Sant Kavi Sunderdas 8.11.1997

Sant Kavi Sunderdas was a noted saint, poet, philosopher and social reformer of medieval India. He was a disciple of Dadu Dayal. Sunderdas was born in 1596 in Dausa in Rajasthan state in India. Sant Sunderdas composed about 48 books. He is revered as 'The Sankaracharya' of Hindi literature'. He died in 1689.  

The Dnyaneshwari 31.12.1990

The Dnyaneshwari  is a commentary on the Bhagwad Gita  written by the Marathi saint and poet Dyaneshwar  in the 13th century. This commentary has been praised for its aesthetic as well as scholarly value. The original name of the work is Bhavarth Deepika, which can be roughly translated as "The light showing the internal meaning" (of the Bhagvad Geeta), but it is popularly called the Dnyaneshwari after its creator.

The Dnyaneshwari provides the philosophical basis for the Bhagawata Dharma, a bhakti sect which had a lasting effect on the history of Maharashtra. It became one of the sacred books (i.e. the Prasthanatrai of Bhagawata Dharma) along with Eknathi  Bhagawata andTukaram Gaathaa. It is one of the foundations of the Marathi language and literature written in the Modi alphabet and continues to be widely read in Maharashtra. The Pasayadan or the nine ending verses of the Jñāneśvarī are also popular with the masses.

Shankaracharya 17.5.1989

Shankaracharya is a commonly used title of heads of monasteries called mathas in the Advaita Vedanta tradition. The title derives from Adi Shankara, an 8th-century CE reformer of Hinduism. He is honored as Jagadguru, a title that was used earlier only to Krishna.

Shankaracharya is also seen as an avatar of Shiva (Shankara). Shankaracharya is responsible for founding many punyakshetras along the length and breadth of India, by taming avatars of Parvati and imprisoning her essence in Sri Chakras.

Adi Shankaracharya wished to grace the Indian subcontinent by establishing four major mathas in the four corners of the peninsula – north (Jyothirmath), south (Sringeri), east (Puri), west (Dwarka) – to propagate the philosophy of advaita vedanta and to promulgate the concept of Sanatana dharma, thus establishing dharma or righteousness, as the way of life of people. His primary four disciples took charges of each math and thus established a strong Guru-Sishya parampara (a lineage of masters-disciples) in every math, that continues to guide people till today, with reverence and support by the entire nation.

The stamp depicts the word "Advaita" in stylised Devanagari Script.

Keshub Chandra Sen 15.4.1980

The stamp shows a Portrait of Shri KC Sen. The first day cover shows a view of the Bharatavarshiya Brahmo Mandir, Calcutta.

Keshub Chandra Sen (19 November 1838 – 8 January 1884) was an Indian Bengali Hindu philosopher and social reformer who attempted to incorporate Christian theology within the framework of Hindu thought. Born a Hindu, he became a member of the Brahmo Samaj in 1856 but founded his own breakaway "Brahmo Samaj of India" in 1866 while the Brahmo Samaj remained under the leadership of Maharshi Debendranath Tagore (who headed the Brahmo Samaj till his death in 1905). In 1878 his followers abandoned him after the underage child marriage of his daughter which exposed his campaign against child marriage as hollow. Later in his life he came under the influence of Ramakrishna and founded a syncretic "New Dispensation" or Nôbobidhan inspired by Christianity, and Vaishnav bhakti, and Hindu practices.

Vallabhacharya 14.4.1977

Vallabhacharya (1479–1531 CE) was a devotional philosopher, who founded the Pushti sect in India, following the philosophy of Shuddha advaita (Pure Non-dualism).

Ramcharitmanas

Ramcharitmanas, also spelt as Ramacharitamanasa, is an epic poem in Awadhi dialect of Hindi, composed by the 16th-century Indian bhakti poet Goswami Tulsidas (c.1532–1623). Ramcharitmanas literally means"Lake of the deeds of Rama". Ramcharitmanas is considered as one of the greatest works of Hindi literature. The work has been acclaimed as "the living sum of Indian culture", "the tallest tree in the magic garden of medieval Indian poetry", "the greatest book of all devotional literature", "the Bible of Northern India", and "the best and most trustworthy guide to the popular living faith of the Indian people".

