Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar's Short Biography

Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar (1921-1990), philosopher, social reformer, humanitarian and spiritual teacher. Through his actions and teachings, Sarkar inspired thousands of people to develop themselves to their fullest, and to assume greater responsibility for the welfare of humanity and indeed the entire creation. It will be decades or centuries before human beings will begin to comprehend his vast - nay unbounded contribution to this world.

His Life

Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar was born in 1921, in Jamalpur, a small town in the rural part of northern India in the state of Bihar. Prabhat Ranjan was the eldest son. One of his two elder sisters died at an early age, while his two younger brothers still live. His father was a medical doctor attached to the large railway workshop in Jamalpur.

After attending college in Kolkata during the early war years, Shrii Sarkar took employment with the same Jamalpur railway workshop's auditing department in 1944. By then he had already made his mark as a journalist of various newspapers and periodicals, and as a social commentator in the salons of Kolkata.

By that time he had also embarked on his mission as a teacher of tantrik spiritual practices. He was increasingly recognized as a leader in spirituality, morality, and in starting numerous social welfare projects.

Shrii Sarkar first spoke of Prout in 1959, and formulated the five fundamental principles of Prout, which were later published in the final chapter of his book, Idea and Ideology. During this time period, Sarkar toured extensively throughout India, and by the year 1965 he took a long leave from his job and moved to Ananda Nagar, located in the heartland of Rahr in West Bengal. Here, in one of the poorest parts of India, he began his mission - to work fulltime for the physical, mental and spiritual elevation of humanity.

Prout is the socio-economic-political side of Shrii Sarkar's total philosophy that blends concepts of spiritual, economic and social liberation. As the concepts of Prout and other aspects of Shrii Sarkar's ideology spread and became popular among the masses, there were increasing attempts to suppress Prout by the Indian government, due to Shrii Sarkar's uncompromising stance against corruption and immorality. Finally in 1971 Shrii Sarkar was himself falsely accused of various crimes and jailed for nearly seven years. However, jail could not break him. As one of the police officials said, "Even Napoleon was tamed by jail, but this living tiger cannot be tamed."

In 1973, he was seriously poisoned by an overdose of barbiturates administered by the jail doctor, after which he went on a protest fast challenging the authorities who were not responding to his repeated calls for a critical inquiry into his poisoning. The poisoning left Sarkar in a weak and bedridden condition for the remaining five years of his imprisonment. Throughout this period he survived on a diet of a cup of salted yogurt mixed with water twice a day.

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her communist allies became obsessed with destroying Prout due to the adamantine morality of its founder, Shrii Sarkar, and his completely noncompromising stance on issues of justice and injustice. The prime concern of Shrii Sarkar was always the welfare of the common people. During his stay in prison, Shrii Sarkar was offered an ashram in the Himalayas if he would renounce speaking about Prout. But he boldly refused this offer from government officials. In 1975 Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency, banned Prout and arrested many of Shrii Sarkar's followers.

In 1978 all charges against Sarkar were quashed, and he was released in August that year to a tremendous welcome by thousands of his followers from all over the world. Throughout his stay in prison he had condemned the corruption of jail officials and the government, despite its attempts to assassinate him. As he said, 'I can scold a million people at a time. That is the reason the immoralists cannot stand before me." If the strategy behind his jailing had been to suppress and root out the Prout movement that Shrii Sarkar had spearheaded, this attempt by the Indian government failed miserably. During his incarceration, Shrii Sarkar's political and economic theories spread to more than 60 countries, and continued to spread at great speed. In 1977 an international organization called Proutist Universal was launched with its headquarters in Copenhagen. The aims of Proutist Universal are to propagate the ideals of Prout and to support social movements with similar ideals. By the mid-1980's Proutist Universal was established in practically all countries of the world.

Throughout his life Sarkar continued to work tirelessly, 20 hours a day, for the suffering, downtrodden human beings and for the welfare and upliftment of all people. His contributions in the fields of science, philosophy, economics, agriculture and linguistics are so vast that it will take decades or centuries before scholars can properly assess his real value to humanity. Sarkar's cremation in 1990 in Kolkata, West Bengal was attended by thousands of followers from all over the world.

