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This blog is part of an assignment for the Paper 202 - Indian English Literature - Post-Independence - Sem - 3, 2024.

Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan: A journey from educationist to philosopher and statesman

TABLE OF CONTENTS:-

❍ Personal information

❍ Assignment Details

❍ Abstract

❍ Keywords

❍ Introduction

❍ Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan: Education

-The Academic Career of Radha Krishnan
- Awards and Honours of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
-Literary works by Sarvepalli Radha Krishnan

-Teacher’s Day

❍ The Spirit of Abheda

❍ Educationist, Diplomat, and Statesman

❍ Philosopher par excellence

❍ Conclusion

❍ Work Cited

PERSONAL INFORMATION:-

Name: - Priyanshiba Kanaksinh Gohil

Batch No: M.A. Sem 3 (2023-2025)

Enrollment Number: - 5108230018

E-mail Address: - priyabagohil7126@gmail.com

Roll Number: - 21

Assignment Details:-

Topic:- Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan: A journey from educationist to philosopher and statesman

Subject Code & Paper:- 22406 - Paper 202 - Indian English Literature – Post-Independence

Submitted to:- Smt. Sujata Binoy Gardi, Department of English, MKBU, Bhavnagar

Date of Submission:- 20th November, 2024

About Assignment:- In this Assignment, I am going to discuss about Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan: A journey from educationist to philosopher and statesman

Abstract

Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975) was a visionary who epitomized the seamless blend of education, philosophy, and statesmanship. His journey from an educationist deeply rooted in Indian and Western philosophies to becoming India's second President reflects his profound intellectual and moral insights. This paper explores his contributions as a scholar of comparative religion, a philosopher who interpreted Indian thought for the modern world, and a statesman who upheld the ideals of peace and moral integrity in governance. It delves into his significant works, such as Indian Philosophy and The Idealist View of Life, and his role in shaping India's education system through the University Education Commission. Dr. Radhakrishnan's enduring legacy, celebrated annually on Teacher's Day, serves as a beacon for educators, leaders, and thinkers worldwide. The study underscores his belief in the transformative power of education, the universality of spiritual values, and the integration of knowledge and ethics in leadership.

Keywords:

Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Educationist, Philosopher, Statesman, Indian philosophy, Comparative religion, Vedanta, The Idealist View of Life, Spiritual values

Introduction:

As an academic, philosopher, and statesman, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888-1975) was one of the most recognized and influential Indian thinkers in academic circles in the 20th century. Throughout his life and extensive writing career, Radhakrishnan sought to define, defend, and promulgate his religion, a religion he variously identified as Hinduism, Vedanta, and the religion of the Spirit. He sought to demonstrate that his Hinduism was both philosophically coherent and ethically viable. Radhakrishnan’s concern for experience and his extensive knowledge of the Western philosophical and literary traditions has earned him the reputation of being a bridge-builder between India and the West. He often appears to feel at home in the Indian as well as the Western philosophical contexts, and draws from both Western and Indian sources throughout his writing. Because of this, Radhakrishnan has been held up in academic circles as a representative of Hinduism to the West. His lengthy writing career and his many published works have been influential in shaping the West’s understanding of Hinduism, India, and the East.

Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan: Education

" The end-product of education should be a free creative man, who can battle against historical circumstances and adversities of nature. "

-Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

Radhakrishnan’s primary education was at K. V. High School at Thiruttani. In 1896 he moved to the Hermansburg Evangelical Lutheran Mission School in Tirupati and Government High Secondary School, Walajapet. He joined Voorhees College in Vellore for his high school education. After his F.A. (First of Arts) class, he joined the Madras Christian College (affiliated to the University of Madras) at the age of 16 in 1904. He graduated from there and also finished his Masters in Philosophy from the same college in 1908. His conservative father did not want the boy to learn English and hoped that he would become a priest. But the young Radhakrishnan excelled in his studies and was awarded scholarships throughout his academic life.

His cousin who graduated from the Madras Christian college passed on his philosophy textbooks to Radhakrishnan and that became an automatic choice for Radhakrishnan to pursue Philosophy subject in his degree.

Sarvepalli wrote his bachelor’s degree thesis on “The Ethics of the Vedanta and its Metaphysical Presuppositions”. It “was intended to be a reply to the charge that the Vedanta system had no room for ethics.” Two of his professors, Rev. William Meston and Dr. Alfred George Hogg, commended Radhakrishnan’s dissertation. Radhakrishnan’s thesis was published when he was only twenty. Radhakrishnan lauded Professor Hogg as ‘My distinguished teacher,’ and as “one of the greatest Christian thinkers we had in India.’

a) The Academic Career of Radha Krishnan:

Radhakrishnan was appointed to the Madras Presidency College's Department of Philosophy in April 1909.