The core of the work is considered by some to be a poetic retelling of the events of the Sanskrit epicRamayana, centered on the narrative of Rama, the scion of the family tree of Raghu of the Sun Dynasty and the crown prince of Ayodhya who is also considered in Hindu tradition as one of the Avataras of Vishnu. However, Tulsidas never alludes to Ramcharitmanas as being a retelling of Valmiki Ramayana. He calls the epic Ramcharitmanas as the story of Rama was stored in the mind (Mānasa) of Shiva before he narrated the same to His consort Parvati. Tulsidas claims to have received the story through his guru, Narharidas. Tulsidas was unconscious and the story was stored in his mind (Mānasa) for long before he wrote it down asRamcharitmanas. The epic poem is, therefore, also referred to as Tulsikrit Ramayana (literally, The Ramayana composed by Tulsidas).

The Ramcharitmanas consists of seven Kāndas (i.e. parts or books). Tulsidas compared the seven Kāndas (literally "books" or "episodes", cognate with cantos) of the epic to seven steps leading into the holy waters of Lake Manasarovar "which purifies the body and the soul at once".

Ramcharitmanas, for the first time in the history of North India, made available the story of Rama to the common man to sing, meditate and perform on. Tulsidas was a great scholar of Sanskrit. However, he wanted the story of Rama to be accessible to the general masses and not just the Sanskrit-speaking elite. In order to make the story of Rama as accessible to the layman as to the scholar, Tulsidas chose to write in Awadhi, a local dialect of Hindi which was in vogue as the language of general parlance in large parts of north India during the composition of the work. Tradition has it that Tulsidas had to face a lot of criticism from the sanskrit scholars of Varanasi for being a bhasha(vernacular) poet. However, Tulsidas remained steadfast in his resolve for simplifying the knowledge of the Vedas and Upanishads to the common people and was subsequently accepted by all. The writing of Ramcharitmanas also heralded many a cultural tradition, most significantly that of the tradition of Ramlila, the dramatic enactment of the text.

The Ramcharitmanas is considered by many as a work belonging to the Saguna school of the Bhakti movement in Hindi literature.

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa - Birth Anniversary

Ramakrishna (18 February 1836 – 16 August 1886), born Gadadhar Chattopadhyay, was an Indian mystic during 19th-century. His religious school of thought led to the formation of the Ramakrishna Mission by his chief disciple Swami Vivekananda. He is also referred to as "Paramahamsa" by his devotees, as such he is popularly known as Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.

Ramakrishna was born in a poor Brahmin , Vaishnava family in rural Bengal. He became a priest of the Dakshineswar Kali Temple, dedicated to the goddess Kali, which had the influence of the main strands of Bengali bhakti tradition. The most widely known amongst his first spiritual teachers was an ascetic woman, called Bhairavi Brahmani, who was skilled in Tantra and Vaishnava bhakti. Later an Advaita Vedantinascetic taught him non-dual meditation, and he experienced nirvikalpa samadhi under his guidance.

Sri Aurobindo - Birth Centenary 1972

Sri Aurobindo (Sri Ôrobindo), (15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950), born Aurobindo Ghose, was an Indian nationalist, philosopher, yogi, guru, and poet. He joined the Indian movement for independence from British rule, for a while became one of its influential leaders and then became a spiritual reformer, introducing his visions on human progress and spiritual evolution.

Aurobindo studied for the Indian Civil Service at King's College, Cambridge, England. After returning to India he took up various civil service works under the maharaja of the princely state of Baroda and began to involve himself in politics. He was imprisoned by the British for writing articles against British rule in India. He was released when no evidence was provided. During his stay in the jail he had mystical and spiritual experiences, after which he moved to Pondicherry, leaving politics for spiritual work.

