Прабхат Раджан Са́ркар: Духовный гуру, философ и реформатор

Indian spiritual Guru, philosopher, social reformer, linguist, author and composer

Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar (21 May 1921 – 21 October 1990), also known by his spiritual name Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti (Ánanda Múrti="Bliss Embodiment"), and known as Bábá ("Father") to his disciples, was a spiritual guru, philosopher, social reformer, linguist, author and composer of 5,018 songs mostly in the Bengali language. In 1939, Sarkar left Jamalpur for Kolkata to attend Vidyasagar College of the University of Calcutta. Sarkar had to quit his studies to support his family after the death of his father; from 1944 until the early 1950s, Sarkar worked as an accountant at the Indian railways headquarters in Jamalpur, Bihar. He taught the techniques of Yoga and Tantra meditation to a select number of his colleagues and gradually more people were drawn to the spiritual practices he taught.

A central point in Sarkar's philosophy is the concept of Sadhana. He described Sadhana as a practice for "the transformation of fearful love into fearless love". For Sarkar, Sandhana was concretized by the practice of meditation. He recommended to his disciples the daily practice of individual meditation and the weekly practice of collective meditation. These weekly meetings of his disciples, called Dharma Chakras, are preceded by the collective singing of a few Prabhat Samgiita (or "Songs of the New Dawn", composed by P. R. Sarkar himself) followed by Baba Nam Kevalam kiirtan, then the mantra called Samgacchadvam. The mantra Nityam Shuddham marks the end of the collective meditation, then the spiritual gathering will end with the Guru Puja mantra.

In his series of discourses Talks on Prout, given in Ranchi in July 1961, Sarkar makes a distinction between the terms "culture" and "customs". According to Sarkar "culture is the collective name for different expressions of life " but " all of society has the same culture. There are local variations in the mode or state of cultural expression, but the expression is universal These local variations are called customs Thus local modes of expression bearing local or group specialities are customs, but the expression itself is culture. Therefore it is a mistake to readjust boundaries on the basis of language and culture. Indian culture and the culture of the world are one and the same." The philosophy of Sarkar reinterprets the general concept of culture by inserting it into a new universalistic outlook. As described by Antonello Maggipinto:

Although Sarkar spent only seventeen years of his life working full time for his organisations (1966–1971 & 1978–1990), he left behind a vast legacy, including over 250 books written on a wide variety of topics. Many of this books are compilations or collections of speeches given by him during spiritual or social meetings. He is primarily known as the spiritual teacher behind Ananda Marga, but Sarkar wrote over 1500 pages on his socio politico economic Progressive Utilization Theory (PROUT), with several thousand more pages dedicated to linguistics and the study of languages; Sarkar's writings on linguistics included, among other works, Shabda Cayanika ("A Collection of Words"), an unfinished, twenty six volume dictated encyclopaedia on the Bengali language. Beyond this, he wrote books on sociology, agriculture, history, literature, education, medicine, cosmology, and philosophy, also notably founding the philosophy of Neohumanism in 1982

In 1982 Sarkar started composing songs. In eight years, until the date of his death, He completed the composition of 5018 songs in multiple languages. His collection of songs is called Prabhat Samgiita ("Songs of the New Dawn").