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Prof. D. K. Chakravorty

Every year quite a sizeable number of books relating to India written by writers belonging to several foreign countries are published regularly. Some of those acquire immense popularity. Again with the passage of time some books are consigned to the oblivion. However some of those books endure and continue giving pleasure and profit to the readers. In this article I intend to write about two such books. These two books are different from each other. Yet both of them are quite impressive and thought provoking.

In the foreword of his book named 鈥淕reat Swami: Meetings with Ramkrishna鈥�; Lex Hickson writes that it is not a traditional biography, it is a workbook. The drama of Shri Ramkrishna鈥檚 wonderful life is revealed before our mind鈥檚 eye. It seems as if we can see him preaching us, giving us enlightenment, elevating us to a position where we can get spiritual pleasure. There is also a cinematic quality in the book which never fails to draw our attention.

A large number of books have been written on the life and teaching of Shri Ramkrishna. Several writers of Europe and America have written about him. Among them four names stand out in bold prominence. From the chronological point of view, they are Max Mueller, a German by birth but a naturalised citizen of England, Romain Rolland, the celebrated French author, Christopher Isherwood, the well-known English author and critic and finally Lex Hickson, an American author. Before we come to Lex Hickson鈥檚 book, it would perhaps be advisable to refer briefly to the works of the three authors named above relating to the life and teachings of Shri Ramkrishna.

We know that before Max Mueller wrote his book, writers and transcendentalist thinkers like Emerson and Thoraeu gratefully acknowledged the inspiration that they received from the Vedanta Philosophy. At the same time however several dissenting voices were also heard. In his book 鈥淭hree Essays on Religion鈥�. John Stuart Mill wrote: 鈥淕od cannot be all - powerful and all - merciful at the same time鈥�. After the destructive earth quake at Lisbon. Voltaire had expressed his doubts and misgivings about the existence of God. Komte suggested that the Christian religion should be replaced by the religion of man. Spencer said that the ways of God were inscrutable. During the same time however Max Mueller was patiently translating the Rigveda and was analysing the subtle points of Vedanta. During the last decade of the last century Max Mueller decided to write about the great seer and saint. In the year 1898, he published, his famous book, 鈥淩amkrishna and his Disciples鈥�. The book gives the reader an understanding of the philosophy of the great seer and ultimately we wholeheartedly agree with the view of the author: 鈥淗e (Shri Ramakrishna); was a poet, an enthusiast or if you like a dreamer of dreams鈥�.

Romain Rolland鈥檚 鈥淭he Life of Ramkrishna鈥� was published in the year 1928. Several years before writing this biography, he had been awarded the Nobel prize for his novel 鈥楯ean Christopher鈥�. He realised that the life of Ramkrishna was 鈥榗antique des cantiques鈥� meaning great music in the shape of man. In the foreword of his book he wrote: 鈥淩amkrishna more fully than any other man not only conceived, but realised in himself, the total unity of this river of God, open to all rivers and all streams; that I have given him my love鈥�. To him 鈥渢he only God is He who is a perpetual birth. The creation takes places anew every instant. Religion is ceaseless action and will to strive 鈥� the outpouring of a spring, never a stagnant pool鈥濃��. He acknowledged that he got this concept of God from the life and teachings of Shri Ramkrishna who had realised that 鈥渦nity, living and not abstract, is the essence of it all鈥�. Romain Rolland wrote: 鈥淭o Ramkrishna Maya itself was God. It was one face of Brahman鈥�.

Christopher Isherwood鈥檚 鈥淩amkrishna and his Disciples鈥� was published in the year 1964. Before this book came out Isherwood had established himself as a famous poet, novelist and political thinker. As it happened in the case of Aldous Huxley earlier, there was a sudden and inexplicable change in the life of Isherwood. He joined the centre for Vedanta studies in California and became an ardent disciple of Swami Prabhavananda.

Rolland鈥檚 book is like a deep sea, where as Isherwood鈥檚 work may be likened to a flowing river. Throughout the book, Isherwood鈥檚 scientific thinking is always at work. He is not prepared to accept anything without properly weighing the pros and cons of it. Yet he begins the book with the classic statement: 鈥淭his is the story of a phenomenon鈥�. To him Sri Ramkrishna is not only a great man or a great saint or a great mystic, he is a phenomenon and while reading about him we must always remind ourselves 鈥渢his too is humanly possible鈥�

Lex Hickson believes that the life and teachings of Shri Ramkrishna may be compared with a great classic work of literature and ...鈥� each generation will produce its own version of the root text鈥�. Hickson rightly says that the scientists may wait with bated breath for the day when Haking and Penrose and others would find out the unified field consisting of an amalgamation of gravity, atomic reaction and electromagnetism. If they succeed in finding out the unified field, they would present us a bunch of complicated equations. Would that be of any help to men pestered by old age, suffering, disease and terror of death? According to Lex Hickson, herein lies precisely the relevance of this work.

Gunther Grass鈥檚 latest novel named 鈥淭he Call of the Toads鈥� is a notable work of fiction. It is different from his earlier works primarily because this novel has a message that never fails to captivate the mind of the initiated readers.

In the ground of Dunzing, a city in Poland, we meet the protagonists of the novel. They are Alexander Reshke, a German professor and Alexandra Piatayroska, a Polish artist. They become intimate with each other as they realise that their aims and objectives in life are similar. They want to teach the younger generation to try to make this world free from all types of pollution, to imbibe the spirit of brotherhood and to banish warfare. Germany and Poland have a long history of hostility and dissensions. They want to unite them by a novel method and they choose: Dunzing as their field of activity. They want to construct burial grounds where dead Germans and Polish people will lie in close proximity. They know that a large number of people of both countries died in the battle fields. 鈥淣o one knows where their bodies are. Buried by the road side. Individual graves and mass graves. Sometimes only ashes. Death factories. Geqocide, the still unfathomable crime鈥�. They want to give them a new and decent, funeral. They believe that this proximity of the dead would also bring living people close to each other. So, with great zeal and enthusiasm, they start work, but, soon they become frustrated. Shrewd business people with great commercial wisdom and acumen enter the fray and the very purpose of the enterprise is foiled. The couple find out to their utter dismay: 鈥淲hat was lost in the war is being re-taken by economic power. No tank, no dive bomber. No dictator rules, but, only the free market. Money rules. We resign鈥�.

At this juncture the couple come in contact with an Indian, Subhas Chandra Chatterjee. Mr. Chatterji is an ordinary man. He is neither a patriot nor an artist. He came to England for higher education. Then he travelled to various places in search of livelihood and finally younger reached Dunzing and started production of cycle rickshaws and soon his business thrived. Chatterjee, the imaginary character created by Grass became popular in all the capital cities of Europe. Grass writes: 鈥淩ome has no fumes, no constant honking, only the melodious sound of three note bells. Friend Chatterjee has won and we with him鈥�.

In this novel, the cycle-rickshaw becomes a symbol. The author visualises the triumph of the simple life style of India over the materialistic civilisation of Europe. Slowly but surely, Mother Kali, the goddess ardently worshipped by the Bengalees also influences the people of Poland. In the words of the author: 鈥淚t announces the predestined Asian future of Europe, free from nationalistic narrowness, no longer hemmed in by language boundaries, polyphonically religious, super rich in gods and above all blessedly slowed down, softened by the new warm climate.鈥�

This immensely readable novel is particularly interesting to Indian readers for here an Indian character finds such a significant role. In no other contemporary European fiction, such paramountcy has been granted to any other Indian character. Apart from this, Indian point of view, both philosophical and political view-points find a prominent place in this novel.