Only Devatma’s philosophy of comprehensive and humanistic naturalism can pull India out to the dead weight spurious transcendentalism and enable it to enter the 21st century with hope courage and self confidence.
Dr. D.C. Mathur, Prof of Philosophy, New York State University, USA
Devatma’s concept of soul is unique. None before him had developed this concept on the lines he has developed. The soul is normally considered to be an unborn, unchanging, immortal, disembodied spirit, pure consciousness and so on. But Devatma does not accept the existence of anything supernatural transcending the empirical experience. According to him, scientific outlook should be our base what cannot be empirically verified should not be deemed to be existing. Consequently, all the transcendental type of entities like the soul, God etc. get banished out of the field of the meaningful discourse. Therefore the souls are also born, they are also the products of nature as other living things are, they are active, they form bodies and when disembodied, they also die.
Dr. D.D. Bandiste,
Head, Department of Philosohy, Indore (M.P.)
It is unfortunate that a thinker like Devatma who propounded a new view of man and life did not receive recognition he deserved.
Prof. R.C. Pandeya, Delhi.
The philosophy of Devatma is extraordinary, simple and grand and at same time it is naturalistic, dialactical, scientific, evolutionary, developmental, optimistic, responsible and altruistic.
Prof. Dale Reipe, Buffalo, USA.
Devatma has broken new ground in the development of Indian philosophic thought.
Prof. D.D. Vadekar, Puna.
The philosophy of Devatma serves notice that competent survey of types of Indian philosophy must include naturalism.
Prof. Archie J. Bahm, New Mexico, USA.
I feel very much at home in the philosophy of Devatma and regret that I have neglected to express my feelings before. The opportunity for recognising my sympathies and for showing how his ideas continue to be expressed in my own writings. I claim that the needed world philosophy should be humanistic and scientific. Both of the ideas are already firmly embedded in Dev-Darsana.
Prof. of Philosophy, University of Mexico, USA.
As a figure on the stage of the Indian renaissance, Devatma is original, creative and eradical innovator. While challenging the whole metaphysical tradition of India, he still remains the best of its ego-denouncing ethics giving it, however in new turn by focusing it on altruism.
-The Boletin de A.E.O. (Spanish association of Orientalists) Madrid, Spain.
The model of Devatma’s philosophical writings in the Dev Shastras is strikingly that of Spinoza’s Ethics where reflections of nature of reality lead to the conception of human bondage and freedom…
-The Indian Philosophical Quaterly, Poona.
Devatma brought a naturalistic, scientific, rational and evolutionary point of view to bear upon all problems concerning the nature of the universe, theory of knowledge, nature of human personality, and the nature of human bondage and freedom.
Philosophy & Phenomenological research, Buffalo, USA.
Like Hartmann, Devatma believes in plurality of senses of values and moral senses…
-The Indian and Foreign Review, Delhi.
The philosophy of Devatma is positive in its outlook: it is non-speculative, and so does not concern itself with futile thinking regarding what exists beyond the clouds.
Profesor and Head, Dept. of Philosophy, Gorakhpur University.
The powerful writings of a daring Indian thinker -Devatma (1850-1929)- during the later part of the nineteenth century when, as we all know the overwhelming generality of Indian thinkers were wedded exclusively to their age-old method of an idealistic intuitionism, ending up, more often than not, in espousing the concept of static, timeless and all-absorbing absolute as the ultimately real. It is really quite hard, therefore, for one to believe that a philosopher of this very soil could assert which such confident firmness, that what is Real, in the ultimate analysis, is the cosmic universe. And this Universe, for him, is nothing but Nature conceived as ‘one unlimited’ un-created, self-existent whole of embodied existences in ceaseless change.
Prof. S.C. Biswas, Head, Dept of Philosoply, Allahabad University.
In the very remarkable sense Devatma quiet contrary to the different effervescent religious movements of the late nineteenth century or even early twentieth century, has distinctively taken its starting point from the secular knowledge of Nature (man and his social institutions). I recommend its consideration for the proper evaluation of its implications for contemporary theory of human conduct.
Dr. Dharmendra Goel, Head, Dept of Philosophy, Punjab University.
Devatma: The founder of Dev Smaj was an outstanding personality of the nineteenth century India comparable in talent and in the range of his intellectual interests to Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the father of India renaissance, Devatma was astonishingly scientific and modern in his outlook. This explains why he failed to make an impact on the society of his time which was steeped in superstitious medievalism.
Prof. N.K. Devaraja, Varanasi.
I propose to say something about Devatma, who belongs to the company of the nineteenth and twentieth century thinkers like Gandhi Ji, Tagore, Swami Vivekanand,
Dr. Mohammad Iqbal, Sri Manabendranath Roy, Sri Aurobindo and Dr. Radhakrishnan. But unfortunately he has been completely kept out of this company in the matter of appreciative exposition of his philosophy.
Descartes, Spinoza, Leibnitz, Kant, Hegel and other in the West, and Indian above Indian thinkers were all out to save supernaturalism. But Devatma did not allow any scriptural authority to decide his thinking. He put himself to the study of Science and Scientific method and he fell in love with the principals of scientific investigations.
Dr. Sanjib Ghosh, Calcutta University.
In Devatma’s philosophy one finds a philosophical response to the scientific climate. He fearlessly goes against the dominant and conservative elements in Indian thought, which perpetuate the tradition of other-worldly outlook towards life. In Devatma one finds a frank admission, that the philosophical reflections based on the bedrock of scientific discoveries and on the critical on Nature, man and society.
Dr. J.V. Joshi, Poona University.
It is a pleasant surprise to come across Devatma’s philosophy of naturalism in the framework of Indian Philosophy, where Devatma’s love of truth which led him to reject theology. Devatma’s century also belonged to Mars, Darwin, Wundt, Comte, Fechnen and William James. Devatma shared the commitment to science inspired by Ram Mohun Roy (17720-1833), Debendranath Tagore (1817-1905) and Keshab Chandra Sen (1838-1884).
Dr. Madhusudna Baxi. Head, Dept. of Psychology, Ahmedabad.
I feel very much at home in the philosophy of Devatma and regret that I have neglected to express my feelings before. The opportunity for recognising my sympathies and for showing how his ideas continue to be expressed in my own writings. I claim that the needed world philosophy should be humanistic and scientific. Both of the ideas are already firmly embedded in Dev-Darsana.
Prof. of Philosophy, University of Mexico, USA.
Devatma’s Philosoplhy is a significant contribution to this naturalistic tradition in Indian Philosophy and is unique attempt made in India to place religion on the foundations of an Imperical-Naturalisitc philosophy which refuses to foster the hopes of transcending natural laws.
Sri G.M. Kewalramani, Punjab University.