Reviews

Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras by S. V. Ganapati. Published by the author. 9-D Elliots Road, Madras-4. Pages 124. Price Rs. 3-50.

The Yoga is the most popular system of Indian Philosophy whose tenets are accepted by all the schools. The system came into existence to outline the sadhana prescribed for realising the Sankhya-Kaivalya. Later the sadhana became a part of Indian culture and served as the pattern of Psycho-Somatic training. It aimed at the release of the Purusha from his so-called illusory entanglement from Prakriti.

In the training at certain stages the practician was able to achieve certain super-normal powers which should not lure him. Sri Ganapati has taken to the study of the Yoga Sutras in a spirit of research. He justifies the writing of his book on the system in the light of his new findings. He feels that the traditional interpretations of the super-normal powers (animadi siddhis) attained by the Yogi is not correct and it goes against the laws of Nature. So, he seeks to give a clever interpretation of these Sutras compatible with the laws of Nature. He rearranges the Sutras and their order. Another important point he makes out is that the author of Yoga Sutras is not a dualist but is a monist like the Advaitin. It is difficult to swallow this conclusion in the face of the many commentaries in Sanskrit on the Yoga Sutras. In short Sri Ganapathi’s book is stimulating and refreshing in the presentation of the theme.

Valmiki Maha Ramayana or Yoga Vasishta by S. V. Ganapati. Published by the author. 9-D Elliots Road, Madras-4. Price Rs. 4-50.

The book under review is the summary of the philosophy of the classic Yoga- Vasishta sixth section dealing about Nirvana. Theauthor has already given the Tamil world a condensed version of the five sections in a book in 1948. The present volume is the extension of his studies. Yoga-Vasishta occupies an unique place in the history of Advaita. It is a very elaborate work and teaches clearly all the fundamentals of Advaita in an uncompromising spirit. Sri Ganapati has made an excellent study of the subject and has presented the theme in a readable way. In the introduction he summarises the previous sections which is highly helpful to the reader in his understanding of the book. The concept of Nirvana and its meaning becomes clear stage by stage. The dialogue between Rama and Vasishta is stimulating and discloses the deep philosophical truths and the nature of the mind. It is difficult to summarise the book which is full of thought. Sri Ganapati is to be congratulated on his services in making available to the English-knowing world the great ideas of Yoga-Vasishta. Next to Dr. B. L. Atreya’s book, Ganapati’s work throws great light on this book. It is a valuable contribution to the study of Advaita.

Essays on Sanhkya and other systems of Indian Philosophy by Anima Sen Gupta. Published by Moti Mahal, Kanpur. Pages 170. Price Rs. 3.

The volume under review is an excellent collection of articles on different systems of Indian Philosophy from a well-known author and an expert on Sankhya Philosophy. Each essay in the volume has some refreshing points to its credit. There are twenty essays here and they are on almost all topics in Indian Philosophy. They are all critical and informative. The article on Sankara and Ramanuja, on the Gita, on Nyaya-Vaiseshika concept of soul, History of Indian Philosophy and its reorientation are all very good. In short the handy volume is a study of the problems in Indian Philosophy. The chapters of the book appeared as articles in different journals at different times. They are now made here available in one place and under one cover. An index to the book would have helped the reader. The book is a valuable contribution to the studies in Indian Philosophy. The book is printed well and its get-up is good. It deserves to be used by the students of Philosophy as a text for stimulating their appetite for research. The author has cut new ground in her discussion of the problems of Philosophy.

Chandogya Upanishad and Sankhya point of view by Anima Sen Gupta. Published by Manoranjan Sen, Kanpur. Price Rs. 3.

This little book is an original essay in interpretation of the great Upanishad Chandogya in the light of the Sankhya system. Dr. Anima Sen Gupta is a great scholar and is an authority on the Sankhya system. After her doctorate thesis on Sankhya she has pursued her studies to see the influence of Sankhya on other books. In this volume she has interpreted the sixth chapter of the Chandogya from the Sankhya standpoint. The sixth chapter is the most important in the Upanishad. It is Sadvidya and it contains the mahavakya tat tvam asi. Advaitins claim that chapter as the locus-classicus of their philosophy. Our author sees dualistic elements in the Upanishad. The entire text of the sixth chapter is printed as appendix to the book. It is interesting to read our author’s interpretation though it may be difficult to agree with it. In short it is a fine essay in Philosophy.
–P. NAGARAJA RAO

The Victorian Age in Literature by G. K. Chesterton. Published by the Oxford University Press. Price Sh. 7/6.