He was appointed Professor of Philosophy at the University of Mysore in 1918, where he taught at the Maharaja's College in Mysore.

He wrote several articles for prestigious journals such as The Quest, Journal of Philosophy, and the International Journal of Ethics while at Maharaja's College.

He also finished his first novel, Rabindranath Tagore's Philosophy. Tagore's philosophy, he claimed, was the "genuine expression of the Indian spirit."

In 1920, he published his second book, The Reign of Religion in Contemporary Philosophy.

In 1921, he was appointed as a professor of philosophy at the University of Calcutta, where he held the King George V Chair of Mental and Moral Science.

In June 1926, he represented the University of Calcutta at the British Empire Universities Congress, and in September 1926, he attended the International Congress of Philosophy at Harvard University.

Another significant academic event during this period was his acceptance of the Hibbert Lecture on the Ideals of Life, which he gave at Manchester College, Oxford in 1929 and was later published as “An Idealist View of Life” in book form.

In 1929, Radhakrishnan was invited to Manchester College to fill the vacancy left by Principal J. Estlin Carpenter. This gave him the opportunity to give a Comparative Religion lecture to University of Oxford students.

In June 1931, George V knighted him for his services to education, and the Governor-General of India, the Earl of Willingdon, formally invested him with his honour in April 1932.

After India's independence, he stopped using the title and instead used his academic title of Doctor.

From 1931 to 1936, he served as Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University.

Radhakrishnan was elected a Fellow of All Souls College and appointed Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics at the University of Oxford in 1936.

He was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1937. Nominations for the award continued to pour in well into the 1960s.

In 1939, he was invited to succeed Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya as Vice-Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University (BHU). He was its Vice-Chancellor from January 1948 to January 1949.

b) Literary works by Sarvepalli Radha Krishnan:

The first book authored by Radha Krishnan was a philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore in the year 1918.

His second book was published in 1923 named Indian Philosophy.

The Hindu View of Life published in 1926 was Radha Krishnan's third book which was related to Hindu philosophy and beliefs.

An Idealist View of Life was published in 1929.

Kalki or the Future of Civilization was published in 1929.

He published his sixth book named Eastern Religions and Western Thought in the year 1939.

Religion and Society were published as the seventh book in 1947.

In 1948 The Bhagavadgita: with an introductory essay, Sanskrit text, English translation, and notes were published.

In 1950 his book The Dhammapada was published.

His tenth book The Principal Upanishads was published in 1953.

Recovery of Faith was published in 1956.

The twelfth book was A Source Book in Indian Philosophy published in 1957.

The Brahma Sutra: The Philosophy of Spiritual Life. was published in 1959.]

His last book named Religion, Science & Culture was published in 1968.

c) Awards and Honours of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

Knight Bachelor in 1931. However, he ceased to use the title “Sir” since 1947 after Bharat’s independence.

Elected Fellow of the British Academy in 1938.

1947: election as Permanent Member of the Instutut international de philosophie, Paris.

Recipient of the Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts, an order of Merit, Germany. (1954)

Recipient of the Bharat Ratna (1954)

Sash First Class of the Order of the Aztec Eagle (1954), Mexico.

1961: the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade.

1962: Institution of Teacher’s Day in Bharat, yearly celebrated at 5 September, Radhakrishnan’s birthday, in honour of Radhakrishnan’s belief that “teachers should be the best minds in the country”.

Honorary member of the Order of Merit (1963), United Kingdom

1968: Sahitya Akademi fellowship, the highest honour conferred by the Sahitya Akademi on a writer (he is the first person to get this award)

1975: the Templeton Prize in 1975, a few months before his death, for advocating non-aggression and conveying “a universal reality of God that embraced love and wisdom for all people.”He donated the entire amount of the Templeton Prize to Oxford University.

1989: institution of the Radhakrishnan Scholarships by Oxford University in the memory of Radhakrishnan. The scholarships were later renamed the “Radhakrishnan Chevening Scholarships”.

1933–37: Nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Between 1933 and 1937, Radhakrishnan was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature for five consecutive years. Commemorative stamps on Dr. Radhakrishnan released by India Post in 1967 and 1989. Sarvepalli Radhakrishna (1988) a documentary film about Radhakrishnan, directed by N. S. Thapa, was produced by the Government of India’s Films Division.

d) Teacher’s Day:

“When we think we know, we cease to learn”.

