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Puran Singh
Professor Puran Singh
Scientist, Poet and Philosopher
By Hardev Singh Virk
Published by Tarlochan Publishers, Chandigarh
Pages 112, Price: Rs. 120
A Review by Dr. D. P. Singh*
Professor Puran Singh, a unique synthesis of a poet, philosopher and
scientist rose like a celestial star on the firmament of the modern
Indian literature. The many splendoured personality of this great
chemist, mystic poet, visionary and interpreter of the Sikh cultural
consciousness, still beckons scholars to explore the extent of his
vision in various fields. After a splendid in-depth study of Life and
Work of Puran Singh, Dr. Hardev Singh Virk has made a successful
attempt to unravel the persona of this multi-dimensional genius in his
book titled ‘Professor Puran Singh - Scientist, Poet and Philosopher'.
The book is an anthology of 11 essays - 7 in English and 4 in Punjabi.
In the ‘Introduction' to the book, the author traces a brief history of
the kindling of his interest in the ‘Life and Works of Puran Singh'.
Then he articulates the purpose of the book as to elaborate the ideas
of this eminent scholar through different mediums, so as to reach a
wider audience. Dr. Virk stresses that poetic and other literary works
of Puran Singh are of International standards and worth a Nobel Prize
in literature, but sadly these works have not been properly projected
at the world forum.
In the chapter, ‘Professor Puran Singh-Scientist, Poet and
Philosopher', the author points out that Puran Singh was a highly
volatile and emotional young man. His thought and personality were
shaped by four climactic events in his early life; his Japanese
experiences, his encounter with Walt Whitman, his discipleship of Swami
Ram Tirath and his meeting with Bhai Vir Singh, the great Sikh savant.
He was a brilliant student of Tokyo University, a great orator, a
revolutionary in the offing and a handsome young man. He was so much
infatuated with Japanese life and culture that he became a Buddhist
Bhiku in Japan.
Puran Singh was introduced to Walt Whitman through an American
Professor teaching at Tokyo University. He read his ‘Leaves of Grass'
and was so much infatuated with Whitman's verse that it became the
essential attribute of his poetic works and craft. Whitman-Puran Singh
identity is so complete as to almost suggest the idea of poetic
reincarnation. The author describes him as a poet of Sikh Spiritual
Consciousness (Surta). After providing an overview of this
multi-dimensional genius, Dr. Virk has summed up this chapter with
annexure containing a list of literary works of Puran Singh, Gems of
thought and a few quotes from his poems. This additional information is
highly relevant to the topic at hand and make the reading much more
interesting and useful to the readers.
After a thorough investigation, the author has presented a detailed
report on the research interests of this eminent Chemist of Punjab, in
the essay titled; ‘Life and Works of Puran Singh'. The author
elaborates that Puran Singh was the founder of Chemistry of forest
product in India. He, as Imperial Chemist at the Forest Research
Institute, Dehradun, published 53 research papers / reports in various
journals in India and abroad, on various aspects of the chemistry of
forest products. He, also, made an extensive survey of Indian forests
from Himalayas to the eastern regions including Bengal, Assam and
Burma. He patented a novel technique for cleaning and decolouration of
crystal sugar prepared from raw sugar. The inclusion of a list of
published scientific works of Puran Singh in this chapter is highly
useful in bringing out the valuable contributions made by this great
scientist, to light.
‘Puran Singh's Commentary on the Poets of East and West' is the topic
taken up in chapter 3 of the book. The author points out that Puran
Singh was a prolific writer with about two-dozen literary works to his
credit. He wrote fluently in English, Punjabi and Hindi. His book ‘The
Spirit of Oriental Poetry' was published in 1926 by Kegan Paul, Trench,
Trubner and Co., London. In the book he provided an interesting
commentary on the works of several great poets of the West e.g.
Shakespeare, Tennyson, Browning, Shelly, Wordsworth, Milton, William
Blake, Carlyle, Goethe, Walt Whitman, Edward Carpenter, Emerson. A
similar review of the works of some Eastern poets such as Rabindra Nath
Tagore, Rama Krishna Paramhansa Vivekanada, and Sarojini Naidu had also
been presented in it.
Read More:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=23866
(Professor Puran Singh Scientist, Poet and Philosopher by Hardev Singh
Virk)
In the chapter, ‘The Sikh Gurus, The Sikhs and The Khalsa', the author
has presented Puran Singh's views on Sikhs and Sikhism. Some precious
gems of his thoughts are: (i) After Buddha, it was Guru Nanak, who for
the first time championed the cause of the masses in caste-ridden
India.(ii) The world has yet to understand the Ten Gurus in the
splendour of their thought.(iii) Guru Granth of the Sikhs is the most
authentic account of the Guru's soul. (iv) Freedom of the human mind
and soul is the Guru's passion. (v) The Khalsa is the son of the Guru,
who brings everywhere his Heaven and its delectable freedoms. (vi)
Khalsa stands for the sovereign society. (vii) Khalsa is the ideal
future international state of man.(viii) The Sikh people are a race of
straight forward men of action. They live a simple austere life of
incessant labour, have inventive genius and love for the practical
pursuits of life. (ix) Out of the downtrodden, oppressed, lifeless
slaves of the Punjab, Guru Gobind Singh moulded a nation, which has in
it the potentialities of a progressive nation. (x) The Guru Khalsa
state is based on the essential goodness of humanity.
