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BRAHMA SAMAJ

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 389 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BRAHMA SAMAJ , a religious association in See also:

India which owes its origin to (See also:Raja) See also:Ram Mohan See also:Roy, who began teaching and See also:writing in See also:Calcutta soon after 1800. The name means literally the " See also:Church of the One See also:God," and the word Samaj, like the word Church, bears both a See also:local and a universal, or an individual and a collective meaning. Impressed with the per-versions and corruptions of popular See also:Hinduism, Ram Mohan Roy investigated the See also:Hindu Shastras, the See also:Koran and the See also:Bible, repudiated the polytheistic See also:worship of the Shastras as false, and inculcated the reformed principles of monotheism as found in the See also:ancient Upanishads of the Vedas. In 1816 he established a society, consisting only of See also:Hindus, in which texts from the Vedas were recited and theistic See also:hymns chanted. This, however, soon died out through the opposition it received from the Hindu community. In 183o he organized the society known as the Brahma Samaj. The following See also:extract from the See also:trust-See also:deed of the See also:building dedicated to it will show the religious belief and the purposes of its founder. The building was intended to be " a See also:place of public See also:meeting for all sorts and descriptions of See also:people, without distinction, who shall behave and conduct themselves in an orderly, sober, religious and devout manner, for the worship and See also:adoration of the eternal, unsearchable and immutable Being, who is the author and preserver of the universe, but not under and by any other name, designation or See also:title, peculiarly used for and applied to any particular being or beings by any See also:man or set of men whatsoever; and that no graven See also:image, statue or See also:sculpture, See also:carving, See also:painting, picture, portrait or the likeness of anything shall be admitted within the said See also:messuage, building, See also:land, tenements, See also:hereditament and premises; and that no See also:sacrifice, offering or See also:oblation of any See also:kind or thing shall ever be permitted therein; and that no See also:animal or living creature shall within or on the said messuage, &c., be deprived of See also:life either for religious purposes or See also:food, and that no eating or drinking (except such as shall be necessary by any See also:accident for the preservation of life), feasting or rioting be permitted therein or thereon; and that in conducting the said worship or adoration, no See also:object, animate or inanimate, that has been or is or shall hereafter become or be recognized as an object of worship by any. man or set of men, shall be reviled or slightingly or contemptuously spoken of or alluded to, either in See also:preaching or in the hymns or other mode of worship that may be delivered or used in the said messuage or building; and that no See also:sermon, preaching, discourse, See also:prayer or hymns be delivered, made or used in such worship, but such as have a tendency to the contemplation of the Author and Preserver of the universe or to the See also:pro-See also:motion of charity, morality, piety, benevolence, virtue and the strengthening of the bonds of See also:union between men of all religious persuasions and See also:creeds." The new faith at this See also:period held to the Vedas as its basis. Ram Mohan Roy soon after See also:left India for See also:England, and took up his See also:residence in See also:Bristol, where he died in 1835. The Brahma Samaj maintained a See also:bare existence till 1841, when See also:Babu Debendra Nath Tagore, a member of a famous and wealthy Calcutta See also:family, devoted himself to it. He gave a See also:printing-See also:press to the Samaj, and established a monthly See also:journal called the Tattwabodhini Patrikd, to which the See also:Bengali See also:language now owes much for its strength and elegance. About 185o some of the followers of the new See also:religion discovered that the greater See also:part of the Vedas is polytheistic, and a See also:schism took place,—the advanced party holding that nature and See also:intuition See also:form the basis of faith.

