PRAYER TALKTEACHER’S DAY

Aaliya KhanRoll No. IM.B.Patel College of Education,V.V.Nagar.

Presented By...

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan : Vice President of India (1952–1962)

second President of India (1962 to 1967 )

The birthdate, [5 September1888], of the second President ofIndia, academic philosopher Dr.Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. It isconsidered a "celebration" day,where teachers and students reportto school as usual but the usualactivities and classes are replacedby activities of celebration, thanksand remembrance. At some schoolson this day, the responsibility ofteaching is taken up by the seniorstudents to show appreciation fortheir teachers.

.....

One of India's best andmost influential twentieth-century scholars of comparativereligion and philosophy, hisacademic appointmentsincluded the King George VChair of Mental and MoralScience at the University ofCalcutta (1921–1932) andSpalding Professor of EasternReligion and Ethics at Universityof Oxford(1936–1952).

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was born in a TeluguBrahmin family at a village near Thiruttani, (TamilNadu near the border of Andhra Pradesh and TamilNadu states).

His father's name was Sarvepalli Veeraswamiand his mother's was Sitamma.

His father was a subordinate revenue official inthe service of a local zamindar (landlord).

His primary education was at Primary BoardHigh School at Tiruttani.

In 1896 he moved to the HermansburgEvangelical Lutheral Mission School in Tirupati.

Education

Radhakrishnan was awarded scholarshipsthroughout his academic life.

He joined Voorhees College in Vellore butswitched to the Madras Christian College at the ageof 17. He graduated from there in 1906 with aMaster's degree in Philosophy, being one of its mostdistinguished alumni.

Radhakrishnan studied philosophy by chancerather than choice. Being a financially constrainedstudent, when a cousin who graduated from thesame college passed on his philosophy textbooks into Radhakrishnan, it automatically decided hisacademic course.

MERRIAGE....

Radhakrishnan wasmarried to Sivakamu, adistant cousin, at the age of16. As per tradition themarriage was arranged by thefamily. The couple had fivedaughters and a son,Sarvepalli Gopal. SarvepalliGopal went on to a notablecareer as a historian.Sivakamu died in 1956. Theywere married for over 51years.

CAREER.... In April 1909, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan wasappointed to the Department of Philosophy at theMadras Presidency College.

By that time he had written many articlesfor journals of repute like The Quest, Journal ofPhilosophy and the International Journal of Ethics.

He also completed his first book, ThePhilosophy of Rabindranath Tagore. He believedTagore's philosophy to be the "genuinemanifestation of the Indian spirit".

His second book, The Reign of Religion inContemporary Philosophy was published in 1920.

In 1921 he was appointed as a professor inphilosophy to occupy the King George V Chair of Mentaland Moral Science at the University of Calcutta.

He represented the University of Calcutta at theCongress of the Universities of the British Empire inJune 1926 and the International Congress of Philosophyat Harvard University in September 1926.

He was the Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University from1931 to 1936.

In 1929 Radhakrishnan

was invited to take the post vacatedby Principal J. Estlin Carpenter atHarris Manchester College. Thisgave him the opportunity to lectureto the students of the University ofOxford on Comparative Religion.For his services to education he wasknighted by George V in the June1931 Birthday Honours, andformally invested with his honour bythe Governor-General of India, theEarl of Willingdon, in April 1932.However, he ceased to use the titleafter Indian independence,preferring instead his academic titleof 'Doctor'.

POLITICAL CAREER....

In 1931 he was nominated to the League of

Nations Committee for International Cooperation,

where after "in Western eyes he was the recognized

Hindu authority on Indian ideas and a persuasive

interpreter of the role of Eastern institutions incontemporary society."

After Independence, Radhakrishnan

represented India at UNESCO (1946–52) and was

later Ambassador of India to the Soviet Union, from1949 to 1952.

Radhakrishnan was elected as the first Vice

President of India in 1952, and elected as thesecond President of India (1962–1967).

Radhakrishnan did not

have a background in the

Congress Party, nor was he

active in the struggle against

British rule. His motivation lay in

his pride of Hindu culture, and

the defence of Hinduism against

"uninformed Western criticism“.

According to Brown,

He had always defended Hindu

culture against uninformed

Western criticism and had

symbolized the pride of Indians

in their own intellectual

traditions.

Teacher's Day :

When he became President, some of his

students and friends requested him to allow

them to celebrate his birthday, 5 September.

He replied,

"Instead of celebrating my birthday, it would

be my proud privilege if 5 September is

observed as “Teachers Day."

His birthday has since been celebrated as

Teachers' Day in India.

Philosophy :

Radhakrishnan tried to bridge eastern and westernthought, defending Hinduism against "uninformed Westerncriticism“. but also incorporating Western philosophical andreligious thought.

Radhakrishnan was one of the most prominentspokesman of Neo-Vedanta. His metaphysics was grounded inAdvaita Vedanta, but he reinterpreted Advaita Vedanta for acontemporary understanding. He acknowledged the realityand diversity of the world of experience, which he saw asgrounded in and supported by the absolute or Brahman.Radhakrishnan also reinterpreted Shankara's notion of MAYA.According to Radhakrishnan, maya is not a strict absoluteidealism, but "a subjective misperception of the world asultimately real.”

Advaita Vedanta.....

1931: appointed a knight bachelor in 1931, although he ceased to use the title "sir" after India attained independence.

1938: elected person of the British Academy.

1954: The Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in India.

1954: German "Order pour le Merite for Arts and Science”

1961: the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade.

1963: the British Royal Order of Merit, awarded by Queen Elizabeth II.

1968: Sahitya Akademi fellowship, The highest honour conferred by the Sahitya Akademi on a writer(he is the first person to get this award)

Awards and Honours.....

1989: institution of the Radhakrishnan Scholarships byOxford University in the memory of Radhakrishnan. Thescholarships were later renamed the "Radhakrishnan CheveningScholarships".

1975: the Templeton Prize in 1975, a few months beforehis death, for advocating non-aggression and conveying "auniversal reality of God that embraced love and wisdom for allpeople.” He donated the entire amount of the Templeton Prizeto Oxford University.

"Reading a book gives us the habit of solitary reflection and true enjoyment."[

" Wealth, power and efficiency are the appurtenances of life and not life itself."

" Age or youth is not a matter of chronology. We are as young or as old as we feel. What we think about ourselves is what matters. "

" Human nature is fundamentally good, and the spread of enlightenment will abolish all wrong."

" Only the man of serene mind can realize the spiritualmeaning of life. Honesty with oneself is the condition of spiritual integrity."

THOUGHTS....

BOOKs by Radhakrishnan....

1) Indian Philosophy

2) The Hindu View of Life

3) An Idealist View of Life

4) Eastern Religions & Western Thought

5) Religion and Society

6) The Bhagavadgītā:

7) The Dhammapada

8) The Principal Upanishads

9) Recovery of Faith

10) Religion, Science & Culture