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A LOVER OF LIGHT AMONG LUMINARIES : Dilip Kumar Roy Dilip Roy's language is poetic and lucid. Often his work is the expression of the tumult his reading causes in his mind. Here, he frequently introdudces Sri Aurobindo's Bengali and English poems and also their translations. He quotes from various ancient scriptures like the Gita and the Bhagavata to sustain his arguments.
2:Krisnaprem
Among the full-length portraits next in importance to that of Sri Aurobindo comes the portrait of Krishnaprem. Both Krishnaprem and Dilip Roy were intimate friends and pilgrims of almost the identical path of love of Krishna. 'Love of Krishna', in fact, is literal translation of the Sanskrit word 'Krishnaprem'. Dilip Roy can as meaningfully bear that name as does Ronald Nixon.
Ronald Nixon—that is the pre-monastic name of Krishnaprem. He was a brilliant graduate of Cambridge University. Before he came to India, he worked as an R.A.F. pilot in the First World War. At that time, he was assigned the duty of dropping bombs over the enemy territory. One day, as he was reconnoitring, he was about to steer his plane to the right, where half-a-dozen fighter planes zoomed. He wanted to steer his plane in that direction because he thought that those were R.A.F. planes. Just then some force simply caught hold of his wrist and made him veer right round to the left. It was almost a miracle. In a few minutes, when he returned to his base, he was informed that those were enemy planes which had just come into action. He realized that he had been saved by some unknown power. He was grateful to that power which his experience could not deny and reason might not accept. From that event onwards, he disapproved of reason as the ultimate criterion of truth. He began to take interest in philosophy and spirituality. He came to India and worked for a time as a Professor of English literature at the University of Lucknow. He learnt during the period Sanskrit and Pali to study the sacred books of Hinduism and Buddhism. He could speak fluently, besides, both Bengali and Hindi. Later he gave up his professorship in Lucknow university which earned him Rs. 1,200/- per month and accepted the job of a professor at the Hindu University, Varanasi, which fetched him just Rs. 300/- per month. His purpose in this was to be in the holy city of Benares in order that he might have deeper study of Hindu spirituality there which was more valuable to him than money. Soon after that, he was initiated into Vaishnavism in 1927 by Yashoda Ma whose former name was Monika Devi. Before she took the sannyasa, she was the wife of Mr. J. N. Chakravarti, the then Vice-chancellor of Lucknow University. Ronald Nixon retired under the aegis of his guru at their Ashram situated near Almora and passed his time in complete devotion of Krishna. A sannyasi is required to forget his past and put on a new name. So Ronald Nixon after his initiation into sannyasa became Krishnaprem.
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