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Anirvan or Sri Anirvan (Bengali: শ্রী অনির্বান Sri Anirvan) (July 8, 1896–May 31, 1978) born Narendra Chandra Dhar (Bengali: নরেন্দ্রচন্দ্র ধর) was an Indian/Bengali/Hindu monk, writer, Vedic scholar and philosopher.[1] He was widely known as a scholar[1][2] and his principal works were a Bengali translation of Sri Aurobindo's The Life Divine[1] and the three volume treatise Veda Mimamsa.[1]
Sri Anirvan was born on July 8, 1896 in the town of Mymensingh, then a part of British India and now in Bangladesh.[1] His birth name was Narendrachandra Dhar. He was the son of Rajchandra Dhar, a doctor, and Sushila Devi.[3] He was a spiritually and intellectually inclined child, who by age 11 had memorized the Astadhyayi of Pāṇini and the Bhagavad Gita.[1] 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.[1]
At 16, he joined the Assam Bangiya Saraswata Math (the ashram), located in the village of Kokilamukh near Jorhat in Assam.[1] 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.[1] He taught at the ashram school and edited its monthly magazine Aryyadarpan. In fact, the Aryadarpan still retains the following Sanskrit epigram, in the Rathoddhata metre, that Sri Anirvan (then Srimat Varada Brahmacari) wrote: arya-sastra-gahanartha-dipakascetas-timiravaravarakah/ dyotayan vijayatam vipascitam arcisa hrdayam aryadarpanah//
Some time after 1930, Nirvanananda changed his name to Anirvan and ceased to wear the ochre swami's robes.[1] He travelled widely in North India,[1] eventually returning to Assam and establishing an ashram in Kamakhya near Guwahati.[1] 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 (1958) and To Live Within (1971).[1][2] During this time, Sri Anirvan translated Sri Aurobindo's The Life Divine into Bengali (as Divya Jeevan Prasanga); this book, his first, was published in two volumes between 1948 and 1951.[1]
In 1953, Sri Anirvan moved to Shillong in Assam.[1] His reputation as a Vedic scholar grew;[1][2] and he wrote both in Bengali (chiefly) and in English (he was also fluent in French) on various aspects of Hindu philosophy (particularly Samkhya, the Upanishads, the Gita and Vedanta) and the parallels between Rigvedic, Puranic, Tantric and Buddhist thought.[1][2] His magnum opus, Veda Mimamsa, was published in three volumes in 1961, 1965 and 1970.[1] This work won him the Rabindra award.
Though Sri Anirvan was a saint, he studied subjects such as Marxism, nuclear science and gardening; yet he called himself a simple baul.
Sri Anirvan made his final move, to Kolkata, in 1965.[1] He died on May 31, 1978, after a six-year illness.[1][2]
Do you know why Sri Anirvan invariably wore a cap? It was to conceal from view the protuberance on his head which is a sign of Buddhahood. It is round and raised, and it is to be seen on all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. To avoid unnecessary comment on this unusual bump on his head, Sri Anirvan preferred to wear a cap always, and was rarely seen without one.
When Sri Anirvan died at 11:45 am on May 31, 1978, the whole of Fern Road where he was staying was filled with the perfume of an unknown flower, possibly a lotus. The scent lingered for over a full day.
A Nepali boy that Sri Anirvan had known, tasted something new and in delight he exclaimed, "It tastes so sweet." Sri Anirvan took pleasure in his joy, and remembered the words. The day before he died, in "Aditi," the journal he was writing at the time, Sri Anirvan wrote -
"A cruel truth is that even the Maheshwar or the Great Lord has to be the bhokta or enjoyer. As on one hand that enjoyment is the poison turning the throat blue, on the other hand it is the ambrosia of Uma's body. There is no way of rejecting either of these. One who is able to enjoy both is verily Maheshwar or the Great Lord. Maheshwar is verily the true enjoyer, for He alone is the connoisseur. To him good and bad, pleasure and pain, all are " honey-sweet." This is verily what is Brahmaswad - the taste of Brahman or savouring by Brahman, whatever you may call it. The intense heat of May - "Honey- sweet." The unbearable intestinal pain - even that is "honey-sweet." The unuttered mantra of the whole day is this, "Honey-sweet, honey- sweet." - "Om Madhu, Om Madhu, Om Madhu." My self-consciousness is "Madhu" or "Honey" - let it be pleasure or pain, whichever. While in the body I am counting out pain like taxes, that too is honey. One day I will not need to count it out any more - even that is honey.
"Om Madhu, Om Madhu, Om Madhu. "I am Madhucchanda."
This was the last thing he wrote.
5. Smriticarane Mahayogi Anirvan by Dilip Kumar Roy in Bengali. Undated.
To know more about Sri Anirvan and contribute your memories of this great saint and yogi, please visit - http://www.anirvan.ning.com
Sri Anirvan Rachanavali ( Complete Works ) : http://www.haimavati-anirvan.org. Online e-library (Bengali) including most important works : Veda Mimamsa, Rig-Veda Samhita, Upanishad Prasanga
Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Hinduism, Indian independence movement, Mahatma Gandhi, Ramakrishna