Imbued with the Essence of Devotion:

Song of Neohumanism

By Ayesha A. Irani

On September 14, 1982, Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, also known as Shrii Shrii Anandamurti, began a momentous journey in Deoghar. This historic town, today in the state of Jharkhand in eastern India, is situated on the banks of the Mayurákśi River, and is widely known for its ancient temple to Baidyanath Shiva, the Lord of Medicine. Here in Deoghar, at his Madhumańiká residence, Shrii Sarkar began to compose Prabháta Samgiita, a corpus of spiritual songs, largely in Bengali. The first song of Prabháta Samgiita, Song of Light (Jyotirgiita)—bandhu he niye calo—was, according to the composer, written in a blend of melodies from the Ajay river valley (where Deoghar is situated) and Italy. The second, Song of Liberation (Mukti Giita)—e gán ámár álor jharńádhárá—the author said, mixes Spanish and Portuguese melodies with Bengali ones. Precisely three days later, he wrote his third song in a blend of Albanian melodies and the music of the Malraki valley¹:

The first verse of this song, typically called the stháyii or fixed verse, which includes the refrain shonábo sabáya d́eke d́eke bhái, is set in Kaharvá, an eight-beat time-cycle in Hindustáni classical music, roughly equivalent to 4/4 time-signature. Yet the two intermediary verses (antarás), which share the same melodic structure, are set in Dádrá, a Hindustáni six-beat time-cycle roughly equivalent to 6/8 time-signature in Western music. Why is it that the first few songs of Prabháta Samgiita blend western melodies with eastern ones? Was it to signal that Prabháta Samgiita as Shrii Sarkar explicitly discussed sought to bring about “a cultural synthesis” in the world of music? Was it so that anyone listening to these melodies, no matter which part of the world they belonged to, could find a little piece of themselves in them?

This uplifting song, which Shrii Sarkar entitled Navyamánavatáváder Giita, the Song of Neohumanism, encapsulates the essence of a new conception of humanism that Sarkar propounded earlier that year through a set of eleven discourses that he delivered between February 21 and March 29. Through these lectures on Neohumanism, Sarkar spoke of the urgent need to reorient humanity from materialism to spirituality, from a self-seeking, individualistic society based upon the exploitation of the weak, to an egalitarian universalistic society freed of all narrow sentiments and groupist mentalities. This reorientation aims to make human beings stewards of the cosmos. As creatures with the most developed consciousness, humans, according to Sarkar, are in a position to extend the spirit of humanism to embrace the entire planet—the earth (and beyond), along with all its creatures, plant and animal. In his brief commentary (purport) on this song, Shrii Sarkar elaborates: “The atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere everything is closely related to me. All the flora and fauna I must preserve; I must save them from premature extinction because I love everything of this earth. I am a Neohumanist. I call one and all to come and create a new rhythm.”³ The “I” of the song, thus, reaches up for the stars, while firmly planting itself on this radiant earth, “purer than the purest gold.” This “I” sees itself within all things, inseparable from everything. This is an ancient idea already expressed in the Bhagavadgiitá:

This state of deeply-felt interconnectedness with the universe, I would argue, is Shrii Sarkar’s reimagining of Vaeśńava theology. This state Sarkar refers to has a specific designation in the literature of the great Vaeśńava theologians of Bengal, who wrote in the wake of the charismatic saint, Maháprabhu Shriicaetanyadeva (1486-1534). In this literature, this state is called bháva⁴. Shrii Sarkar describes this state as “the subtlest parallelism between human existence and the spiritual flow.”⁵ When the mind is filled with love for the Supreme, it becomes at once soft and resilient—tender and compassionate, but nevertheless capable of bearing tremendous hardship for the welfare of the planet. In this state, all vanity, meanness, and pettiness disappear from the mind. What remains is simply prema, the sun of pure love that shines spontaneously and without distinction over all things in this cosmos. Rather than weighing this delicate song down with philosophical jargon, the composer uses simple language to express bháva, this devotional state which is the quintessence of Neohumanism. Only a devotee, according to Sarkar, is capable of fully embodying this doctrine of Neohumanism.

In a fascinating conversation he once had with several disciples, Shrii Sarkar asked them to provide an example of a Neohumanist. Three names were proposed: Rabindranath Tagore, the world-renowned litterateur; Subhash Candra Bose, the intrepid leader who fought for India’s independence from the British; and the aforementioned Maháprabhu Shrii Krśńa Caetanya. While Shrii Sarkar had high praise for all three extraordinary sons of Bengal, he remarked, “Rabindranath only passes the test of Neohumanism with grace marks.” (He used to eat chicken soup, Sarkar pointed out!). “Subhash,” he continued, “fails the test as he was a nationalist, whereas Caetanya is the only one who passes with flying colors.”⁶ On several occasions in his discourses, he quoted a verse attributed to Shrii Caetanya:

A brahmin by birth, Shrii Caetanya played a key role in opposing the centuries-old caste system and the punishing practice of untouchability, a form of apartheid practiced by the upper castes against the lowest caste groups and outcaste non-Hindus who were perceived to be “impure” and “untouchable.” Through his own example Caetanya modelled love for these oppressed people, such as when he took the sick Haridas, a non-Hindu devotee, into his arms and tended to him, when all other brahmins turned a blind eye to his suffering⁸.

