Famous Personalities

PreIndependence
Nisarg Bhatt
Palak Karla
Imran Dobivala
Krishnakant
Invented the Zero
Aryabhatta
Swami Vivekananda
Champion of
humanitarianism
Rabindranath Tagore
1913 - Nobel Prize
in Literature
1979 Nobel Prize in
Peace
Mother Teresa
Gautam Buddha
Gautam Buddha was one of the greatest religious teachers that the world
has seen. He is the founder of Buddhism, a religion that is popular in
Burma, China, Japan, Thailand and other South Eastern Countries.
The Buddha was born in 563 B.C. as Siddhartha, the prince of Kapilavastu.
Gautam Buddha's mother died at childbirth and he was brought up by his
mother's sister Prajapati Gotami.
It was predicted that Siddhartha would give up worldly pleasures and
follow a simple life. Siddhartha's father the King wanted to avoid this at all
costs and did not let him out of the palace. He hoped that Siddhartha would
one day become king.
The name Siddhartha means "wish-fulfilled" or "one who has accomplished
his goal".
When Siddhartha became a young man he ventured out of the Palace and
saw suffering, pain and death for the first time. This experience changed his
life. Though Siddhartha was married to a beautiful princess called
Yashodhara and had a son Rahul, at the age of about 30 years Siddhartha
left the palace in search of the truth about life.
Purity or impurity
depends on oneself,
No one can purify
another.
He spent many years in the company of saints and finally one day when he
was sitting under the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya (Bihar, India) he was blessed
with the divine light. This was the turning point, as he realized the truth is
within every human being. The search outside was pointless. After this he
was known as ' Buddha' or the enlightened one.
For 45 years, Buddha spread his message of a spiritual life with 8 - fold
path towards salvation -
Right speech
Right Understanding
Right Determination
Right deeds
Right efforts
Right awareness
Right thinking and
Right living.
According to Buddhism, by following this path one could overcome
desires, which are the root cause of grief and misery.
Buddha died in 483 BC at the age of 80 years.

Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo was born in Calcutta, on 15th August 1872, was
an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru
and poet.
He joined the Indian movement for freedom from British rule,
for a while became one of its influential leaders and then
turned into a spiritual reformer, introducing his visions on
human progress and spiritual evolution.
Sri 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 Baroda and started to involve himself in politics.
He was imprisoned by British governance in India. for writing
articles against British rule. 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.
What the soul sees and has
experienced, that it knows;
the rest is appearance,
prejudice and opinion.
During his stay in Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo evolved a new
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 realization 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.
Aurobindo was the first Indian to create a major literary corpus in
English. 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, 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.

Swami Vivekananda
Narendranath Dutt or Swami Vivekananda was born in calcutta on
12
th
january 1863, was a great social reformer and Indian nationalist
of the 19th century.
Narendranath obtained his education irregularly. He at first read in
a Primary School with other children of suburban area.
Again he studied in the Metropolitan Institution, founded by Iswara
Chandra Vidyasagar. He was a good scholar, a good actor, player and
wrestler.
He was very popular for his knowledge in Sanskrit. Above all, he
was a speaker of truth. He was never known to tell a lie.
He had self-confidence in it. After school examination, he studied at
the Presidency College, Calcutta (Kolkata). Then he went to the
General Assembly Institution, which was a Missionary College. He
studied logic and philosophy.

arise, awake, stop not
until your goal is
achieved.
He was disturbed in his mind by his own question "Who can show
me God?" Finally he met Sri Ramakrishna, a Priest in the temple of
the goddess Kali at Dakshineswar
The spiritual influence of Sri Ramakrishna changed him. Soon after
his father's death, Narendra discontinued his college-study and
looked for jobs.
Being disappointed to get any job, he again met Sri Ramakrishna
and accepted him as his spiritual master. He was then called Swami
Vivekananda.
He attended the Parliament of Religions in Chicago on September,
1893
Here were other persons representing different religions. Often
Vivekananda spoke on Hinduism; he was greeted and sheered by all
the audience there. One of the newspapers New York said that
Swami Vivekananda was the greatest figure in the Parliament of
Religions.
He also tried to remove poverty from this country. He was the
greatest spiritual figure in India.
He died on 4 June 1902 only at the age of thirty nine.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel the 'The Iron
Man of India'
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was born in Gujarat on 31st of October
1875 into a family of patriots. His father was a farmer and fought for
India's freedom from the British. Vithalbhai, Vallabhbhai's elder
brother, was also a well-known patriot. He was the Chairman of the
Indian Legislative Council.
From a young age itself Vallabhbhai was very courageous and raised
his voice against injustice. His ambition was to become a barrister
like his brother. He studied very hard and travelled to England and
passed the Barrister-at-Law Examination. After he returned to India
he setup a practice in Ahmedabad which was very successful and he
earned a lot of money.
Around this time the struggle for freedom was gaining a lot of
momentum. Gandhiji attended a conference in Gujarat where he met
Vallabhbhai and they became friends.
In 1918, Vallabhbhai took the responsibility of leading the farmers
of Gujarat. He was very successful in his struggle against the British
and became a prominent leader in the freedom struggle.