For roughly half a century the Victorian Age was debunked as one of smugness and complacency. Such a statement will itself be guilty of critical smugness and complacency today. The Victorian Age is now regarded as exceeding even the Elizabethan period in riches and variety: the Widow of Windsor beats hollow the Virgin Queen. The English Renaissance, it is said, became renascent in the 19th century. The ironic treatment of the Victorians found in Lytton Strachey or Chesterton, as Klingopulos remarks, appears more than ever inadequate. The Victorians are our contemporaries; Curtis Dahl argues that Eliot’s Waste Land which to us is so original is derived from the Wasteland of the Victorian poets.

Chesterton’s book is a free and personal statement of views and impressions of the significance of Victorian literature. It is so provocative and brilliant that it is more than a comment on the literature of a period; it is part of literature itself. One can read the book for the Chestertonian style, provocativeness and splash (let alone the humane criticism of the Victorians). Chesterton is the mischievous boy of the Edwardian age pulling the Coat tails of the sophists on the pedastal or in the market place. Shakespeare, it is said, becomes everything he writes about and everything that Milton writes about becomes Milton. Every statement becomes Chestertonian–breezy and bellicose. The surprising thing is it is the bellicosity of an anti-iconoclast; it is the breeziness of intuitionist. The book consists of a chapter on Victorian compromise and another on the break-up of that compromise (the profoundest parts of the book); in between are sandwiched two chapters on the poets and the novelists. It starts with an arresting statement about the French Revolution that the most important event in English history happened in France and (a more precise and perverse statement) that the most important event in English history was one that never happened at all. The story is carried on to the Imperialism of Kipling and the Socialism of Shaw.

Statements are unforgettably phrased. For instance, take these on Jane Austen, Wuthering Heights and Dickens. Jane Austen may have been protected from truth: but it was precious little of truth that was protected from her (p. 47)...Wuthering Heights might have been written by an eagle (p. 49)...The art of Dickens was the most exquisite of arts: it was the art of enjoying everybody (p.51)...or the piquant remark on the Victorians in general: They were lame giants; the strongest of them walked on one leg a little shorter than the other (p. 69).

The OPUS is doing a great service to students of English literature in Indian universities by issuing these cheap papers of such HUL classics like the one reviewed. Chesterton does not need a reviewer’s puffery; any one with a sense of style and an ear for the unexpected idea will delight in this. On p. 77 there is surprisingly a mistake: if for it.

The English Language by L. P. Smith. Published by the Oxford University Press. Price Sh. 7/6.

A distinguished critic commenting upon L. P. Smith’s Four Romantic Words asserts that it is the model of treating higher Linguistics. There is no glamour about grammar though it is derived from it. But some like Henry Bradley, Classen, Jespersen, Baugh, Wrenn and Simeon Potter make even language as readable as a novel. Lucidity, says a character in Shaw, is a divine gift and to make topics lucid and interesting is a divine gift; some scholars have a gift of making even easy topics obscure and dull.

L. P. Smith is more interested in Semantics, in sense than in sound, as he states on p. 65: “The last, however, is the most interesting and certainly the most important aspect of the subject.” Language as the mirror of life and thought of a country is the profoundest part of the study of language though Pundits pin their faith to phonemes and junctures. The proper study of mankind is the Word; to study words is to study the mind of man. The limits of our speech, in the oft-quoted remark of Wittgenstein, are the limits of our thought. In the study of words there is danger of importing our notions into words of earlier epochs. For instance, ‘Prime Minister’ was a term of abuse and ‘proud’ meant’ valuable.

‘Chancellor’ is traceable to a crab, ‘progress’ did not have its modern connotation, ‘improving’ meant cultivating wasteland. Scapegoat and derring-do are two happy errors enriching English vocabulary.