In the article titled ‘The Mystic Hair', the author points out that
Puran Singh has described the ‘Sikh Symbols (Kakars)' as the ‘gifts of
the Guru' in his writings although he was highly critical of adorning
symbols as a mere ritual. To emphasize his points the author quotes,
Puran Singh's views on hair (Keshas): ‘Assuredly, without the hair-idea
of Guru Gobind Singh, there would have been no Sikh song and life
today, except that the Guru Granth would possibly have been another
Purana of the Hindus.'
In describing ‘Puran Singh's Concept of Khalsa Democracy', the author
elaborates that Puran Singh was highly critical of parliamentarian form
of democracy, Soviet brand of socialism, secularism and ritualism. He
was a pioneer interpreter of sovereignty of Khalsa doctrine of Guru
Gobind Singh. According to Puran Singh, the Khalsa is the ideal, future
international state of man: it is absolute monarchy of the kingdom of
heaven for each and every man, the absolute democracy, distribution of
bread and raiment of the kingdom of labour on this earth-all in one. It
is brotherhood of the souls where intensity of feelings burns out all
differences. The Guru Khalsa state is based on the essential goodness
of humanity.
The English section of the book is summed up with an article titled:
‘Prof. Puran Singh-A Whitman Re-incarnated in Punjab'. Dr. Virk
elucidates that Whitman-Puran Singh identity is so complete as to
almost suggest the idea of poetic reincarnation. There is a psychic
unity of the soul-consciousness underlying the ‘Sikh Compositions' of
Puran Singh and ‘Leaves of Grass' of Walt Whitman. Both of them had a
similar philosophy of poetry. Whitman also establishes the relationship
between the poet and the scientist: ‘The scientist is the father and
the law-giver of poets. The poets are born of the father stuff of the
scientists, who develop the souls of the poet, their vision of reality
of life and universe.' Puran Singh fully realized the truth of it in
his own life. For him poetry and science were not two opposite poles of
reality as is often believed. He was a distinguished chemist by
profession as well as a creative genius in Punjabi literature. Whitman
and Puran Singh both rebelled against the established tradition in
poetry or the meter-making argument. All the poetry of Puran Singh is
in verse libre. Whitman and Puran Singh both stress the role of
comradeship in making the democracy a success. Puran Singh identifies
the Khalsa ideal of Guru Gobind Singh in the writings of Walt Whitman.
This identity is so complete that he called him, ‘A Guru Sikh born in
America to preach the Guru's ideal to the modern mind.'
The second section of book contains 4 articles in Punjabi, namely; ‘
Prof. Puran Singh-An Overview', ‘Puran Singh as a Scientist', ‘Puran
Singh: A poet of Sikh Spiritual Consciousness' and ‘Sikhism and Khalsa
Ideal'. The ideas and opinions expressed in these articles are almost
the same as described in the first section of the book. To elaborate
the concepts of ‘Sikh Spiritual Consciousness', ‘ Sikhism and Khalsa
Ideal' in Puran Singh's writings, several quotes from ‘Gurbani' have
been provided by the author. After a detailed analysis the author
opines that the concepts propounded by Puran Singh are in consonance
with that enunciated in Gurbani.
Dr. Hardev Singh Virk has done a momentous work in projecting the
scientific and literary works and spiritual thoughts of Professor Puran
Singh to the modern world through this book. Puran Singh's vision in
various fields has been presented brilliantly through this work. Dr.
Virk's thesis is strongly supplemented by appropriate references and
quotes from Puran Singh's writings. Though there has been some
repetition of quotes and textual material in the book yet it does not
take the reader astray rather it helps in making things clear. Although
the book is a gist of several research papers prepared for/presented at
various seminars by the author, yet each article is complete in itself
and is a treat to read. The younger generation is likely to gain much
from this treatise of scientific, literary and spiritual knowledge. It
is pertinent to add that this is one of the best books ever authored on
this topic till date. I strongly recommend that this book should be on
the shelves of all the libraries. It is imperative that the youth of
today are encouraged to read works of this nature. The new researchers
in this field can take a lead from Dr. Virk's work and can explore the
impact of other two climactic events of Puran Singh's life; especially
his discipleship of Swami Ram Tirath and his meeting with Bhai Vir
Singh, the great Sikh savant, on his life and work.
Read More:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=23866
(Professor Puran Singh Scientist, Poet and Philosopher by Hardev Singh
Virk)
*Dr. D. P. Singh M.Sc., Ph.D., P.E.S.1 is a senior faculty member at
the Dept. of Physics, Govt. College, Dera Bassi, Dist. Patiala-140507,
Punjab,India
Conversation about this article
1: Ravinder Singh Khalsa (Sydney, Australia), December 22, 2009, 8:27 PM.
Where can I purchase this book?
2: Navneet (Canada), June 15, 2010, 12:03 PM.
I must recommend 'The Spirit Born People' by Puran Singh. It's a masterpiece.