Brahmo Samaj

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Brahmo Samaj (Bengali ব্রাহ্ম সমাজ Bramho Shômaj) is a social and religious movement founded during the 19th century movement known as the Bengal Renaissance. "Brahmo Samaj" literally means the society of worshippers of One True God. Brahmo (ব্রাহ্ম bramho) means one who worships Brahman, or the supreme spirit of the universe, and Samaj (সমাজ shômaj) means community of people united. ^[1]

Contents 1 Background 1.1 History and timeline 1.2 Social reform 1.3 Aims of the movement 2 Doctrine 3 See also 4 References and notes 5 External links

[edit] Background

[edit] History and timeline

The movement was started on 20th August 1828 by Raja Rammohun Roy and his friends (Brajosundar Mitra and others) when they opened a place for public worship, Brahma Sabha (ব্রাহ্ম সভা Bramho Shôbha "One God Society") on Chitpore Road (now Rabindra Sarani), Kolkata, India. It was publicly inaugurated on 11th Magh or 23rd January 1830. The former date is celebrated as Bhadrotsab (ভাদ্রোৎসব Bhadrotshôb "Bhadra celebration") and the latter as Maghotsab (মাঘোৎসব Maghotshôb "Magh celebration"). These are the two main festivals of Brahmo Samaj.

Of Roy's movement the noted physicist, Jayant Narlikar, writes:

“

Roy understood that the emerging knowledge from the West could not be ignored…He was deeply appreciative of the liberal philosophical traditions of India, and he founded the Brahmo Samaj, a religious movement to popularise those enlightened ideas… Since religion played a dominant role in the public life of his times, he went on to reform religion itself… His criticism of the existing religion and its rigid practices and caste barriers was inspired by his desire to make religion consistent with the changing world of his times…[2]

”

Following the death of Raja Rammohun Roy in 1833, internal management was left entirely in the hands of Ram Chandra Vidyabagish. In 1839, Debendranath Tagore, son of Prince Dwarkanath Tagore, a friend and active supporter of Raja Rammohun Roy, joined the Sabha. On 7th Pous 1765 Shaka (1843) Debendranath Tagore and twenty others were formally initiated into what was then named Calcutta Brahmo Samaj for the first time with a signed covenant. The Pous Mela at Santiniketan starts on this day^[3] Under Debendranath Tagore, the Samaj moved away from western philospophies and anchored itself firmly in Hindu philosophies^[4]

Keshub Chunder Sen joined the Calcutta Brahmo Samaj in 1857. This name it retained till the year of the first schism in 1866, after which it was changed to Adi (original) Brahmo Samaj. The new one was called Brahmo Samaj of India.

Although, the Brahmo Samaj movement was born in Kolkata, the idea soon spread to the rest of India. That happened to be the period when the railways were expanding and communication was becoming easier. Outside Bengal presidency some of the prominent centres of Brahmo activity were: Punjab, Sind, and Bombay and Madras presidencies. Even to this day, there are several active branches outside West Bengal. Bangladesh Brahmo Samaj at Dhaka keeps the lamp burning.^[5]

[edit] Social reform

In all fields of social reform, including abolition of the caste system and of the dowry system, emancipation of women, and improving the educational system, the Brahmo Samaj reflected the ideologies of the Bengal Renaissance. Brahmoism, as a means of discussing the dowry system, was a central theme of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's noted 1914 Bengali language novella, Parineeta. The Brahmo Samaj Marriage Bill of 1871 enacted as the Special Marriages Act of 1872 set the age at which girls could be married at 14 ^[6].

It also supported social reform movements of people not directly attached to the Samaj, such as Pandit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar’s movement which promoted widow re-marriage.

