Universal Values: As Reflected in Literature

About the Book:

The book is divided into three main parts: Ancient Period, Medieval Period, and Modern Period. Also, there are separate sections devoted to the Ramakrishna Movement, Rabindranath Tagore, Sri Aurobindo, and M. K. Gandhi.

About the Author:

Dr. Santikumar Ghosh, formerly chairman of West Bengal College Service Commission and formerly Professor of Economics. Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, is also a distinguished Bengali poet. The present book Universal Values as Reflected in Literature is the compilation of his lectures and discussion on the same subject delivered at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture during 1996-2004.

Publishers' Note:

Katha Upanishad speaks of the two ways of life, goodness (sreyah) and pleasure (preyah) . As Rabindranath Tagore points out in The Religion of Man : '...goodness represents the detachment of our spirit from the exclusiveness of our egoism; in goodness we identify ourselves with the universal humanity.' It is this concept of goodness which is the basis of universal values.

Dr. Santikumar Ghosh, formerly Chairman of West Bengal College Service Commission and formerly Professor of Economics, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, is also a distinguished Bengali poet. His lectures and discourses on 'Universal Values as Reflected in Literature' were delivered at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture during 1996-2004. They are now integrated into a book. It is divided into three main parts: Ancient Period, Medieval Period, and Modern Period. Separate sections are devoted to the Ramakrishna Movement, Rabindranath Tagore, Sri Aurobindo, and M. K. Gandhi. This year we are celebrating the one hundred and fifty years of Holy Mother's birth and we are glad to say that 'Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi' seems to us to be the finest chapter of the book.

We believe that this work, which is well planned and well written, will be appreciated by the readers.

15 August 2004
Kolkata

Swami Prabhananda

Prefatory Note:

The present book has grown out of lectures/discourses delivered at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture during the period 1996-2004. Grateful acknowledgements are made to the late Swami Lokeswarananda, Swami Rasajnananda, Swami Prabhananda, and Swami Balabhadrananda for their encouragement and support.

Santikumar Ghosh