Dr. Radhakrishnan

 Birth and family

Birth of Dr. Radhakrishnan

It was on 5 September 1888 in Tirutani village of Tamil Nadu, which is situated at a distance of about 64 km from the then Madras. The family he was born into was a Brahmin family. His place of birth has also been noted as a holy pilgrimage place. Radhakrishnan's ancestors had previously lived in a village called 'Sarvapalli' and in the middle of the 18th century they migrated towards the village of Tirutani. But his forefathers wanted that there should always be a realization of the village of his birthplace along with his name. That is why his family started wearing 'Sarvapalli' before his name.

Dr. Radhakrishnan was a child of a poor but learned Brahmin. His father's name was 'Sarvepalli Veerasamiah' [1] and mother's name was 'Sitamma'. His father worked in the revenue department. He was responsible for the maintenance of a very large family. Veeraswamy had five sons and a daughter. Radhakrishnan's place was second among these descendants. His father was discharging the family with great difficulty. Due to this, the child Radhakrishnan did not get any special pleasure in childhood.

Student life

Radhakrishnan's childhood was spent in religious places like Tirutani and Tirupati. He spent the first eight years in Tirutani. Although his father was old-minded and had religious sentiments, he sent Radhakrishnan to study at the Christian missionary organization Lutheran Mission School, Tirupati between 1896–1900. Then for the next 4 years (1900 to 1904) he was educated in Vellore. He then studied at Madras Christian College, Madras. He was brilliant since childhood.

During these 12 years of study, Radhakrishnan also remembered important portions of the Bible. For this, he was awarded the honor of special merit. At this age, he studied Swami Vivekananda and other great thinkers. He passed the matriculation level examination in 1902 and also received a scholarship. He then passed the Faculty of Arts examination in first class in 1904. He also received special merit remarks in psychology, history and mathematics due to his high scores. Apart from this, Christian College, Madras also gave him a scholarship.

In 1918, after completing his MA in Philosophy, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Philosophy in Mysore College. Later he was also a professor in the same college. Dr. Radhakrishnan introduced the Indian philosophy to the world through his writings and speeches. His articles were praised all over the world.

Married life

At that time, the Brahmin families of Madras got married at an early age and Radhakrishnan was no exception. In 1903, at the age of 16, he was married to Sivakamu, the sister of a distant relationship. At that time his wife was only 10 years old. So his wife started living with him only after three years. Although his wife Sivakamu was not traditionally educated, he had good authority over the Telugu language. She could also write and read English. In 1908, the Radhakrishnan couple received a daughter as a child. It was in 1908 that he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in the first class and received special merit in philosophy. In 1909, after six years of marriage, he also passed the postgraduate examination in Arts. The subject of his philosophy was philosophy. During higher studies, he also continued to teach tuition to children for his personal income. In 1908, he also wrote a research article to get the MA degree. At this time, he was only twenty years old. This increased his knowledge of the scriptures. Soon he also studied Vedas and Upanishads deeply. Apart from this,

I also studied Sanskrit language with interest.

Deep study of Hindu scriptures

While education definitely has an impact on every individual, the quality of the educational institution also leaves its impact. At that time Western values ​​of life were deeply instilled within the students by Christian institutions. This is the reason that while studying in Christian institutions, Radhakrishnan's life had high qualities. But there was also another change in them which was due to Christian institutions. Some people used to look at Hindutva ideas and criticize them. Dr. Radhakrishnan took his criticism as a challenge and started to study Hindu scriptures deeply. Dr. Radhakrishnan wanted to know that in which culture ideas really are conscious and in which culture ideas are rooted? Then by natural intuition started to believe strongly that the poor and illiterate people living in remote places of India also knew the ancient truth. For this reason Radhakrishnan came to know comparatively that Indian spirituality is very rich and criticisms of Hinduism by Christian missionaries are baseless. From this he concluded that Indian culture is based on religion, knowledge and truth which gives the true message of life to the creature.

The Indian heritage

Dr. Radhakrishnan had well known that life is very short but the happiness prevailing in it is uncertain. For this reason, a person should live in harmony with happiness. In fact, death is an unshakable truth, which makes the rich poor all their grass and does not make any kind of class distinction. True knowledge is the only one who can eliminate the ignorance inside you. A life of simplistic satisfaction is better than the egoistic life of the rich, in whom there is a resentment of dissatisfaction. A quiet mind is better than those thunderous applause; Which are heard in parliaments and courts. In fact, this is why Dr. Radhakrishnan was able to understand the moral values ​​of Indian culture, because he wanted to test the truth of the criticisms made by the missionaries themselves. That is why criticisms are said to be acts of purification. All mothers want to see higher values ​​in their children. For this reason, they teach children how to believe in God, stay away from sin, and help those who are in trouble. Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan also learned that respect for all religions has been taught in Indian culture and the sense of equality for all religions is also a unique identity of Hindu culture. In this way, they understood the specific identity of Indian culture and became very close to it.

