According

PB August 2009
The Spiritual and Cultural Ethos of Modern Hindi Literature 47
A graceful portrayal of nature and an exquisite
imagination are the striking features of Sumitranandan
Pant’s works. He had his first lessons in
nature appreciation and creative imagination in
the Himalayan settings of his birthplace: Kausani
in Almora. His study of Tilak’s Gita Rahasya, the
Upanishads, Sri Ramakrishna Vachanamrit, and the
works of Swamis Vivekananda and Ramtirth, made
a deep impression on his young mind. He writes: ‘I
received special inspiration from the books on neospirituality,
that is, the works of Sri Ramakrishna,
Ramtirth, and Vivekananda; and the life of Paramahamsaji
[Ramakrishna] appeared to be mystery personified.’
Pointing to Sri Ramakrishna’s leading role
in the Indian renaissance, he observes: ‘The birth
of Sri Ramakrishna symbolized the birth of a new
India.’ It is reported that in 1935 he came in contact
with Swami Chinmayananda of the Ramakrishna
Kutir, Almora, who taught him how to overcome
depression through meditation. In a poem he relives
Swami Vivekananda’s visit to Almora. He successfully
translated many of Swami Vivekananda’s
poems, including ‘The Song of the Sannyasin’.
In 1945, at a time when he was perplexed by
Marxism, Gandhism, and such other doctrines, he
happened to meet Sri Aurobindo. He first visited
the Aurobindo Ashrama, along with the troupe of
the famous dancer Uday Shankar, at the invitation
of Ambalal Purani. Later, during his stay at Madras,
he frequented the ashrama on a number of occasions.
He obtained permanent solution to his personal
as well as various social and cultural dilemmas
in Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy. Having wended his
way through Chhayavad mysticism and Marxism,
he voiced a new cultural humanism under the influence
of Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy. This humanism
made possible the wonderful synthesis of human
being and God, heaven and earth, the spiritual and
the material, the nation and the world, society and
the individual, body and soul.
Following in the footsteps of Pant, Narendra
Sharma too highlighted Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy
in the poems he wrote after the songs of Lal Nishan
(Red Insignia). His poems often speak of uniting
bhu-raj, the dust of the earth, with suraj, the sun,
which draws on Sri Aurobindo’s dream of raising
the earth to heaven. Mahadevi Varma’s poems contain
a deep strain of mysticism; but it is not so deep
as to overshadow the soft strain of Buddha’s compassion.
She created many poignant literary portraits
of suffering women and laid the foundation of
independent thought for women’s liberation.
The works of nationalist poets like Makhanlal
Chaturvedi and Balkrishna Sharma ‘Navin’ reveal
a touch of spirituality and mysticism alongside intense
feelings of patriotism and sacrifice, but the
deep struggle with spiritual and cultural questions
seen in Ramdhari Singh ‘Dinkar’ remains
unmatched. Though he is known as a rebel poet
with nationalistic leanings, the strains of his poetry
reveal the tension between love and revolution, activity
and renunciation, violence and non-violence,
war and peace, Marx and Gandhi. His analysis of
important historical questions on Indian culture in
simple prose is incomparable. In Sanskriti ke Char
Adhyay (Four Chapters of Culture)—an extremely
interesting book, much like Jawaharlal Nehru’s
Discovery of India—he explores India’s composite
culture. The synthesis of Aryan and non-Aryan cultures,
the rise of Buddhism, the harmony of Hinduism
and Islam, and the Indian revival in reaction
to British rule engage his deepest thoughts. He has
great respect for Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, and
his prose and poetry resounds with Swami Vivekananda’s
message of practical Vedanta. He questions
the one-sided growth of science and holds the synthesis
of science and spirituality to be the best for
humanity. Towards the end of his life he was influenced
by the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo and
wrote a book on him titled Chetana ki Shikha (The
Flame of Awareness). He took the issue of harmony
between Hinduism and Islam for the unity of the
nation very seriously and stressed Swami Vivekananda’s
concept of ‘Vedanta brain and Islam body’
as a solution.
Acharya Hazariprasad Dwivedi, another great
Hindi literary critic, dwelt deeply on issues of culture
and literature. He placed Kabir on the high seat
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