Raja Rammohan Roy- Swami Tathagatananda

Part II

Rammohan was a deep scholar in Christian theology too. He read the texts of the Bible in Hebrew and Greek. He was appreciative of the moral aspect of Christian theology, and to him the essential characteristic of the Christian religion was its ideal humanity. Rammohan was against traditionalism of any kind—Hindu, Muslim or Christian—especially when it supported polytheism, which, according to him, retarded the free development of the soul and blocked up progress. He was attacked not only by the orthodox Hindus, but also by the Muslims and the Christians. But Rammohan’s attempt for the unification of all religions under the banner of Universal Theism did reflect the large synthetic vision of India, and he became the forerunner of the Dawn, the finder of the path that would lead India towards her resurgence.

But his beliefs led to factions among his friends and followers. In 1821, he started with the help of William Adam the Unitarian Committee adopting for its principles certain teachings of Christianity. But the interest of its members soon began to flag and it met the same fate as the Atmiya Sabha founded in 1815 had met.

In the interest of the solidarity of religions from the social point of view, he founded the Brahmo Samaj in August, 1828, with the co-operation of Prince Dwarakanath Tagore. He founded the Samaj as a Society of the worshippers of the one God of all religions and all Humanity. The Trust Deed (dated 8th January 1830) was drawn up by Rammohan and has been rightly called ‘a Landmark in the history of the modern Indian Renaissance.’ The Samaj was declared to be the first Temple of Universal Worship of the One without a Second to be used by all without any distinction of caste, color or religion. The Samaj inculcated amongst its followers ideas for ‘the promotion of charity, morality, piety, benevolence and virtue and strengthening of the bonds of union between men of all religious persuasions and creeds.’

© "Glimpses of Great Lives" published by The Vedanta Society of New York, 34 West 71st Street, New York, NY 10023. USA. Part I of this article appeared in Splendour October, 2006 issue. Reprinted with permission.

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