Dr. S. Radhakrishnan said that although the world had changed considerably in its outward material aspects, including means of communication and scientific inventions, there had been no great change in its inner spiritual side. He often said that the ideas of great thinkers are never obsolete. The true interests of humanity, the deep passions of religion and the great problems of philosophy, he maintained, had not been superseded in the way material things had been. His writings contain sentences that linger in the minds of readers and stand independently as memorable thoughts.
Centenaries of great personalities are celebrated in different ways, and the centenary of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was also celebrated at several places in different forms, reflecting the several roles he played during his illustrious career. Despite his many achievements, he was essentially a philosopher par excellence.
At one time, Dr. Radhakrishnan was Envoy in Moscow, where he interacted with Stalin, the arch dictator. Stalin complimented Dr. Radhakrishnan after he put his hand on Stalin’s shoulder, saying that he was the only man in the whole world who had treated him like a human being, while everyone else had treated him like a monster. Stalin also said that he prayed to God Almighty that Dr. Radhakrishnan might live long, but Stalin himself died within six months.
Dr. Radhakrishnan used to say that a career-oriented education is no education. He believed that what should first be inculcated in young minds was respect for Dharma. He argued that there was no point in merely asking people to increase their standard of living and that the aim should instead be the improvement of the quality of life.
On righteousness and conduct, Dr. Radhakrishnan said that heaven for the righteous and hell for the wicked was the rule, with reward following righteousness and punishment following misconduct.
Dr. Radhakrishnan often observed that the play of death is seen everywhere, yet each person has an illusory feeling of his own perpetuity. He said that man forgets that happiness and misery, life and death are the obverse and reverse of the same coin of life. Life is full of misery, yet man loves it and wants to remain in it. The ego, dependent on the limitations of time and birth, cannot be said to be eternal. Matter does not hold the secret of life, although life cannot exist without matter.
He also said that it is part of wisdom to enjoy pure pleasure as far as possible while leaving aside the pain that inevitably accompanies it. As flowing rivers disappear into the sea, losing their name and form, a wise man, freed from name and form, goes to the divine person who is beyond all. He further said that the depth of one’s affection for God consists in the surrender of one’s property and possessions to Him.
Speaking about ethics, Dr. Radhakrishnan said that no man can touch his daily meal without offering parts of it to Gods, fathers, men and animals and saying his daily prayers. He regarded this as the way to live in harmony with the world around him.
Queen Elizabeth once said that if she ever had to engage the services of a teacher for the teaching of her children, she would accept no other teacher except Dr. Radhakrishnan. Many of Dr. Radhakrishnan’s speeches were long but filled with facts and figures and were heard with rapt attention. They were also packed with humour, retorts and repartees for which he was famous.
Dr. Radhakrishnan played freely with philosophical thoughts and concepts with such ease and freedom that it seemed he was born for it. His range of thought encompassed the whole world and was not limited only to India. One important aspect of his writings was his constant awareness of the importance of the spiritual cravings and aspirations of the human soul.
He was instrumental in founding the Centre of Religious Studies at Harvard and also in establishing an arrangement under which students studying religions lived together on the campus with their families.
Speaking about prayers, Dr. Radhakrishnan said that prayer must be heartfelt and sincere, whether offered by the ailing person himself or by someone genuinely interested in his well-being.
As a professor, the winks of Dr. Radhakrishnan’s mischievous eyes entertained the class. He was a child among children, a young man among the youth and an enlightened man among the enlightened. He sought to spread knowledge in a variety of ways depending upon the age, attitude and equipment of those whom he addressed.
On education, Dr. Radhakrishnan said that modern education is utilitarian and does not aim at the cultivation of character and the development of noble virtues.
On spirituality, Dr. Radhakrishnan said that modern man is so deeply absorbed in the world of senses that he has forgotten his real self. While the outer man is nourished with material comforts, the inner man is starved of spiritual solace. Stressful lifestyles, mounting desires, growing competition and declining moral values, he warned, contribute to tension, frustration or crime.
Dr. Radhakrishnan’s writings and speeches therefore remained focused on the relationship between education, character, ethics, spirituality and the quality of human life, reflecting his enduring concern for the inner development of humanity alongside material progress.
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