[edit] Aims of the movement

The Brahmo Samaj aimed at developing a universal religion and that has evolved over a period. Bipin Chandra Pal has succinctly summarised the evolution,

“

Raja Rammohun Roy had given us a philosophy of universal religion. But philosophy was not religion. It is only when philosophy becomes organised in ethical exercises and disciplines and spiritual sacraments that it becomes a religion. Devendranath gave us a national religion, on the foundations of the Raja’s philosophy of universal religion. To Keshub, however, was left the work of organising the Raja’s philosophy into a real universal religion through new rituals, liturgies, sacraments and disciplines, wherein were sought to be brought together not only the theories and doctrines of the different world religions but also their outer vehicles and formularies to the extent that these were real vehicles of their religious or spiritual life, divested, however, through a process of spiritual sifting, of their imperfections and errors and superstitions.[7]

”

One of the major contributions was the study of other religions and going to their roots. In 1869, Keshub Chunder Sen chose from amongst his missionaries, four persons and ordained them as adhyapaks (অধ্যাপক oddhapôk) or professors of four old religions of the world – Gour Govinda Ray for Hinduism, Protap Chunder Mozoomdar for Christianity, Aghore Nath Gupta for Buddhism and Giris Chandra Sen for Islam. All of them did adequate justice to the task allotted to them. The efforts of these four persons were subsequently followed up by others in the Brahmo Samaj.

[edit] Doctrine

The fundamental principles of the Brahmo Samaj are that:

• There is only one God, the creator and sustainer of the world, who is infinite in power, wisdom, love and holiness (see monotheism).
• The human soul is immortal, capable of eternal progress, and responsible to God for its doings.
• No created object (including Human being) is to be worshipped as God. God manifests himself directly to the human soul, and no prophets or scriptures are mediators between God and the soul.
• Truth is the only religion of Brahmo. Neither Vedas, nor any other scriptures are infallible. All religious teachers and books are to be honored to the extent that they are in harmony with divine revelation to the soul.
• God is to be worshipped daily by loving him and doing his will.^[8]
• All human beings are equal before God. Thus there is no division based upon caste, colour, race or sex.

Additionally, Brahmos do not believe in heaven and hell as eternal, unchanging conditions of reward or punishment. Instead, they see heaven as the state of being filled with divine revelation and hell as the state of being filled with sinful thoughts.^[8]

The basic religious ideology is derived to a large extent from the Isha Upanishad, a monotheistic Hindu scripture and one of the principal Upanishads, whose tentative date is assigned to the 7th century BCE.

[edit] See also

• Sadharan Brahmo Samaj
• Principles of Brahmo Religion
• Brahmo Samaj of India
• Nava Vidhan
• Arya Samaj
• Prarthana Samaj
• History of Bengal
• Tattwabodhini Patrika
• Brajendra Nath Seal
• List of Hindu organisations
• Hindu denominations

[edit] References and notes

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Brahma Sabha in the Banglapedia
• Brahmo Samaj in the Encyclopedia Britannica
• "The Tagores & Society" from the Rabindra Bharati Museum at Rabindra Bharati University
• Information from the Brahmo Samaj of Delhi
• Universalist Church - Sermon
• The Sadharan Brahmo Samaj

Hindu reform movements v • d • e
Brahmo Samaj · Prarthana Samaj  · Arya Samaj · Ramakrishna Mission · Gandhism · Hindutva · Sri Aurobindo Ashram · Parisada Hindu Dharma
Topics
Bhakti · Caste · Indian independence movement ·Persecution of Hindus ·Shuddhi ·Women in Hinduism
Important Hindu reformers and Hindu revivalist writers
Sri Aurobindo · Ananda Coomaraswamy · Alain Daniélou · Koenraad Elst · David Frawley · Sita Ram Goel · M. S. Golwalkar · Mahatma Gandhi · Harsh Narain · Gedong Bagus Oka · The Mother · Srila Prabhupada · Raja Ram Mohun Roy · Ramakrishna · Dayananda Saraswati · V. D. Savarkar · Keshub Chandra Sen · Swami Sivananda · Arun Shourie · Ram Swarup · Debendranath Tagore · Rabindranath Tagore · B. G. Tilak · Vivekananda · Yogananda