Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar

In 1979, Sarkar took two world tours to meet disciples in various countries around the world, including Switzerland, Germany, France, Scandinavia, the Middle East, Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, Jamaica and Venezuela. He was barred from entering the US by the State Department, so instead he met his American disciples in Jamaica in 1979. Just before he died on 21 October 1990 from a heart attack, he founded Ananda Marga Gurukula on 7 September 1990, an educational network to preserve and develop his legacy through research, teaching and service.

"Microvita" is plural for "Microvitum" and literally means "possessing or with micro-life". He believed that microvita are smaller and subtler than physical atoms and subatomic particles, and in the psychic realm contribute to "pure consciousness". Sarkar claimed that they would be recognised by conventional science. Sarkar gave the intuitional theory of Microvita in 1986.

In 1982, Sarkar extended his writings on the subject of human society with the introduction of his new theory of Neohumanism. If humanism tends to contemplate only humans in a human-centric view, Neohumanism, according to Sarkar's theory, is instead the elevation of humanism to universalism. Sarkar said "When the underlying spirit of humanism is extended to everything, animate and inanimate, in this universe – I have designated this as "Neohumanism". This Neohumanism will elevate humanism to universalism, the cult of love for all created beings of this universe." Neohumanism is said to prefer to existential value over utility value for all living beings.

In 1982 Sarkar started composing songs. In eight years, until the date of his death, He completed the composition of 5018 songs in multiple languages. His collection of songs is called Prabhat Samgiita ("Songs of the New Dawn").

In 1971, Sarkar was imprisoned in India for the alleged murder of Ananda Marga members. On 1 April, after recovering his health, Sarkar began fasting in support of a demand for an inquest into his poisoning. That demand was never met. So he continued his fast for the next five years, four months, and two days, until 2 August 1978 when he was released from jail after having been acquitted of all charges.

During the latter part of his life his main residence was in Lake Gardens in Kolkata, West Bengal. He also spent much time, especially early on, in the all-round development community he founded based on his PROUT theory at Anandanagar. Ananda Marga opened regional offices in various countries, including the US in 1969, and by 1973 had established approximately 100 local centres teaching yogic and social philosophies, with several thousand members, some living communally in the ashrams.

Although Sarkar spent only seventeen years of his life working full-time for his organisations (1966–1971 & 1978–1990), he left behind a vast legacy, including over 250 books written on a wide variety of topics. Many of this books are compilations or collections of speeches given by him during spiritual or social meetings. He is primarily known as the spiritual teacher behind Ananda Marga, but Sarkar wrote over 1500 pages on his socio-politico-economic Progressive Utilization Theory (PROUT), with several thousand more pages dedicated to linguistics and the study of languages; Sarkar's writings on linguistics included, among other works, Shabda Cayanika ("A Collection of Words"), an unfinished, twenty-six volume dictated encyclopaedia on the Bengali language. Beyond this, he wrote books on sociology, agriculture, history, literature, education, medicine, cosmology, and philosophy, also notably founding the philosophy of Neohumanism in 1982 and the Theory of Microvita in 1986. In his Theory of Microvita, Sarkar "believed that the atoms and the subatomic particles throughout the boundless universe are imbued with life."

In his series of discourses Talks on Prout, given in Ranchi in July 1961, Sarkar makes a distinction between the terms "culture" and "customs". According to Sarkar "culture... is the collective name for different expressions of life..." but "...all of society has the same culture. There are local variations in the mode or state of cultural expression, but the expression is universal... These local variations are called customs... Thus local modes of expression bearing local or group specialities are customs, but the expression itself is culture. Therefore it is a mistake to readjust boundaries on the basis of language and culture. Indian culture and the culture of the world are one and the same."

By 1959, Sarkar had developed the socio-economic Progressive Utilization Theory (Prout). In 1961, the theory was formally outlined in his book Ananda Sutram, published under his spiritual name Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti. In 1968, Sarkar founded the organisation "Proutist Block of India" (PBI), to further the ideals of his theory through political and social action. The PBI was soon superseded by "Proutist Universal" (PU), which primarily consists of five federations (students, intellectuals, farmers, labour, and youth).

In 1955, Sarkar founded Ananda Marga (the Path of Bliss), a socio-spiritual movement with a two-part mission that Sarkar stated as "self-realization and service to all" with a spiritual practice that synthesized Vedic and Tantric philosophies. Sarkar's ideas are collected in the series of books called "Subháśita Samgraha", which form part of the philosophical scriptures of Ananda Marga ideology.

In 1939 Sarkar left Jamalpur for Kolkata to attend Vidyasagar College of the University of Calcutta. Sarkar had to quit his studies to support his family after the death of his father, and from 1944 until the early 1950s, Sarkar worked as an accountant at the Indian railways headquarters in Jamalpur, Bihar. He taught the techniques of Yoga and Tantra meditation to a select number of his colleagues and gradually more people were drawn to the spiritual practices he taught.

Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar (21 May 1921 – 21 October 1990), also known by his spiritual name Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti (Ánanda Múrti="Bliss Embodiment"), and known as Bábá ("Father") to his disciples, was a spiritual Guru, philosopher, social reformer, linguist, author and composer of 5018 songs mostly in the Bengali language. He founded Ananda Marga (the Path of Bliss) in 1955 as a spiritual and social organisation that continues to offer instruction in meditation and yoga. and runs numerous social service and disaster relief projects throughout the world.

Sarkar was born during the full moon of the Indian month of Vaeshakh (Buddha Purnima), on 21 May 1921 (at 6:07 in the morning) to Lakshmi Narayan Sarkar, a homoeopathic doctor. His family hailed from Bamunpara (Brahmanpara), Burdwan District in West Bengal.