Between 1847 and 1858 See also:

branch See also:societies were formed in different parts of India, especially in See also:Bengal, and the new society made rapid progress, for which it was largely indebted to the spread of See also:English See also:education and the See also:work of See also:Christian missionaries. In fact the whole Samaj See also:movement is as distinct a product of the contest of Hinduism with See also:Christianity in the 19th See also:century, as the Panth movement was of its contest with See also:Islam 300 years earlier. The Brahma creed was definitively formulated as follows:—(r) The See also:book of nature and intuition supplies the basis of religious faith. (2) Although the Brahmas do not consider any book written by man the basis of their religion, yet they do accept with respect and See also:pleasure any religious truth contained in any book. (3) The Brahmas believe that the religious See also:condition of man is progressive, like the other departments of his condition in this See also:world. (4) They believe that the fundamental doctrines of their religion are also the basis of every true religion. (5) They believe in the existence of one Supreme God—a God endowed with a distinct See also:personality, moral attributes worthy of His nature and an intelligence befitting the See also:Governor of the universe, and they worship Him alone. They do not believe in any of His incarnations. (6) They believe in the See also:immortality and progressive See also:state of the soul, and declare that there is a state of conscious existence succeeding life in this world and supplementary to it as respects the See also:action of the universal moral See also:government. (7) They believe that repentance is the only way to salvation. They do not recognize any other mode of reconcilement to the offended but loving See also:Father. (8) They pray for spiritual welfare and believe in the efficacy of such prayers.

(9) They believe in the providential care of the divine Father. (to) They avow that love towards Him and the performances of the See also:

works which He loves, constitute His worship. (II) They recognize the See also:necessity of public worship, but do not believe that communion with the Father depends upon meeting in any fixed place at any fixed See also:time. They maintain that they can adore Him at any time and at any place, provided that the time and the place are calculated to compose and See also:direct the mind towards Him. (12) They do not believe in pilgrimages and declare that holiness can only be attained by elevating and purifying the mind. (13) They put no faith in See also:rites or ceremonies, nor do they believe in penances as instrumental in obtaining the See also:grace of God. They declare that moral righteousness, the gaining of See also:wisdom, divine contemplation, charity and the cultivation of devotional feelings are their rites and ceremonies. They further say, govern and regulate your feelings, See also:discharge your duties to God and to man, and you will gain See also:everlasting blessedness; purify your See also:heart, cultivate devotional feelings and you will see Him who is unseen. (14) Theoretically there is no distinction of See also:caste among the Brahmas. They declare that we are all the See also:children of God, and therefore must consider ourselves as See also:brothers and sisters. For See also:long the Brahmas did not See also:attempt any social reforms. But about 1865 the younger See also:section, headed by Babu Keshub Chunder Sen, who joined the Samaj in 1857, tried to carry their religious theories into practice by demanding the See also:abandonment of the See also:external signs of caste distinction.

This, however, the older members opposed, declaring such innovations to be premature. A schism resulted, Keshub Chunder Sen and his followers See also:

founding the Progressive Samaj, while the conservative stock remained as the Adi (i.e. See also:original) Samaj, their aim being to " fulfil " rather than to abrogate the old religion. The vitality of the movement, however, had left it, and its inconsistencies, combined with the lack of strong leadership, landed it in a position scarcely distinguishable from orthodox Hinduism. Debendra Nath Tagore sought See also:refuge from the difficulty by becoming an ascetic. The " Brahma Samaj of India," as Chunder Sen's party styled itself, made considerable progress extensively and intensively until 1878, when a number of the most prominent adherents, led by Anand Mohan Bose, took umbrage at Chunder Sen's despotic See also:rule and at his disregard of the society's regulations concerning See also:child See also:marriage. This led to the formation of the Sadharana (Universal) Brahma Samaj, now the most popular and progressive of the three sections of the movement and conspicuous for its work in the cause of See also:literary culture, social reform and See also:female education in India. But even when we add all sections of the Brahma Samaj together, the See also:total number of adherents is only about 4000, mostly found in Calcutta and its neighbourhood. A small community (about 130) in Bombay, known as the Prarthna (Prayer) Samaj, was founded in 1867 through Keshub Chunder's See also:influence; they have a similar creed to that of the Brahma Samaj, but have broken less decisively with orthodox and ceremonial Hinduism. See the articles on ARYA, SAMAJ, KESHUB CHUNDER SEN, RAM MOHAN Roy. Also See also:John See also:Robson, Hinduism and Christianity; and the Theistic Quarterly See also:Review (the See also:organ of the Society since 1880).

End of Article: BRAHMA SAMAJ

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