Gopinath Kaviraj

Gopinath Kaviraj (7 September 1887 – 12 June 1976) was a Sanskrit scholar and philosopher. Kaviraj was the posthumous son of Vaikunthanath, a Bengali scholar of philosophy. He was born in Village Dhamrai, in the district of Dacca, now the capital of Bangladesh. His family name was Bagchi and Kaviraj was an honorific attached to him.

Education

He did his initial studies at Jaipur where he came in contact with great luminaries of that time like Madhusudan Ojha, Shasdhar Tarkchudamani and others. He has passed Intermediate from Dacca and B.A. from Maharaja College, Jaipur. He stood first in order of merit in MA from Allahabad University in 1913.

Career

The final phase of his education started at Varanasi under the guidance of Dr. Arthur Venis. Dr. Venis appointed him as a librarian of the famous Sarasvati Bhavan Library of the Government Sanskrit College, Varanasi. It was at Varanasi that Kavirajji was exposed to various facets of ancient Tantric Philosophy. A few years later, he was initiated by Paramhansa Vishuddhananda, a famous Yogi in Kashi who demonstrated great Yogic powers and was thought to have revealed "Gyanganj" to Kaviraj. In 1924, he became principal of Govt. Sanskrit College (Later Sampurnanand Sanskrit University in Varanasi). He was the Chief Editor of Sarasvati Bhavana Texts. But being more interested in research and personal spiritual path, he retired from this position.

He was very fond of Kashi (Varnasi)and never left it except to accept his Padma Vibhushan. In his later years, along with the famous scholar saint Sri Anirvan [1]. he devoted himself to the study of Kashmir Shaivism which he considered the fountain head of Indian Shaivite philosophy. In his later years he became an ardent devotee of Anandmayi Ma whom he considered goddess incarnate.

Book Authored

1. Bhartiya Samskriti Aur Sadhana
2. Tantric Vangmaya mein Saktadrsti
3. Tantric Sadhana Aur Siddhant
4. Sri Krisna Prasanga
5. Kashi Ki Saraswat Sadhana
6. Patravali
7. Sva Samvedan
8. Akhanda Mahayoger Pathe
9. Visuddhananda Prasanga
10. Tantrik Sahitya
11. Sadhu Darshan Evam Sat Prasanga
12. Aspects of Indian thought

Bibliography

• Sri Sri Vishuddhanand Prasanga - An account of the life and mysterious activities of his Spiritual Guru Visuddhananda Paramhansa. It also reveals many Secrets of Tantra and Yoga, and refers to Gyanganj
• Tantric Sadhana
• Bharatiya Sadhanar Dhara
• Sri Krishna Prasanga
• Mrityubijnan O Karmorahasya
• Tripurarahasyam
• Goraksasiddhantasamgrahah
• Sahityachinta
• Siddhabhoomi Gyanganj - in Bengali. A translated Version in Hindi was published in India by Bharatiya Vidya Prakashan
• Manishi ki Lokyatra(in Hindi)-Dr. Bhagavati pd.singh 3rd ed.1987, published from Vishvadyalaya Prakashan Varansi. This is a detailed biography of Pt. Kaviraj.

Awards

• Mahamahopadhyay (1934)
• Padma Vibhushan (1964)
• DLitt (1947), by Allahabad University
• Sahitya Vachaspati (1965), by the Uttar Pradesh government
• Deshikottam (1976), by Visva-Bharati
• DLitt(21Dec 1956)Kashi Hindu Vishvavidyalaya
• DLitt(19 Jan 1965)Calcutta University,Calcutta
• Sahitya Akademi Award (on Tantrik vangmay mein shakt drishti),1965