Vishnu Bhikaji Gokhale
Vishnu Bhikaji Gokhale (1825-1871) was an Indian philosopher and metaphysician who became known as Brahmachari Bawa or Vishnubawa Brahamachari. He wss an early worker in the Hindu Revivalist Movement, defending Hindu dharma against the attacks of Christian missionaries.
Vishnu Bhikaji Gokhale was born in 1825, the tenth child of a Brahmin family residing in a village, Shiraval, in the Thana (now Kolaba) district. After education at a village school and Veda studies, he worked at the Customs Department at several locations close to Bombay.[1] He was inspired to take up a religious life, and after several years of penance and meditation he began to teach. He became known as Brahmachari Bawa or Vishnubawa Brahamachari.
Around 1855 he published Bhavarthasindhu (sea of devotion). emphasizing dyan or "special knowledge" that could be found only in Vedic religion and realized through devotion (bhakti). His greatest work was Light of Vedic Religion or Vedoktadharmaprakasha, an effort to define the ultimate kernel of Hindu faith. It was intended to aid Hindus to understand their own faith well enough to counterattack against Christian doctrines
Vishnubuva Brahmachari as a social reformer showed a remarkable sense of independence of mind in rejecting a number of traditional ideas and customs. In his view, caste should be determined by a person's qualities, and not by his birth. He favoured female education and upheld the right of girls to be consulted in the choice of their husbands. He also opposed the custom of Sati and favoured widow remarriage. He was a prolific writer. Among his famous works was Vedokta Dharmaprakasha (the Principle of Hindu Religion) published in 1864. In a very interesting essay on 'Beneficial Government' (Marathi) he put forward ideas such as 'One home and all citizens as one family'.[2]undkhar Gokhale Family website.
He died in the Viththal Mandir at Bombay on Mahashivaratri, February 18, 1871.
Writings
- Bhavarthasindhu (sea of devotion).
- Vedoktadharmaprakasha (Light of Vedic Religion).
- Vedokta Dharmaprakasha (the Principle of Hindu Religion). 1864.
- "Some Things the Aryans Knew" on magic of ancient Aryans. See Blavatsky Collected Writings II, 427n.
Additional resources
- Puntambekar, S. V. "Vishnu Bawa Bramachari, (1825-1871) — an Utopian Socialist" The Indian Journal of Political Science 6.3 (January-March, 1945), 154-161. Available from JSTOR at some libraries or by subscription.
- "Vishnu Bhikaji Gokhale" at Hindu Wisdom web
Notes
- ↑ Mariam Dossal and Ruby Maloni, State Intervention and Popular Response: Western India in the Nineteenth Century (Popular Prakashan, 1999), 163.
- ↑ "Gokhales of Aund" at A
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