During his stay in Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo developed a method of spiritual practice he called Integral Yoga. The central theme of his vision was the evolution of human life into a life divine. He believed in a spiritual realisation that not only liberated man but transformed his nature, enabling a divine life on earth. In 1926, with the help of his spiritual collaborator, Mirra Alfassa ("The Mother"), he founded the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. He died on 5 December 1950 in Pondicherry.

His main literary works are The Life Divine, which deals with theoretical aspects of Integral Yoga; Synthesis of Yoga, which deals with practical guidance to Integral Yoga; and Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol, an epic poem which refers to a passage in the Mahabharata, where its characters actualise Integral Yoga in their lives. His works also include philosophy, poetry, translations and commentaries on the Vedas, Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita.

The stamp depicts the symbol of Sri Aurobindo. The sun around the symbol represents the supermind.

Virajananda

Swami Virajanand, the blind sage of Mathura and the celebrated teacher of Swami Dayanand Saraswati who founded the Arya Samaj, was born in a place near Jullundur in the year 1778 in Brahmin family. At the tender age of five, the boy lost his eyesight after an attack of small pox. Soon thereafter, the boy's and who had initiated boy into the rudiments of Sanskrit learning, passed away. Thus the boy has thrown to the mercies of his elder brother and sister-in-law at very young age. As they did not treat him well, the temperamental Virjanand soon left their house. His wanderings led him to Rishikesh where he led a life of meditation and austerity for about three years. Tradition has it that Swami Virjanand left Rishikesh for Hardwar at the instance of a divine command. At Hardwar Virjanand came in contact with swami Purnanand, a renowned Sanskrit scholar who initiated him into 'sanyas'. Swami Purnanand created him into a love for sanskrit grammar and for the "arsha" Shastras. Soon Virjanand began to master other branches of Sanskrit literature, and also took up the work of teaching others. After this course of Hardwar, Swami Virjanand left for Kashi, the well-known city for Sanskrit learning and for higher studies. Here he lived for about 10 years, mastering Meeemansa, Vedanta, Ayurveda, etc. Soon he came to occupy a place of eminence among the scholars of Varanasi. From Varanasi. Swami Virjanand went to Gaya where he made a comprehensive and critical study of Upanishada, the preliminary study of which he had first taken at Hardwar and completed at Varanasi. From Gaya, Swami Virjanand went to Calcutta which was, at that time. attracting Sanskrit talent from all over the country.

Swami Virjanand died on Monday , the 14th September, 1868, on Krishna Trayodashi day at the age of 90.

The stamp honouring this Saint depicts the Swamiji in a sitting posture. The design on the First Day Cover high-lights symbolically the life work of Swami Virjanand in propagating knowledge of the Vedas and other "artha Shashtras."

Ramana Maharshi - Death Anniversary 1971

Ramana Maharshi (30 December 1879 – 14 April 1950) is widely acknowledged as one of the outstanding Hindu gurus of modern times. He was born Venkataraman Iyer, in Tiruchuli, Tamil Nadu, South India, and given the name Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi in 1907, by one of his first devotees, Ganapati Muni. This would be the name by which he became known to the world.

At the age of sixteen, Venkataraman lost his sense of individual selfhood, an awakening which he later recognised as enlightenment. Six weeks later he left his home to journey to the holy mountain Arunachala, Tiruvannamalai, where he remained for the rest of his life.

His first years were spent in solitude, but his stillness and his appearance as a sannyasin soon attracted devotees. In later years, he responded to questions, but always insisted that silence was the purest teaching His verbal teachings flowed "from his direct knowledge that consciousness was the only existing reality." In later years, a community grew up around him, where he was available twenty-four hours a day to visitors. Though worshipped by thousands, he never allowed anyone to treat him as special, or receive private gifts. He treated all with equal respect. Since the 1930s his teachings have also been popularised in the west.