A Renaissance Man

Shrii Prabhat Rainjan Sarkar (1921-90) was a philosopher, social reformer, and spiritual teacher dedicated to the task of planetary transformation. Through his actions and teachings, he inspired people to develop themselves to their fullest, and to assume greater responsibility for humanity’s welfare. Most important, he propounded the new economic theory called Prout, which when implemented will alleviate the economic sufferings of human beings around the world.

Shrii Sarkar was a renaissance man, multi-faceted in his talents. He taught that ultimate human fulfillment comes from attaining mystical union with God. He combined the sensitivities of the mystic with a profound commitment to life, and challenged dogmas that stifle the free expansion of the human spirit. He gave poetic expression to humanity’s nobler sentiments, and encouraged an active and pauseless struggle against the forces of tyranny. His motivation for social struggle was rooted in spiritual inspiration and unbounded compassion for the suffering humanity. He affirmed the need for human beings to grow holistically and become fully self-realized. Shrii Sarkar warned that humanity must live in benevolent harmony with the rest of nature. And, he worked to serve the downtrodden, starving, half-naked people of this world, teaching his followers that service to suffering humanity is service to God.

Listing Shrii Sarkar’s varied talents and accomplishments does little to illuminate the greatness of the man behind those achievements. The difficulty in understanding Shrii Sarkar does not arise because he presented himself as a complex person — he invariably impressed people as being simple, straight and consistent. The challenge comes in attempting to fathom the depth of his vision and accounting for the source of his infinite wisdom.

While it is difficult to comprehend Shrii Sarkar’s personality, it is not hard to account for his appeal. He was motivated by a profound sense of mission to promote liberation in its fullest sense. When in good health, and even when in poor health, he worked 20 hours a day, seven days a week, to promote the welfare of human beings. This depth of his commitment proved irresistible to thousands, who visited him often from thousands of miles away just to experience his unbounded love.

Shrii Sarkar reformulated or redefined humanism in a philosophy he called "Neohumanism." Neohumanism asserts that people’s aspirations and achievements are not to be measured with reference to creed, social status or personal wealth. None of these have worth in and of themselves, but possess value only in so far as they serve to nurture bodies, expand intellects, and elevate souls. Shrii Sarkar sought to convey that humanity's future well-being lies in the hands of those people who incorporate Neohumanist thinking - who feel in their minds and hearts that humanity is one and indivisible, who love every other human being as his or her own brother and sister, who further regard the entire creation of animals and plants, even inanimate objects, as members of his family, and that his responsibility is to take care of this large family of all created beings. It is called universal love.

Sarkar believed that humanity is at a crucial juncture, poised between intensifying chaos on the one hand and emerging planetary renaissance on the other. He urged good people to respond to this predicament by countering the negative forces presently fragmenting, oppressing and exploiting humanity. He wanted those inspired by universal love to struggle vigorously to end humanity’s degradation and to unleash its higher physical, intellectual and spiritual potential.

Zeitgeist of the 21st Century

This kind of idealistic sentiment held more appeal in the progressive climate of the 1960s and early 1970s. Participation in moral struggle had less currency in the milieu of the 1980s - a time increasingly dominated by materialism, narcissism, and religious dogmatism. With the onset of the 1990s, the tide of history began to turn once again. At the onset of this 21st century, there is less infatuation with glitter and wealth, power and prestige. Too many people realize that the capitalist empire is headed for collapse - military, economic, cultural and spiritual. Today the global economy stands on shaky legs, and it is becoming ever more clear that neither the capitalist nor communist economic model can sustain humanity’s dreams.

In today's world, Shrii Sarkar’s vision may have even greater appeal. His vision touches upon powerful archetypal sentiments: to live a life of meaning and commitment, to fight for a high ideal, to act out of deep compassion for the suffering and downtrodden, to protect the life of the community, and to free the mind from constrictive dogmas. These are sentiments that take human life beyond mundane drudgery and existential vacuity, imbuing it with spiritedness, meaning, purpose, and depth - and above all, love.

Shrii Sarkar took seriously his efforts to nurture moral, loving, and dedicated individuals. Through his personal conduct, through his songs, his teachings and his sacrifice, he sought to cultivate living examples of human greatness. It was not his aim to gain glory for himself, but rather to empower others with the stamina, spiritedness, and purity of intent necessary to create a better world.

Hopefully, Shrii Sarkar’s legacy will rejuvenate this ancient archetype of leadership — that of the all-compassionate and all-powerful servant, championing the welfare of all life. If it does, humanity will owe an irredeemable debt to this extraordinary human being.