"I cannot speak
anything but the
truth. I cannot turn
back on my duty,
just to please some
one."
In 1920, the Congress started the non-cooperation struggle and Vallabhbhai
gave up his practice. He setup the Gujarat Vidyapeeth where children could
study instead of attending Government schools.
In 1928 he successfully organised the landowners of Bardoli against British
tax increases. It was after this that Vallabhbhai was given the title of
Sardar(Leader).
In 1931 he served as President of the Indian National Congress. He was
sent to jail by the British and freed only in 1934.
In 1942 Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was again sent to jail because of the start
of the "Quit India Movement".
1n 1947 when India got freedom Sardar Patel became the Deputy Prime
Minister. He was in charge of Home Affairs, Information and Broadcasting
and the Ministry of States. He was given the task of organizing 600 states
into one nation. He took strong steps like sending the army to Junagadh and
Hyderabad to force them to align with free India. It is because of these
strong steps that earned him the title of "The man of steel".
Sardar Vallabhbhai passed away in Bombay on the morning of the 15th
December 1950.
Sarojini Naidu
Sarojini Naidu was one of the most prominent leaders of India's freedom struggle. Born on
February 13, 1879 in Hyderabad, Sarojini was the eldest daughter of Varasundari and Dr.
Aghornath Chattopadhyaya, who was a scientist and founder-principal of Nizam College of
Hyderabad. Her mother Varasundari was a Bengali poetess.
Sarojini's father aspired for her to become a mathematician or scientist, but young Sarojini
was drawn towards poetry from a very early age. Seeing her flair for poetry, her father
decided to encourage her. With her father's support, she wrote the play "Maher Muneer" in the
Persian language. Dr. Chattopadhyaya sent a copy to the Nawab of Hyderabad who was very
impressed by the beautiful play written by her. Sarojini got a scholarship to study abroad and
got admitted to King's College, London and then later at Girton College, Cambridge.
Sarojini met Dr. Govind Naidu, during her stay in England and later married him at a time
when inter-caste marriages were not allowed.
The poetess in Sarojini had now blossomed fully. Her poems were beautiful and lyrical and
could be sung. Her collection of poems "Golden Threshold" was published in 1905 and she
was soon given the nickname - "Bul Bule Hind" or the "Nightingale of India". After that, she
published two other collections of poems--"The Bird of Time" and "The Broken Wings".
"Feast of Youth" followed in 1918. Her poetry was admired by the likes of Rabindranath
Tagore and Jawaharlal Nehru.
No people in history have ever survived who
thought they could protect their freedom by
making themselves inoffensive to their
enemies.
Soon after, she met Shree Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Gandhi and was influenced
by them. Sarojini was now whole-heartedly working for India's freedom movement.
Her poems poured enthusiasm and hope in the hearts of the masses as they became
united in the struggle for freedom. Naidu also travelled across India and
campaigned for the rights of women. She was responsible for establishing self-
esteem in Indian women.
In 1925, Sarojini became the first Indian woman president of the National
Congress--having been preceded eight years earlier by the English feminist Annie
Besant. She travelled far and wide, to places like South Africa and North America,
lecturing on the Congress movement. She accompanied Gandhi to London for the
inconclusive second session of the Round Table Conference for Indian-British
cooperation (1931). Back in India her anti-British activities brought her a number of
prison sentences (1930, 1932, and 1942-43).
When India finally became free in 1947, she was appointed Governor of the United
Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh), to become the first Indian woman governor, a post
she retained till her death.
Naidu's was also elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in recognition
of her literary contributions.
The Nightingale passed away on March 2, 1949. However the legacy that she has
left behind will continue to inspire future generations of India. Her birthday is
proudly celebrated as Women's day.

Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa was born in Yugoslavia on August 27
th
, 1910. Her original
name was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. Her father owned a small farm. At the
age of twelve she realized that what she wanted to do most of all, was to
help the poor.
She decided to train for missionary work and came to India at the age of
nineteen to join the Sisters of Loretto, an Irish community of nuns with a
mission in Kolkata. In 1928 she took her initial vows as a nun.
From 1929 to 1948 Mother Teresa taught at St. Mary's High School in
Kolkata but the suffering and poverty she glimpsed outside the convent
walls disturbed her.
In 1946 she left the convent school and devoted herself to working among
the poor in the slums of Kolkata. She had no money so she started an open-
air school for homeless children. Soon she was joined by many voluntary
helpers.
Various church organizations and the municipal authorities gave her
monetary help. This made it possible for her to start her own order The
Missionaries of Charity' to love and take care of those persons whom
nobody was prepared to look after. Today the 'The Missionaries of Charity'
has over one thousand sisters and brothers, many of whom have been
trained as doctors, nurses and social workers.

Kind words can be
short and easy to
speak, but their
echoes are truly
endless.
Various projects for rehabilitating slum-dwellers, children's
homes, homes for the dying, clinics and a leper colony, etc.,
were started by Mother Teresa. The Missionaries of Charity'
has also spread worldwide and undertakes relief work for a
number of countries in Africa Asia and South America.
Mother Teresa's work has been recognized throughout the
world and she has received a number of awards, the most
prestigious being the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize; in 1971 she
received the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize; the Bharat Ratna
and many more.
The great soul left the world on 5th September, 1997.

We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count,
without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have
been made.
-Albert Einstein

India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human
speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and
the great grand mother of tradition. Our most valuable and
most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured
up in India only.
-Mark Twain