In response to questions on self-liberation and the classic texts on Yoga and Vedanta, Ramana recommended self-enquiry as the principal way to awaken to the "I-I", realise the Self and attain liberation. He also recommended Bhakti, and gave his approval to a variety of paths and practices.

Sant Ravidas

Ravidas (also Raidas, Rohidas and Ruhidas in eastern India) was a North Indian Guru mystic of the bhakti movement from Ramanandi Sampradaya and one of the direct disciples of Ramananda. He was active in the 15th century CE. Venerated in the region of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh as well as Maharashtra, his devotional songs and verses made a lasting impact upon the bhakti movement. He is often given the honorific Bhagat or Sant. He was a socio-religious reformer, a thinker, a theosophist, a humanist, a poet, a traveller, a pacifist and a spiritual figure.

Ravidas was born in the Kutbandhla Chamar caste. His devotional songs were included in the Sikh Scriptures, Guru Granth Sahib. There is also a larger body of hymns passed on independently that is claimed and attributed to Ravidas. Ravidas was subversive in that his devotionalism implied a levelling of the social divisions of caste and gender, yet ecumenical in that it tended to promote crossing of sectarian divides in the name of a higher spiritual unity.

Ravidas taught that one is distinguished not by one's caste (jāti) but by one's actions (karma) and that every person has the right to worship God and read holy texts. He opened a frontal attack against the system of Untouchability. He rejected the tradition of Brahmin mediator to reach the Supreme Being. He also said that one need not to hide his caste or leave his low profession to reach God. He became a model for his fellow beings to overcome the hierarchical barriers of Brahminical social order and to establish Begumpura – a state without fear and sorrows. Ravidas elevated the status of the labour by emphasising on the fact that honest labour is empowering.

Swami Rama Tirtha

This Quadrangular stamp was the first such stamp issued after independence. 

Swami Rama Tirtha (October 22, 1873 – 27 October 1906), also known as Swami Ram, was an Indian teacher of the Hindu philosophy of Vedanta. He was among the first notable teachers of Hinduism to lecture in the United States, travelling there in 1902, preceded by Swami Vivekananda in 1893 and followed by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1920. 

During his American tours Swami Rama Tirtha spoke frequently on the concept of 'practical Vedanta' and education of Indian youth. He proposed bringing young Indians to American universities and helped establish scholarships for Indian students.

Sri Aurobindo 1964

Sri Aurobindo (Sri Ôrobindo), (15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950), born Aurobindo Ghose, also spelt Aurobindo Ghosh, was an Indian nationalist, philosopher, yogi, guru, and poet. He joined the Indian movement for independence from British rule, for a while became one of its influential leaders and then became a spiritual reformer, introducing his visions on human progress and spiritual evolution.

Aurobindo studied for the Indian Civil Service at King's Colleg, Cambridge, England. After returning to India he took up various civil service works under the maharaja of the princely state of Baroda and began to involve himself in politics. He was imprisoned by the British for writing articles against British rule in India. He was released when no evidence was provided. During his stay in the jail he had mystical and spiritual experiences, after which he moved to Pondicherry, leaving politics for spiritual work.

During his stay in Pondicherry, Aurobindo developed a method of spiritual practice, which he called Integral Yoga. The central theme of his vision was the evolution of human life into a life divine. He believed in a spiritual realisation that not only liberated man but also transformed his nature, enabling a divine life on earth. In 1926, with the help of his spiritual collaborator, Mirra Alfassa ("The Mother"), he founded the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. He died on 5 December 1950 in Pondicherry.

His main literary works are The Life Divine, which deals with theoretical aspects of Integral Yoga; Synthesis of Yoga, which deals with practical guidance to Integral Yoga; and Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol, an epic poem which refers to a passage in the Mahabharata, where its characters actualise Integral Yoga in their lives. His works also include philosophy, poetry, translations and commentaries on the Vedas, Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita.