• Trayana Guru (1854-1928) was born in Chempazhanthy village near Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the erstwhile State of Travancore.
• He was one of the thinkers whose social-cultural approach initiated the social reform process.
• His methods were positive and constructive, facilitating the restructuring of local social relations in Kerala.
• His approach was unique as it was contextual and rooted in the local cultural relation.
• He performed his role as a Sanyasi, focusing on creating moral awakening among the people without fostering bitterness or ill will in society.
• Trayana Guru transformed the caste-ridden, socially backward society of Kerala, which Swami Vivekananda had termed a ‘lunatic asylum’, into a highly progressive society.

Metaphysical Foundations

• Narayana Guru‘s metaphysical foundations were influenced by the fundamentals of Sanathana Dharma.
• He was a scholar of Sanskrit, a master in Vedantic and Upanishadic literature.
• He also studied Tamil spiritual traditions, especially the Thirukkural.
• His association with the great sanyasi Chattambi Swamikal (1853-1924) marked the confluence of two spiritual streams.
• Narayana Guru and Chattambi Swamikal understood each other and decided to follow their paths of self-realization.
• Together, they began studying yoga under Thycadu Ayya Guru Swamy, a great yoga Guru.
• Narayana Guru was influenced by the Advaita philosophy of Sankara.
• He spent a long period in meditation and achieved yoga siddhi.

Advaita Philosophy

• Narayana Guru’s philosophy was rooted in Vedic texts and Upanishads.
• He was an Advaithi and followed the teachings of Sankara.
• Narayana Guru restated the Advaita philosophy, considering the spiritual quest of 20th-century common people.
• As stated by Nataraja Guru, Narayana Guru treated Advaita Vedanta with a fresh, simple perspective, incorporating topics like equality and justice.
• Narayana Guru divides the world into two: the empirical world and the world beyond count (spiritual world).
• For the prosperity of the empirical world, he advocates material development, stressing education, organization, social equality, agriculture, trade, and industry.
• For the spiritual world, he promotes spirituality following Advaita philosophy of Adi Sankara, emphasizing non-dualism.
• Advaita philosophy is based on the oneness and identity of all life.
• He believes we should serve man as man because everyone belongs to humanity and because Atman (the reality of man) is non-different from Brahman (the ultimate reality).
• God is the Universal Reality behind this world; the unity of Atman and Brahman is the supreme goal.
• Narayana Guru’s integrated approach to life and thought makes him a modern philosopher.
• Like Swami Vivekananda, Narayana Guru was a practical Vedanti and a realist.
• He asserted Advaita philosophy but revalued it based on experimental wisdom and the realities of modern existence.
• Guru rationalized and popularized Advaita philosophy with the scientific and democratic background of his time.
• Among modern Indian philosophers, Narayana Guru rehabilitated the concepts of Atman and Brahman and expounded his version of Brahma Vidya (self-knowledge).
• Brahma Vidya or Atma Vidya means self-knowledge.
• To attain self-knowledge, man must remove the veil of ignorance through wisdom.
• He reformulated the nine existing darshan and established a new priority considering the spiritual and material needs of modern man.