These words motivate us to seek higher learning in each phase of life since learning is a life-long process. The student in us would never fail if we had teacher-par excellence like Dr. S Radhakrishnan.

Perhaps Dr Radhakrishnan's most enduring legacy is the celebration of his birthday, 5th September, as Teacher’s Day in India. When asked how he would like his birthday to be celebrated, he expressed a wish for it to be observed as Teacher's Day, honoring his lifelong commitment to education and academia. The celebration of Teacher’s Day epitomizes Dr Radhakrishnan’s view that teachers are 'nation-builders'. This day is a tribute to his firm belief in the educators' significant role in shaping young minds and, by extension, the future.

Along with G. D. Birla and some other social workers in the pre-independence era, Radhakrishnan formed the Krishnarpan Charity Trust.

He was against State institutions engaging in any sort of religious activity as it was against the secular vision of the Indian State. Radhakrishnan not only tried to defend Hindu Dharma against uninformed western criticism but tried to bridge the eastern and western thought on Philosophy and religion.

The Spirit of Abheda:

Radhakrishnan explains how the Vedanta philosophy requires us to look upon all creations as one or non-different. He quotes, “In morals, the individual is enjoined to cultivate a Spirit of Abheda, or non-difference.” This according to Radhakrishnan “naturally leads to the ethics of love and brotherhood”.

He also says,

“The Vedanta requires us to respect human dignity and demands the recognition of man as man.”

Educationist, Diplomat, and Statesman:

Radhakrishnan was one of those stalwarts who attended Andhra Mahasabha in 1928 where he seconded the idea of renaming Ceded Districts division of Madras Presidency as Rayalaseema. In 1931 he was nominated to the League of Nations Committee for Intellectual Cooperation. He was the vice-chancellor of Andhra University from 1931 to 1936. In 1936 Radhakrishnan was named Spalding Professor of Eastern Religion and Ethics at the University of Oxford, and was elected a Fellow of All Souls College.

In 1936 and again in 1937, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. This was followed by further nominations for the award several times up to the 1960s. In 1939 Dr. Radhakrishnan succeeded Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya as the Vice-Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University (BHU). He served as its Vice-Chancellor till January 1948. Shortly after his resignation from BHU in 1948, Radhakrishnan was named chairman of the University Education Commission, which submitted its report in 1949.

Radhakrishnan had been actively involved in the then newly incorporated UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), leading the Indian delegation from 1946 to 1951 and serving on its Executive Board as Chairman in 1948-49. Radhakrishnan also served for the two years immediately following Bharat’s independence as a member of the Indian Constituent Assembly.

He served as Ambassador of Bharat to the Soviet Union, from 1949 to 1952. He laid the foundation for Bharat’s relationship with Soviet Union as Ambassador. He suggested to Stalin that Soviet Union should take the initiative to end the cold war. When Stalin answered by saying that it takes two hands to clap and that there was another side responsible for the Cold War too, Radhakrishnan replied “As a peace-loving country, the Soviet Union should withdraw its own hand as it takes two hands to clap, “that left Stalin at a loss for words.

From 1953 to 1962 he was chancellor of the University of Delhi. Radhakrishnan was elected as the first Vice-President of Bharat (1952-1962), and elected as the second President of Bharat (1962 –1967). In September 1957, Radhakrishnan was on a visit to China as Bharat’s Vice President. On his arrival at Mao’s residence, Radhakrishnan was received at the door by Mao himself. After shaking hands with the Mao, he patted the surprised leader on his cheek. Mao had never been subjected to such familiarity but Radhakrishnan was quick to put him at ease by saying, “Mr Chairman, don’t be alarmed, I did the same to Stalin and the Pope!” When the king of Greece came on a state visit to Bharat in 1962, Radhakrishnan (newly appointed as the President of Bharat back then) welcomed him saying: “Your Majesty, you are the first king of Greece to come as our guest. Alexander came uninvited!”

When Radhakrishnan was appointed the President of Bharat in 1962, Bertrand Russell one of the world’s greatest philosophers welcomed the news by saying,

“It is an honour to philosophy that Dr. Radhakrishnan should be President of India and I, as a philosopher, take special pleasure in this. Plato aspired for philosophers to become kings and it is a tribute to India that she should make a philosopher her President.”

During his tenure as Vice President and President of Bharat, the world witnessed Korean war, political tensions between Bharat and China and Bharat and Pakistan. The cold war divided the world into East and West. Radhakrishnan rightly appealed for the promotion of a creative internationalism based on the spiritual foundations of integral experience. He strongly believed that such an approach would improve the understanding between people and lead to tolerant nations.