In his own capacity as the founder of Ananda Marga and propounder of the doctrine of Neohumanism, Shrii Sarkar from the very inception of Ananda Marga laid down strict guidelines for members of upper caste groups who wished to be initiated into the meditation practices he taught: they had to completely abandon all affiliation with caste practices, such as wearing the sacred thread, before they could be initiated. Additionally, since last names usually mark the caste of a Hindu, he instituted a new system of naming, wherein all males would be given the last name Deva, and all females, Devi. Lastly, to break the endogamous nature of caste, he propagated the system of “revolutionary marriage” wherein marriages would be conducted between partners across region, caste, and nationality.

When we look around us the world today is filled with hatred and strife. Whether one considers the Israel-Palestine situation, or that of Ukraine and Russia, though the political histories of these conflicts are decades old, both, at their core, are cases where, what Sarkar calls “geo-sentiment”—“geo-religious” and “geo-social sentiment” respectively—have been allowed to flourish. Religious dogma linked to territory, in the first case, and the exploitative ideologies of language hegemony and imperialism, in the second, have annihilated all forms of rationality that could help to solve these longstanding conflicts in which countless people continue to lose their lives. When looked at through the eyes of a devotee, this world, this universe, is not the property of any individual or group of individuals. As Shrii Sarkar points out, “The universal concept of dharma that God is all-pervasive—vistárah sarvabhútasya viśńorvishvamidam jagat [“This entire universe is the vast expanse of the All-Pervasive Entity (Viśńu), who contains all beings”]—this essence of dharma has been forgotten.”⁹

Today, in this age of climate activism, the greatest adversary of activists is the capitalist whose raison d’être is to accumulate as much wealth as possible no matter the cost to other human beings or the planet. There is no doubt, therefore, that climate and political activists, indeed, all ethical people have to band together to wage a hard battle against the shameless rapacity of the capitalist elite who comprise the ruling class of all developed nations today.

Yet Shrii Sarkar warns of another enemy closer to home. Those truly concerned about this planet, those who hope to effect change in the ways in which others think about it should not only fight against such exploitation but also reorient their own lives towards spirituality. For only when spirituality becomes a practice for the individual activist and for others in the movement does it give that movement moral force, rationality, and the inspiration to overcome hatred fueled by treacherous geo-religious, geo-economic, and geo-social sentiments. Only such movements based upon spirituality can gradually, and painstakingly, one mind at a time, elevate mass consciousness and transform the way people think about this planet. Until such profound change in consciousness is not effected, human beings will continue down a dark path. This is also why Shrii Sarkar placed such emphasis on Neohumanist education—an education that instills in the human being, from its earliest years, the twin values of cultivating rationality through requisite study, and devotion through the practice of spirituality.

Endnotes
¹ . This information is to be found on Sarkarverse: https://sarkarverse.org/wiki/Bandhu_he_niye_calo
https://sarkarverse.org/wiki/E_gan_amar_alor_jharnadhara
https://sarkarverse.org/wiki/Andhara_shese_alora_deshe
² . P. R. Sarkar, 1994. Prabháta Sauṋgiita, Part 1, p. 1. Kolkata: Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha, 2nd edition.
³ . For the entire purport, see: https://sarkarverse.org/wiki/Andhara_shese_alora_deshe
⁴ . On the definition of bháva in Vaeśńava theology, see Bhaktirasámrtasindhuh of Rūpa Gosvāmi, 3.1, p. 114, trans. into Hindi by Premalatá Sharmá, New Delhi: Indira Gandhi Rashtriiya Kalá Kendra, 1998. On Shrii Sarkar’s commentary on this definition, see P. R. Sarkar, “Bhaktitattva,” Subháśita Saḿgraha Part 1, Electronic edition version 9.0.21_.
⁵ . P. R. Sarkar, “The Role of the Cosmic Puruśa,” Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 4, Electronic edition version 9.0.21_
⁶ . Personal conversation with Acarya Bháskaránanda Avadhúta who learned of this from Acarya Jagadiishvaránanda Avadhúta, who attended the meeting, May 3, 2024; it was also corroborated by Acarya Sarvátmánanda Avadhúta in a personal conversation, May 3, 2024.
⁷ . P. R. Sarkar, “How Should a Devotee Behave?”, Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 7. Release: Electronic edition version 9.0.21_
⁸ . P. R. Sarkar, “Social Values and Human Cardinal Principles,” A Few Problems Solved Part 2,
Electronic edition version 9.0.21_
⁹ . P. R. Sarkar, “Geo-Sentiment (Discourse 3),” The Liberation of Intellect: Neohumanism, Electronic edition version 9.0.21_.