Sarkar’s Contributions

A sampling of Shrii Sarkar’s works illustrate the range of his contributions. To help preserve the now-threatened diversity of Gaia’s gene pool, he established a network of botanical gardens which probably contain more plant species — about 50,000 - than any other botanical collection on earth. He also worked to protect animals. At his urging, a number of animal sanctuaries for endangered species were set up in West Bengal. He spoke out passionately against the wanton destruction of wildlife habitats for human land use, and against the cruelty perpetrated against animals used for human consumption and sport.

Shrii Sarkar composed 5018 songs (called Prabhata Samgiita) - more than any other Indian composer. This marathon composition begun at Deoghar (Bihar - India) on September 14, 1982, and was completed by October 20, 1990 - a period of only 8 years. His lyrics express the noblest of human sentiments in a language that appeals to people from all walks of life. Unlike many other composers, his melodies typically blend traditional styles from diverse cultures, reinforcing the universality of his magnetic and heart-rending verses. The collection contains songs for multifarious occasions; herein are songs of devotion, songs of spiritual awakening, songs of nature, songs of social resurgence, folk songs, children’s songs, ballads, etc. Prabahata Samgiita represents a perfect blending of Oriental classical music with Persian, Scandinavian, Middle Eastern, Chinese and other important musical styles of the world. With each passing year of this decade, Prabhata Samgiita has reached new levels of popularity, and many luminaries in the musical world are now actively participating in the recording of Prabhata Samgiita cassettes and CD’s.

Shrii Sarkar spoke fluently in over 200 languages and had command of most linguistic scripts. Several prominent Bengali linguists have acclaimed his knowledge of etymology, diction, grammar and philology, and his discourses on language are used today as texts in several universities. He extended the expressive range of the Bengali language by adding some 18,000 words to its vocabulary, and he made its script more systematic by adding several letters to its alphabet. He also wrote grammar texts for English and Hindi. One of the major projects of his later years was the dictation of an encyclopedia on Bengali and other Indian and world languages and cultures (Shabda Cayaniika', 1 - 26th Parts).

Shrii Sarkar authored a book of herbal, yogic, ayurvedic and naturopathic treatments for common diseases, and introduced many yogic practices that if practiced serve to prevent health problems.

Sarkar also formulated a new theory called microvita. This theory is being used to explain subtle healing systems such as homeopathy. Research that he guided in the new field of microvita medicine has led to promising new cures for modern chronic and acute diseases.

The system of education Sarkar developed is being used in about 200 schools in Africa and over 1000 in South Asia. The last major project he undertook before his departure was to initiate work on a comprehensive new educational curriculum, extending from pre-school to post-graduate levels. as well as to lay the organizational groundwork for a university incorporating this curriculum in West Bengal.

The global socio-economic and political organization, Proutist Universal, was inspired by Shrii Sarkar’s progressive social philosophy. Proutist Universal has engaged in community economic development, particularly in the formation of cooperative enterprises. In India, several Proutist regional movements are engaged in populist political struggle. Proutist regional development plans have been drafted for places such as Togo and Far East Russia, which offer programs to revitalize their depressed economies. In addition Proutists have participated in dialogues within the international NGO community on the issue of sustainable development. Prout appeals to people seeking a socio-economic philosophy which can create a sustainable, prosperous, and just society - a society in which human values and cardinal human principles take precedence over all other factors.

Under the umbrella of Proutist Universal, the www.proutist-universal.org website was formed in May, 2004 and World Prout Assembly was formed in January 2005, as a direct result of intense frustration and dismay at the status quo - the economic, political, educational, cultural and spiritual status - of so-called modern civilization. The www.proutist-universal.org and World Prout Assembly were created with a dream to propel Prout with accelerated acceleration into the homes and hearts of human beings everywhere, and to inspire people to work tirelessly to build a new world based first and foremost on economic democracy via networks of local cooperatives, so as to create a cooperative commonwealth.

Sarkar’s personal life was devoid of showmanship, spiritual exploitation, or moral lapses exhibited by many so-called spiritual teachers. His yogic techniques for spiritual, ethical, and physical development are taught without charge. He lived a life of simplicity, and conducted his personal affairs with virtue and decorum, behaving in a manner consistent with his beliefs. Sarkar refused to become a public personality - avoiding all contact with the media or the curious public.

