published 1989.
  23. Sahitya Prasanga. 1980. Kolkata: Haimavati Prakashani Trust
  24. Shiksha. Vol I – 1962, Vol II – 1974. Assam Bangyiya Saraswat Math.
  25. Snehashish. Vol I – 1971, Vol II – 1971, Vol III – 1972. Sreerampore, Hooghly: Ritambhara.
  26. Upanishad Prasanga – Commentary on Aitareya Upanishad. 1969. Burdwan University.
  27. Upanishad Prasanga – Commentary on Ishopanishad. 1967. Burdwan University.
  28. Upanishad Prasanga – Commentary on Katha Upanishad —. 2009. Kolkata:
  29. Upanishad Prasanga – Commentary on Kaushitaki Upanishad —. 2009. Kolkata:
  30. Upanishad Prasanga – Commentary on Kenopanishad —. 1969. Kolkata: Haimavati Prakashani Trust
  31. Upanishad Prasanga – Commentary on Mandukya Upanishad —. 2009. Kolkata:
  32. Upanishad Prasanga – Commentary on Taittireya Upanishad —. 2009. Kolkata:
  33. Uttarayan. Kolkata: Smt Ramaa Choudhury, Haimavati-Anirban Trust, 1995.
  34. Vedamimamsa. Vol I – 1961, Vol II – 1965, Vol III – 1970. Winner of Rabindra Puraskar award. Kolkata: Government Sanskrit College.
  35. Vedanta Jijnasa. Sreerampore, Hooghly: Sri Rabindranath Bandyopadhyay, 1965.
  36. Yogasamanvaya Prasanga. 1967. Kolkata: Sri Aurobindo Pathamandir.

    Biographies

  37. Section on Sri Anirvan in "Adhyatmavada Samskritite Acarya Satyananda" by Prof. Gita Haldar in Bengali. Undated.
  38. Kathaprasange Sri Anirvan by Ayacaka in Bengali. Undated.
  39. Mahajana Samvada by Prof. Govindagopal Mukherjee in Bengali. Undated.
  40. Rishi Anirvan, biography of Sri Anirvan by Prof. Gita Haldar in Bengali. Published 2008.
5. Smriticarane Mahayogi Anirvan by Dilip Kumar Roy in Bengali. Undated.

Books on Sri Anirvan and his philosophy

  1. Akasabrahma by Ayacaka in Bengali. Undated.
  2. My Life In A Brahmin Family by Lizelle Reymond. Translated from the French by Lucy Norton. Rider and Co. London. 1958.
  3. To Live Within by Sri Anirvan and Lizelle Reymond, introduction by Jacob Needleman. Morninglight Press. 2007.