Philosopher par excellence:

He was self-motivated in his defence of Hinduism against “uninformed Western criticism”. According to the historian Donald Mackenzie Brown, He had always defended Hindu culture against uninformed Western criticism and had symbolized the pride of Bharatiyas in their own intellectual traditions.

Radhakrishnan was one of the most prominent proponents of Neo-Vedanta. He reinterpreted Advaita Vedanta for a contemporary understanding. According to Radhakrishnan, maya is not a strict absolute idealism, but “a subjective misperception of the world as ultimately real.” According to Radhakrishnan, intuition plays a specific role in all kinds of experience. Radhakrishnan saw Hinduism as a scientific religion based on facts, perceived through intuition or religious experience. According to Radhakrishnan, Vedanta offers the most direct intuitive experience and inner realisation, which makes it the highest form of religion.

“The man of action finds his God in fire, the man of feeling in the heart, and the feeble minded in the idol, but the strong in spirit find God everywhere”. The seers see the supreme in the self, and not the images.” (From his writings collected as The Hindu View of Life, Upton Lectures, Delivered at Manchester College, Oxford, 1926).

Radhakrishnan strongly believed that doctrines and scriptures are records of personal insights and are therefore necessary for religious faith. This belief left a mark on Radhakrishnan’s philosophical and religious outlook which reflects in his writings.

Radhakrishnan’s idealism was such that it recognized the reality and diversity of the world of experience (prakṛti) while at the same time preserving the notion of a wholly transcendent Absolute (Brahman), an Absolute that is identical to the self (Atman).

“What the scientist does when he discovers a new law is to give a new ordering to observed facts. The artist is engaged in a similar task. He gives new meaning to our experience and organizes it in a different way due to his perception of subtler qualities in reality” (An Idealist View of Life 194).

“The Hindu philosophy of religion starts from and returns to an experimental basis” (The Hindu View of Life 19). Unlike other religions, which set limits on the types of spiritual experience, the “Hindu thinker readily admits of other points of view than his own and considers them to be just as worthy of attention” (The Hindu View of Life 19). Experience and experimentation are the beginning and end of Hinduism, as Radhakrishnan understood it.

Religion, according to him..

“Religious feeling must establish itself as a rational way of living. If ever the spirit is to be at home in this world, and not merely a prisoner or a fugitive, spiritual foundations must be laid deep and preserved worthily. Religion must express itself in reasonable thought, fruitful action and right social institutions.”

In the words of George P. Conger, U S philosopher, “Among the philosophers of our time, no one has achieved so much in so many fields as has Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan of India … William James was influential in religion, and John Dewey has been a force in politics. One or two American philosophers have been legislators. Jacques Maritain has been an ambassador. Radhakrishnan, in a little more than thirty years of work, has done all these things and more… Never in the history of philosophy has there been quite such a world-figure. With his unique appointment at Banaras and Oxford, like a weaver’s shuttle, he has gone to and for between the East and West, carrying a thread of understanding, weaving it into the fabric of civilization.”

Conclusion:

Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan's life and accomplishments represent an amalgam of scholarly knowledge, philosophical insight, and altruistic disposition. He was an exemplary ambassador for Indian thought, who relentlessly worked to instigate a balanced, holistic view of world philosophy. Remembering and learning about Dr Radhakrishnan is not just studying a model educator and philosopher. It is about acknowledging and internalizing the idea of education and philosophy he championed, a blend of conscientiousness, inquisitiveness, and ethical standards.

The story of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan underlines that philosophy and education, when amalgamated, form a formidable tool for the development of the nation and the world. As we move forward on the journey of knowledge, his teachings continue to illuminate our path and remind us of the profound role of teachers in society. He continues to be an inspiration to millions worldwide.

Work Cited

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2024, October 3). Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sarvepalli-Radhakrishnan

Hindu Post, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan – A journey from educationist to philosopher and statesman https://hindupost.in/education/dr-sarvepalli-radhakrishnan-a-journey-from-educationist-to-philosopher-and-statesman/#

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Radhakrishnan Sarvepalli.

https://iep.utm.edu/radhakri/

Sarvepalli Family, https://www.sarvepalli.com/

Sarvepalli Editorial, Article on Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan https://www.sarvepalli.com/editorial/article-on-dr-sarvepalli-radhakrishnan

Testbook, Articles Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Biography, Education, Awards.

https://testbook.com/articles/dr-sarvepalli-radhakrishnan

Vedantu, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Biography, Early Life, Education, And Awards https://www.vedantu.com/biography/sarvepalli-radhakrishnan-biography

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Priyanshiba Gohil

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Assignment Paper No. 202: Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan: A journey from educationist to philosopher and statesman