Sarkar was also a master of Tantrik meditation techniques. He modified these millennia-old spiritual practices for the contemporary psyche, and trained nearly three thousand meditation teachers, entrusting them with the mission to offer intuitional practices to people seeking spiritual development. Today there are people in countries around the world benefiting from his meditation system.

He inspired his followers to work tirelessly to create a societal revolution - a political, economic, cultural and spiritual revolution. Along with modernizing spiritual practices, Sarkar reinvigorated the perennial philosophy which supports spiritual experience. In his discourses, he addressed the central philosophical issues of our time, resolving the apparent contradictions between science and mysticism, idealism and materialism, action and detachment, immanent and transcendent conceptions of God, relative and absolute views on ethics, and personal and political approaches to liberation.

His body of philosophical discourses fill many volumes, and will be studied by scholars for centuries to come. Published Works Shrii Prabhat Rainjan Sarkar is the author of more than two hundred sixty published books. During his life he gave extensive discourses on a vast range of subjects, including: history, economics, sociology, politics, ethics, linguistics, culture, civilization, agriculture, medicine, psychology, philosophy, spiritual practices, cosmology and Tantra.

His rudimental treatise, called A’nanda Su’tram, outlines the author’s social and spiritual philosophy in the form of Sanskrit aphorisms and short purports. Other philosophical works include Idea and Ideology, twenty parts of Subha’s’ita Sam’graha (collection of special spiritual discourses), twenty-two parts of A’nanda Vacana’mrtam (devotional talks), Nama’mi Krs’n’a Sundaram (on the life of Krsna in Indian history) and Namah Shiva’ya Sha’nta’ya (the life of Shiva, who lived 7,000 years ago in India. In The Liberation of Intellect — Neo-Humanism, the author sets out a new vision for human progress based on universal values and ethical principles. Neo-humanism expands the scope of contemporary humanism to include animals, plants and the inanimate world — in fact, the whole of creation. A Guide to Human Conduct discusses the moral codes revised for the 21st century, which are prerequisites for those persons wishing to dedicate their lives to selfless service of humanity.

The author’s works on sociology include Human Society, two parts, To the Patriot, Discourses on Prout and Problems of the Day. These books and many other discourses are included in the 21-part series called Prout in a Nutshell. Shrii Sarkar also gave numerous discourses on agriculture which have been combined in the book Ideal Farming.

Sarkar published several books for children, including: The Golden Lotus of the Blue Sea, Under the Fathomless Depths of the Blue Sea, In the Land of Hattamala, Tara Bandha Chara and Nutan Varna Paricaya.

He also published a fourteen-part series of stories called Galpa Saincayana (collection of humorous and educative short stories) as well as several plays and collections of short stories. He outlined a new theory based on the minutest entities in creation in what is now his book called Microvitum in a Nutshell, and gave numerous discourses on psychology and the potentialities of the human mind, some of which are included in the book Yoga Psychology. He gave a new treatise on yogic treatment called Yogic Treatments and Natural Remedies.

Sarkar's discourses on Bengali and Indian languages and culture have been incorporated into a 26-part encyclopaedia called Shabda Cayanika, while several further books on philology (linguistics) include Varn’a Vijina’na, Varn’a Vicitra’, as well as a Bengali dictionary called Laghu Nirukta. He also published an English grammar book entitled Sarkar's English Grammar.

Between 1982 and 1990 Shrii Sarkar composed 5018 mystical songs, popularly known as Prabhata Samgiita. These songs reveal him as he truly was - "The Lord of Tenderness."

These multifarious discourses have served to lay the foundation for what Shrii Sarkar referred to as nuclear revolution. Nuclear revolution involves not only socio-economic revolution but also spiritual and cultural revolution - a total, holistic transformation in human society. Shrii Sarkar's restructuring of the Bengali language and his irresistible, mystic songs form the basis of that cultural revolution. Shrii Sarkar defined himself as an incorrigible optimist. Even in the darkest of times, he emboldened us all in words that speak to us today. He said, "You do your work. All will be settled well. There is no reason for one to fear at the sight of a dead horse. But certainly one would run away seeing a living lion. Similarly, immoralists are afraid of us - so roar like a lion!" The discourses of Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar posted on this website are taken from the various works listed above. ( by Garda Ghista )