The author starts with an account of the grammatical machinery, surveys delightfully the loans, the power of word-making, the makers of language and states roundly that there is nothing like purity in language, that assimilation is purity. This is a knock-out blow to the fanatical and impure champions of ‘purism’ in language. Next Smith deals with history in English words (as another great scholar Owen Barfield does in his book with that title) from the dim and misty European past to the modern period high-lighting the specific contributions of the Restoration or the Romantic Period. One of his happiest observations is that the proliferation of compounds from a particular word hits the mental climate of the period: for instance, self–pinpoints the increasing importance of introspection. Of course, we have to guard ourselves in the study of words against the danger of denying to the ancients a feeling because there is no word for it. If in a particular period there is no word like ‘bored’, it does not mean that people did not get bored. Homer is not colourblind because he does not mention ‘green.’

With scholarly expertise Smith takes us on a conducted tour of the highways and byeways of English; with delicate and subtle acuteness he points out the difference between -er and -or endings of agent-nouns. Books like these will draw students from play and adults from T. V. and make language not a bogey but a parlour game or a drawing room topic.
to and this on p. 59 and 124 respectively seem to be misprints.
–K. VISWANATHAM

Life Behind Life by M. P. Pandit. Published by Sri Aurobindo Manda1, Ahmedabad. Pages 142. Price Rs. 5.

Apparently, the book is a collection of excerpts from letters of Sri M. P. Pandit of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, to some one or other of his fellow travellers on a variety in subjects connected and related to Sri Aurobindo’s yoga and sadhana, the topical gamut extending over a vast arena, ranging from ‘Supramental Descent’ to ‘Animals and Matters physical’.

The author gives lightning glimpses of Aurobindonian points of view on each of the topics selected. But volumes may have to be written on each one of the topics to bring out completely and thoroughly and do justice to Sri Aurobindo’s ideas and expositions.

Such, for instance, is ‘The New Age’. In this essay (written some two years ago or so) the author focusses the attention of the reader on ‘concrete signs’ by which one can know the manifestation of the New Force, The Supramental Power. This is the higher force or rather the highest power which Sri Aurobindo had not only reached but has successfully brought down to act on the lowest levels of the physical. This has been his life work in his Life Divine.

Thirty-two years ago in August 1935 in a lighter vein, Sri Aurobindo said in one of his letters to a sadhak in the Ashram “Now I have got the hang of the whole hanged thing. Like a very Einstein I have got the mathematical formula of the whole affair (un-intelligible as in his own case to any body but myself) and am working it out figure by figure.’ Again some 12 years later in 1947 he referred to the world situation than as “the period of darkest night before the dawn”, and says, “I know what is preparing behind the darkness and can see and feel the first sign of its coming.” Recently in June 1967 the Mother has stated that “the Super-mind will enter the phase of realising power” meaning “Acting decisively on the minds of men and the course of events”.

Sri Pandit in the course of this letter on “The New Age” refers to “Masses of illumination breaking upon cultivated and receptive minds” and cites the instance of Cc the seekers in Florida, U. S. A. who find the earth now on the eve of entering into a Fourth Dimension” and tells us in the words of the Mother “The work is on, the question is only ‘Are you ready’?”

The author is one of the few disciples of Sri Aurobindo and Mother, intimately connected with the Ashram and the work for some three decades and more. He is quite a fit person to throw light on such questions as have been raised and answered in this book. But as
pointed out by the author in his letter on “The Gods and our Sadhana”–“Sri Aurobindo does not believe in bringing the truth to another’s door...publicity must be confined to making known the ideal, the way to realise it, as also the practical results achieved so far of effort in this direction.”

Some of the other more important topics dealt with are “Gods and our Sadhana”, “Potency of the Mantra”, “Life behind life”, “The Kundalini Yoga and the Integral Yoga.”

The book, small as it is, covering such a vast field serves as an introduction to Aurobindonian thought and Yoga in general. Sri Pandit’s glimpses are fair pointers leading the inquisitive and searching reader to the very source of light.

The publishers deserve to be congratulated on the fine get-up of the book and one is really attracted by the beautiful cover-design of Suhrid Mukherjee.
–V. VENKATRAMA SASTRY

Sri Vishnu Sahasranama (with the commentaries of Sri Sankaracharya and Sri Parasara Bhattar translated into English) by K. Parthasaradhy. Published by Ganesh & Co., (Madras) Private Ltd., Madras-l 7. Pages 363. Price Rg. 12-00.

