Introduction

A Saint, a poet, a social reformer, a spiritual leader and a philosopher

Shree Narayana Guru (1856–1928) was born on August 22, 1856 in a humble cottage in the pretty hamlet of Chempazhanthi near Thiruvananthapuram. His father was Madan Asan, a farmer, and mother Kutti Amma and he had three sisters. Shree Narayana Guru was a philosopher, spiritual leader and social reformer in India. He led a reform movement against the injustice in the caste-ridden society of Kerala in order to promote spiritual enlightenment and social equality.

To foster spiritual enlightenment and social equality in Kerala's caste-ridden culture, Guru launched a reform effort against injustice. After leaving home, he journeyed through Kerala and Tamil Nadu. He maintained his explorations until he arrived in Maruthwamala's Pillathadam cave, where he established an ashram and practised yoga and meditation for the next eight years. He went to Aruvippuram in 1888, where he pondered for quite a while and dedicated a piece of stone collected from a nearby river and made it as Aruvippuram Shiva Temple.

In 1904, Guru relocated to Sivagiri, near Varkala, where he established a school for students from the lower social strata and provided them with free education regardless of caste. But it required him seven years to construct a temple nearby, the Sarada Mutt, completed in 1912. He also built temples in Thrissur, Kannur, Anchuthengu, Thalassery, Kozhikode, and Mangalore. His travels took him to many places, including Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon), which he visited for the last time in 1926. On his arrival in India, he was active in various activities, including the preparation of the Sivagiri pilgrimage, which he began during a visit to Pallathuruthy of 1927 to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of Pallathuruthy.

Gently proclaiming justice and equality for all, grounded in the mystical depths of life, Shree Narayana Guru wandered through the landscape, interacting with the multitudes who came to meet him, electrifying them to be at their best and galvanizing a peaceful movement to eliminate oppression in all its forms. With a motto of 'One Caste, One Religion, One God for Humanity, he unleashed boundless energy in those eager to dispense with the bondage of harsh traditions.

Cheerful and compassionate at all times, the Guru directly demonstrated the practicability of attaining those goals through goodwill. He epitomized the way to mount a successful non-violent revolution; it must be grounded in philosophical realizations that are not divorced from practical considerations.

Narayana Guru had been a fiercely independent and original thinker from childhood. Warned not to have contact with any other castes and with untouchables, he would slip out of his home to embrace them and then secretly touch his family members, observing no ill-effects. His inner pulse beckoned him to withdraw from the social activities his family expected of him, and, at the inception of adulthood, he ascended a nearby mountain to live alone in a cave – with a view over the southern tip of India – meditating continuously until an overwhelming vision of unity dawned within him.

Stalwarts like Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi sought his counsel. The Guru asked Gandhiji how he could ask for freedom from the British while large sections of Indians were not free to walk on public roads or draw water from public wells – oppressed by their own compatriots. This eventually resulted in Gandhiji incorporating the removal of untouchability as part of the Indian independence movement.

Shree Guru Narayan's death was on September 20, 1928, and the day is commemorated in Kerala as Shree Narayana Guru Jayanthi.