1. Narayana Guru led a reform movement against the injustice in the caste-ridden society of Kerala in order to promote spiritual enlightenment and social equality.
34 Facts About Narayana Guru
1. 2.
Unlike other Ezhavas who confined their Sanskrit reading to ayurvedic works, Narayana guru studied religious texts as well.
3.
Narayana Guru returned to his village in 1881, when his father was seriously ill, and started a village school where he taught local children which earned him the name Nanu Asan.
4.
Narayana Guru shifted his base to Sivagiri, near Varkala in 1904 where he opened a school for children from the lower strata of the society and provided free education to them without considering their caste.
5.
Narayana Guru built temples in other places such as Thrissur, Kannur, Anchuthengu, Thalassery, Kozhikode, and Mangalore and it took him to many places including Sri Lanka where he made his final visit in 1926.
6.
Narayana Guru returned to Sarada Mutt and died on 20 September 1928, at the age of 72.
7.
Narayana Guru's consecrations were not necessarily conventional deities; these included a slab inscribed with the words, "Truth, Ethics, Compassion, Love", a vegetarian Shiva, a mirror, and an Italian sculpture.
8.
Narayana Guru propagated the ideals of compassion and religious tolerance and one of his noted works, Anukampadasakam, extols various religious figures such as Krishna, The Buddha, Adi Shankara, Jesus Christ.
9.
Narayana Guru renamed his newspaper "Young India" to "Harijan" and made the eradication of untouchability a central part of his mission.
10.
In 1905, Narayana Guru organized All India Industrial and Agricultural Exhibition at Kollam, first time in India to facilitate industrialization and agriculture.
11.
Narayana Guru wanted to convey the importance of regaining the lost places of worship and wealth.
12.
Padmanabha Panicker, both disciples of Narayana Guru, to compose poems in protest of the incident.
13.
Vallabhasseri Govindan Vaidyar, T K Kittan Writer and Muloor S Padmanabha Panicker which Guru approved in 1928, with his own recommendations.
14.
Narayana Guru suggested that the goals of the pilgrimage should be the promotion of education, cleanliness, devotion to God, organization, agriculture, trade, handicrafts, and technical training and advised Vaidyar and Writer to organise a series of lectures on these themes to stress the need for the practice of these ideals, stating this to be the core purpose of Sivagiri pilgrimage.
15.
Narayana Guru organized an All Religion Conference in 1923 at Alwaye Advaita Ashram, which was first such event in India.
16.
Narayana Guru provided spiritual initiation to people of all faiths and sects.
17.
Narayana Guru initiated an individual from an orthodox Nair family in Koyilandy, who missed seeing the Guru upon his arrival due to huge crowd.
18.
Guru Narayana initiated Abdul Khader Masthan, a Muslim man, into spirituality.
19.
Narayana Guru has composed many Sufi poems including praise of Shiva.
20.
Narayana Guru welcomed a Muslim named Khader during his Sri Lankan visit who expressed a keen interest in becoming his disciple.
21.
The Narayana Guru assured him that changing his religion was not a prerequisite to becoming a disciple.
22.
Narayana Guru expressed his recognition of the 'old' Khader and reiterated that changing his Muslim attire was not necessary to be his disciple.
23.
Narayana Guru published 45 works in Malayalam, Sanskrit and Tamil languages which include Atmopadesa Satakam, a hundred-verse spiritual poem and Daiva Dasakam, a universal prayer in ten verses.
24.
Narayana Guru translated three major texts, Thirukural of Valluvar, Ishavasya Upanishad and Ozhivil Odukkam of Kannudaiya Vallalaar.
25.
Narayana Guru furthered the non-dualistic philosophy of Adi Sankara by bringing it into practice by adding the concepts of social equality and universal brotherhood.
26.
On 21 August 1967, Narayana Guru was commemorated on an Indian postage stamp of denomination 15 nP.
27.
The first of the several statues of Narayana Guru was erected at Jagannath Temple, Thalassery in 1927 while he was still alive.
28.
Narayana Guru's statues are seen in many places in Kerala which include a 24 feet statue at Kaithamukku in Thiruvananthapuram.
29.
The life of Narayana Guru has been portrayed in a number of movies starting with the 1986 film Sree Narayana Guru, made by award-winning director P A Backer.
30.
Brahmashri Narayana Guru Swamy is a Tulu film made in 2014 by Rajashekar Kotian on Guru's life and the film was the 50th film made in the language.
31.
In 2016, Kerala High court observed that the statue of Narayana Guru cannot be treated as a Hindu deity.
32.
Narayana Guru had told all the great physicians and disciples of that time who came to treat him that the Guru had approached his samadhi in advance and that the ashram should be well looked after and that everyone should live as good people.
33.
Narayana Guru was bedridden for a long time suffering from senile disease but was treated by many doctors but could not cure the disease completely.
34.
Narayana Guru died during meditation in the presence of devotees on 20 September 1928.