Life's Philosophy

Dr. Radhakrishnan considered the whole world as a school. He believed that only through education can the human mind be properly utilized. Therefore, the world should manage education as a single entity. In his speech at the University of Edinburgh, UK, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan said - "Man should be one. The whole goal of human history is the liberation of mankind only when the basis of the policies of countries is to try to establish peace all over the world." Ho." Dr. Radhakrishnan enchanted the students with his wit-filled interpretations, delightful expressions and mildly tickling stories. He also used to inspire his students to adopt high moral values ​​in their conduct. Whatever subject he taught, he himself studied it deeply. He used to make even a serious subject like philosophy, simple and interesting and dear to his style. That is why their birthday is celebrated as Teachers' Day.

Professional life

In 1909, at the age of 21, Dr. Radhakrishnan started teaching philosophy as a junior lecturer in Madras Presidency College. It was his best fortune that he got a livelihood suited to his nature. Here he not only did teaching work for 7 years but also studied Indian philosophy and Indian religion deeply. In those days, it was necessary for the lecturer to get training for teaching. For this reason, Radhakrishnan started taking training in Madras in 1910. At this time, his salary was only Rs 37. Radhakrishnan, the then Professor of Philosophy Department, was greatly overwhelmed by the philosophy of classical knowledge. He allowed them to remain absent from philosophy classes. But instead, it was conditioned that he should teach in philosophy classes instead. Then Radhakrishna gave thirteen such impressive lectures to his classmates, which surprised even those learners. The reason for this was that he had a deep grip on the subject, his approach to philosophy was clear and he had also chosen the appropriate words while giving lectures. In 1912, a short booklet titled "Essential Elements of Psychology" by Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was also published which was a collection of his lectures given in class. Through this booklet, his ability was proved that "Not only does he have a rich store of words to explain every verse, his memory power is also very unique."

Honorary degrees

When Dr. Radhakrishnan Europe and

When he returned to India from his stay in America, various universities here honored him by awarding him honorary degrees. In the winter of 1928, he first met Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru when he came to Calcutta to attend the annual session of the Congress Party. Although Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan could not participate in any political discourse as a member of the Indian Educational Service, he did not care for this taboo and gave a speech. In 1929, he was invited by the 'University of Manchester' to give lectures. He gave many lectures in Manchester and London. The following institutional service functions are seen in the scope of their educational achievements-

Was Vice Chancellor of Andhra University from 1931 to 36.

Professor at Oxford University from 1936 to 1952.

Worked from 1937 to 1941 as Professor of George V College under the University of Calcutta.

From 1939 to 48, he was the Chancellor of the Hindu University.

He was Chancellor of Delhi University from 1953 to 1962.

In 1946, he made his presence as an Indian representative in UNESCO.

political life

Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan while talking with US President John F. Kennedy in 1973

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan had the talent that after independence he was made a member of the Constituent Assembly. He was its member from 1947 to 1949. At the same time, he was also appointed chairman of several universities. All India Congressmen wanted Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan to be a member of the Constituent Assembly, despite being a non-political person. Jawaharlal Nehru wanted Radhakrishnan's speech and oratory talent to be used on the night of 14 - 15 August 1947 when the historic session of the Constituent Assembly was held. Radhakrishnan was instructed to end his address at exactly 12 o'clock in the night. Because only then was the oath to be sworn in by the Constitutional Parliament under the leadership of Nehru.

Diplomatic work

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan did the same and put his address to rest at 12 o'clock at night. None other than Pandit Nehru and Radhakrishnan were aware of this. After independence, he was requested to fulfill diplomatic work with the Soviet Union as a distinguished ambassador to serve the motherland. Thus he was chosen as the new successor of Vijayalakshmi Pandit. Pandit Nehru's selection prompted many to wonder why a philosopher was chosen for diplomatic services? He suspected that the abilities of Dr. Radhakrishnan were not compatible with the responsibility assigned to him. But Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan later proved that he was the best Indian diplomat appointed in Moscow. He was a non-traditional diplomat. Mantras which were late at night, they used to participate in them till 10 o'clock in the night, because after that their sleeping time was over. Even when Radhakrishnan was a teacher, he was not bound by rules. In class, he used to come 20 minutes late and used to go ten minutes earlier. They said that the lectures they had to give in class were completed in enough time of 20 minutes. Even after this, he remained the beloved and respected teacher of the students.

Vice President

Dr. Radhakrishnan was elected Vice President after his arrival from the Soviet Union in 1952. A new post of Vice President was created under the Constitution. Nehru again surprised people by choosing Radhakrishnan for this post. He wondered why no Congress party politician was elected for the post. Radhakrishnan also served as the Speaker in the Rajya Sabha as Vice President. In 1952, he became the Vice President of India. Later this selection of Pandit Nehru also proved to be meaningful, because a non-politician as Vice President influenced all politicians. All the Members of Parliament appreciated him for his work. People still remember his generosity, perseverance and humorous nature.

Teacher's day

The birthday of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the second but unique President of our country (5 September) is celebrated every year as 'Teacher's Day'. On this day, awards are also given to the best teachers in the entire country by the Government of India.

Bharat Ratna

Although he was conferred with the title of "Sir" [2] by the British Empire in 1931, but after the independence, its justification for Dr. Radhakrishnan was over. When he became Vice President, the first President of independent India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad in 1954, gave him the highest decoration of the country for his great philosophical and educational achievements.

Bharat Ratna conferred.