Sri Vishnu Sahasranaama Stotra is famous for its infallible efficacy both in the material and spiritual spheres. Even Sri Sankara enjoined the recitation of the Bhagavad Gita and Sri Vishnu Sahasranama, cf. and he commented upon them. Sri Parasara Bhattar a follower of Ramanuja also commented upon this stotram. This book under review contains the translations of the two commentaries, and is very conducive to make a comparative study of these two. Those devotees who do not know Samskrit also can be benefitted by a study of this book.

In the introduction extending over 36 pages, the translator explains the value and importance of the stotram as set forth by Sri Sankara and Sri Parasara Bhattar in their commentaries. Then the five forms of Saguna Brahman, Para, Vyuha, Vybhava, Antaryaamin and archa are described briefly. Efficacy of the Naama also is dealt with in detail. In the prologue extending over 16 pages; where a reader expects a complete translation of the introductory parts of the two commentaries, the translator makes a comparative study of the views of the two Acharyas as expounded in their commentaries.

Coming to the translation of the commentaries on the names, we do not have a literal translation of Sri Sankara’s Bhashya. At some places the meaning given by the translator differs from that given by Sri Sankara, e.g. Name - 178 Sri Sankara interprets it as –He who has complete “Sree’, wealth, in the form of The translator explains the word as follows: He possesses ornaments quite suited to his Vigraha (Form). Name 202. Sri Sankara explains it as The enjoyer of the fruits also is He alone. The translator explains it as “He rejoices over the fruits conferred on the devotees by Him.” The name studied with the previous name gives a meaning appropriate to the Advaitic approach. Similarly the two names and coming one after another convey a meaning consistent with Sri Sankara’s Advaitic conception. But the translator fails, we feel, to bring out the full significance of Sri Sankara’s interpretation. On the name Sri Sankara simply comments as He who has great prowess (power). The translator adds his own remarks to this as follows: “Sakti here refers to Anugraha Sakti.” For the name we have here one meaning only as against the two in the original. Translating the Bhashya on the name the translator adds his own opinion that Sri Sankara had Nrisimha in his mind at this place. Thus the translator does not follow the original faithfully. There are additions and omissions and in some places he considerably differs from the original. The translator leans more to Ramanuja’s point of view even in explaining Sankara’s commentary. Printing mistakes, there are many. Nevertheless this book is worth possessing by all devotees of Vishnu and deserves a careful study.

Sri Lalita Trisati Bhashya (English Translation) by Dr. Chaganti Suryanarayanamurty. Sole Distributors: Ganesh & Co., (Madras) Private Ltd., Madras-17. Pages 22 + 148. Price Rs. 5.

Devotion to God is the greatest of the means of salvation. Praising God by his innumerable names is one of the many forms of devotion. Sri Lalita Trisati containing 300 names of the Goddess Lalita, is a unique Stotra in that it contains in itself the 15 lettered Mantra of Sri Lalita and that it has the rare fortune of being commented upon by Sri Sankara. Dr. C. Suryanarayana gives a faithful and lucid English translation of Sri Sankara’s Bhashya and it is bound to be of immense help to those that cannot read the original.

The value of this edition is much enhanced by the addition of a learned introduction and a free translation of Sreevidyadeepika by the author. In the introduction, the author gives a critical estimate of the Bhashya. With the help of relevant passages from the commentary, he proves that Sri Lalita according to Sri Sankara is but the God Supreme, and that Bhakti and Upasana have an important place in the doctrine of Advaita also. Sri Sankara’s commentary on the name 244, the author says, is a neat and concise exercise in physiological psychology indicating the relationship between the self and body with reference to Yoga.

Agastya’s Sreevidyadeepika explains the meaning of the 15 lettered Mantra aknowledge of which is most essential to all the devotees. The meaning of the complete Mantra according to the sage Agastya is “the power of consciousness which through supreme extension of enlightened intellect through the activity of the Vak or Sabda, prevents all undesirable things and confers an abundance of wealth, happiness and great fame...” that I pray for. We commend the author for the invaluable services rendered by him to the devotees of Sri Lalita.

Kalidasa by G. K. Rao. Published by Sreepada Sevasangham, Bangalore 4; Bombay 1. Pages 71. Price Rs. 2-50.

This extremely fascinating book on Kalidasa with a foreword by Dr. B. R. Sarma, Director, Kendriya Samskrita Vidyapeetha Tirupati, is divided into four chapters. Kalidasa’s personality and his views on life and love are brought out in the last chapter. The author concludes “Kalidasa emphasises repeatedly that joy and glory of life are in love, service and renunciation, and in trying to realise God through these and through devotion.” The second and third chapters contain a brief survey of the two Kavyas Kumarasambhava and Meghaduta. Herein a reader can have a peep into the poetic beauties of the verses from “Rativilaapa”. The laments of Rati and the dialogue of Siva and Parvati. The fourth chapter aptly entitled “A People’s Poet” is invaluable in the sense that it is a treasure of all wise sayings from Kalidasa’s works. All the citations from the Poet’s works in Samskrit are accompanied by translations into English, so that even a non-Samskrit knowing reader can easily appreciate the beauties of the original. We heartily commend this book to all students of literature.

Sri Sankara Vijayam. Published by Ganesh and Co., (Madras) Private Ltd., Madras-17. Pages 57. Price Re. 1-50.

This handy book describes in detail the life and achievements of Sri Sankara, with relevant authorities from ancient Samskrit texts and tradition. The salient points to be noted from this book may be summed up as follows: Sri Sankara was born in the year 509 B. C. in Kaladi, a village in Kerala. Sri Govinda Bhagavatpada, Sankara’s guru, bade him establish the tradition of Brahmavidya at Kanchi, Sri Sankara established Kalikapitha at Dwaraka, Vimatapitha at Puri, Sri Saradapitha and Bhogalinga at Sringeri, Sri Kamakshi, Yogalingam and Sarvajnapitha at Kanchi, a Srichakra at Srisailam, Dhanakarshana Yantram at Tirupati, and Moksbalingam at Chidarobaram, This author, whose name is not given to us, concludes that the occupants of the Sarvajnapitha at Kanchi directly descended from Sri Adisankara and hence were in the position of being the premier Gurus of all the Sankara Pithas, and that Kanchi was the place of Sri Sankara’s last resort and exit also.
–B. KUTUMBA RAO

TELUGU

Sahitya Silpa Samiksha by Prof. Pingali Lakshmikantam. Published by Maliko Publishers, Tirupati. Pages 410. Price Rs. 15.

The learned author of this book is a famous scholar and poet in Telugu, and a retired Telugu Professor admired by his students, Emanating from the facile pen of such a professor, this book contains in itself the quintessence of the precious knowledge gained by the author from his wide learning and rich experience, and is bound to be highly useful to all students of Telugu literature. In short, what Hudson’s “Introduction to the Study or Literature” is to the students of English literature, that and something more also is this book to the students of Telugu literature.

This book on literary criticism is divided into 35 chapters. The first nine chapters deal with the distinguishing features of art, science and literature, definition of poetry, poetry and truth, poetry and morals, etc, The author is of the opinion that the Western critics unlike Indian critics did not attempt at a logical and un-fallacious definition of poetry. The poetic truth which is different from that of philosophy, science and history is named by the author as Paaramaaradhika Satya, and the suggestion thereof he names as Dharmadhvani. Rasa and allied subjects are discussed in six chapters. The theory of Rasa is explained on a psychological basis and the views expressed by Abbinavagupta on Rasa, according to the author, are almost in agreement with those of Aristotle. “Purgation” and “Catharsis” of Western critics are equivalents, the author says, to Bhavana in Samskrit. Seven out of the 14 instincts described by the modern psychologists are similar in nature to the Sthayibhavas of Alamkarikas. Nine chapters are devoted to the study of Drama. The main characteristics of Tragedy according to Aristotle and Shakespeare are described and the causes for the absence of Tragedies in Samskrit are also explained. Similarities in Samskrit and Greek dramas are also brought out in a chapter. Other chapters deal with other forms of literature as novel, biography, short story and Bhavakavita, etc. The significant value of this work consists in the comparative study the author makes, his final conclusion at the end of every chapter, the profuse quotations from standard works on literary criticism in Samskrit and English, and the apt illustrations he gives here and there from Telugu and Samskrit works. Thus this book, a systematised mine of information on principles of literary criticism, is a boon to all students of literature and deserves to be owned, read and digested by them.
–B. KUTUMBA RAO